April, 2026.- In the 2026 Australian advertising landscape, complacency has become enemy number one. Marcus Willis, CEO of Kill Boring Dead (KBD), is blunt: “good enough” is the fastest route to invisibility. Following a year of explosive growth with clients like Cathay Pacific and Advil, the agency enters a phase of maturity with the appointment of Nel Wolf as General Manager. Nel’s arrival, coming from giants like Bastion and EssenceMediacom, isn’t meant to domesticate KBD’s rebellious spirit, but to provide the structure necessary to scale its “creative aggression.” For Willis and Wolf, the mission is clear: to fight the epidemic of fearful marketing through a model that replaces bureaucratic processes with a culture of ownership, curiosity, and social speed, proving that true discipline is what enables—rather than stifles—risk-taking.
In this exclusive interview with Roastbrief, Marcus and Nel reveal how they are “operationalizing bravery.” Willis reflects on the true cost of endless processes that result in campaigns nobody cares about, while Wolf explains how her experience with global brands like Microsoft allows her to handle complexity and compliance without dulling the edge of the idea. Discover why KBD defines itself more as a movement than a simple agency, and how its “deeply embedded partner” approach is helping CMOs step out of their comfort zones to reconnect with play and genuine creativity. It is a conversation about the end of compromise-led advertising and the birth of an architecture designed for brands to be, above all, human again.
Marcus Willis (CEO):
1. The General Manager Mandate: You’ve created a General Manager role for the first time as KBD moves into its next phase. What gap in the agency’s leadership did this role exist to fill, and why was now the right time to bring in a GM?
Marcus: 2026 is our structure year. Last year we ran on adrenaline and sticky tape, which was genuinely fun for a launch year, but as we mature and win larger clients, we need to take everything up a notch, especially in delivery. Also, I got shingles, so that felt like a pretty clear sign it was time to build out the leadership team.
2. “Boring Isn’t Just Ineffective, It’s Expensive” This is a powerful line from your philosophy. Can you quantify what you mean? What does “boring” cost a brand in terms of attention, engagement, and ultimately business results?
Marcus: Imagine spending five months on a campaign. Countless meetings, rounds of approval, death by committee, legal, everyone having their say. At the end of this grinding process, you produce something boring. This isn’t just a nightmare I regularly have. It’s the reality for most Australian brands right now. They’re lacking bravery. They’re lacking creativity. And when you go through all that effort and post something that no one cares about, it was expensive to produce, but it’s even more expensive when it doesn’t work.
3. From Start-Up Agility to Scalable Structure: KBD has grown rapidly, adding clients like Red Rooster, Bank of Queensland, Cathay Pacific, and Advil. How do you scale the agency’s operations and systems without dulling the “fearless” creative edge that defines your brand?
Marcus: The energy and expertise my team brings to every brand always comes with humility, an understanding that everyone is just trying to do their best with the information they have. We run workshops, creative showcases, and our signature bravery workshop with clients. We want to take everyone on the journey so they understand exactly why we’re taking creative risks and that we’re doing it as an experiment together. It’s not us against them. It’s us against the world. We want to be deeply embedded partners, so clients understand our thinking and we move forward together.
4. Why Nel Wolf: What specifically did you see in Nel’s background—from Bastion to EssenceMediacom—that made her the right person to help KBD mature while maintaining its creative aggression?
Marcus: Nel is a genuine KBD culture fit, but she’s also really fucking good at her job. She brings exactly the structure and discipline we need as we mature. Nel’s done great work throughout her career, but honestly? She’s about to do the best work of her career. She stepped up with us.
5. The “Good Enough” Trap: You said, “Good enough’ is never the goal”; How do you maintain that standard across a growing team and client roster? What systems or cultural practices keep complacency at bay?
Marcus: When I consistently produce good enough work, my soul starts to notice. It might just show up as a nervous twitch, a bad sleep score or if it gets really existential, a crisis in Fitzroy Gardens. But I always know. I always know when I’m doing the best work of my career. I always know when I’m making sacrifices. I always know when clients are interfering with the creative. And I have to fight that fight every time, give our honest recommendations, say what I’m thinking, protect the work. As long as I can sleep at night knowing I did everything I could, I’m good.
