South Island locals John and Lisa Plato of Plato Creative are passionate about cementing Christchurch’s place on the agency map, but their quest hasn’t been without its hurdles. Shortly after they opened their agency’s doors in 2007, the global financial crisis hit, with businesses far and wide tightening their purse strings as it took hold. That was followed a few years later by the more local emergency of the Christchurch earthquakes, the effects of which the city is still recovering from. But despite these ups and downs going on around them, co-founder and Chief Executive John is philosophical about what it means for the agency.
“One thing we’ve found in business is that every time there’s a crisis, we’ve
