Today the Brave

"When the Brief Says Premium and the Budget Says Otherwise." 

IMELDA HODSON — EXPERIENCE DIRECTOR, TODAY THE BRAVE

Today the Brave is a full-service creative agency covering advertising, branding, shopper and experiential. Experience Director Imelda Hodson has spent 26 years in the industry, and when she needs something done with meticulous detail under serious pressure, she calls Traction Studio.

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THE KIND OF PERSON WHO FINDS A WAY

Imelda Hodson trained as a journalist. She fell into marketing. And somewhere along the way, she became the person her clients call when the brief is ambitious, the timeline is tight and the budget is anything but generous.

"I had my client come to me and say, 'I'm coming to you because you're the only person I know that would be able to do this.'"

That kind of trust is earned over decades of finding a way. But Imelda is clear-eyed about what makes it possible.

"I'm not a builder. I never have been a builder. I think you can go to a lot of builders, but they don't actually understand the needs of brand activation. That's the great thing about the Traction team. You live and breathe brand activation. You know the hurdles."

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YEAR TWO AT THE MELBOURNE FASHION FESTIVAL

When Woodford Reserve came to Today the Brave for the second year of their Melbourne Fashion Festival sponsorship, the brief was straightforward in ambition and complicated in practice: take what was built in year one and make it better. More premium. More experiential. More photographic. And do it without a budget that matched those expectations.

The foundation was already there. In year one, Traction Studio had fabricated a bar build for the activation, and crucially, they had built it to last. Designed from the outset for reuse, the assets had been engineered with the right materials, finished to survive multiple outings, and built to be repurposed rather than retired.

"We had a really good framework to start with, and that's because the Traction team had actually really listened to what we needed in terms of something that we could reuse multiple times."

Year two was about building on that foundation. The bar assets returned. Around them, a fuller activation took shape, one where guests could interact with the brand, take photos and feel like they had stumbled into somewhere genuinely special. A premium experience, delivered inside an open marquee that had to contend with weather exposure, on a budget that made that ambition a real challenge.

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TRANSLATING THE SKETCH INTO SOMETHING REAL

Imelda doesn't have an in-house production or CAD team. What she has is a creative mind, a clear vision and hand-drawn references that need to become something buildable and beautiful.

It's a gap that the wrong partner can make feel very wide.

"Taking my drawings, which were just drawings, and actually understanding what I wanted to achieve was so great. That's the real win for me, being able to have that experience and actually understanding what I'm trying to achieve and making it come to life."

From the first call with Bart through to the briefing kickoff with Dean, the process was clear, structured and completely aligned to what the job required. Budget understood. Deliverables defined. Reuse requirements factored into every material choice.

"It was really clear in terms of the budget, what we were delivering, and with regards to things that needed to live on past that activation."

For Imelda, that clarity at the start isn't a nice-to-have. It's what allows everything else to hold together when the pressure builds on site.

"From the first call, it's very structured. You can't jump through a hoop without completing one section. Nothing's been overlooked."

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ON SITE AT THE FESTIVAL

Chris came down from Sydney for the bump-in. And from the moment he arrived, he did what the best on-site team members always do: he saw the job as a whole, not just his part of it.

When things needed attention beyond the original scope, he turned his hand to them. When the space needed more than what was on the run sheet, he delivered it. The build came together exactly as planned, and then went a little further.

"The fact that you go the extra mile, that is the thing that stands out to me."

When everything was in place, Imelda did something she doesn't always get the chance to do. She picked up the phone and called Dean, not with a problem, but with praise.

"He was expecting me to complain about something, and I said, 'I just wanted to ring up and say that Chris did an amazing job. Everything looks amazing, and everyone's super happy.' And he's like, 'This is the best phone call I've ever had.'"

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THE MOMENT THAT SAID IT ALL

The result was a space that stopped people in their tracks. Fashion Festival guests moved through an activation that felt considered, layered and genuinely premium, every detail thought through, nothing left to chance.

Then the head of the major Melbourne Fashion Festival sponsor walked in.

"They said, 'Oh, this is much nicer than the VIP tent.' And I think it's when you hear things like that, that all the work that you put into it, all the thinking and the way that things are going to come together, that people recognise that."

For a brand activation built on a constrained budget, inside an open marquee, using assets that had already done a year's work, that was the outcome. Not just a successful event. A space that outshone the room next door.

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WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

After more than two decades in this industry, Imelda doesn't hesitate when asked what separates a great build partner from the rest.

"They're not really a supplier. You're part of my team. I really value the work that you put in behind the scenes, the way that you challenge the way that we might be thinking of doing something and often come up with a much better way to do that."

That partnership, she says, is what makes the ambitious briefs feel less like a gamble and more like a plan.

"When I need something done really well, when I need meticulous detail, and when I need to think about how we might make some challenging aspects come to life, that's when I go to Traction."

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FOR ANYONE WHO NEEDS IT DONE PROPERLY

"I'd recommend Traction to anyone who's looking for a custom build partner, someone who's actually going to guide them along the way, who's going to listen to their needs, understand the challenges with regards to budget and timings, and provide really strong and relevant solutions. We all know everything's difficult to do, but the Traction team really make it a lot easier."

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Today the Brave is a full-service creative agency specialising in advertising, branding, shopper and experiential.

https://www.todaythebrave.com/

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