The forces working against creativity are real. Legacy marketing managers stuck in 2017 thinking. People copy-pasting playbooks from old brands without understanding the current cultural and social landscape. There’s a lot to navigate, so we focus on upskilling and educating our clients so they can make the best decisions possible.
Nel Wolf (General Manager):
6. From Bastion to KBD: You’re joining from Bastion, where you led social delivery for Xbox and Microsoft, and before that EssenceMediacom. What drew you to KBD specifically, and how does its “fearless” model differ from the larger agency structures you’ve worked in?
Nel: KBD’s marketing is legit. It was as simple as that. No smoke-screen or magic tricks, what I saw online was the same experience I had when I first stepped through their doors and met Marcus. That authenticity really spoke to me.
The fearless model shows up in our values, how we think, and how we operationalise. KBD is built for the speed and culture of the channels we work in, not legacy agency structures that no longer match the pace of modern comms. At KBD, our thinking and processes are deliberate – we keep what drives quality and delivery, and strip out what doesn’t. That allows us to move quickly, take risks and focus our energy on the ideas.
7. “Many Agencies Talk, KBD Actually Does It” You’ve said that KBD actually does things differently, unlike many agencies that just talk about it. Can you give an example of what “actually doing it” looks like in practice? What’s the tangible difference in the work or the culture?
Nel: It means our case studies reflect reality. It means our workplace is flexible in practice, not just on paper. It means we only sell ideas that we believe in and services we can deliver on. It means we understand how to pivot, that our clients’ needs will shift, that the people who work for us and the people we work for are all human beings first and employees second. What I mean when I say KBD actually does it, is that KBD embodies their values and truly partners with their clients – you’ll never be in a meeting with us and be told anything that doesn’t gel with how we actually work. What you see is what you get.
8. Operationalizing Bravery: Your mandate includes evolving KBD’s MO with “tighter structure across strategy, creative and influencer” while keeping the creative edge “razor sharp.” How do you build systems and processes that enable bravery rather than stifle it? Where’s the tension?
Nel: The tension, as I see it, is how you create real ownership and accountability while still giving people the breathing room to do their best work.
For me, that comes down to clarity and culture over control. Clear roles, clear expectations, and clear outcomes remove the need for layers of oversight and give our killer team the authority to move forward confidently. Add in a culture where curiosity is rewarded, irreverence is encouraged and play is expected and we end up with an environment where people can be fearless without losing sight of what needs to be delivered.
9. Complex Global Brands at Social Speed: Your experience spans complex global brands like Microsoft, Salesforce, Intel, and Samsung. How do you adapt KBD’s social-first, fearless approach for clients who operate across multiple markets with different cultural nuances and compliance requirements?
Nel: I don’t conflate bravery with risk, and neither does KBD. Our fearless approach isn’t inherently non-compliant or tied to a single cultural lens. The systems and ways of working I’ve used managing complex global brands are the ones we apply at KBD – they’re designed to handle scale, nuance, and speed at the same time.
If anything, I’d argue we’re the ones who have adapted. KBDs approach is more ready today to tackle complex global briefs than what I’ve experienced at traditional agencies. Because our approach is designed to keep pace with how quickly culture is evolving and operate with it, not against it.
For Both Marcus & Nel:
10. The Next Chapter for KBD: Looking ahead 12-18 months, what does success look like for KBD under this new leadership structure? Is it about specific new client wins, a particular type of work, a cultural milestone, or something else that will tell you you’ve successfully turned bravery into business?
Marcus: We don’t want to just be a creative agency. We want to be a movement. Right now there’s an epidemic of scared, boring marketing in Australia and we want to be the antidote. We want to bring playfulness, fun, and genuine creativity into the brands and workplaces we touch. The energy you get with KBD, you simply can’t get anywhere else. We want to be the shining light in the Australian creative industry, inspiring people to do their best work, whether that’s our team, our clients, or marketers out there who only dreamed of doing the kind of work we’re helping them make happen.
Nel: We’re not going to eliminate boring advertising in 18 months – but if we can make it harder to justify, that’s progress.
