The Work 2023 Contenders: DDB Australia
Campaign Brief recognises and showcases the great work that is being produced in the region with The Work 2023 Contenders…
Jarden: The Creative Index
DDB Australia
Australians understand the impact of mining, agriculture, manufacturing, and finance on our stock market and economy. But for too long, the value of Australia’s greatest national resource – creativity – has been seen as cultural, but not economic.
To prove the real value that creativity has for the future economy of a nation, we set out to change the perception of creativity and communicate its financial impact in the same way financial analysts gauge performance of any other industry.
The result: The Creative Index, a world-first financial index tracking the value of creativity for a nation by aggregating the real-time market value of companies listed on the ASX that have creativity baked into their business.
McDonald’s Australia: Sauce Quest
DDB Australia
Loved by kids, under-appreciated by adults – McNuggets were trailing behind other chicken formats. Meanwhile, some of Macca’s dipping sauces had amassed a cult following, with communities of superfans hungry for their release. And when it comes to products we love, we’ll do almost anything to get our hands on them. So, we hijacked drop culture, releasing our four most coveted sauces for a limited time only.
Introducing Sauce Quest: The messiest user journey of all time. We left a sauce splatter trail across the internet – on Spotify, in Dropbox folders and Instagram filters and maze games and TikToks, in-store, and on Budgy Smugglers’ site thanks to a fake pair of sauce-splattered swimmers – and only superfans hungry enough to follow it to the end were rewarded with a giant sauce tub.
Proximo Spirits: The Bar Saved From Landfill by 1800 Tequila
DDB Australia
The Recycled Bar by 1800 Tequila was a bar made entirely of waste destined for landfill, highlighting Australia’s rubbish crisis.
Renowned artist and sculptor James Dive took one of the 18,000 trucks that tip waste into the ground every day, and turned it into a visually striking bar pouring off the back of the tip truck.
The stools, glassware, candles, coasters, and tables were made from materials destined for landfill, in partnership with 22 local brands, artists, and designers who found innovative ways to keep trash out of the ground.
The finished bar popped up in Sydney’s Botanic Gardens, the perfect green backdrop for a green activation. And once the event – tickets to which sold out in 9 hours – was over, the entire structure was broken down and repurposed, with only the screws remaining. The walls and bar were shredded, to be turned in the next project from Defy Design. And a fabricator partner even took every 1800 Tequila bottle to create new lamp shades.
The best part? All proceeds from the event were donated to Clean Up Australia.
Project Rockit: Kind Royale
DDB Australia
We hosted the world’s first Fortnite tournament in which the top prize didn’t go to the best player, but the kindest.
Online gaming is one of the most toxic environments in the world, with 1 in 2 gamers experiencing bullying. So in Kind Royale, every stream chat log and Discord was scanned for words conveying negative and positive sentiment, meaning the gamers had to spread kindness to their millions of fans in order to have a shot at winning. The result: A toxicity-free tournament streamed to millions.
Made By Dyslexia: Square Pegs
DDB Australia
Jeremy Irons (voice of Scar) voiced a film as part of the Learn Dyslexia campaign.
1 in 5 people are dyslexic: 1.55 billion people globally. And many of the world’s most influential thinkers are counted among that number, including Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, Pablo Picasso, Keira Knightley, and Richard Branson.
But education systems across Australia, the US, and the UK aren’t designed to support the way dyslexic children learn, with the charity’s research finding that only 1 in 10 teachers globally have a good understanding of the strengths associated with dyslexia and Dyslexic Thinking.
Porsche: Taycan Arcade
DDB Australia
Porsche Australia partnered with legendary video game creator Atari to put two electric Taycans to the ultimate, heart-pumping test in a game of Pong.
Taycan Arcade puts a futuristic twist on the neon-soaked arcade classic. Two geofenced Taycans go back and forth in a game of arcade tennis, pushing the electric vehicles and their performance drivers to the limit as they rally a 150km/hr AI-controlled drone between them.
The experiment, created in controlled conditions in Victoria, is the innovative demonstration of the Taycan’s handling and beauty, confirming Porsche’s position as the leader in the premium electric vehicle market.
Dabble: Roger the Real Human
DDB Australia
Dabble’s first major campaign introduced Roger, a not-real-human to promote its unique Copy Bet feature, which allows punters to copy other humans’ bets. The fun campaign showed Roger failing miserably at trying to pass as a real human.
Funlab: Subscribe to real life fun
DDB Australia
We encouraged Aussies to unsubscribe from mindless streaming platforms and instead subscribe to Fun Pass, a new subscription service for real-life fun. The social promotion rewarded people who unsubscribed with the chance to win a Fun Pass, giving access to 24 activities a month across Funlab’s Holey Moley, Strike Bowling, Archie Brothers Cirque Electriq, and B. Lucky & Sons.
McDonald’s Australia: Middle Child
DDB Australia
We put the spotlight on middle children for the first time, inspired by Macca’s own menu middle child: the McChicken.
After years of being caught between its more famous siblings, the Cheeseburger and Big Mac, middle child McChicken got its own moment.
McDonald’s Australia: Nuggies
DDB Australia
Nuggies – ugg boots that looked like nuggets – replicated the colour and texture of the iconic McNuggets, and were delivered in a large-scale sauce tub that perfectly mirrored the real thing.
The deadline for Campaign Brief’s The Work 2023 has now closed. If your agency has entered The Work and would like to showcase your best work in our Contenders series email ricki@campaignbrief.com.