Campaign Brief Creative Circle: What’s hot in August?

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Campaign Brief Creative Circle: What’s hot in August?

Each month Campaign Brief invites top creatives to choose one standout piece of Australian work created outside their own agency. It’s a space for celebrating the craft, fresh thinking and homegrown creativity that continues to raise the bar across the industry.

 

August 2025’s edition features Max McKeon, Ogilvy Sydney; Elle Bullen, Hellions; Ant White, Sunday Gravy; Nancy Hartley, RUMBLE Strategic Creative; Ian Williamson, Bear Meets Eagle On Fire; and Bec McCall, HERO Brisbane.


Max McKeon, Ogilvy Sydney

Well now, this is just fun. The team behind “Yes, I DiDi” took a logical thought – that reasonably priced rides allow your night to go further – and they added an illogical amount of entertainment.

Take into account the big players in the rideshare category splashing big budgets on high-profile campaigns, and the smarts behind this playful insanity start to shine even more. Whatever DiDi was going to do, they had to stand out in a big way.

This smorgasbord of interest and oddity even managed to nurse my fickle attention span all the way to the end. Well done DiDi and team for making something that’s fun, and in doing so, something incredibly memorable. I think the target audience will remember every orange-leather-clad part of this campaign next time they’re out.

Client: DiDi. Agency: Sunday Gravy. Director: Jim Hoskins. Production Company: Hooves

Elle Bullen, Hellions

It’s been a week since this thing short-circuited my ears, eyeballs, and brain.

We could analyse why, or just keep basking in its head nodding, bonnet sliding, liquid cheese dipping flute fuckery. The fact that I’ve been a teetotaller for 5 years and am now hanging for a legendary DiDi night out says it all.

It’s A+ brand entertainment that will forever be burned in orange party dust into my mind, and probably the rest of Australia’s.

Campaign Brief Creative Circle: What’s hot in August?

Ant White, Sunday Gravy

These giant Maccas lids are so simple. I’ve heard a lot of talk about McDonald’s fan truths shaping the work. This insight isn’t a huge one, but we have all stuck a Maccas sauce lid on something before, so it resonates, it’s playful and the execution stands out. I’m intrigued to see more of this stuff from Wieden+Kennedy Sydney, and how these truths can lead to something even bigger. I’m also just happy to see them shaking things up, and glad the agency is now in Australia. It can only make us all better.

Client: McDonald’s. Agency: Wieden+Kennedy Sydney.

Nancy Hartley, RUMBLE Strategic Creative

This is not the ad I was expecting to write about when I was invited to contribute to this month’s Creative Circle. But then, there’s not much that is expected about the new campaign for DiDi. A Mighty Boosh fever dream featuring the love child of Jethro Tull and Brian Mannix. Howyagarn. It’s deeply odd but also cleverly constructed for how media is consumed today. DiDi needed to cut through and no-one put the brakes on here. “Cheap trips so you can do more” is a strong prop and “Yes I DiDi” is a great line. The absolute thoroughness and craft of this campaign has me dancing to Nudgy’s tune this month.

Ian Williamson, Bear Meets Eagle On Fire

The ride sharing/taxi category is a tough field to play in. But this is a refreshing antidote to the more predictable proof-point reasons for why you should choose the safest/reliable/biggest taxi service.

It’s all a bit manic and hedonistic, and thanks to the directing chops of the brilliant Jim Hosking, the casting is on the less predictable side too. Controversially, or not, depending on your point of view, the star of the film is a ‘little person’: Nudgy.

Grainy video of him dancing on a bar had already surfaced in my Insta feed. I filed it away in my saved collection of trinkets to share later; only to discover he wasn’t real after all. I felt a little disappointed.

Or maybe he is real? Maybe Hosking found him dancing on a bar in a fortuitous round of street casting? I hope so.

I’m probably not the target audience for this campaign anyway; my younger colleagues tell me that the tune is a ‘banger’.

But then maybe I’m exactly the right person. Given the choice, I’d go along for the ride if Nudgy was at the wheel.


Bec McCall, HERO Brisbane

DDB Sydney’s “Batteries Included” for Volkswagen nails that rare combo of charm, craft and restraint. It’s not an ad hitting you over the head with specs and tech, or forcing some kind of character arc – it just leans into pure, nostalgic joy. It’s a well-executed reminder of the joy in driving, and the freedom it gives you to get out in the world and have fun… just because.

That Patsy Biscoe track locks you in from the start, then everything from the locations to the art department and cinematography – all beautifully considered to bring this charming script to life. It’s warm, confident, and cuts through precisely because it doesn’t try too hard. Just memorable, make-you-feel-something advertising that proves you don’t need to shout to be heard. Well done to all involved.

Client: Volkswagen. Agency: DDB Group Sydney. Director: Christopher Riggert. Production Company: Finch.

 

View previous editions of Creative Circle below:

CREATIVE CIRCLE JULY 2025

CREATIVE CIRCLE JUNE 2025

CREATIVE CIRCLE MAY 2025