The Sphere Agency, 1998 to today
The Sphere Agency was founded in Melbourne in 1998 by Michael Abdel, with one graphic designer, no clients and a leased office in Armadale. It has operated as an independent agency ever since, through the industry's shift from print production to digital, social and search.
Agency timeline
- 1998Sphere is founded in Melbourne as a design and print studio, with one designer and no clients, in a leased office in Armadale.
- 1998-1999The agency builds its first client base through local-area marketing for KFC franchisees, extending to the franchise committee across the eastern seaboard.
- 2000The agency relocates to Swan Street, Richmond, and begins the shift from design and print into strategy-led advertising.
- 2000sThe end of the film bureau era: print production moves off Macs, zip discs and Cromalin proofs as the work shifts to digital.
- 2009-2011Sphere runs the Nando's account, producing topical and rapid-response advertising widely covered in the Australian trade press.
- 2010Sphere co-writes and produces Hearts on Fire for Nando's charity campaign United Against Malaria.
- 2011The Nando's account relationship concludes after an eight-year engagement.
- 2016Sphere is appointed creative agency partner to Rosella.
- 2018The agency's practice is profiled in the fifth Asia-Pacific edition of Cengage's Integrated Marketing Communications.
- 2019The agency's founding is recorded in an oral-history interview held by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
- 2021Sphere Agency material is carried forward into the sixth Asia-Pacific edition of Integrated Marketing Communications.
- 2024Hummington launches, a marketing department optimisation consultancy founded by Michael Abdel.
- 2026Sphere operates in its 28th year, working across five support streams.