Full-service agency Campaignifi has launched a specialty corporate communications wing specialising in working with NFP’s, advocacy groups and opinion leaders to deliver impactful corporate communications, B&T can reveal.
Campaignifi Influence has officially launched off the back of a successful advocacy campaign, Stop the Ambition Tax.
“Stop the Ambition Tax was the turning point for us. It proved we could deliver quality results in this space, and it showed us what happens when the strategy, the creative, the media and the comms are all pulling in the same direction from day one,” Campaignifi founder and chief executive Patrick Blacker said.
“There is real power in having media buying, creative and communications under one roof. Most advocacy campaigns are stitched together across three or four agencies, and the message gets diluted at every handover. We can take a campaign from the first idea through to the press conference and the paid media behind it, without anything getting lost along the way.”
Blacker said that Campaignifi is looking to open a new Canberra office in 2027.
“This puts us where the decisions are made, with a team dedicated to communications, content and media for not-for-profit and advocacy clients,” he added.
“We think we’re uniquely positioned to deliver real impact for not-for-profits, advocacy groups and opinion leaders, and with a Canberra office opening in early 2027, we have aggressive growth plans for the year ahead.”
Stop the surcharge ban
On Sunday, the Stop the Ambition Tax group—which was founded by Blacker, It’s Simple Finance founder Joseph Daoud and TaxInvesting Accounting co-founder Belinda Raso— rolled out a regional TV and out of home campaign to stop a NSW Government ban on businesses being able to pass on credit card payment surcharges to customers.
B&T understands that the campaign, which features a 30-second TV spot that will run on News24 as well as a strategically placed billboard ad outside Canberra station, has already received hundreds of media mentions and “gone gangbusters” on social media.
“This isn’t just about the ATO’s credit card ban. It’s about every surcharge this Government keeps puing on running a small business. The card surcharge ban, the red tape, the rule changes that land with no warning. This Government seems hellbent on making it as hard as possible to run a small business, and we’ve had enough,” Raso said bread of the launch.
“I see my clients’ books every day. These are people working long hours on margins that cannot swallow another hit. They are not asking for a handout. They are asking Canberra to stop making it harder.”
Since the surcharge ban kicked off on 1 October, Doaud said he had been inundated by small business owners over the surcharge ban, although the ATO recently announced it would keep accepting credit card payments until 30 June 2027.
“I couldn’t stand by and let more ambitious Australians feel helpless, so I helped them organise some media behind it all,” Daoud said.
“I didn’t build this platform for me. It’s about ‘we’. Small business owners are already suffocating, so if I can help them, I will help them.
“Small business is the engine room of this country, and this Government keeps treating it like an ATM.”
For Blacker, nothing short of a backflip on the surcharge ban will suffice.
