Trump has a perfume but Australia’s larrikin ex-prime minister has a beer. A bunch of ex-Droga5 creatives built Hawke’s beer from the ground up and launched it in 2017. More recently, they have built creative agency, The Ministry for Communications & The Arts from the ground up. According to Bureau of Everything, the creative agency built from the ground up by ex-CCO of M&C Saatchi, Cam Blackley, it’s soon to be Australia’s 4th favourite beer brand. And it is taking on this year’s festive season in a way that would make the down-to-earth Bob Hawke proud – with a series of home truths.
Ignoring the usual cliché Christmas message trap, MCA and BoE have leant unapologetically into the Australian experience – “end of year exhaustion”, “traditional gifting”, “like Jack Daniel’s”, fridge politics and polarising holiday films. The centrepiece of the campaign is a series of public service announcement billboards that would be close to Bob Hawke’s heart – a daily countdown of potential sick days remaining until Christmas day. (For overseas readers, Hawke is famous for declaring, “Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum,” when Australia (finally) won the America’s Cup in 2013.)
Hawke’s co-founder, Nathan Lennon, stated, “Christmas is the Super Bowl for brewers, with December accounting for up to 20% of annual sales (95% if you’re Crown Lager). With the big Japanese-owned Australian breweries muscling us smaller guys out of all the good fridge spots, we’ve enlisted Cam to help us fight back the Aussie way – with some good honest advertising that helps prove that iconic brands are built on cultural relevance, not price-tag promotions. And hey, if we can snag a slab-sized spot under a few Christmas trees while we’re at it, all the better.”
Cam Blackley added, “Dave and Nath have created such a strong Australian point of view and iconic work with Hawke’s. It was an incredible responsibility to be entrusted with their baby and the high standards they set around the work. It was also a blast to be writing beer ads again.”
If they had to give the project an end line, which they don’t, they’d make it, Good Honest Beer with a Good Honest Collaboration. Because the project brings together The Ministry for Communication & The Arts (MCA) and Bureau of Everything (BoE) which is quite a sentence. But actually reflects the new way of the world, where Indies come together based on the brief and the types of brains that might bring a new perspective.
Both creative offices launched their companies earlier this year. This is the first collaboration between the two businesses, although the founders have been long-time mates and Droga5 alumni. Both creative shops are built around senior talent that work more directly with clients and can flex their creative muscles through their ability to bring partnerships to bear.
