Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt, Avish Gordhan, and Simon Gibson Pick AUNZ’s March Work of the Month

From a series of billboards concealing optical illusions and identifying vision loss to a telco creating an AI clone of its happiest customer, the top AUNZ work from last month plays with its channel, breaks category tropes, and incorporates AI art and voiceovers.

In partnership with AWARD, here is LBB AUNZ’s March Work of the Month, chosen by Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt, Avish Gordhan, Simon Gibson, and Brittney Rigby.

VML and 1001 Optometry: ‘The Hidden Eye Test’

Katrina Alvarez-Jarratt, executive creative director at TBWA\Sydney

This month, my eyeballs were delighted to see the work from VML for Optometry 1001.

‘The hidden eye test’ is fun on a bunch of different levels. It’s got a bit of that magic eye ‘can you see it or can’t you’ challenge, the images themselves are an AI fever dream – but in the best possible way – and sneakily they’ve popped the product in there too.

Thankfully, my contacts appear to be working because I can’t see the headlines at all, although I did check with some optically challenged friends, and they’ve assured me they are actually there. In my eyes, a very elegant solution.

Bear Meets Eagle On Fire and Bankwest: ‘Just Enough Bank’

Avish Gordhan, chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi

Money is kinda important. And so (generally) banks love to remind you of the role they play in your life. But this new Bankwest platform sets up a more realistic view of how much banking you actually want in your life. Even though it’s important, you probably don’t think of it as often as some of the big banks pretend you do.

Sure… it’s not the newest strategy in the world – “When you use X, you get more time to do the thing you actually want.” But the way this campaign is brought to life is fun, full of narrative charm, and it’s visually arresting. It’s an elegant shift from the ‘Bank Less’ platform.

I love the craft in this work. The AI voice in the film is suitably disconnected from the story and offers a kind of pseudo-scientific tone while talking about things that are honest and undeniably human. The OOH is charming and visually so unlike anything in the category that it cuts through.

I can see this platform lasting a really long time. I can see the fun that is going to be had. And that makes me jealous.

Colenso BBDO and Skinny: ‘Skinny For Life’

Simon Gibson, group creative director at Special

In ‘The Terminator’ series, staring down the spectre of artificially intelligent killer robots, Sarah Connor repeats the mantra, “There’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.”

In 2025, that feels a bit like wishful thinking. Our collective fate seems like it’s being written at warp speed by a bunch of man-children in California who love money, hate going outside, and want AI to replace human creativity as swiftly and profitably as possible.

But Skinny Mobile’s latest cost-saving campaign offered humanity a glimmer of hope. The naturally intelligent humans at Colenso managed to use artificial intelligence to make fun stuff in service of a real idea.

Now, I know in about four minutes’ time, talking about using AI in a campaign will seem quaint. It’ll be everywhere and the robots will laugh about how slow humans used to be at making ads. But right now, this work felt like what many of us had been waiting for—it used AI to deliver something with actual humanity.

And if you’re going to clone humans, at least Liz seems really nice.

72andSunny and AFL: ‘Get In On It’

Brittney Rigby, managing editor AUNZ at Little Black Book

It can be tricky to get into a sport you haven’t grown up with. You need to learn the rules, the players’ names and teams, the lingo and the lore.

Instead of shying away from what it takes to ‘crack’ AFL, 72andSunny celebrated it, packing hundreds of easter eggs into a fast-paced and visually-striking film you can watch over and over. If you’re not a fan already, you may not ‘get’ references to pigeon bounces and speccys, but aren’t you keen to find out?

The work connects with a new generation of potential fans without alienating existing obsessives. And the bold, illustrative elements feel fun and fresh for a category and code that can risk feeling overly-serious and blokey. This casual observer (#BigBigSound) is tempted to properly ‘Get In On It’.