AUNZ Work of the Month: January

Innocean's new campaign for Kia imagines Aussie suburbia infested with zombies to launch the brand's EV range, as revealed by LBB. It promotes the car's features - like Smart Park Assist, Kia Voice Command, and a cool box - in a novel way, positioning them as 'zombie-proof' to ensure the car owners' survival during the apocalypse.

It's notoriously difficult to innovate in the auto category, and the zombie category for that matter. Director Francois Rousselet - who's recently directed films for Canal+ and A$AP Rocky, plus the John Lewis Christmas spot - wanted to give the film a "summertime vibe, which felt really fresh for the zombie genre," Innocean's CDs told LBB.

Super watchable - every time I've watched, I've noticed something new - and interesting for the category. The first big car ad of 2025 is fun.

StrangeLove struggled with finding its brand identity. Today the Brave answered its call.

The 15 second spots uses comedy to its advantage. With deadpan acting, the spots tell the audience exactly what StrangeLove offers: ‘Drinks for drinks’ sake’.

“I realised I hate my asshole children a long time ago”, or “I’m waiting for my parents to die so I can finally afford a house," for example.

The spots are coupled with OOH that also use a dry sense of humour, making snide jabs not only at StrangeLove products but places popular within Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

Few people do eccentric, off-kilter comedy better than Australian group Aunty Donna — see their Netflix series 'Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun' for proof. So when Melbourne-based agency SICKDOGWOLFMAN was looking to get weird for sun cream brand Slather, they turned to the comedy group's production company, Haven’t You Done Well - a collection of talent with a penchant for peculiarity.

The result is a Will & Sej-directed blast of the bizarre, warning the over 70% of Australians who don't regularly apply SPF of the dangers of sun damage. The film shows a humanoid sun persuading a gamer to emerge from his gloomy den, only to gleefully burn his face off. The performances are over the top, the practical effects are gruesome, and the bright and sunny jingle from Production Alley will be stuck in our heads for many summers to come.

Uber Eats' 'Get Almost, Almost Anything' platform is everything you want in a long idea: distinctive, tied to both the brand's core offering and its growth plans (pushing further into the grocery category), strong enough to spur endless creative executions but not so rigid as to smother them, and effective.

The risk in building a platform through star-studded campaigns, though, is the formula tires, the celebs fall flat, and/or the brand maxes out on star power. There's been Nicola Coughlan, Jason Alexander, and very recently, Andy Murray. And now, the biggest icon of all, Cher, for the platform's best campaign yet.

Cher orders a time machine to 'Turn Back Time' to the 80s, and accidentally ends up in the 1680s, where she's accused of being a witch, and burned at the stake.

Uber Eats and Special have outdone themselves. I don't know how they'll top this one. But I do know I wouldn't bet against them.

Special and The Glue Society created hundreds of original artworks to celebrate the 160+ year heritage of Coopers and its positioning as ‘Forever Original.’

The "certified original 1 of 1" artworks were crafted by fans of the brand and are being displayed on socials, OOH, and cinema.

Each artwork uses the brand as a stepping stone for the final product, from tattoos, hair art, crochet, painting, and led-lights to herding sheep in the shape of a pint. No two artworks are the same. Even the music was made using Coopers stubbies.

The scale and craft is to be commended - what a brilliant way to engage a brand’s fans, and honour that brand’s legacy.

“Originality means many things to many people, but one thing is for sure, it’s a virtue that the world needs now more than ever,” said Ryan Fitzgerald, executive creative director at Special.