From visceral to hopeful, new Australia vaccine campaigns change focus

Boxing Day at The Melbourne Cricket Ground, a day wasting away on Bondi Beach, and scuba diving with friends at the Great Barrier Reef are all on Ad Nut's bucket list. But thanks to Covid and a two-year travel shutdown, these dreams remain strictly on paper, while Ad Nut's travel and adventure gear lies tragically packed away. 

After a rough start to promoting vaccination with a graphic ad that caused outrage among Australians, Ad Nut is delighted to see a couple of new campaigns, one from the government and the other from Tab, a bookmaker, that take a better tack. Together they offer the faintest glimpse that things could be limping back to some sense of normalcy.

While some Australians are irate with the delay, Ad Nut is just happy the government has finally come around to belatedly steering the country in the right direction. The Australian government campaign, First Things First, from BMF, resonates well with this social creature. "The things we love are worth holding tight," the voiceover notes. "To keep doing the things we love, there's something we need to do first."

The campaign encourages all eligible Australians to get vaccinated, and notes that the shots are available for Australians over the age of 12 starting today. After a delayed roll out, hopefully this pushes Australians to ramp up their vaccination numbers and open up not just to locked out residents, but visitors eager to head down under. 

Even as the government promotes vaccination, Ad Nut is also delighted that the role of being the jab catalyst isn't left to the government alone. A week after the bookmaker changed its name from Tab to Jab, it is keen to show the move isn't just a gimmick. If that stunt was more of a wide-angled push to promote vaccinations, a new campaign via M&C Saatchi Sydney focuses on getting venues, especially "locals", back on their feet.

In this campaign, normally bustling Australian venues are shown forlorn, waiting for consumers to return. As Tab's EGM in charge of customer, product, and marketing, Luke Waldren, said, “A big driver behind our purpose is to create opportunities for people to come together through play. We felt that we should use our voice to support the vaccination drive and in-turn help Aussies get back to what they love sooner.  Whilst also supporting our venues and the thousands of Aussies that make a living through them.” 

Alongside the film and name change, Tab also launched a social-media campaign, #JABForAustralia, asking Australians to share the 'Jab' logo and explain why they’re getting vaccinated, with the brand pitching in funds to support local venues.

As countries and companies reckon with a post-Covid future, Ad Nut just hopes to smell the freshly cut grass and the roar of nearly 100,000 cricket fans. Perhaps not this year, but surely in 2022.

CREDITS (Australia government/BMF)

Creative Agency: BMF
Chief Creative Officer: Alex Derwin
Creative Director: Douglas Hamilton
Associate Creative Director Roy Leibowitz
Senior Art Director: Chris Wilson
Head of Art and Design: Lincoln Grice
Designer: Alex Kidd
Chief Strategy Officer: Christina Aventi
Group Planning Director: Thomasine Burnap
Chief Executive Officer: Stephen McArdle
General Manager: Paul Coles
Group Account Director: Olivia Widjaya
Senior Account Director: Victoria Venardos
Head of TV: Jenny Lee-Archer
Agency Producer: Mandy Payne
Production Company: Scoundrel
Director: Michael Spiccia
Executive Producer: Adrian Shapiro
Producer: Ben Scandrett-Smith
Post Production: ARC Edit
Editor: Peter Sciberras
Sound Production: Rumble
Music: Otis Studios
DOP: Ross Giardina
Photographer: Joel Pratley
Art Buyer: Basir Salleh
Creative Services Director: Clare Yardley
Production Director: Karen Liddle
Integrated Producer: Rosie Weathered
Digital Producer: Ryville Ochoa
Front-end developer: King Tan
Finished Artist: Iva Madderom
PR: Lu Borges and Elliott Holahan

Media Agency: Universal Mccann
Research Agency: Fiftyfive5

Client: Department of Health: [email protected]

CREDITS (Tab/M&C Saatchi)

Agency: M&C Saatchi
Chief Creative Officer: Cam Blackley
Creative Director: Chris Cheeseman
Creatives: Chris Cheeseman, Cam Blackley, Paul Bruce, Jack Emery
Head of Strategy: Nick Jacobs
Social Strategist: Clement Simon
Head of Sponsorship: Richie Butterworth
Group Head: Emma McJury
Account Director: Joshua Johns
Head of TV Production: Loren August

Client: Tab
Luke Waldren – Executive General Manager – Customer, Product, Marketing & VIP
Kent Madders – General Manager – Brand, Marketing & Content
John Vellis – General Manager – Media, Sponsorships & Sky Thoroughbred Central
Luke Feddema – Head of Marketing - Brand & Campaigns
Will Evans – Marketing Manager – Brand & Campaign
Edward Kier - Marketing Executive - Brand & Campaigns
Michael Wall – Senior Manager – PR & Social
Eden Richards – PR & Social Media Executive
Rohan Welsh – PR & Media Manager
Brad Bishop – PR & Media Manager
Andrew Georgiou – PR & Media Manager
Media: OMD

Production Company:13CO
Director: Patrick Fileti
Producer: Charity Downing
Executive Producer: Roy De Giorgio
DOP: Kieran Fowler
Editor: Patrick Fileti
Colourist: Fergus Rotherham
Post Production: White Chocolate
Composer: Daniel McCormick
Sound Studio:Rumble

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