Campaign Brief Creative Circle: The Aussie Work That’s Got Creatives Talking ~ May 2025 Edition
Each month Campaign Brief invites top creatives to choose one standout piece of Australian work that isn’t from their own agency. It’s a space for celebrating the craft, fresh thinking and homegrown creativity that continues to raise the bar in our industry.
May 2025’s edition features Letizia Bozzolini, Howatson+Company; Psembi Kinstan, DDB Group Melbourne; Brittany Dunaeff, Thinkerbell; Jade Manning, Today the Brave; Annie Price, Communicado, and Paul Nagy, VML.
Letizia Bozzolini, Howatson+Company
The piece that stood out to me recently is Bond’s ‘Made for Down Under’. This campaign is smart, entertaining, and produced beautifully. But the thing I’m most jealous of is that it’s simple, which is what takes the most effort these days.
Psembi Kinstan, DDB Group Melbourne
I adore the US launch of Bonds. It’s marketing Bonds by marketing Australia. And like the voice over says, it’s “simple really”. I applaud the wonderfully pared back approach by Stefan Hunt and the entire team. Even better, this feels like a very big idea that can extend and extend and extend for years to come. Yes, some of the tropes of the category are there, but that only makes it better, as this effortlessly puts them together in a new way. Jealous.
Client: Bonds. Agency: Special Australia. Director: Stefan Hunt. Production Company: Exit Films.
Brittany Dunaeff, Thinkerbell
Stunning work from Apple Australia. This spot proves product demos don’t have to be dull. We barely see the watch, yet we instantly get its functionality and how it fits into real, everyday scenarios. The craft is clean, simple, and purposeful. Best of all, it genuinely feels Australian. By creating something truly local — not just reworking a global ad — they’ve told a story that’s authentic, relatable, and made for here. Real, local stories always land better.
Client: Apple. Agency: TBWA Media Arts Lab, Sydney. Production Company: Scoundrel.
Jade Manning, Today the Brave
There’s been some awesome work coming out lately – I loved the Coopers original work out of Special and BMEOF’s silent films. But the glorious horror show that is SDWM’s Slather gets my pick. In a sea of feel-good summer clichés, SDWM incinerated the tropes by creating something delightfully sinister and memorable. A simple idea, brought to life in a way that felt wonderfully unfamiliar.
Client: SLATHER. Agency: SICKDOGWOLFMAN. Directors: Will & Sej. Production Company: Haven’t You Done Well.
Annie Price, Communicado
My pick: Sydney Water ‘Flushable Guidebook’ – agency, It’s Friday.
Why I give a crap about this: it’s simple, powerful, practical & educational.
It really shits me when people do the wrong thing.
20,000 of these is not enough. They should keep printing them and distribute one to
every single Aussie household. Once that’s done, can we start on the people that put
rubbish in their recycling bins?
Thank you – Angry of Beaumaris.
Client: Sydney Water. Agency: It’s Friday. Photography and Videography: Adam Eden @ Eden Studios.
Paul Nagy, VML
I only run when chased.
I mean, I’m aware there are people who run marathons, but I’m also aware there are people living on this earth who choose, for non-religious reasons, not to eat bacon… For me that’s the same as choosing to run long distances – why do that to yourself?
But there are other things I do like.
One is reading and the other is not feeling like a fat sloth. Which brings me to a campaign for Audible I saw recently that not only did I like, but that actually changed my behaviour.
I saw the idea on Insta and TikTok – a bunch of runners commenting on these people in a marathon carrying branded backpack speakers. And what was playing on these speakers? Audio books.
Nice eh? Just a playful little demonstration of another option for your ear holes while exercising and in a moment of madness I thought to myself, I’m going to give that a go! Knock another book off the reading list and start my journey toward looking like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Genius.
So I did.
On went the old footy shorts and the disgusted expressions from my wife and daughters, in went the headphones, and on went Into The Night, the new Sarah Bailey novel (an amazing novelist who also happens to run our agencies in Sydney and Melbourne… holy shit, right?).
And I fucking hated it. Not the book, that’s awesome. But running… like eating fake bacon, just feels like self-harm to me. I nearly died before I got to the end of the street. And it’s a short street.
My running allergy, however, is not the point. The point is I miss work like this – just having fun selling something. Doesn’t take itself too seriously, nothing to do with AI, wouldn’t have cost a gazillion dollars, clearly and simply demonstrates a feature, created a conversation and actually had an impact.
Well… for a moment it did. A couch or a bath is an infinitely better place to read a book, I absolutely guarantee it.
Fuck running.
Client: Audible. Agency: Maverick