Earlier this year, it was announced that The Monkeys, one of Australia’s most storied creative agencies was to be swallowed up by its Accenture Song stablemate Droga5.
But not before it won the inaugural Cairns Crocodiles Grand Prix.
The Monkeys had an exceptional year creatively. For instance, its ‘Play It Safe’ for the Sydney Opera House was lauded around the world. But it received even more plaudits in Tropical North Queensland.
In fact, The Monkeys won eight Crocodile Awards—half of them Golds.
Here’s a look at what the legendary agency achieved in Cairns this year. Could you go one better in 2025?
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Gold Crocodiles
Let’s start with the big one: ‘Play It Safe’.
The film celebrated the Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary and the adversity it had to overcome to get built in the first place. While it has become an iconic Aussie building around the world, it was met with derision and concern over pricing when its design was first revealed in 1973.
Starring Tim Minchin and shot by world-renowned Aussie director Kim Gehrig, the film was a triumph of creativity.
In fact, such was its brilliance, it scooped both the Film and Film Craft Gold Crocodile Awards.
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One of our judges in the Film category called it an “emotive” campaign with “a beautiful balance of past and future and the possibility with boldness.”
Meanwhile, judges in the Film Craft category lauded it as a “beautiful tribute” and delivered a “powerful message” about the importance of creativity and bravery in the arts.
One of The Monkeys other stand out pieces of work was ‘England Bitter’ for VB.
Following some controversy during the 2023 Ashes series when the poms accused the Australian team of cheating, The Monkeys seized on the opportunity. It produced special edition England Bitter cases of the iconic Aussie brew and sent them out to the English team.
“VB certainly won (back) the moral Ashes with this brilliant and cheeky stunt. Johnny Bairstow and Piers Morgan won’t like it, but the results are as convincing as a Warnie five for back in the day. A brilliant opportunistic campaign that stoked rivalry and the media conversation for days,” said one judge.
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We’ll leave it to you to work out whether they were English or Australian.
The work scooped the Gold Crocodile in the Food and Beverage and PR categories.
Silver Crocodiles
The Monkeys picked up three Silver Crocodiles.
Its ‘Hello Christmas’ for Telstra told a heartwarming story about connection starring a lost reindeer and a little girl called Cassie. In Cairns, it picked up the Silver Crocodile in the Direct and Integrated categories.
The Monkeys also picked up silver in the Film Craft category for the Brilliant ‘This Is Footy Country’ again for Telstra.
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Bronze Crocodiles
There was just the singular Bronze Crocodile for The Monkeys.
Again, it was for ‘Play It Safe’ in the Audio Craft category.
