Independent creative agency Supermassive has appointed seasoned strategist Josh Taylor-Dadds as its first Executive Strategy Director. Joining from TBWA\Sydney, Taylor-Dadds will strengthen the agency’s effectiveness and strategic offering as it scales its unconventional, earned-first model that blends brand strategy, creative ambition and cultural impact.
Independent creative agency Supermassive has announced the appointment of Josh Taylor-Dadds as its first Executive Strategy Director, marking a significant step in the agency’s evolution following a sustained period of growth and high-profile work.
Taylor-Dadds joins from TBWA\Sydney, where he served as Head of Strategy, bringing with him a reputation for building effective, culturally resonant brand platforms across regional and global accounts. Prior to that, he held the role of Group Strategy Director at Special New Zealand, where he helped cement the agency’s effectiveness credentials during a period of international recognition and awards success.
Across his career, Taylor-Dadds has led strategy for clients including Entain Group ANZ, Optus and Tourism New Zealand, navigating complex brand challenges in categories ranging from telecommunications to tourism and entertainment. His tenure at Special NZ coincided with the agency being named Effectiveness Agency of the Year at both the New Zealand and APAC Effie Awards, alongside recognition as Campaign Global Creative Agency of the Year — accolades that underscored a focus on work that delivered measurable impact, not just creative acclaim.
At Supermassive, Taylor-Dadds steps into a newly created role designed to sharpen the agency’s strategic offering and reinforce its commitment to effectiveness as it continues to expand. The appointment reflects the agency’s belief that strategy must sit at the core of its earned-first, culturally embedded approach to creativity, rather than act as a traditional planning function.
The agency, founded by Laura Aldington, Sim and Jon, has built a reputation in just two years for work that stretches beyond conventional advertising briefs. Its portfolio includes initiatives that have influenced legislation, built a functioning radio station for juvenile detention centres, and launched a global tourism movement recognised by the United Nations. This blend of brand ambition and social or cultural impact has become a defining characteristic of Supermassive’s model.
Laura Aldington, Co-Founder at Supermassive, said the search for the right candidate had been intentionally demanding. “In classic Supermassive style, we set ourselves an absurdly ambitious bar to clear for this role,” she said. “A seasoned strategic leader with a pedigree in brand planning, a history of highly effective, non-traditional work that made us insanely jealous, and an endless curiosity for new ways brands can thrive in the attention era. And they had to win over our famously hard-to-impress office dog. Josh uniquely fitted that bill, and we’re already feeling the impact of his considerable talent.”
Her comments highlight how Supermassive views strategy not as a support function, but as a driving force behind the type of unconventional, attention-commanding work the agency has become known for. As brands grapple with shrinking attention spans, fragmented media ecosystems and audiences increasingly resistant to traditional advertising, the need for a strategic approach that can connect creativity with culture has become more urgent.
Taylor-Dadds believes this is precisely where Supermassive’s model stands apart. “We all know the context brands are living in is changing at breakneck pace, but surprisingly few are really doing much about it,” he said. “Supermassive have ripped up the rule book, bringing earned thinking, creative ambition and brand strategy together to build a new model of agency fit for the future.”
His description of the agency’s “earned thinking” points to a philosophy that prioritises work designed to be talked about, shared and experienced, rather than simply placed in paid media channels. It is an approach that demands a different kind of strategic thinking — one that blends brand fundamentals with an understanding of how culture, communities and attention operate today.
The breadth of briefs Taylor-Dadds has already begun working on at Supermassive reflects this diversity of output. From global brand platform development to branded entertainment projects, his remit spans the full spectrum of the agency’s work, ensuring that strategy and effectiveness are embedded early in the creative process.
For Supermassive, the creation of the Executive Strategy Director role signals an intent to formalise and scale the strategic discipline that has underpinned its early success. As the agency grows, maintaining a distinctive point of view on how brands should operate in the modern attention economy becomes both a creative and commercial priority.
Taylor-Dadds’ background in agencies that have balanced creative reputation with proven effectiveness makes him a natural fit for this ambition. At Special NZ, his contribution to award-winning work that delivered real-world impact aligned closely with Supermassive’s ethos. His experience at TBWA\Sydney further exposed him to global brand challenges and the demands of operating at scale while retaining creative integrity.
For Taylor-Dadds, the appeal of joining a young, ambitious agency was also personal. “Laura, Sim and Jon’s restlessness to build something better is infectious, and I’m so excited to be part of it,” he said, adding with characteristic humour, “Plus the logo’s sexy.”
The light-hearted remark underscores a deeper sentiment: a belief that agencies must constantly evolve to remain relevant to both brands and audiences. In an industry often accused of clinging to outdated models, Supermassive’s rapid rise and willingness to challenge convention have made it an attractive destination for talent seeking to shape what the future of agencies might look like.
As Supermassive continues to grow its client roster and expand its ambitions, Taylor-Dadds’ appointment suggests a clear intent to ensure that strategy remains central to its evolution. By formalising leadership in this area, the agency is positioning itself to not only produce culturally impactful work, but to do so with a disciplined focus on effectiveness and long-term brand value.
In a landscape where creative agencies are increasingly required to prove both cultural relevance and commercial impact, the addition of a seasoned strategist at executive level signals Supermassive’s determination to deliver on both fronts.
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