Tag: Australia

Sydney, Australia – Tech company Yahoo has announced the launch of an integrated campaign with their art curator project Future Art to release an explainer series about the concept and implications of Web3 technology.

As part of the integrated campaign, Yahoo has collaborated with crypto artists – Em!, Serwah Attafuah, and Coldie – to create and promote original NFT artworks for a series called ‘Future Shock’. In addition, Yahoo Creative Studios has built custom WebAR extensions of these NFTs through their immersive platform. By simply scanning a QR code, users can interact and explore the works in augmented reality wherever they are. 

Yahoo’s Head of Innovation & Yahoo Creative Studios, Zoe Cocker, explains how this campaign peeks into the future of digital advertising.

“Future Shock celebrates the changing face of the internet which is fundamentally what our industry is based upon. Yahoo has long been at the forefront of innovation and we’re committed to helping our partners navigate this new space,” Cocker said.

She added, “This project explores the intersection of art, culture and commerce that we’re seeing emerge in Web3. The creator economy is on the rise and raising huge opportunities for artists, many industries are facing disruption, and new communities are emerging as the internet evolves. There’s never been a more exciting time for advertisers to connect with consumers in an immersive way to offer real value.”

The NFT artworks will be on show at the ‘Future Art is Vivid’ event at Home The Venue on 27 May. Organised by Future Art as part of Vivid’s opening night, the event will showcase original artworks from 24 of the world’s leading crypto-artists. Guests will be able to interact with the works and the stories behind them, plus experience immersive shows, live music, theatrical performances, AR/VR lounges, and cocktail bars. 

Future Art is the brainchild of Sydney-based crypto art curators Sats Moon and Potbelleez Producer and DJ Dave Goode, two pioneers of the Australian digital art scene.

Moon commented, “Future Art is Vivid has been curated as a multi-sensory journey to remodel your experience of contemporary art. We’re so excited to be bringing the very best international crypto-artists onto the Australian stage. Digital art has boomed into a multi-billion-dollar global market. There’s no doubt this is the way of the future.”

Australia — The wealth management group, Colonial First State (CFS), is encouraging Aussies to change their perception of retirement, turning it from a perceived ‘ending’ to an opportunity to unleash their ‘second half’. The company has collaborated with their newly appointed creative agency, It’s Friday, to deliver a new brand platform and TTL campaign entitled ‘Unleash Your Second Half’ surrounding this message.

The campaign focuses on asking pre-retirees an important and unexpected inquiry, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” It’s a question normally asked of the young but is given surprising new relevance when put to ambitious Australians about to embark on their second half. Each character we see in the TV spots has a vision for their future that will give them as much, if not more, purpose than their working life.

Todd Stevenson, chief customer officer at CFS, says that the new campaign created by It’s Friday recognises that, for many Australians, retirement isn’t what it used to be and when planned for, it can be an exciting new time of personal growth, achievement, and purpose.

“A time when people often have more freedom to pursue things that are meaningful to them, but not necessarily what they did in their first half. CFS wants to celebrate that and help Australians make it as great as it should be and recognise the important role that a financial adviser can play,” Stevenson said.

More recently, Australian pre-retirees are rejecting their established notion of retirement. Many are entering this new phase of life on their own terms, injecting it with new purpose and a desire for ongoing fulfilment and meaning. To them, retirement is the beginning of their second half.

Vince Lagana, chief creative officer of It’s Friday, added, “It’s exciting to take a category that often feels passive and cliché and inject new energy into it by flipping the traditional Message.”

He continued, “Some retirees may want to sail off into the sunset and take long walks on a beach, and all too often that’s how older people are depicted in advertising, but retirement doesn’t have to be that. It can be a chance to rediscover your youthful exuberance and try new things. Acknowledging this will be a breath of fresh air for many pre-retirees, while repositioning CFS as the brand dedicated to making it happen.”

Australia – Out-of-home (OOH) media company JCDecaux has been awarded a tender by Queensland Rail, which will expand its current portfolio, retaining existing formats and adding new digital assets and locations across Australia’s second-largest state. 

JCDecaux has been providing advertising solutions to Queensland Rail for over ten years, and with the new tender, another 10-year contract will be commencing in July 2022. This will see JCDecaux add 13 new roadside digital large format sites and six digital bulkheads in various locations, which will allow advertisers to have access to consistent advertising opportunities across the entire Eastern Seaboard, from Sydney Trains to Queensland Rail.

