Sydney, Australia – Toyota Australia has recently launched their new campaign for the Toyota HiLux, showcasing how HiLux owners have a special place in their hearts for their ute, an unbreakable connection that has been built for over 50 years. 

Made possible with Saatchi & Saatchi, Toyota Australia’s campaign features a film centred around a separated couple sharing a love for their HiLux, which eventually brings them back together. 

Specifically, the film starts with the couple legally separating but takes shared custody of their beloved HiLux and takes turns driving it, until it makes them reminisce their memories together, getting back their bond as a couple. 

Talking about the campaign, Vin Naidoo, chief marketing officer of Toyota Australia, said, “We know that Australia has a special relationship – an unbreakable connection, you could say, with the Toyota Hilux, built up over 50 years and is certainly one we are very proud of.”

Meanwhile, Steve Cochran, chief creative officer of Saatchi & Saatchi, added, “There’s a hugely strong legacy of work for HiLux in Australia. The opportunity to continue that is both a privilege and a kind of responsibility. We certainly hope the country thinks we’ve done that legacy proud with this fun new iteration.”

Australia – Multinational communications and advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi has appointed creative duo Mandie van der Merwe and Avish Gordhan as new chief creative officers in Australia.

The creative duo is expected to bring their expansive portfolio of experience and awards as they take the lead in the agency’s creative offering.

Gordhan and van der Merwe have made a name for themselves by establishing environments where creativity doesn’t merely tap into culture but sparks it.

The duo have also been creative partners for 20 years and have polished their craft across three continents. Their works have been recognised over 300 times at the biggest award shows in the industry, including D&AD, Cannes Lions, The One Show, Clios, and Spikes.

Dave Bowman, chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe ANZ, said, “I am beyond excited to be able to bring Mandie and Avish onboard to lead Saatchi & Saatchi’s creative offering. With their unique people skills, strategic prowess, and creative firepower, I can’t wait to see what these two amazingly talented new-world creatives make possible at the intersection of storytelling, data, technology, and media.”

Commenting on the appointment, Patrick Rowe, CEO at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, said, “Dave and I wanted to double down on creativity at Saatchi & Saatchi, so approaching Mandie and Avish just made sense. Why get one Chief Creative Officer when you can get two with an awards list as long as your arm? More importantly, they understand the role creative thinking plays in a new integrated world and will be a driving force for change. We couldn’t be more excited that they’re joining our team.”

Speaking on her new role, Mandie van der Merwe said, “When Saatchi & Saatchi come knocking, you answer. And when the person knocking is Dave Bowman, you take out the fancy biscuits. Between Pat and the team, there is an infectious passion for creativity that is hard to ignore.”

Avish Gordhan, in his new role, also shared, “This is an agency brand with a storied history and incredible work, locally and globally. The opportunity to be part of that is both humbling and exciting. We love bringing ideas and storytelling together in new ways with media, tech, and data. And it makes me itchy with anticipation thinking about how we can do that with this team.

Sydney – As global beer brewing company Heineken celebrated its 150th birthday around the world, Heineken Australia marked the milestone by launching the ‘Celebrate Whatever You Call Us’ campaign, a local campaign that encouraged Aussies to creatively make up unofficial nicknames to label Heineken beer. 

The ad, created by Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, encourages Australians to invite their friends over for a Heineken and joke around about their favourite beer nicknames. The potential for their beer name to feature in Heineken’s national campaign, on digital billboards, or on beer taps in chosen hospitality establishments around the nation serves as the main motivation for engagement.

Heineken and Saatchi & Saatchi also called on Daniel Ricciardo, Australia’s very own eight-time F1 Grand Prix winner and racing driver, to assist in consumer interaction and inspire Aussies to get creative. Ricciardo parodies several beer nicknames by using a pun involving beer and recognizable places or people, such as Mt. Frothiuszko, Steve Brewscemi, and even his own nickname, Daniel Beerciardo.

