In the advertising industry, where imagery and messages hold immense power, the inclusion of Indigenous voices is not only a matter of equity but also a crucial step toward reconciliation and, most importantly, authentic storytelling.
This NAIDOC Week, John Burgess, a proud Gurindji, English Australian, CEO and director of strategy at Little Rocket, First Nations director at Tag Worldwide, and part owner and director of the First Nations Network, spoke with B&T on his journey, the importance of Indigenous representation in this dynamic field, and the pivotal role it plays in shaping societal narratives.
B&T: Can you tell us about the journey of founding Little Rocket and what inspired you to start it?
Burgess: I had worked in the marketing/creative and advertising spaces for about ten years, including membership, sales, radio, loyalty, engagement, and sponsorship, and I felt there was a real lack of connection in the work I was doing. I decided to step out and try developing my own agency with a different approach to customer engagement and service delivery. This soon became a full-time gig, and for about half of our almost fifteen-year history, I worked with a network of subcontractors delivering marketing, communications, design, branding and digital services. These were fun times, working with friends and trying to carve out a value offering that would resonate and drive meaning.
It was my team’s engagement to work on the 50th anniversary of the Gurindji – Freedom Day Festival; however, that would change the trajectory of the agency. The festival commemorates the infamous Wave Hill Walk-Off, which is the longest industrial strike in Australia’s history. This strike soon turned into a land rights struggle, and after nine years, the Gurindji won their land back from the government. Daguragu and Kalkarindji, small outposts located 12 hours south of Darwin, would become the birthplace of land rights in Australia. Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody immortalised the achievement in Australian folklore through their vivid storytelling in the song; ‘From Little Things, Big Things Grow’.
I am a proud Gurindji, English Australian. My late mother was forcibly removed from her homelands at just the age of two, and my sisters and I have made a concerted effort since to reconnect with the Gurindji. My grandmother was also taken from her mother, so I have had two generations of stolen women in my family, which has caused tremendous trauma, abuse and disconnection. The opportunity to honour the matriarchs in my family was something I was hugely passionate about, so we took a team of six up to Kalkarindji and Daguragu to work on this historic event. Everyone from Bill Shorten to Ray Martin was in attendance that year.
Through this life-changing experience, I identified further opportunities. I became aware of the Indigenous Procurement Policy being deployed federally and on a state level to provide First Nations business owners with an opportunity to pitch for work on government programs, tenders and major works. I soon pivoted the business orientation and teamed up with an old colleague of mine who had returned from living on Gurindji Country for the past two years. It was just happenstance that his then-girlfriend had been placed there as a teacher, and here our worlds collided again. David became the Creative Director, and off we went down the rabbit hole of social procurement.
Through networking in this space, I soon joined The Victorian Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce – Kinaway and the Federal Government funded First Nations Business entity, Supply Nation. These two organisations provided a wealth of insight and opportunity around ways to engage with clients who traditionally were out of our reach. After a couple of years, I joined the Kinaway board and worked with a dynamic team for a real growth period over the next five years. Little Rocket grew quickly and went from two staff five years ago to twenty today. In 2021, Tag Worldwide approached me to become their First Nations Director, advising the Tag Group on First Nations best practices, protocols, and practices.
Little Rocket, along with Unity4, launched Australia’s first First Nations Call Centre business this year, aiming to offer the First Nations community the ability to work on Country anywhere around Australia in easily accessible roles that pay above award rates.
B&T: Why do you believe representation in the advertising industry is so crucial, particularly for First Nations peoples?
Burgess: To be heard is to be seen. For too long in Australia, our First Nations community has been put to the back and ignored, suppressed, and discriminated against, and the advertising industry has played its part in upholding colonialist narratives and discriminatory practices based on race. Australia is on a journey of reconciliation, and part of this is providing once-denied spaces for First Nations narratives, storytelling and creativity to be heard and represented in the mainstream. There is an enormous potential for First Nations Creatives to self-determinate in these industries and create new opportunities for First Nations communities here and abroad on the world stage.
It is the oldest living culture in the world, and hundreds of different nations in Australia have unique stories to tell, both ancient and contemporary. This generation of First Nations Creatives is standing on the shoulders of their ancestors, who came before them and endured hundreds of years of horrific trauma but also thousands of years of proud history and traditions.
Without popular culture and the way in which advertising is created having a First Nations contribution and lens, we will continue to uphold the old patriarchy that serves only a section of society. Australia’s First People need to have a seat at the table to contribute and guide communications and advertising. For future generations, this point we are now in is crucial to its development and progress.
B&T: How does your agency ensure that First Nations voices and perspectives are authentically represented in the campaigns you create?
Burgess: Little Rocket integrates First Nations Creatives and Suppliers throughout its supply chain from engaging over 50 traditional and contemporary artists, voice-over talent, actors, influencers, musicians, speakers, photographers, videographers, digital, printers, caterers and many more. We are a values-based organisation that has established a foundation around Community, Country and Culture. We work to bring these voices to the foreground and opportunities they might not have had previously. Our role is as a professional conduit with the in-house skills to facilitate campaigns of all sizes. Over 25 per cent of Little Rocket’s turnover went back into Community last financial year.
