Every great campaign starts with a script, but it’s the director who decides whether it actually lands.
In this wee’s B&T Best of the Best, we look at TV advertising and film directors, turning briefs into the ads and short films that actually cut through.
This list considered nominations and recommendations from those in the know. We then weighed up the quality of the work, looking at standout campaigns, awards and the calibre of the agencies and brands willing to hand over the reins.
The result is a list that spans comedy and drama, big-budget brand spectacles and stripped-back storytelling, along with directors increasingly making the jump between advertising, film and TV.
Some names here will be familiar to anyone who’s sat through a Cannes Lions reel; others are quieter operators whose work speaks louder than their profile.
So, without further ado, here are B&T’s Best of the Best Directors for 2026.
10. Olivia Altavilla, director, EXIT Films
Altavilla is steadily making her mark across commercials and film. She’s developed a portfolio spanning global brands and distinctly Australian stories, with work that’s defined by warmth, authenticity and understated craft.
Altavilla has directed campaigns for Apple, Vegemite, Maltesers and Huggies, alongside work for Woolworths, Dulux, Wallace Bishop, Lite n’ Easy and Dolly’s Dream.
Drawing on her Italian-Venezuelan heritage and unconventional upbringing, she has a skill for capturing everyday moments with honesty, creating films that feel intimate rather than overly polished.
Alongside her commercial work, Altavilla continues to build her narrative credentials through projects including The Nanna Diaries and Taboo.
In 2025, she was also selected as a mentor for Assisterhood, supporting emerging women in the screen industry. While still early in her directing career compared to some of the names on this list, Altavilla’s thoughtful approach to storytelling and growing body of work suggest she’s a talent well worth watching.
9. Arundati Thandur, director, The FINCH Company
Thandur has wasted little time establishing herself as one of Australia’s most exciting commercial directing talents.
Her breakout moment came with ‘I’m Dying Inside’, the five-part TikTok series for Modibodi and Howatson+Company that became one of Australia’s most awarded campaigns of 2023 and 2024.
The work collected four Golds at the LIA Awards, including Branded Content and Social categories, three Golds at ADFEST, including New Director, Best New Director at CICLOPE Global, and further recognition at Cannes Lions, D&AD, Spikes Asia, CICLOPE Asia and the AWARD Awards. It also claimed Greatest Creative Campaign at the TikTok Australia Ad Awards, cementing its status as a benchmark for platform-first branded storytelling.
Since then, Thandur has continued to build an impressive body of work, directing XXXX’s ‘The Summer Beer For All Year’ for Thinkerbell, ‘PURRR’ for Dell x Pedestrian, which was selected for the Queer Screen Mardi Gras Film Festival, and campaigns for Westfield, Helga’s, IKEA and my personal favourite, Petbarn’s ‘Puppies & Kittens’.
Her work feels authentic to the platforms it’s made for, balancing humour, emotion and visual flair with storytelling that never feels like advertising for advertising’s sake. It’s an approach that’s rapidly made her one of the industry’s most closely watched emerging directors.
8. Damien Shatford, director, The Sweetshop
Since joining The Sweetshop in 2013, Shatford has become a favourite of agencies looking for directors who can balance entertainment with emotional resonance, regardless of genre.
Shatford arrived at The Sweetshop after being named a finalist at the Cannes Young Director Awards for ‘Meet Lloyd’, created for SKY TV via DDB New Zealand.
In the years since, he’s picked up Cannes Lions, D&AD Pencils, Clio Awards and Webby Awards while directing work for some of the region’s biggest brands, including Uber Eats, Toyota, Bud Light, SBS, Sealord and Meat & Livestock Australia.
His filmography is as diverse as it is award-winning. There’s the widely acclaimed New Zealand Police recruitment campaign, DB Export’s long-form musical ‘I’m Drinking It For You’, Toyota Hilux campaigns for Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, L&P’s zombie-filled spot soundtracked by Sheryl Crow’s ‘All I Wanna Do’, Meat & Livestock Australia’s 2024 brand campaign ‘The Greatest’ and recent Sealord work that proved even how funny a can of tuna can be.
Oh, and we can’t forget about ‘We Go There’ for SBS, a campaign that toyed with the boundaries of what broadcast advertising could show, say and challenge.
Shatford’s strength is his range. Whether he’s directing comedy, a music-led spectacle or emotionally driven storytelling, his films are united by strong performances, polished craft and an instinct for creating advertising that people genuinely want to watch.
7. Dave Wood, director, Good Oil Films
Dave Wood is proof that comedy doesn’t need to shout to be funny. The Good Oil Films director has built a career on understated performances, brilliantly awkward moments and scripts that trust audiences to get the joke.