Speaking about the campaign, Dino Bozzone, country manager at Heineken Australia, said, “Australians have such an enthusiastic passion for nicknaming everything, and yet, despite Heineken being one of the nation’s most popular beers to drink, we realised Aussies don’t really have an existing nickname for our brand. Rather than trying to force this, our local campaign centres around inserting Heineken into the existing category vernacular of beer nicknames.”

“It also insinuates that Heineken isn’t precious as a brand, as we’re open-minded about the way our consumers reference us, because this ultimately doesn’t matter. All that does is Aussies continue to celebrate with us down under! That’s a legacy Heineken wants to continue championing for the next 150 years, not just here in Australia, but in the remaining 191 countries where Heineken is sold around the world. We’re excited for Aussies to unleash their imagination and see what quirky, fun and original beer nicknames they can brew up,” he added. 

Sydney, Australia – Home loans specialist RAMS in Australia has recently launched an integrated campaign that highlights the statement ‘Home loans are what we do’, done in collaboration with advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

RAMS, which deems to be the leading home loans specialist in the country, helps Australians realize the dream of homeownership by providing simple yet flexible home loans. It also offers a range of deposit products that are available online, home, and contents, as well as landlord insurance solutions through referral partners.

The campaign centered around RAMS’ ‘rambassador’ Raymond A Ram. He presented his confident, attitude-driven personality traits, and his role in the home-buying journey. Raymond celebrated the amazing things that can happen when a person focuses on one thing, which he associated with the brand’s expertise in the home loan space, reinforcing RAMS’ position as a first-party lender.

https://vimeo.com/545275823/445f3bfb4d

RAMS’ head of marketing and digital Christian Johansson said, “We wanted to celebrate what really sets RAMS apart – our team of home loan specialists who focus only on providing tailored home loan solutions for customers. This campaign captures this commitment to customers and how we’re here to support them in their home buying journey.”

Meanwhile, Sam Chappell, the creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, commented, “RAMS has always been a little quirky. It’s fronted by a ram, after all. So we wanted to keep some fun in the brand while cementing our point of difference in the home lending category. With Dave Klaiber and the team at Heckler, we feel we’ve created something really unique.”

Australia – Global family history website Ancestry in Australia has launched a new integrated campaign titled ‘There Could Be More To Your Story’, which aims to inspire Australians to explore their own family history.

Ancestry offers its members access to one billion searchable family history records that reflect their multicultural heritage and enables them to explore local and international records including the convict and free settler lists, passenger lists, and electoral rolls and military records, as well as English, Welsh and Scottish censuses, and birth, marriage and death records, among others.

The integrated campaign is done in collaboration with creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and is the first piece of work for Ancestry since winning the project in December 2020.

Shot by Scoundrel award-winning director James Dive, ‘There Could Be More To Your Story’ visually demonstrates the rich tapestry of information available on the website that leans into the intrigue and meaningful discoveries associated with family history.

https://vimeo.com/544882373/c591117dff

Erin Bennett, the country manager of Ancestry Australia, said that Saatchi & Saatchi understands the magic that can come from uncovering the stories in the family history, and that their creative concepts bring this emotion to life in a fresh, visually compelling way that strongly captures the brand’s identity.

Saatchi & Saatchi Chief Creative Officer Mike Spirkovski, commented, “It’s fascinating how little many of us know of our past, especially the finer details which create the bigger picture. We wanted to showcase just how much goes into an individual’s story and the discoveries one could make when using Ancestry.”

Meanwhile, Anna Cherry, the national head of strategy at Spark Foundry, the media agency of Ancestry, said, “It’s wonderful to work with a partner like Saatchi & Saatchi who can help reflect this focus on reaching the curious audience end-to-end; from our media approach to the creative that will be in the market.”

The campaign will run in Australia and New Zealand, and will be handled by Spark Foundry.