Little Rocket, with its affiliation with TAG Worldwide, will be launching Australia’s first advertising creative internship in September with two amazing Gurindji (NT) talents. The reason behind the formation of the internship was to provide First Nations Creatives an insight into the machinations of the advertising and creative industries. This glimpse is designed to expand horizons and opportunities and demystify the advertising process.
Our team is also passionate about content specialists in areas that affect us, such as the Referendum, Stolen Generations, Social Inequality, Decolonisation, and Sustainability. Little Rocket continues to create content around these areas and regularly conducts campaign work to raise awareness, funds, and education on key topics of impact.
B&T: In what ways do you think the mainstream advertising industry falls short in terms of representation and inclusivity of Indigenous cultures and voices?
Burgess: I think the advertising industry hasn’t had industrial reform like other industries, from education to engagement and general appropriate cultural awareness training. It, therefore, seems to be quite tokenistic at this point in the engagement of representation of these voices and talent in campaign creation. When they are engaged, it seems to be for traditional executions that may address a First Nations activation, event, theme, etc.
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are so diverse and have so many interesting stories, skills and perspectives to bring to the communication and marketing-related industries. This also extends to key areas beyond First Nations material. I know for Little Rocket it has been a challenge to engage with clients that want to undertake mainstream work outside the First Nations space. That’s where we would begin to see real change.
The power dynamic in Australia’s advertising industry is still very much in the hands of those who benefited from colonisation, who represent brands that have benefited from colonisation, whose children have then taken up roles ahead of others because of colonisation and discriminatory policy that breed disadvantage. Our society of migrants and all sorts of cultures has changed the narrative and Australia’s younger generations are standing against many of the old injustices previous generations have succumbed to discrimination because in the end it benefited them and their loved ones.
B&T: Can you share some specific examples of how better representation in advertising has positively impacted First Nations communities?
Burgess: The positive representations we are seeing in some representations of First Nations content are where brands have explored the narrative further or adapted new concepts of engagement outside traditional, art, sport and politics. Some examples of this are the recent Hyundai campaign featuring Hunter Page Lochard from Cleverman fame and AAMI advertising campaigns, which don’t depict talent because the theme is indigenous, which has been positive. More and more First Nations businesses and brands are becoming part of the general conversation, like fashion brand Clothing The Gaps, Restaurateur & Caterer – Mabu Mabu and recent winner of Gordon Ramsey Food Stars program, Troy Benjamin from Tea producer Blak Brews. In addition to these brands and businesses, there are a host of established First Nations Creative agencies producing quality work around Australia, like Little Rocket, Carbon Creative, Galyimba, 33 Creative, and Campfire X. These agencies, creatives and talent have a depth in storytelling and cultural engagement but also top skills in executing high-end challenging briefs.
Every advertising and creative agency should start with its commitment to reconciliation through a reconciliation framework or RAP, which puts commitments in place to have relationships and improve relationships with Australia’s First Nations community. If it is about social inclusion, equality, and equity, a RAP is a founding principle of this BAU strategy.
B&T: What challenges have you faced in promoting Indigenous representation in an industry that has historically marginalised these voices?
Burgess: Challenges have been around bridging the gap with opportunity, educating clients and, a lot of the time, carrying the cultural load around cultural engagement. Reconciliation is defined by two parties seeking to reconcile and make a means for past wrongs. I think Australia’s non-Indigenous communities need to take the lead in developing change and education to address the way they have treated Australia’s first people.
The biggest challenge I think in this process is truth telling. When you hear of the trauma caused over generations to First Nations families and way of life, it begins to resonate with the toll and load that our First Nations people are carrying across generations. This is what they call ‘Generation One’, the first generation of Aboriginal business owners and entrepreneurs, because for over 200 years, our people have been persecuted for the colour of our skin, the land was stolen, the children were stolen, all our resources stolen and our culture suppressed and languages forbidden not to mention land ownership. The systematic genocide in Australia is one of the worst accounts in the world, and today, there is still no treaty, reparations or even an advisory body to guide First Nations policy. The next generation is beginning with the truth and hopefully will set a new chapter in Australia’s history.
B&T: Looking ahead, what are your hopes and goals for the future of representation in the advertising industry?
Burgess: My hope for the advertising industry is to see First Nations agency owners and creatives working on major brands and campaigns, a First Nations approach to communications through storytelling adopted, pathways established that help mob see themselves in industry roles, and emerging artists and creatives taking up positions at our universities in the arts and creative fields.
It’s key for our leaders to understand the opportunities and disadvantages our people have had to endure to be in the place we are today. Through a systematic change in ideology around race, advertising could lead the way through its adoption of truth-telling and creative representation.
To effect real change, we need to listen, reconcile, and implement a treaty that recognises these lands have never been ceded, recompenses what was stolen, and corrects the disadvantages.