UNDERDOG STUDIO BETS ON OUTCOMES OVER HOURS AS TEARLE AND CLARKE CHALLENGE CONSULTING STATUS QUO

Former VML and McDonald’s executives Thomas Tearle and Brent Clarke have launched Underdog Studio, an Australian consultancy focused on outcome-based transformation. Targeting high-growth and private equity-backed firms, the venture rejects traditional consulting models, promising faster, simpler, and more effective growth through design, data, technology and AI.

Former VML and McDonald’s executives Thomas Tearle and Brent Clarke have launched Underdog Studio, an Australian consultancy focused on outcome-based transformation. Targeting high-growth and private equity-backed firms, the venture rejects traditional consulting models, promising faster, simpler, and more effective growth through design, data, technology and AI.

A new Australian consultancy is aiming to upend the traditional transformation playbook, as former VML AUNZ CEO Thomas Tearle and ex-McDonald’s ANZ executive Brent Clarke unveil Underdog Studio, a business and technology firm built on delivering measurable outcomes rather than billable hours.

The venture marks a reunion for the pair, who first crossed paths at WPP 15 years ago, and reflects a growing trend of senior network leaders branching out independently. Underdog Studio joins a wave of new-age consultancies seeking to challenge legacy models they argue have grown overly complex and ineffective.

Tearle, who previously oversaw a 300-strong team and multiple mergers during his tenure at VML AUNZ, believes the consulting industry has lost sight of its purpose. Despite the global consulting market reaching an estimated USD $263 billion in 2024, research suggests that the vast majority of transformation initiatives fail to meet their original ambitions.

“Most businesses aren’t stuck because they lack strategy,” he said. “They’re stuck because they can’t stop transforming long enough to build the foundation that makes transformation unnecessary. The big consultancies are incentivised to make it complicated. We’re built the opposite way.”

Underdog Studio plans to work in short, high-impact cycles rather than drawn-out, multi-year programmes. Its approach combines expertise in e-commerce, subscription models, digital revenue streams, CRM, loyalty systems, and product development across web and mobile platforms, with a focus on tangible growth outcomes.

Clarke, who left McDonald’s Australia after nearly seven years leading digital transformation initiatives—including the launch of the MyMaccas loyalty programme and exponential growth in app usage—said the firm is designed for ambitious, fast-scaling businesses, particularly those backed by private equity.

“The studio is built on a simple belief: the best transformation is the one that makes the next one unnecessary,” he said, adding that senior practice leads across design, data and technology are currently being recruited.

Central to Underdog’s proposition is a commercial model that charges clients based on results rather than time spent, a structure increasingly gaining traction among independent consultancies. Clarke argues this aligns incentives more closely with business outcomes, eliminating inefficiencies that plague traditional engagements.

“The goal was never transformation,” he said. “It was always growth. We use design, data, technology and AI, combined with hands-on experience, to grow our customers’ businesses. Like any good underdog, we aim to achieve more with less—more growth with less cost, time and frustration.”

The launch also comes amid a widening gap between investment in transformation and tangible returns, particularly in emerging technologies. Clarke pointed to findings from Deloitte indicating that only 12 per cent of Australian leaders believe generative AI is already transforming their business, compared to a global average of 25 per cent.

For Underdog Studio, that disparity underscores a broader industry problem—one it hopes to address by simplifying transformation and tying it directly to growth.