Whether he’s making beer, butter or broadband entertaining, Wood’s films have a knack for feeling effortlessly human, even when the premise is anything but.
After starting out directing for agencies including Marketforce, The Brand Agency and 303Lowe, Wood expanded his career in London, where campaigns like Rexona’s ‘Bo’ and Battersea Dogs Home’s ‘Geoffrey’ put him on the international radar.
Since then, his work has been recognised at Cannes Lions, British Arrows, AWARD, AXIS, LIA and the New York Festivals, while his client list has grown to include Meat & Livestock Australia, Whittaker’s, Balter Brewery, Uber One, ALDI and L&P.
Some of his most memorable work includes MLA’s delightfully absurd ‘The Happiest Lamb on Earth’, L&P’s ‘Small Town Genius’, Uber One’s ‘Trended Too Soon’ and Whittaker’s ‘Favourite Walk’.
In an era where advertising comedy often leans into chaos, Wood’s work succeeds by doing the opposite, finding humour in life’s small, recognisable moments and delivering it with remarkable restraint.
6. Toby Pike, Director, The FINCH Company; co-founder & creative director, Witness. The Company
Pike is proof that a great director shouldn’t be boxed into one lane. His work moves across TVC, music video and installation. He’s got the kind of range that gets a director on a lot of shortlists, and keeps him there.
His client list includes Nike, Coca-Cola, Tiger Beer, Qantas, Disney, Star Wars, Pepsico, Google, HP, ALDI and Lexus. CONNECTOR
His recent campaign work show the same versatility. Tooheys’ ‘Ultra Smooth’, Volkswagen ‘Why the Long Car?’ and ‘Collect Them All’ for ALDI. Three brands, three very different products, each getting its own distinct treatment.
Then there’s Toyota’s ‘Metamorphosis’, which swept up seven Cannes Lions in 2023. Its the kind of trophy haul that puts Pike among the most awarded directors of his generation.
On the music side, Pike has spent years building visuals for some of Australia’s biggest electronic exports, including Flume, Chet Faker, Pnau and Flight Facilities.
His music video work has genuinely helped define the look and feel of the country’s dance scene and it’s clearly where he picked up his instinct for mood, rhythm and pacing, that makes his ad work feel less like advertising and more like art that just happens to have a client logo attached.
5. Steve Ayson, founder and director, 3&7
This New Zealand-born filmmaker spent more than a decade at The Sweet Shop before launching his own production company, 3&7, in 2018.
Along the way, he’s become one of the Australasia’s most consistently awarded commercial directors, collecting honours at Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, ADC, Clio Awards, AICP, LIA, CICLOPE, New York Festivals, The ANDYs, shots Awards and Ad Age’s A-List.
Ayson has a knack for turning deceptively simple ideas into instantly memorable films. His cult anti-drink-driving spot ‘Legend’ (better known as ‘Ghost Chips’) for the New Zealand Transport Agency and Clemenger BBDO became a cultural phenomenon, winning a D&AD Yellow Pencil for Writing for Film Advertising in 2012.
Equally iconic was Carlton Draught’s ‘Beer Chase’. The Western-inspired blockbuster that picked up Gold in the Film Craft category at the 2012 Cannes Lions, remains one of Australia’s most celebrated beer ads.
His recent work includes Life360’s darkly comic musical ‘I Think of You (Dying)’ and Pringles’ moustache-filled Super Bowl, showing his ability to move between absurdist comedy, visual spectacle and grounded storytelling.
Ayson brings a cinematic scale that never overshadows the idea. His films are packed with visual ambition but grounded in performances that feel authentic, helping brands create work that resonates long after the credits roll.
It’s a balance that’s made him one of the advertising industry’s most respected directors and a regular collaborator for agencies chasing standout creative on the world stage.
4. Tim Bullock, director and co-founder, Scoundrel
Tim Bullock has spent more than two decades proving that funny is one of advertising’s hardest crafts to master.
After eight years at Saatchi & Saatchi, he swapped agency life for directing, first making a name with the Tropfest-winning short film Buried in 2003 before co-creating and writing the AFI Award-nominated advertising satire 30 Seconds and directing for both Seven and Nine.
Today, the Scoundrel co-founder is one of Australia’s most decorated commercial filmmakers. Bullock is a five-time Australian Directors’ Guild winner for Best Direction in a Television Commercial, was named CICLOPE Asia Pacific Director of the Year in 2025 and was recognised by Cannes’ New Directors Showcase early in his career. His work has also collected honours at Cannes Lions, D&AD, British Arrows and Clio.