In addition, full-motion audio and video digital XTrackTV screens will be deployed at stations including a brand-new deployment at Brisbane’s Central Station. About 50 existing static sites will be replaced with 75-inch screens, providing high resolution, quality viewing of the campaign, which doubles the number of digital locations.

Steve O’Connor, JCDecaux’s CEO, said, “Queensland is poised for further economic vibrancy as it begins its preparations for the 2032 Olympics. Our expanded station and digital presence will provide brands with a wealth of new advertising opportunities to connect with its growing population.”

JCDecaux said that this ten-year contract has an option to extend beyond 2032.

In April 2022, JCDecaux has also been awarded an extended tender by the North Sydney Council to be its exclusive street furniture provider, which was inked for a term of nine years.

Sydney, Australia – ​Socially-led creative agency We Are Social in Australia has appointed Ben Clare, former group creative director at independent creative agency Emotive, to be its new executive creative director.

Clare’s creative reputation has been built over a 15-year career working in Australia and the United States. Aside from his previous role at Emotive, Clare was the creative director at TBWA Sydney, Clemenger BBDO Sydney, and Johannes Leonardo in New York. Over his career, Clare has also worked with brands including Google, Qantas, Tourism Australia, and Amazon, as well as Optus, and Skittles, amongst many others, helping them tell their stories in meaningful ways across film, digital experiences, and branded entertainment, as well as PR, and social.

In his new role, Clare will be leading the development of We Are Social Australia’s creative vision, working with a team of editors, copywriters, art directors, videographers, and photographers, as well as designers, delivering social-first ideas and integrated campaigns for clients including Samsung, Audi, Foxtel, and TikTok, amongst others.

Commenting on his appointment, Clare said that the opportunity to join We Are Social and help define its next chapter proved impossible to pass up. 

“More importantly, We Are Social is filled with lovely and talented people eager to take risks. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” added Clare.

Meanwhile, Suzie Shaw, We Are Social’s CEO for Australia, commented that he loves Clare’s work, and his energy. 

“Having him join the business at a time when we’ve got so many great clients all looking for interesting ideas, I’m seriously excited about the next creative chapter for We Are Social,” said Shaw.

Australia – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia, a peak trade association for digital advertising in Australia, has launched a new industry training program for marketers seeking to understand and make better use of the affiliate and partnership sector. 

The affiliate and partnership marketing training program is offered free of charge in an online format and is an ideal resource for those who are new to this form of digital marketing, as well as anyone currently involved in it. It has been developed by the IAB Australia Affiliate Marketing Working Group.

The program covers the basics of affiliate and partnership marketing, including a market overview, key players, affiliate kinds, and best practices. There is also useful information on technology and tracking, best use of data, and how these relate to the latest privacy regulations.

The course outline contains the following topics: What is Affiliate and Partnership Marketing, Strategy and Best Practice, Working with Affiliate Partners, Choosing the Right Affiliate, Technology and Tracking, Data, Privacy, and Regulation.

Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia, said that brands seeking to launch affiliate and partnership marketing programs face an ever-evolving landscape of opportunities and a creative and diverse ecosystem that touches on many points in a customer’s journey. 

“Our training program will deliver a thorough exploration of the landscape and deliver a useful guide to best practice for both those new to the sector and those seeking to expand their knowledge,” Roy said.

The topics covered within the training have been influenced by the IAB Affiliate and Partnership Marketing Industry Review released earlier this year. 

Australia – Financial services brand Suncorp Insurance has launched a new campaign called ‘Resilience Road’, which aims to demonstrate and educate how resilient thinking can help save a home from the impact of ever-increasing climate events.

The campaign, which was developed in partnership with advertising agency Leo Burnett, was designed through the use of the data and insights from last year’s One House project by Suncorp. Assessing five houses in one of Australia’s most disaster-prone towns, Rockhampton, the campaign highlights how families could make resilience their next renovation. 

Moreover, Suncorp and Leo Burnett have also worked with The Glue Society to create a fully integrated content system that people can use, learn, and apply to their own homes. The project team has seen a transformation in the families that took part in how they looked at preparing for natural disasters and how much more control they could have over their fate.

Suncorp has also unveiled the Resilience Road Hub, a virtual demonstration of the project and a place where people can learn about upgrades to make to their own homes.

