Creative Director Ant Farac appointed to lead new content studio Lightweight Media

Award-winning creative director Ant Farac has been appointed to lead Lightweight Media, a newly launched content studio operating specialising in fast, well-crafted short form and brand-funded entertainment.

Lightweight Media is powered by These Guys I Know – a brand and business strategy consultancy – and recognises brands’ need for higher quality, fast turn around content solutions. Lightweight is designed to work directly with brands – or with agencies who do not have internal content creation services.

Farac brings decades of experience within the content and creative space to the role. He was formerly Executive Creative Director at MediaWorks and later Discovery Networks, where he created and oversaw the THREE, ThreeNow and Newshub brands. His creative leadership extended across some of New Zealand’s most recognisable reality franchises – including X Factor, Dancing with the Stars and The Block – which he launched into the New Zealand market as well as the development of brand identities for Newsroom, South Pacific Pictures and TVNZ’s Snackmasters, among others.

Farac has also worked on successful broadcast products – from the iconic animated series Bro’town through to recent factual projects like Heavyweight with Dave Letele (which he created and directed all three episodes) and has also led creative and production of promotional elements for channels, shows and brands – spanning titles, graphics packages, navigation, promotional spots and channel identities. All of these tools are now available direct-to-brand through the Lightweight offering.

Lightweight Media sits alongside Heavyweight Media, launched by These Guys I Know in 2023 with a focus on long-form broadcast and factual production, Lightweight Media delivers faster turnaround content without sacrificing quality.

Farac has enjoyed a front row seat during changes in the content industry over the years and says Lightweight Media’s approach reflects how the industry has changed – “Broadcast taught us how to capture a nation’s attention at scale – but today, the challenge is how to sustain that attention across countless platforms and formats. That’s where Lightweight comes in. We apply the craft and discipline of broadcast to short-form and brand-funded content”

Lightweight Media offers AI, Premium, Corporate and Snackable content solutions, and also develops brand-funded concepts from scratch. Backed by the strategy expertise of These Guys I Know, the studio is built to help brands move quickly in an always-on, short-form environment while maintaining long-term brand value. Says These Guys I Know strategist Amanda Wilson,  “Every brand today is, in effect, a media brand. That requires smart thinking about where to put resources and creativity, because it’s easy to get buried under the weight of content creation. With the right concept, creation and distribution, any brand can operate like a media brand – and we believe the future of content is lightweight.”

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