Page 32 - AdNews Magazine Jan-Feb 2021
P. 32

                 Investigation
      Saatchi & Saatchi chief creative officer Mike Spirkovski Sometimes it pays to be at the arse- end of the world on a massive island with a relatively small population, especially when there’s a global pandemic. For centuries, Australia’s geographical isolation has made
us natural born problem solvers. When something needs solving, we just get on with it and as a collective work together to try sort it out. In addition, having a population who cares for their livelihood, who listen to and respect expert advice from our country leaders and who work as a team helps.
These are just some of the qualities which separate us from the rest of the world and I believe have played a part in Australia’s successful approach in keeping the country and our businesses thriving during the challenges of 2020.
The creative industry is all about finding solutions to any problem big or small. So if you need to make an idea, but hit a major roadblock — such as not being able to shoot in a specific state due to restrictions, or can’t have five cast members in a car
ad from separate families, or no catering on a shoot — we simply find a way around it. (The catering was a big problem, but the pre-packaged lunch boxes were actually pretty tasty!) It’s what our business was designed to do and why Australia managed to make a load of good work and even some brilliant work during 2020 when other nations struggled to operate.
Volvo's Recovery Roadtrip
Almeida says the boom won’t be sector by sector, but rather for any brand brave and innovate enough to deliver the needs of consumers and market. “A great example of this is Qantas. Obviously being in one of the hard-
est hit industries, they had to think outside the box,” she says.
“They knew Australians wanted to fly so they launched joy flights within Australia, which sold out in minutes. They designed branded products such as hoodies, they sold wine carts full of alcohol, and first- class and business-class gift sets. The revenue from selling these products is obviously nowhere near what they would make [otherwise], but in this current climate every single dollar counts. It kept the brand alive in the
minds of Australians — you can't put money on that.”
Other brands have also rolled out campaigns that weren’t focused
on pushing products, noticing that people needed creative ways to spend their holidays. One example was WhiteGrey’s Recovery Roadtrip campaign for Volvo. The campaign is a company road trip which encour- ages people to see more of Australia.
“There’s something natural in the human brain that wants to resolve problems and wants to resolve tensions and I think that's why creativity, particularly commercial creativity, can thrive in these areas,” says Simpson.
“So I think it is something inherent in who we are as human beings; the brain’s motivator is all of these tensions. And then, part of it is we're creating a different environment where we're breaking routines and that inspires creativity and also fuels it. And then, because we are in that uncertain world and we're asking creativity to solve more problems, it’s a combination of those two things.”
The push ran primarily on social channels from June 5 to November 31. WhiteGrey reported about 7000 total landing page views, 4000 total itinerary clicks, with NSW South Coast being the most popular. Simpson says considering it wasn’t promoting a product or offer, these were strong results for the campaign.
WhiteGrey created the drives, the maps around the drives, and used influencers to encourage people to participate.


















































































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