Comedy remains his calling card, whether it’s Robert Irwin battling a sea of crocodiles for Columbia Sportswear’s ‘100 Crocs’, Toyota’s brilliantly self-aware ‘Is It An Ad?’, TikTok’s ‘Cliff of Love’, or campaigns for Specsavers, JetBlue, NZ Lotto, Harvey Nichols and Twix. Bullock has an uncanny ability to make absurd premises feel believable.
In an industry where humour often misses the mark, he’s built a career on making audiences laugh while delivering work that wins both awards and effectiveness.
3. Aimée-Lee Xu Hsien, director, Rabbit
Sydney-based writer and director Aimée-Lee Xu Hsien, repped by Rabbit in Australia and Rattling Stick in the UK, has built a reel that spans some of the country’s biggest brands. They include Uber Eats, Volkswagen, CommBank, PayPal, H&M, Maltesers, Honda, Square, ABC and Boost Mobile.
Her standout is MLA’s lamb campaign ‘The Generation Gap’, a piece of work that added to the category’s near-mythical run of cultural moments. She’s also brought her eye for storytelling to music, directing videos for Lime Cordiale and Thundamentals.
Her standing in the industry extends beyond her own directing work. She’s served as a juror on D&AD Awards, AWARD Awards and CICLOPE Asia-Pacific, putting her in the room judging the same kind of work she’s built her career on.
Outside advertising, Xu Hsien has quietly built out a serious screen career. Her debut short ‘Jump’ won Best Short Film at the Academy Award-accredited Palm Springs International ShortFest, while her web series ‘Pleasant Avenue’ picked up an Australian Directors’ Guild nomination and ‘Not Russian Anywhere’ landed a 2026 AACTA nomination.
Between commercial craft and screen recognition, she’s one of the rare directors moving fluently between both worlds.
2. Warwick Thornton, film director, PHOTOPLAY
Few directors move between commercial craft and art house prestige as convincingly as Warwick Thornton.
His recent work in advertising includes ‘Change Direction’, a short film campaign for the Westerman Jilya Institute for Indigenous Mental Health. Made with agency Apparent and production company Photoplay, the campaign was built to raise awareness of the Aboriginal suicide crisis. It carried the same weight and precision Thornton brings to his feature work into a cause that clearly matters to him.
He also directed ‘You’re The Voice’ campaign with The Monkeys (now Droga5) for The Voice referendum.
Thornton is one of Australian cinema’s most decorated storytellers, working as director, screenwriter and cinematographer, often all three on the same film.
His latest, Wolfram, debuted at the 2026 Berlinale, the newest entry in a career that first exploded onto the world stage when his debut feature ‘Samson and Delilah’ won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes in 2009.
‘Sweet Country’ followed with the Special Jury Prize at Venice and the Platform Prize at Toronto, while ‘The New Boy’ picked up the ACS Spotlight Award and the Camerimage Golden Frog for Best Cinematography, proof that his command of the camera is every bit as sharp as his instinct for story. His work also stretches into documentary and television, refusing to sit still in any one format.
Thornton is a director whose commercial work carries the same integrity as his acclaimed film career. He is living proof that the best creatives don’t shy away from the hardest stories.
1. Mark Molloy, director, EXIT Films
There’s a case to be made that no Australian TVC director has had a bigger 12 months than Mark oalloy. His resume reads like a highlight reel of the industry’s biggest partnerships — Qantas, Westpac, Samsung, Nike, Toyota and Nissan all feature, alongside an ongoing relationship with Apple that has produced some of the tech giant’s most celebrated global campaigns.
Molloy’s adidas ‘Backyard Legends’ spot, fronted by Timothée Chalamet, Bad Bunny and Jude Bellingham, (to name a few) went viral on release, racking up more than 100 million Instagram likes across brand and talent profiles within a week.
His ‘Escape from the Office’ campaign for Apple took home the Film Grand Prix at Cannes Lions in 2022, while his work for the Volkswagen film ‘Memories’ picked up two Film Craft Lions, for Direction and Editing in 2012. He’s also been recognised well beyond the awards circuit, earning a nomination for Adage’s Director of the Year in 2018 and later in 2020 was named Director of the Year at CICLOPE.
Not too long ago, Molloy made the leap from advertising into feature film, directing ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ for Netflix, starring Hollywood heavyweights including Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Kevin Bacon which was released in 2024.
Molloy was personally scouted for the project by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the man behind Top Gun and Pirates of the Caribbean — no small vote of confidence. The film went on to become one of Netflix’s most-watched titles worldwide, cementing Molloy as B&T‘s number 1 TVC & Film director for 2026.
