Tag: BMF

Sydney, Australia – Local creative agency BMF has been appointed by global car sharing marketplace Turo to handle its creative account ahead of its launch in the Australian market.

As part of the partnership, BMF will be responsible for developing Turo’s brand marketing activities and growing their awareness in Australia as the business expands nationally.

Tim Rossanis, managing director at Turo Australia, said, “As the largest car sharing marketplace in the world, we’re incredibly excited to provide Australians with the opportunity to build a business on Turo.” 

He added, “Our vision is for guests to come to Turo for a car to match any occasion and BMF is the perfect creative partner to help us drive home that message. After years of lockdowns and La Nina, this summer will be full of people enjoying the special travel experiences that Australia has to offer, and if there’s a day for it, we have a car for it.”

Meanwhile, Steve McArdle, CEO at BMF, commented: “The car rental market has been crying out for a disruptor since forever, and Turo is it. They’ve got cars you can’t wait to get behind the wheel of and a leading experience that saves you enormous amounts of time and money. Couple that with a marketing team full of high energy creative wizards who demand interesting work, and you’ve got one excited agency.”

BMF recently worked with The Australian Financial Review to launch a new brand platform called ‘Make It Your Business’.

Sydney, Australia – The Australian Financial Review (AFR), the market’s business-centric media, has launched a new brand platform called ‘Make it your Business’, conceptualised with the help of BMF.

‘Make it Your Business,’ will be released in stages over the next few months, and is a mix of tactical live data OOH, press, digital, social, and podcast assets. 

BMF’s Creative Director, David Roberts, speaks about the brand platform, “‘Make it your Business’ is a call out to anyone, in any field, hustling for success. You never know what AFR article could kickstart your next career move, investment opportunity or entrepreneurial adventure.”

Nine’s Head of Brand and Acquisition, Vera Straubinger, also said, “When you need information you can trust on investing, business moves, and careers, you turn to the most trusted and credible source. The AFR is the source that gives you a deep, nuanced understanding that stretches beyond your own horizons. And goes beyond the headlines.”

This is BMF’s first work for AFR since winning the account earlier this year.

Australia – Creative agency BMF has announced four new appointments, in an aim to double down on the agency’s creativity, effectiveness, content, and social capabilities. These include Hannah McHard, the new head of effectiveness, Phoebe Carden, the new content and social strategist, and Alister McCann and Joe Mallett, the new senior creatives. 

Before joining BMF, McHard has a four-year stint as insights and strategy manager at supermarket ALDI Australia. In addition, McHard also has held a 14-year position at Kantar. As new head of effectiveness, McHard will be harnessing data, analytics, and insights, to further BMF’s culture of effectiveness. 

Meanwhile, Carden has been appointed after working as a content social strategist and writer for recognised brandings including Disney, the ABC, Optus, Universal Sony, and NSW Health. In her new position, Carden will be working in a hybrid role with both BMF and its content production arm Bantam, which has worked with clients including ALDI Australia, MONA, TAL, Gumtree, RMIT University, and UN Women. With the recent wins of Lounge Lovers and George Weston Foods’ social account, Carden will be driving both Bantam’s and BMF’s social capabilities and identifying new opportunities to inform brand and content strategy, working across key clients.

Adding to its creative team is Mallet, who has spent six years at Lucky Generals London and has worked on world-class clients including, PlayStation, Hostelworld, the co-op supermarket, and most recently Amazon’s Super Bowl commercial, featuring Scarlett Johansson.

In addition, McCann, who also joins as a senior creative, has worked at agencies including AnalogFolk, CX Lavender, The Works, M&C Saatchi, and The Green House on brands including Westfield Australia, Westpac, CommBank, McDonald’s, Optus, Woolworths, and Curtin University, as well as Coke Zero and Coors Beer.

“Alister and Joe have only just got through the door and they’re already making a big impact, not only on our client’s business but on the culture of collaboration and kindness that BMF is so proud of. With their talent and experience in non-traditional thinking, both here and overseas, they’re going to do great things and we’re all very happy they’ve decided to call BMF home,” said Alex Derwin, chief creative officer at BMF Australia.

Meanwhile, Christina Aventi, chief strategy officer at BMF, commented that they’re thrilled to have Carden and McHard join their motley crew of planners, as both are believers in creativity and effectiveness that will help them navigate the metrics that matter in a world of data overload. 

