There’s a new player on the advisory scene, and it’s not business as usual.
The Meliora Company, launched by industry veteran Clive Dickens, is setting out to redefine how companies across IT, telecommunications, and media-entertainment sectors embed AI into their operations.
Instead of offering generic roadmaps and off-the-shelf strategies, Meliora wants to dig into the messy middle, where ambition meets execution.
The firm is built around a lean, cross-continental team of approximately 10 specialists, spread across Sydney, London, and Los Angeles, covering the APAC, EMEA, and the Americas.
It’s a model designed for flexibility over formality, aiming to move fast and build AI capability from the inside out.
Dickens, whose past chapters include senior roles at Optus, Seven West Media and Shazam, isn’t interested in traditional consultancy thinking.
With Meliora, he’s pitching a different kind of support, one that’s hands-on, commercially grounded, and wired for the rapid pace of tech evolution.
Whether it’s helping telcos rewire their customer experience or supporting entertainment businesses through AI-powered content and workflow shifts, the promise is clear: strategic clarity and practical momentum, not just decks and diagnostics.
A return to roots in a new AI era
“After 12 years in Australia working across SCA, Channel Seven, and Optus, I’m returning to something that feels very familiar,” said Dickens.
“Before moving here, I had my own business with partners, and Meliora is a return to that entrepreneurial model, but now operating across multiple regions and with a clear focus on where the real opportunity lies.”
That opportunity, he says, stems from a moment of seismic technological change.
“We haven’t seen a shift like this since the arrival of the iPhone in 2007. The proliferation of GenAI apps since late 2022 has triggered a new kind of industrial revolution. The pace of change is profound.”
Dickens describes the new advisory as being built for optimism in the face of AI uncertainty.
“There’s so much noise about AI replacing jobs or becoming dangerous, but you’ve got to be relentlessly optimistic. Just like the car replaced the horse and reshaped economies, AI will reshape ours, but only if we act on it, not fear it.”
Why Meliora thinks it’s different
At its core, Meliora is practitioner-led. That phrase gets thrown around often, but Dickens insists it’s more than branding.
“A lot of consultancies lack recent, real-world experience. We’ve been at the coalface. We’ve procured the hardware, worked with the engineers, reviewed the code. That hands-on experience is essential when advising companies trying to modernise legacy systems,” he said.
The company has structured itself around three pillars: product development, talent advisory, and a Ventures and Creative IP Fund aimed at surfacing new ideas and creators within the TMT (technology, media, telco) space.
“Efficiency is important, sure. But growth is the goal,” said Dickens. “We want to help clients build AI products that improve the customer experience, drive better returns, and create more meaningful internal processes.”
Deep tech, not surface gloss
Meliora’s working philosophy includes what Dickens calls ‘Level Three curiosity.’
“It means going beyond the PowerPoint layer. You’ve got to be willing to get your hands dirty. When I was at Optus, I walked the data centres to inspect the infrastructure I was responsible for. That curiosity is essential if we’re serious about solving the problems businesses actually face,” he said.
Often, the biggest roadblock to AI enablement isn’t the AI itself, it’s the old tech stack.
“You’ve got to help businesses get off legacy platforms and into native cloud environments before they can really benefit from new AI tools,” he said.
“Too many firms burn budget and staff energy on proof-of-concepts that go nowhere. We’re here to cut through that and deliver real outcomes.”
Rethinking the advertising playbook
There is, of course, a natural question about where Meliora fits in the advertising value chain, particularly with GenAI being used across planning, sales, creative and attribution.
Dickens, however, sees a market suffering from fragmentation fatigue.
“The digital video layer, BVOD, AVOD, FAST, SVOD, it’s all growing, but buyers are increasingly confused. The beauty of services like Netflix joining OzTAM is that they’re acknowledging the value of a common currency. Standardisation builds trust. Even the most innovative companies can’t ignore that.”
Meliora, he says, will support ad businesses in bridging the gap between AI capability and campaign delivery.
“It’s not about making everything AI. It’s about making AI work within established environments. For marketers, it means tools that genuinely help with planning, brand safety, targeting and reporting. For media owners, it means smarter product development that builds on what works, not just chasing what’s new.”
Global by design, local by nature
Launching with teams in Sydney, London and Los Angeles wasn’t just symbolic. It reflects where Dickens sees real momentum.
“TMT is a global sector, but transformation needs to reflect local market dynamics. Our team is small but senior. Every partner is deeply embedded in the industry they support. This isn’t a fly-in, fly-out model.”
Meliora has already begun partnering with clients across each region. Initial focus areas include helping broadcasters modernise internal workflows, telcos streamline customer experience using AI, and digital businesses explore growth products that scale beyond efficiency.
Looking ahead: what success means
Dickens is quick to downplay early hype.
“Year one for us is about building credibility and proving outcomes. Revenue matters, sure, but so does impact. We want to be known as the team that does the hard work, delivers value, and helps companies navigate this AI era with clarity.”
He quotes a recent comment from a stakeholder in London as a guiding north star: “They said, ‘Clive, sounds like you’re working with people you want to work with, doing things you want to do, in places you want to be.’ That really stuck with me. That’s what success looks like.”
For Australia’s media and marketing industries, the launch of Meliora adds a new type of partner to the table, one grounded in optimism, shaped by frontline experience, and committed to helping companies do more than just talk about transformation.
As Dickens puts it: “AI is the next significant technological advancement. But it’s only useful if we move beyond theory and start building. That’s what we’re here to do.”