CB Q&A: Jack Delmonte on becoming VML Sydney’s Group Creative Director – New role, same drive
After three years helping lead VML Sydney to the top of the Australian creative rankings, Campaign Brief can reveal that Jack Delmonte has been promoted to Group Creative Director. Since joining VML, Delmonte has helped steer the agency to being named Agency of the Year in Campaign Brief’s THE WORK for three consecutive years, while maintaining a creative momentum that has earned more than 50 major awards. In 2025 alone, this includes 12 trophies at Spikes (including multiple Golds and a Grand Prix), Cannes Lions Gold, Silver, and Bronze, multiple Gold Clios, 15 Pencils at AWARD, and a Gold Effie across four campaigns. Campaign Brief caught up with Delmonte to discuss his career journey, the campaigns he’s most proud of, and his approach to leading a team that consistently produces culturally resonant and creatively ambitious work.
Congratulations on your promotion to Group Creative Director at VML Sydney. Looking back, what has been the defining moment in your career that brought you to this role?
Thank you, that’s very kind. Damn, pinning it down to one defining moment is tough. But if I had to pick one, I’d take you back to 2014. My creative partner Hadleigh Sinclair and I had just done a campaign for Dolmio Pasta Sauces – The Pepper Hacker. It was a pepper grinder that, when twisted, cut the Wi-Fi so families could talk to each other at dinner without digital distractions.
Cue the industry: Scam! Scam! But it went nuts, it was being talked about everywhere from St. Leonards in Sydney to Lahore in Pakistan with hundreds of millions of views within a week.. That’s when it clicked for me: ads don’t need to live inside a box – A telly, a banner, a billboard. They can be literally anything that makes people feel the right way about a brand.
That was the moment I got hooked on the idea that creativity shouldn’t wait for a media plan. I only wanted to work at places that felt the same. That’s what led me to VML. Are we a brand agency? Digital? Social? PR? Experiential… Honestly, no idea — because we do it all. From my desk I could throw a stapler and hit CX, or a hole punch and land it bang on in the experiential department.
That’s what gets me going — being surrounded by people doing stuff that, technically, might not even be called ‘ads’ but still answer the brief perfectly.
(We don’t actually have staplers or hole punches anymore. But even we did, I definitely wouldn’t throw them btw)
Where do you draw inspiration from when developing ideas, inside advertising, and outside it?
I’m endlessly envious of the storytelling that comes out of British agencies like BBH and Wieden+Kennedy London. Those guys never miss — the craft, the humanity. Every time I see one of their spots, I’m reminded what great advertising can feel like.
Outside: I went to public school. I’m the only one of my good mates that works in an office. Observing them, hearing what they think is interesting in the world and in culture is always a good place to start.
VML has been on an amazing run lately, scooping up awards from CB’s The WORK, Cannes Lions, AWARD Awards, Clios and more. How do you celebrate all that recognition while making sure your work still delivers real impact for clients and audiences?
Again, kind words — thank you. Honestly, awards are part of the journey, not the end game. They matter because they usually mean what we’re doing is working.
It’s funny though isn’t it – even the way that question is worded shows how we sometimes still separate ‘awarded work’ from ‘work that delivers results. That’s kind of the opposite of how we think at VML. The best work should do both. These days, it’s rare to win a top tier award without solid proof that it actually moved the needle for the brand.
Those awards belong to our clients as much as they do to us. The best work only happens when the partnership’s strong and everyone’s brave enough to back something different.
But how do we celebrate? BYO in the Bar Reggio courtyard, yew!
Across your career so far, which three campaigns are you most proud of, and why do they stand out for you?
3 Pieces! That’s hard, Can I have 7? Ok 4…
The very first campaign I ever did will always have a special place. It took me from intern to a fully-fledged junior creative making $24,000 a year, I thought I was Jay-Z at the time. The brief? Show that MINI is the most customisable car. The solution? The Carmonica. We glued hundreds of harmonicas onto a MINI so you could literally turn your test drive into a music video. To this day, I still kick myself that we didn’t call it The HarMINIca. Rookie move.
I used to have the honour of creating the Air New Zealand Christmas campaign each year. One of my favourites was A very Merry Mistake – a spot about Kiwi kids calling Santa, only for him to completely mishear their Kiwi accents and mix up all the presents. Basically, me taking the puss out of my own accent. It was one of those ideas that transcended New Zealand and got talked about everywhere. I remember doing a stint in the Havas Chicago office not long after, and overhearing creatives there chatting about it. That was pretty cool.
For a few years, Hadleigh and I were creative leads on ASB Bank. I’m proud of the work we made together. From birthing Ben & Amy, two consistent characters who still run today, to inventing The Sustainaball (a tennis ball that planted a native seed when lost in the bush). We also gave away ASB’s All Blacks sponsorship to struggling small businesses during Covid (Borrow the All Blacks), and even renamed Eden Park after a small fish and chip shop. In a world where brands constantly chop and change direction, creating something that’s endured feels rare.
Our campaign for TVNZ+ – It’s Free But It Could Cost You — was pure fun. Building bank vaults, shooting stick-up scenes, writing dialogue for Italian mobsters… it was a dream shoot, and it delivered great results for the client. Big shout to Damian Shatford who brought it to life so beautifully.
And more recently, The Hidden Eye Test for 1001 Optical was a perfect example of turning a run-of-the-mill brief into something special. I’ve never worked on anything where the craft was so obsessively poured over. I’d tell you how many hours went into it, but Rach in finance might put me in a chokehold.
As a Group Creative Director, you’ll be leading a talented team. What’s your philosophy for nurturing the next generation of creative thinkers in advertising?
Throw them in the deep end. Get them in front of clients early. And above all, instill a belief that anything’s possible. Confidence is everything – the quicker they back themselves, the quicker they go pro. I’m a big believer in progress over perfection. The more you make, the better you get. If a team’s been sitting at a desk staring into a doc for more than a month or two, something’s gone wrong. I try to make sure every team has something in production they’re genuinely excited about.
In a recent LinkedIn post, you wrote about the power of ideas to improve people’s lives. What is it about advertising that excites you most personally?
I did, funny you mention that. I copped a fair bit of flak from mates in the industry for that post, given I usually gravitate towards humour-driven work. Maybe it’s a product of getting older or becoming a dad. But honestly, if an idea can not only solve a problem for a client but also make a genuine difference in people’s lives, that’s the ultimate. Don’t get me wrong – I still love selling chocolate bars and plane tickets. But if, in some small way, I can play a part in helping a kid avoid developing myopia, that’s worth a quiet fist pump on the bus ride home.
Looking ahead, what’s one big ambition you have for yourself or for VML’s creative output over the next few years?
To quote a famous All Blacks coach – you never own the jersey; you’re just looking after it. I feel the same way about my chair here at VML.
One of the toughest things to achieve in this industry is consistency. Anyone can get lucky and land a cracker campaign, but doing it year after year is the real test. VML, going right back to its George Patts and Y&R roots, has consistently produced excellent work — year in, year out. Being named the number one agency in Campaign Brief’s The Work for three years running, and ranking in the top three Australian agencies at Cannes in the last 3 is testament to that.
So my big ambition? Simple. Don’t f*ck that up.
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