This Way Up 2025 kicks off with unflinching advice from Nils Leonard and Grand Prix insights from Motion Sickness + Bear Meets Eagle On Fire

Over 200 industry professionals gathered yesterday for day one of This Way Up 2025, where a line-up of local and global talent unpacked the ideas, craft and technology driving some of the world’s most awarded agencies and work.

Opening the day live from London, Nils Leonard, Founder of Uncommon Creative Studio, delivered an unflinching call to arms for creatives: “If you’re the creative, you’re the answer. Own it. Protect your time. Make it happen. Be ruthless in the pursuit.” His message? The real threat to creativity isn’t AI, it’s apathy. In a world of infinite prompts, taste is the ultimate differentiator. Leonard urged creatives to collect the best work, headlines and proof of achievement to build their own “creative ammunition.”

The Work Behind the Work pulled back the curtain on two Grand Prix–winning campaigns:

●      Motion Sickness’ Sam Stuchbury and FINCH’s Alex Roberts shared the making of Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to Have Herpes, which reframed a taboo through empathy and Kiwi pride, sparking laughter, generating 22 million PR impressions and lifting public comfort in discussing herpes by 86%.

●      Bear Meets Eagle On Fire’s Micah Walker and Emma Wright, alongside Revolver’s Michael Ritchie, unpacked Telstra’s Better on a Better Network, which used 42 painstakingly crafted stop-motion sets, authentic Aussie voices and obsessive attention to detail to create a telco ad that felt unmistakably human.

Other highlights included Ed Pank, Managing Director of WARC APAC, sharing insights from Cannes Lions’ Creative Impact Stream on strategies delivering real business results, and Jessie Hughes, Senior Creative Technologist at Leonardo AI, demonstrating how AI can charge creative control, personalisation and reach without sacrificing artistry.

The day closed with a reminder that whether you’re building sets by hand or using the latest tech, creative excellence still comes down to taste, persistence and the courage to push ideas beyond the point of comfort.

Cannes Download takes place today, followed by the 46th AWARD Awards tomorrow.

Full details: www.thiswayup.com.au

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