Tom Martin

​Tom Martin is Partner and Chief Creative Officer at Special Australia, a leading independent agency. Known for pushing the boundaries of commercial creativity, he’s won 'Best of Show' at AWARD a record five times, a Cannes Lions Grand Prix and a D&AD Black Pencil.

​With over 25 years of experience across Australia and the U.S., Tom’s standout projects include NAB Bank’s ‘Break Up’ (the first bank campaign in 30 years to win a Cannes Grand Prix), Four’N Twenty’s ‘Magic Salad Plate’, Cricket Australia’s ‘Big Warnie’, Guide Dogs Australia’s ‘Support Scent’, Pedigree’s ‘K9FM’, Tourism Victoria’s ‘The Remote Control Tourist’, and Go Gentle’s ‘Stop the Horror’, which helped shape Australia’s euthanasia laws.

​At Special, he has led the agency to over 40 'Agency of the Year' titles with high-profile campaigns like Uber's 'Tonight I’ll Be Eating…', 'Uber Don’t Eats', 'Get Almost Anything', and Virgin Australia's 'Middle Seat Lottery'. He also worked on Tourism New Zealand’s ‘Good Morning World’, one of only three Global Effies winners that year.

​Tom’s leadership is also driving cultural change, with Special Australia spearheading initiatives like Shift20, an industry-wide push for disability inclusion in advertising.

​Some of Tom’s awards:

​Campaign UK: ‘Global Creative Agency of the Year'
​WARC: ‘Most Effective Independent Network in the World’
​SXSW: Award for Technical Achievement
​Cannes Lions:
​Grand Prix - 1
​Gold - 8
​Silver - 12
​Bronze - 18
​D&AD:
​Black Pencil - 1
​Yellow Pencil - 5
​One Show:
​Gold - 1
​Silver - 4
​Bronze - 5
​AWARD: Best of Show - 5
​Spikes ASIA:
​Independent Agency of the Year - 2
​Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards: Grand Prix - 1 Gold - 4
​Global Effie - Multi Region: Silver (The highest Effie in 2020): Good Morning World
​Global Grand Effie Winners 2021 - Transportation, Travel & Tourism: Good Morning World​