Australia has racked up 25 shortlists across yesterday’s Cannes Lions categories, with TBWA\Melbourne topping the local pack on five nods for Nissan’s ‘Nissan Patrol. It’s Out There’ and Billie’s “Bringing Koala Ears Back to Aussie Beaches”, the latter shared with Eleven.
TBWA\Sydney wasn’t far behind, picking up four shortlists across Design, Industry Craft and PR for mycar Tyre & Auto’s ‘The Sunburnt Car’. Revolver + Biscuit Filmworks, Eleven and Leo each landed three shortlists apiece, while Howatson+Company secured two.
Rounding out the day were single shortlists for VML Sydney, HERO McCann, Droga5 ANZ, Bureau of Everything, We Are Social Sydney, Octagon Sydney, Telepathic + Love and Money, and TBWA\Media Arts Lab Sydney.
TBWA\Melbourne
TBWA\Melbourne’s creative campaign for Nissan, ‘Nissan Patrol. It’s Out There’ was a tribute to Australia’s off-road culture, built around the 4×4 communities who treat the Australian outback as their proving ground. It used real enthusiasts to give the work a level of grit, authenticity and brand affinity no scripted shoot could replicate.
The integrated campaign launched with a hunt before culminating in a 30-second TV spot.
It has been shortlisted for four Cannes Lions. One in the Media category for Innovative Use of Influencers/Creators and three for the Social & Creator category, for audience targeting/engagement strategies, creator collaboration and market disruption.
Billie, a US razor brand, launched in Australia by telling women not to shave, celebrating so-called “koala ears,” or visible bikini line hair, to challenge body hair stigma launching the “Bringing Koala Ears Back to Aussie Beaches” campaign.
The brand partnered with Abbie Chatfield, who took the message to her 580,000-plus Instagram followers, backed by a Bondi Beach launch event and out-of-home campaign. The push earned 2.4 million social reach, 33 pieces of media coverage and 39.5 million earned reach, while Billie’s products went on to rank first and second in women’s kits at Woolworths.
The campaign has been shortlisted for a PR Lion in the Launch/Relaunch category.
TBWA\Sydney
TBWA\Sydney’s “The Sunburnt Car” for mycar Tyre & Auto reupholstered a vehicle in synthetic, human-like skin that visibly burns when exposed to UV light, exposing a national blind spot around in-car sun safety.
The car was installed in Sydney’s Circular Quay, turning everyday UV exposure into a confronting demonstration.
The campaign has been shortlisted across three Cannes Lions categories including PR in Use of Events and Stunts; Industry Craft, for Art Direction: Outdoor: Ambient; and Design, for Brand Environment & Experience Design as well as Innovation in Design.
Revolver + Biscuit Filmworks
Revolver + Biscuit Filmworks’ ‘Everything Is Fine’ for Coinbase is a tongue-in-cheek musical, directed by Steve Rogers, set in contemporary Britain, that uses song and dance to poke fun at the cracks in the UK’s financial system. The integrated campaign spans streaming, online video and social, with out-of-home in London, Manchester and Liverpool echoing the same “everything’s fine” refrain.
The campaign has been shortlisted twice in Film Craft, for Casting and for Project Design/Art Direction.
Revolver + Biscuit Filmworks’ ‘Bring a Book to Life’ for Amazon Books is a cinematic film, directed by Steve Rogers, that brings reading to life through a series of frozen worlds. It included a samurai battle, a post-apocalyptic chase and a glamorous 1950s Berlin, that only spring back into motion when the reader turns the page.
The campaign has been shortlisted in Film Craft category for Project Design/Art Direction category.
Eleven
The “Bringing Koala Ears Back to Aussie Beaches” campaign featured in the Cannes shortlist again this time with an additional two mentions for the PR and social agency.
It’s shortlists included Use of Events & Stunts and Launch/Relaunch. It the Social & Creator category it was shortlisted for Audience Targeting & Engagement Strategies and Creator Collaboration.
Leo
Suncorp’s “Haven”, created with Leo, is a digital platform that lets any homeowner in Australia enter their address and receive a tailored video and downloadable report outlining their property’s flood, bushfire, cyclone or storm risks, drawing on live weather, property and natural peril data to deliver personalised resilience tips. Campaign Brief
The campaign has been shortlisted across three Cannes Lions categories. Two Digital Craft nods, for Data Storytelling and Curation of Data as well as in the Direct Lion category for Personalised Campaigns.
Howatson+Company
Howatson+Company’s ‘If You Can Take It, It’s Yours’ campaign for Selleys Liquid Nails put the product’s strength to a very public test. For the campaign it bolted a kayak, an arcade machine, a cricket bat, a toolbox and a 2.8-metre marlin to a roadside billboard, daring passersby to pry them loose. Every failed attempt was filmed and shared, racking up 47 million views online.
It has been shortlisted for two Direct Lions, in the Consumer Goods and Use of Print/Outdoor categories.
VML
VML’s “Magnif-Eye” for 1001 Optometry used AI to scan photos already sitting in parents’ camera rolls. It then flagged early warning signs of childhood myopia years before most diagnoses happen. Parents simply upload a handful of existing photos to a secure online tool, which screened them and deleteed the images immediately after.
It managed to turn a behaviour parents are already doing into a genuinely useful health tool, rather than asking them to do something new.
It has been shortlisted for a Digital Craft Lion in the Innovative Use of Technology category.
HERO
Mastercard’s “Transit Tales”, developed by HERO, turned daily commutes into custom-built audio stories. It used AI and live transit data to generate a narration timed exactly to the length of a passenger’s train journey. Commuters could pick a novel and twist it into a new genre accessed via QR codes across Sydney’s train network.
It was a clever solve for the dead time commuters complain about on public transport.
The campaign has been shortlisted for a Digital Craft Lion in the Real-Time Usage & Targeting category.
Droga5
SBS’s “The Ad That Can Only Be Seen On SBS” via Droga5, marked the broadcaster’s 50th birthday with a TV spot so deliberately provocative it could legally only air on SBS itself. It was restricted to late-night broadcast slots and an age-gated version on SBS On Demand.
The spot turned that very restriction into the proof point, daring viewers to seek out the broadcaster if they wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was a sly bit of reverse psychology.
The campaign has been shortlisted for a Direct Lion in the Media/Entertainment category.
TBWA\Media Arts Lab
Apple’s ‘Rick’s Rescue’ campaign developed by TBWA\Media Arts Lab’s told the true story of Byron Bay swimmer Rick Shearman. He was dragged 1.6 kilometres out to sea by a rip and saved after triggering Emergency SOS on his Apple Watch.
The film weaves in the actual audio from his triple-zero call, leaning on the real sound of a man fighting to stay calm rather than any scripted dialogue to sell the moment.
The campaign has been shortlisted for a Film Craft Lion in the Sound Design category.
