AUNZ’s Best Creative Proves "We Shouldn't Be Afraid of Proper Big Brand Work"
Brand work is making a comeback in AUNZ, with seven of the region’s nine Immortal Awards finalists representing work for major brands, including Telstra, Samsung, Bankwest, and Vogel’s.
Telstra CMO Brent Smart told LBB the overall creative health of the Australian and New Zealand market is in a good place.
“What's really good to see is so much work from big brands and brands that matter,” he said.
“It’s super important that we don't just see charity work. It's important, but seeing work that's building brands and work that's highly visible is really important.”
Bear Meets Eagle on Fire CCO Micah Walker, who collaborated with Brent as part of Telstra’s +61 agency on four of the nine AUNZ finalists, explained brand work is more reflective of the industry’s output.
“We shouldn't be afraid of proper big brand work for big brands. I find it a little tough to nod towards something that's charity-based or causal, because that's not what we spend most of our time doing in this industry – not that I think those things aren't worthy, but it's very difficult. Sometimes it's [asking], ‘What does the industry think we're trying to make a statement about?’”
Creative consultant Pia Chaudhuri agreed; while a few years ago, “there would have been probably more cause-led stuff for smaller organisations,” she feels big brands are now leading the pack.
“It's great that brands are being brave and creative and investing in craft and ideas again.”
M+C Saatchi national CCO Emma Robbins noted in a tough year, the work that stands out has been created on a foundation of trust and respect.
“There's incredible relationships going on between those agencies and those clients – immense trust. You look at the standard of the work for the kinds of brands that are in there [the Immortals finalist list] as well – phones and bread and government. There's some great clients in there that are really trusting the agency and there's obviously great collaborative trust in there with the standard of the work.”
The Immortal Awards AUNZ jury sent nine finalists through to the global judging round this week, almost double the number of projects that progressed last year. They included five pieces of work from Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, four from Telstra, three from New Zealand, and a number of campaigns that have already become globally-lauded, such as Motion Sickness’ ‘Best Place in the World to Have Herpes’ and DDB Group New Zealand’s ‘Certified Toasters’.
Sedona founder and EP Kim Wildenburg said, “The creativity here is really, really strong.
“You've got beautiful character animation, innovative tech, social causes that have made so much impact globally, beautiful filmmaking craft. The diversity of the films that made the top nine is pretty incredible.”
Fewer than 30 Immortal Awards have been handed out in the show’s seven years; the category-less program is incredibly hard to win. Kim said it forces the jury to be “ruthless”, while Micah added it facilitates a “really honest conversation” and “real purity”.
“You cut through a lot of the bullshit of like, ‘Is it a bronze? Is it a silver? Is it shortlist?’” he said.
“That clarity makes the Immortal Awards really unique. In a lot of ways, it's the toughest one to win, so I think [the] level of difficulty should be high. Is it a real problem? Is it solved in a way that is imaginative and unique? Does that then have an impact that's significant, either for a brand or for an audience?”
Brent said, “We're just trying to work out what is the absolute cream of the crop.
“The sheer exclusivity in terms of not handing out lots of awards is what makes them special. Sometimes [award judges] spend a lot of time debating what's going to get a bronze, and here we don't even have that conversation.
“I love that you don't have to go through winners in each category … we're just talking about, what's the very, very best work.”
M+C Saatchi entered just two pieces of work “because that’s where the bar is”, said fellow juror and M+C CCO Emma. “There's no mucking around with what deserves to be in the top few ideas.”
Revolver EP Pip Smart was initially “a little nervous” that jurors connected with the work being discussed did not have to step out of the room. “But it actually makes for a really supportive and encouraging space, because people can talk about the work, what they like about the work, and be really honest about what they don't like about the work. The fact is, when you're a creative person and you're doing creative work, you need people to say ‘that could have been better’ or ‘that was a bit shit’ … that part of the way the jury comes together is really special.”
Plenty of Telstra work was up for discussion, including multiple projects which were ultimately not chosen as finalists. “The fact that here, everyone's a grown up, we can talk about our own work,” he said,. “that's quite a unique thing.
“I'm really proud to be representing this region and hopefully our work has a chance on the global stage. It's not lost on me what a high percentage of the work from this region we're representing so I just hope it's good enough to cut it globally.”
Being the only client in the room, he added, was a great honour.
“You look at work through a different lens as a marketer than you do as a creative. I always learn so much through these conversations [and] have such respect for creative people who start at the blank page and who invest so much of themselves into this work.”
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Read also:
9 Finalists Chosen at The Immortal Awards 2025 AUNZ Jury Day
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