“Phoebe will be working closely with Irina, Executive Director, Digital and Direct Strategy across our clients and our content unit Bantam. Hannah will be working across ALDI and government and any client that expresses an interest in unlocking even greater effectiveness in their communications (like everyone?). In a tight talent market, we feel really lucky to have these two dynamos join us,” said Aventi.

Australia – To mark the World Refugee Day for Australia, which is celebrated on 20 June, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights, and building a better future for displaced people, has launched a new campaign, aimed at telling the story of the reluctant sailor, refugee survivors, as well as honouring their courage and resilience.

Created in partnership with creative agency BMF and production company FINCH, the new campaign, which is titled ‘Reluctant Shanty’, features TikTok star Nathan Evans – the modern, global face of sea shanty music – and three Australian refugees. Evans will be helping launch ‘The Reluctant Shanty’ song, which was created and inspired by interviews with five refugees.

Doug Hamilton, creative director at BMF, shared that sea shanties are a 400-year-old genre of music developed by sailors to tell stories of adventure at sea, but today, not all sailors want to go to sea. 

“‘The Reluctant Shanty’ is the first shanty based on the experiences of refugees, who’ve embarked on dangerous journeys by sea, in search of safety and survived to tell their story,” said Hamilton.

Meanwhile, Kyra Bartley, director at FINCH, commented, “The most important part of this project for me was making sure that the humanity of our three heroes shone through. The elevated visual approach gave us the symbolism and cinematic scope we needed, whilst still maintaining a raw intimacy that cuts right through to your heart.” 

The campaign will be available across TikTok, PR, and Instagram.

Australia – The Australian Government has launched the fourth phase of its domestic violence prevention campaign ‘Stop it at the Start,’, aimed at encouraging influencers of youth to help bring up respect.

The national campaign, which was created in partnership with creative marketing agency BMF and the Department of Social Services, highlights the importance of having regular proactive conversations about respect to nurture a culture that prevents disrespect from manifesting into violence.

Titled ‘Bring Up Respect’, the fourth spot celebrates the first moments people teach respect, its impact on the children’s emotional development, and the ongoing positive impact of bringing up respect with them early and often.

The campaign was initially launched in April 2016, and its phases one to three have proved to be highly effective, with a significant decline in problematic heuristics and an increased awareness in recognising problematic behaviours. And this time, phase four aims to help people move into a proactive space, demonstrating how positive conversations result in violence prevention.

Christina Aventi, BMF’s chief strategy officer, shared that every phase has been a key step in driving action – phase one was about getting people to recognise how the seeds of disrespect can grow into violence, phase two was about people’s role in perpetuating that, and only then could they go to phase three encouraging intervention in an instance of disrespect. 

“Phase four, six years after launch, moves into a less reactive space, showing the benefits of having conversations about respect as a normal part of everyday life, and how those conversations get passed on. After all, a conversation about respect is the foundation of all the milestone talks in childhood – it almost all comes back to respect,” said Aventi.

Meanwhile, Pia Chaudhuri, BMF’s executive creative director, noted that families regularly celebrate the typical milestone moments in a child’s life – first steps, first words, first day at school, but they rarely acknowledge the moments that are arguably just as important – the moments that children and young people learn and embody key lessons in respect. 

“With this campaign, our goal is to demonstrate that every talk we have about respect doesn’t just make a difference to our own children’s lives, but has a ripple effect on society as a whole, as they then take these learnings into the wider world. In this phase of the campaign, it’s been great to convey such a positive and emotive message,” said Chaudhuri.

The campaign will be rolling out on 27 March 2022 across Australia, and includes TV, online, cinema, OOH, digital, social, and PR, as well as the website – www.respect.gov.au, and tools to assist influencers in educational initiatives to start conversations with young people.

Melbourne, Australia – Creative agency BMF has announced that Richard Woods, former head of account management, and Aisling Colley, former deputy head of account management, have been elevated to the roles of general managers to continue the agency’s growth trajectory.

Woods, who was promoted to head of account management in 2020, joined the Enero Group over six years ago. During his tenure at BMF, Woods has delivered award-winning campaigns during his time at the agency, including for TAL Life Insurance.

Speaking about his appointment, he said, “I’ve been lucky enough to work for two amazing companies within the Enero Group, and while the merger between BMF and Naked was always an exciting opportunity, I wasn’t expecting it to be the most enjoyable years of my career to date.” 