Mim Haysom, Suncorp’s executive general manager of brand and marketing, shared, “Following on from the success of One House, we created Resilience Road with the intention of taking the elements of our One House prototype into the real world, and to demonstrate how some relatively small and simple changes to your home could be the difference between your home surviving a severe weather event or not. 

“You can see from the reaction of the families we supported through the process, how transformative this thinking can be. Not just for one home, but for whole communities,” said Haysom. 

Meanwhile, Andy Fergusson, Leo Burnett’s executive creative director, said, “Since the inception of One House, our vision and ambition has always been to democratise resilience and make it accessible to all Australians. Resilience Road is yet another step in making our homes and community as resilient as possible.”

The campaign will run in Queensland across broadcast television, radio, online, and across social.

Australia – Australian media company Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has elevated Rebecca Ackland, former people and culture manager at SCA, to the new role of chief people and culture officer.

In her new role, Ackland will be working to align culture and change initiatives at SCA to deliver against its strategic objectives. She will be reporting directly to Grant Blackley, SCA’s CEO.

Commenting on her elevation, Ackland said: “I feel privileged to work closely with Grant and the Leadership Team, and I couldn’t be more excited to continue to champion our award-winning culture, ensuring we place our people and our values at the core of what we do every day.”

Meanwhile, Blackley noted that Ackland is an exceptional executive who has built an amazing team of effective and passionate executives at SCA. 

“During her time as people and culture manager, Rebecca has shaped our people strategy, led change across all departments, and developed a deep understanding of the key business drivers and strategic challenges, as our business progresses its digital transformation. She has a clear vision and uses her expertise to help our leaders take ownership and drive change successfully,” said Blackley.

In February 2022, SCA has also announced the appointment of Lucia Elliott, former principal at marketing consultancy Creighton Ward, to be its new national trade marketing director. She was tasked to drive awareness and understanding of SCA’s total media portfolio.

Sydney, Australia – Media agency Initiative has appointed Daniela Rocchi to the new role of head of partnership for the Sydney team, and Justin ArIt to the new role of head of partnership for the Melbourne team. The move comes after Initiative restructured its partnerships department, aimed at bolstering its leadership team.

Rocchi’s immediate remit in Initiative is to lead the investment and partnerships across the Sydney market, bringing a genuine passion for investment to deliver the best results for clients. Having spent a decade at Initiative, Rocchi has been a stalwart in the agency’s transformation diving into every aspect of the business and proving herself to be a brilliant client adviser and an important partner to media vendors.

Meanwhile, Arlt brings his leadership skills to the Melbourne business. Up to date, he has been intimately involved in numerous Melbourne pitch wins and instrumental in rolling out several key internal processes.

Both will report directly to Simon Reid, Initiative’s national head of partnerships.

Commenting on her new role, Rocchi said, “I could not be happier to be moving into a role that I am extremely passionate about. What I love most about this role is that I will be building my industry relationships into strong partnerships and training our workforce whilst keeping the Initiative culture at the forefront of everything I do.”

Meanwhile, Arlt also commented: “I’m particularly excited to be working through the next evolution of our partnerships learning and development program which will help our teams build stronger relationships with our partners to deliver more meaningful results for our clients.”

Reid shared that given Initiative’s current rapid growth rate, now is the perfect time to restructure their partnerships team, providing huge benefits to their existing clients and allowing for continued agency growth.

“I am extremely proud of both Daniela and Justin and the fact we can promote within is a testament to the tremendous talent we have at Initiative. Both are masters of their craft, high-level negotiators, have built strong senior relationships in their respective markets and have been delivering year on year results for our clients. They both have extensive experience on a broad range of categories and will build formidable teams to benefit our clients,” he said.

Melbourne, Australia — The advertising agency Howatson+Company is experiencing significant growth this year and has added a duo to their creative team; Sophie Beard and Joash Tham are appointed as new creative directors.

Prior to joining Howatson+Company, Beard was an associate creative director at the CHEP Network where she re-launched Flybuys with a Spikes Grand Prix winning music video, created 7-Eleven’s first beauty product and collaborated with artist James Dive on a film for AGL.

Beard’s work has been recognised internationally at Cannes, D&AD, The One Club and New York Festivals. But she is most proud of being an ‘Aunty’ and supporting the next generation of women in the industry.

