Creative Circle: Rikki Burns + Dav Tabeshfar

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Creative Circle: Rikki Burns + Dav Tabeshfar

Campaign Brief asks two creative thinkers from the Perth industry to highlight recent great work that caught their eye from both our local WA industry and internationally. Creative Circle contributors this week are Rikki Burns (above left) and Dav Tabeshfar (right).

 

Rikki Burns
Creative Director at Large
WA: My pick is the ‘Be Healthy be Anything’ film by Rhythm Content. Their stunning cinematography and great original track from Andrew Wright do justice to the stories of real people from Derby who are trying to make a difference in their community, and in turn perhaps make the health check message a little more palatable. Seeing WA talent make films that look like this on a tight budget proves once again what we’re capable of. I’m excited to see what they’ll do in the future.

VIEW ‘BE HEALTHY BE ANYTHING’ CAMPAIGN

Creative Circle: Rikki Burns + Dav Tabeshfar

Non-WA: 2020 huh? So… unprecedented. The ads? Not so much. For those of us who are done ‘getting through it together, ‘remembering what’s important’, and ‘learning the importance of home’, there are few shining examples of ads making actual connection through storytelling. For that reason, my nod goes to ‘Match Made in Hell’ for Match.com from Maximum Effort. With so many life plans put on hold, this clever story told from a foundation of empathy really hits the mark.

Unable to encourage their users to meet up IRL, Match.com was faced with a huge problem. It likely would have been an easier sell to talk about the joys of the chase, making future plans, and the power of ‘one day’, but instead they boldly owned and dramatised the problem. A decision which is unfortunately becoming more and more rare. Having said that, the decision to hire Ryan Reynolds’ crew to make your ads is hardly a risk. They, like the dumpster that was 2020, are on fire.

What better way to close out 2020 than with an ad featuring Satan and Taylor Swift.

VIEW ‘MATCH MADE IN HELL’

My runner up goes to Ogilvy Sydney’s “Super Schooner” which solves a problem, sells more beer, and feels nice all at the same time.

Creative Circle: Rikki Burns + Dav Tabeshfar

Dav Tabeshfar
Creative Director
&Partners
WA: Otherside Brewery ‘Plan: C’ via Block Branding. WA seems to have been spared the worst of Covid 19 so far. Saying that, we did have to endure a plague of Covid ads. The ubiquitous footage of Zoom calls, indoor athletics, and portraits of real people starring earnestly at camera was enough to cause nausea and life-sapping malaise.

Thankfully, WA prevailed and delivered one of the most refreshing ideas of 2020. Otherside Brewery and Block Branding developed ‘Plan: C’ Simple Ale. The product was designed to solve two problems; Otherside’s loss of revenue from closed venues, and the drinkers desire for an every day (literally) beer to see them through lockdown without a financial hangover.

The whole idea came together within days, and before a week was up, beer was being brewed and packaging printed. It was a genuinely useful response, communicated with perfectly pragmatic design and copy – and not once did they mention ‘unprecedented times.’ Bravo.

VIEW THE ‘PLAN: C’ CAMPAIGN

Creative Circle: Rikki Burns + Dav Tabeshfar

Non-WA: For me, the most emotionally charged piece of advertising I’ve seen recently did not come from a charity, political party or even John Lewis. The work that moved me more than anything else this year was Bodyform’s ‘Womb Stories’ by AMV BBDO London. I found it both brutal and beautiful, and I don’t have a womb.

The ad uses film and animation to tell unflinching stories of periods, endometriosis, menopause and infertility. Looking the online comments that follow the film wherever it’s posted, it’s clear the work has helped people with different mensuration experiences feel ’seen’. The stories are heartbreaking and heartwarming, without sentimentality or saccharine. And then there’s the film craft. Wow. Just wow. I hesitated before selecting ‘Womb Stories’ to talk about, because I do not have a womb and I’ll never truly understand endometriosis or menopause. I decided to go ahead because I feel a tiny bit closer to that understanding than I did before I’d seen the film.

VIEW WOMB STORIES

Creative Circle: Rikki Burns + Dav Tabeshfar