He added, “I found an agency with values they truly demonstrate, a leadership team which balances ambition with empathy, and a team of amazingly talented people that cares so much about the work. I’ve loved every minute and long may it continue in this new role alongside Ais.” 

Meanwhile, Colley has been at BMF for over 10 years, successfully climbing the ranks to deputy head of account management in 2020. For the past four years, Colley has led one of the industry’s most coveted accounts, ALDI.

Speaking on her appointment, she said, “I’m grateful to have been with BMF throughout most of its life and I have to say we’re in a time where it’s never been better. BMF continually produces world-class work, has a key focus for people development and happens to be home to some of the best humans on this planet. I’m absolutely thrilled to be appointed general manager and can’t wait to get stuck into it when I return later in the year.”

Stephen McArdle, CEO at BMF Australia, said, “Over their combined 16 years at BMF, Aisling and Rich have been integral to the growth of our business, our people, and our clients. They don’t just have the talent and heart to make incredible things happen, but they have the guts and kindness to keep building BMF and our culture.”

Melbourne, Australia – Creative marketing agency BMF has appointed Tom Hoskins to be part of its senior creative department as creative director.

He joins the agency with over 25 years of experience in the industry, and has worked across the UK, US, Asia, and Australia. He has also held senior and creative leadership roles at TBWA, Havas, Y&R, and iris, and worked with a premier suite of world class brands including Adidas, Afterpay, Apple, Diageo, Gillette, Nestlé, Netflix, NRL, Samsung and Sony.

Speaking about his appointment, Hoskins said, “Consistency is a vital ingredient in the best agencies, and BMF has it in spades. I couldn’t be more excited about joining Alex, the creative team and all the talented, gutsy and humble humans at BMF.”

Meanwhile, Alex Derwin, chief creative officer at BMF, commented, “Tom is a world class human with fantastic work and global experience under his belt. He’s already made a huge difference in the short time he’s been here, so we feel very lucky to be able to secure him for the long term.”

BMF has appointed previously new hires in their creative team in November last year, as well as new hires for the agency’s planning team.

Australia — Women for Election, a for-purpose and non-partisan organisation with a mission to inspire and equip more women to enter politics, has launched a new campaign entitled ‘Power Like You’ve Never Seen’ to combat gender disparity in opportunities and representation in the country.

The campaign, created in collaboration with BMF and supported by UN Women Australia, encourages Australians to rethink the face of power and support a new era of female political leadership by calling on Australians to question their ideas of what power looks like and to urge more women to become political representatives.

The campaign includes a hero 60-second TVC which features traditional and stereotypical ideas of what power has historically looked like including a name on a building, a title, a suit, a large desk, a spinning chair, and a statue with a plaque on it. The ad asks women to be part of the redefinition of power and change what power looks like by becoming part of it.

In addition, a series of digital out-of-home ads will air across billboards in Australia with the slogans ‘Power Like You’ve Never Seen’ and ‘If You Care, You’re Qualified’ as well as a print advertisement championing a new era in leadership. The TV, OOH and print are further supported by PR, Social & Influencer as well as a microsite. The campaign launches on 7 February on television, social and digital out-of-home around the nation.

Licia Heath, women for election CEO, commented, “Australians are ready for more women in office; in order to make that vision a reality in future elections, we need to change our idea of what power looks like in Australia. We’ve seen women reclaim it by marching in Canberra, and now we want them to exercise it by taking a seat in each of Australia’s political chambers, be that Council, State or Federal.”

Pia Chaudhuri, executive creative director at BMF, said that gender equality is 134 away in Australia, which means no one will ever see a gender-equal society. She continued that the fastest way to reduce this number is to get more women into public office – to give them a seat at the table where legislation is created, and major societal decisions are made. Chaudhuri said that with more women in power, the country can bring this number down to 10 years but the challenge is inspiring women to take up these positions in the first place.

“We realised the reason most women don’t enter politics is simply that, for centuries now, power has been branded as male. So, we decided the only way we’ll ever truly achieve our goal, is to rebrand power itself. To make familiar symbols of power outdated, making way for a more inclusive brand of power. This is obviously a huge ambition. That’s why this is the start of a 10-year campaign – one that will only finish when we’ve reached gender equality. Ultimately, we want both the platform and concept of ‘Power Like You’ve Never Seen’ to become redundant in the not-so-distant future,” Chaudhuri said.

