The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age launch ‘Minds Wide Open’ brand campaign via BMF
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have revealed a major brand and subscriber campaign via BMF, focused on their brand purpose – to foster independent thinking and open understanding.
The new campaign will run across television, BVOD, cinema, digital, social, outdoor and print. It aims to highlight the broad, independent perspective provided by the newspaper’s journalism.
The creative highlights the role both mastheads play in sparking public debate and discussion in Australia and features their award-winning photojournalism.
The “Minds Wide Open” platform champions the benefits of Australians tuning into different perspectives, offering balanced news in a category of bias.
It comes after a year of record subscriber uptake in 2020 for both The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age as readers turned to trusted news and information amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Says Kristen Turner, head of consumer subscriptions, Nine: “2020 was a year of significant growth for our brands. In 2021, we need to assert our role in provoking the conversations Australia needs to progress, beyond the relentless news cycle. Both to create and retain tomorrow’s subscribers.
“Our new campaign draws on extensive customer insights and speaks to the incredible journalism we produce. It also speaks to the unique role The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age play within our political and social discourse. We believe the distinct and bold platform BMF has created will strengthen our position as Australia’s leading mastheads and continue to drive connection and growth for our brands.”
The campaign television commercial directed by Patrick Clair – winner of two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Main Title Design for his work on True Detective and The Man in the High Castle – takes aim at closed minds everywhere.
Says Christina Aventi, chief strategy officer, BMF: “As Aussies we value being open as a culture, but our ability to understand differences has been fading due to filter bubbles and echo chambers. The Herald and The Age offer balance over bias, reporting from the centre, not a side to inspire debate over division.”
Says David Roberts, creative director, BMF: “Every day, Sydney Morning Herald and Age journos pry open the truth and are unflinching in the face of threats. We hope this campaign does justice to their grit and resolve.”
Creative Agency: BMF
Chief Creative Officer: Alex Derwin
Creative Director: David Roberts
Art Director: Jack Robertson
Copywriter: Rob Boddington
Creatives: Emily Field and Kiah Nicholas
Head of Art & Design: Lincoln Grice
Designer: Mina Melis
Chief Strategy Officer: Christina Aventi
Planning Director: Sarah Hood
Chief Executive Officer: Stephen McArdle
General Manager: Paul Coles
Group Account Director: Anna Lawrenson
Head of TV: Jenny Lee-Archer
Agency Producer: Claire Seffrin
Director: Patrick Clair
Production Company: Sedona Productions
Executive Producer: Kim Wildenburg
Lead Design and Compositor: Eddy Herringson
Lead Animation and Compositor: Laura Heath
Music and Sound Design: Stare Crazy
Creative Services Director: Clare Yardley
Production Director: Karen Liddle
Integrated Producer: Simone Plaza
Digital Producer: Dani Kartika
Front-end Developer: King Tan
Finished Artist: Gabriel Mangulabnan
Photography: The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age
Client: Sydney Morning Herald & The Age | Nine
Head of Consumer Subscriptions: Kristen Turner
Head of Brand and Acquisition: Belle Tayler
Brand and Acquisition Manager: Leah McNeil
Brand and Acquisition Executive: Diana Wilson
Internal Design Lead: Hannah Eldridge
Internal Copywriter: Andy Maher
17 Comments
Love the visual treatment.
love this
People don’t read newspapers anymore but they will read this film.
This will do nothing. It is a polished turd.
The art here is some of the best in quite some time.
Very refreshing to see.
Well done.
Goosebumps. Amazing work, BMF!
When The Truth, NY Times campaign has been used heavily as reference, this is the result.
Nice work for a newspaper. It’s a shame this work couldn’t be for an entity that actually cares about journalism, or facts. But hey, that’s not the agency’s fault. They’ve nailed their part (albeit for clients who are just awful and make the world a worse place).
Just a little too close to the award-winning NY Times campaign to feel totally comfortable.
Lovely art direction.
The thing about ripping an idea off is you mask it so no one can tell you’re ripping it off.
Let me take a guess.
The New York Time’s Truth Campaign
+
Nordstrom’s An Open Mind Is The Best Look
Couldn’t you have at least used a mix of references from different agencies and not just everything from Droga5? The line is literally a direct paraphrase and not a very effortful one. Did you really think no one would notice?
You think this is aimed at you? Do you think that the SMH readers care what the NYT did. Do you think they care what Droga did? Do you think they know who Droga is? 🤦🏼♂️
If you think this is ‘literally a direct paraphrase’ you don’t know what paraphrase means.
I was trying to be nice because yknow saying that the entire team should’ve tried a little harder or tried at all to cover their tracks might’ve been a little too much amirite
Style lacking substance. NY times captured humanity. This captures nothing.
Yepp – minds wide open as long as it is in the ABC-ALP-FewFacts bubble.
Great ad campaign. Sadly, Nine Newspapers has its mind wide shut. Different perspectives are not welcome within its doors. They sacked any unvaxxed and wouldn’t hire any people who didn’t inject a badly tested medical product that increases (not decreases) your chance of getting (and thus spreading) covid.
It really is a great ad campaign. It’s what we all wish Nine Newspapers was instead of what they really are. Perhaps the image of the woman leaping in a hijab is a weak point given the women in Iran are dying in the streets right now for the right to take their hihabs off and to remove the shackles of religious oppression of which it is a symbol.