Tag: Special Group

Australia – Pepsi Max has launched a new campaign, highlighting a design flaw that’s been hiding in plain sight in the name of the brand’s biggest competitor, reminding Aussies that food tastes better with Pepsi Max.

The cheeky OOH-driven campaign, conceptualised by Special, lets drinkers of the competitor’s product know they’re settling for just ‘OK’ when they don’t choose Pepsi Max, with ads appearing on OOH sites across the country. The media strategy also spans print, display, publisher partnerships, an influencer program, and social signs.

The ‘Tastes OK’ campaign, is the latest iteration of the established Pepsi Max ‘Tastes Better’ brand platform, also highlights the unfortunate comparative term ‘OK’ in the spelling of the competitor’s name and invites consumers to choose a better tasting partner for their favourite meal by ordering Pepsi Max.

Vandita Pandey, chief marketing officer, snacks and beverages at PepsiCo ANZ, said, “We have long known that Pepsi Max tastes better than our main competitor and this latest campaign helps us reinforce our position as a challenger brand. Australia’s meals are not being done justice, palates across the nation are being deprived, whilst consumers settle for OK. Working with Special Group to bring to life our bold and disruptive nature with a little light-hearted fun is something we know resonates well with customers.”

Meanwhile, Simon Gibson and Nils Eberhardt, creative directors at Special said: “Getting briefed to work on the ‘Tastes Better’ campaign is exciting and intimidating in equal measure. It’s such a bold and direct line and it’s led to great work in the past, so we all knew we needed to do something that lived up to it. Then, our competitor did it for us. We saw an image they put out into the world and noticed something we couldn’t unsee.”

Australia – The western market’s top food delivery Uber Eats has released a new iteration of its famous ‘Tonight I’ll Be Eating’ (TIBE) campaign, and this time, it features American Got Talent’s Simon Cowell and Australia’s household entertainment group, The Wiggles.

Created with Special Group Australia, Uber and the agency have been roping in famous stars and developing tongue-in-cheek narratives that play around the stars’ trademark quirks. 

The new spot centers around Cowell’s known hard-hitting personality as a popular talent contest judge. He plays, ‘Grey Wiggle’, the latest member of the family-favorite band, and as the band jams while waiting for their Uber Eats delivery, Cowell calmly sits on the couch, dishing out on brutally direct feedback on the group’s singing. 

In the latter part, Cowell, in a sarcastic portrayal, says, “Thank you. Congratulations, I now hate music.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnopt6QbCoY

The ‘Tonight I’ll Be Eating’ campaign franchise is now in its fifth year. first debuting in 2017. Starting out purely catered to the ANZ audience, early campaigns featured Aussie stars Naomi Watts, and professional rugby league footballer Beau Ryan, among others.

The most recent TIBE spot was launched last September 2020, which was an inaugural campaign for the North America audience. The specific spot drew in heightened excitement from the audience especially from Sci-Fi fans as it featured notable actors of the Star Wars and Star Trek franchise Mark Hamill and Patrick Stewart.

Uber Eats ANZ’s Head of Marketing David Griffiths noted that more and more, they are seeing Aussie families come into the food delivery category.

“The Wiggles are an Aussie institution and Simon was the perfect person to join the band as The Grey Wiggle. The campaign builds from week to week across all forms of traditional, digital, and social media so keep an eye out for some amazing collaborations and VIP appearances,” said Griffiths.

Max McKeon, the Uber APAC creative director at Special Group Australia, shared that the ‘Tonight I’ll Be Eating’ brand platform has made its way now to over seven different countries but that their latest campaign has brought it home again, pitting the harsh critique of Cowell against the unbending optimism of the Wiggles. 

“It not only shows what great sports everyone involved was, but every adult who’s ever had to watch the family-friendly group will automatically empathize,” said McKeon.

The agency said that more Wiggles characters are set to appear in upcoming featurettes, including fan-favorites Henry the Octopus.

The integrated campaign is already running across TV, out-of-home, radio, social, and digital, as well as owned channels.

Australia – Creative agency Special Group in Australia has appointed Max McKeon, former creative director of marketing and advertising company Colenso BBDO, to be its new creative director.

Prior to his new position, McKeon has previously worked with world-class brands, such as Toyota, Nestle, and Telstra. He also worked on renowned brands including DB Export, Monteith’s, Extra, and Pedigree, as well as Spark, and Eta, where he led campaigns like ‘I’m Drinking it for you’, ‘Take a Baby Step into Parenting’, and ‘That’s Why’. McKeon was also responsible for the famous ‘It’s a Tide Ad’ Superbowl spot and was awarded with over 100 individual recognitions. 

Commenting on his appointment, McKeon said “I am incredibly excited to be joining such an ambitious and talented group of people at Special Group. Their world-class and award-winning work is truly impressive and I can’t wait to be part of it.”

Meanwhile, Julian Schreiber, the chief creative officer and partner of Special Group Australia, said, “Max is a huge global talent. He’s had a real habit of making work in the past that’s always given us that gnawing envy feeling. Not only that, but he’s also grounded and a good human. So, there’s no doubt he’ll make a huge contribution to not just the work, but our entire agency’s culture.”

Special Group has also recently hired Matt Bladin, its new art director, and Phoebe Sloane, the new creative, to join the Melbourne-based creative team.

Australia – Australian-based independent creative agency, Special Group has appointed Abigail Dawson to the newly created role of brand director. 

In her new role, Abigail will be responsible for steering the Special Group narrative, overseeing the agency’s business development and PR strategy and management. 

Prior to joining the agency, Dawson spent the last four years as a journalist at the marketing publication Mumbrella, where she held positions including senior content journalist, senior reporter, and advertising and comms reporter. 

Abigail will report to CEO Lindsey Evans. Evans said, “Despite the rollercoaster challenges of COVID -19, we are incredibly fortunate to be in a position to invest in our own brand’s development. We are thrilled to welcome Abigail to the Special Group family. She brings deep industry knowledge and fierce passion and we can’t wait to see that manifest at Special Group.” 

Meanwhile, Dawson shared that the move was part of her plan to fully live out her passion.

“I am incredibly grateful to the team at Mumbrella. The growth and development I have made over the last four years will stay with me forever, but now feels like the right time to follow my passion for advertising and explore new opportunities,” said Dawson.