Meanwhile, Tham returns home to Melbourne from ColensoBBDO, where he recently advocated for small businesses with an Axis grand-Prix award-winning film ‘The Dancer’ for BNZ. Prior to that he effectively outsmarted covid with a Spikes Grand Prix award-winning film ‘Make Lamb, Not Walls’ for MLA, helping The Monkeys receive Agency of The Year at CampaignBrief and B&T 2021. He also co-created the ‘MS Bike’ at Grey Australia which went on to win multiple Cannes Lions.

It is truly a homecoming for Tham. In just over 10 years, his career has taken him from Melbourne to San Francisco, New York City, Sydney and back, working with some of the industry’s best creative talent at some of the most notable agencies in the world.

Levi Slavin, CCO at Howatson+Company, said that Beard and Tham are incredible creatives and will make inspirational creative leaders and they’re nice people.

“Beard is super clever but always makes sure I don’t look stupid in front of clients. And Tham is about as neurotic and awkward as me. Seriously. The first time we shook hands, Tham spent 10 minutes talking about how my hand felt in his. In the end, I just had to walk off. But I digress. I’m beyond thrilled to have such an exciting creative team helping to lead our Melbourne office,” Slavin said.

Jointly, Beard and Tham, said, “We’re delighted to be joining Howatson+Company. It’s an opportunity to do the best work of our lives, with some truly talented people. We’re stoked to be part of growing the Melbourne office and are already getting stuck in on some great client briefs.”

Sydney, Australia – Sydney-based business growth consultancy BeingIconic, which helps disruptive up-and-coming scale-ups to move into the mass market, has welcomed former Havas Media Chairman Mike Wilson as its non-executive director and strategic advisor as it readies for hyper growth for the business and its clients locally and globally.

Wilson joined BeingIconic recently, and since stepping down as Havas Media Chair in August last year, Wilson has taken on focused board roles, including at renowned influencer agency Hypetap.

The consultancy said Wilson’s appointment marks the end of BeingIconic’s search for like-minded individuals who can inject new life and valuable expertise into its highly dedicated and dynamic team.

“Mike is a long-standing friend of ours and someone we’re delighted to have on board,” said BeingIconic Partner and Chief Innovation Officer Ian Bell 

“We exist to help transition businesses throughout their scale-up journey. Recent clients include espresso Displays, CrowdProperty, Trendspek, Olinqua, Headsafe and BWX Brands (home to Flora & Fauna, Nourished Life and Sukin). Mike is both the perfect fit for us and our clients. He has a long history of founding, scaling, and acquiring media and creative businesses, and is an expert in industries that are critical to enabling our next stage of growth,” added Bell. 

Wilson has spent most of his career in marketing services and agencies, with a focus on communication and media. He also has significant management and leadership experience having cofounded Naked Communications in 2004 and launching Havas Media as founding CEO in 2013, becoming Chair in 2019.

With over 30 years of experience leading multi-disciplinary marketing communication and growth initiatives for world-leading consumer brands to his credit, Wilson shares his excitement to leap into a new landscape and leverage his experience to help BeingIconic fulfil its potential and grow clients.

“Getting involved in the investment community is something I’m thoroughly enjoying, and I’m seeing a lot of opportunities. The world is moving very fast postCOVID-19, particularly around tech products and services, and the BeingIconic skillset can be applied to multiple verticals,” Wilson said.

Wilson commented that there is massive momentum in Australia, the UK, Europe, and the US in terms of scale-ups, and that with the present connections and affiliations the consultancy has with UK businesses and trade organisations, they expect significant uptake in UK–Australia partnerships as they bring scale-ups to growth in both markets.

“Clearly, the mandate is to expand further internationally, but we are taking a deliberate, staged approach. Delivering from these bases into other markets is something the team already does at pace,” he added.

Sibon Schouten, founder of Mark’d Global and BeingIconic Board Advisor, welcomed Wilson to the fold.

“The team represents new and lateral thinking that is needed to succeed in an uncertain world, but one latent with new opportunities. By clashing the worlds of branding, business, and culture, they create what the future organisation must deliver – the triple bottom line based on people, planet, and profit. Collaborations with brands like Modibodi and Vanessa Megan show us what is possible if we continue on this path. I am excited to see industry veteran Mike Wilson join us to help businesses scale in Australia and beyond,” she said.