Mandy Galmes, managing director and partner at Sefiani Communications Group, also shared her thoughts, saying, “Forget business-as-usual. Australians are turning their eyes to the future and want nothing as usual. As a nation, we are ready for a new era of gender equity in political leadership. To achieve this we need to reconsider what traditional power looks like and support women around the nation who have the leadership skills and experience to play an active part in our political future.”

“At Sefiani we pride ourselves on being agents of change, and that means doing work that matters for positive change-makers. We are excited to be working alongside Women for Election, BMF and Havas to advocate change for a better future,” Galmes said.

Australia – As more and more speed driving cases occur in Australia, increasing risk for fatalities, the NSW Government has released a new campaign aimed at urging motorists to slow down and think about the dangers of going ‘just a bit’ over the speed limit.

The campaign, which was created in collaboration with creative agency BMF and full-service media agency UM, challenges various casual perceptions of low-level speeding to reset the attitudes and culture on NSW roads. 

Its three main objectives are to educate drivers and riders on the significant role speeding plays in fatalities and serious injuries on NSW roads, reset drivers’ attitudes to how they view their normalized ‘everyday speeding’ behavior, and highlight the unique risks of speed and its contribution to crash likelihood and severity. 

Titled ‘Casual Speeding. Every K Counts’, the spots are a confronting reminder that there’s nothing casual about any form of speeding and to reinforce the serious consequences these attitudes can bring.

Tara McCarthy, Transport’s deputy secretary for safety, environment, and regulation for NSW, said, “Every kilometer counts when it comes to speeding on our roads, a little bit over double your chance of crashing, and this campaign demonstrates how speeding can change your life and others’ lives forever.”

Meanwhile, Christina Aventi, BMF’s chief strategy officer, noted that by labeling a new type of speeding, the ad encourages motorists to take a moment to self-assess, recognize risk, and correct their low-level speeding. 

“We hope that the term ‘Casual Speeding’ provides a way for road users to talk about this dangerous behavior,” said Aventi.

Andy Clift, UM’s senior client director, said, “Our media strategy will shift the cultural perception of ‘speeding’ by defining and showcasing the impact of what a few kilometers over the speed limit can have.

The campaign was launched last 14 November 2021.It will be supported by OOH, and include a radio partnership and social media, to tap into diverse state-wide communities at the grassroots. 

The campaign will also be supported by a wide-ranging media strategy developed by UM to spark discussion.

Australia – Creative agency BMF in Sydney has announced two new teams to further strengthen its creative department. Within the teams are four new hires. 

Joining the senior creative team are Josie Fox, former senior art director at creative agency Special Group Australia, and Harry Stanford, former senior copywriter at Special Group Australia. On the other hand, Erica Mallett, former radio host at radio station Triple J, and Angel McMullan, current art director at BMF, will be joining the new junior creative team. 

For more than 10 years, Fox and Stanford have worked at various agencies across Australia and London. Both have previously worked at Special Group for the past five years, and some of the duo’s most notable work includes their Uber Eats campaigns – Australian Open ‘No Repeats’ and ‘Tonight I’ll be Eating’ with Simon Cowell and the Wiggles.

Fox and Stanford commented, “BMF has such a wide range of exciting and iconic clients and is full of lovely people. Who wouldn’t want to get stuck into some juicy new briefs and make some work that both we and Australia love?”

Meanwhile, the agency is beefing up its creative force with Mallett bringing with her a multi-faceted background as a musician, content creator, and podcaster, while McMullan carries with her credentials in literary creatives as a book designer and picture book illustrator.

Mallett and McMullan said, “We can’t wait to get our grubby little fingers all up in BMF’s pies. We’re looking forward to using our experience to bring to life some big, meaningful ideas – and to learn from the incredibly clever team at BMF.”

With the new appointments, Alex Derwin, BMF’s chief creative officer, noted that the agency prizes its open and collaborative culture above everything.

“Josie, Harry, Angel, and Erica are top-drawer creative thinkers who offer an even more diverse skill set to our creative department,” said Derwin.

Just recently, BMF has also appointed three new hires to strengthen its planning department, namely Anna Bollinger, the new head of planning, Jessica Sutanto, the new senior strategic planner, and Benjamin Yap, its new junior planner.