Ogilvy creatives, copywriter, Jake Ausburn, and art director, Tom Macphail, have become the first winners of Snap’s Creative Council programme with their campaign, Dreamy. The Council, which launched last September in partnership with Creative Equals, features leading Australian creatives and encourages them to use Snapchat to develop creative solutions to pressing societal issues. They do this by nominating small teams in their agencies to respond to a brief. Ausburn and McPhail were put together by Ogilvy’s former executive creative director, Gavin McLeod.
Their idea has been produced and launched on Snapchat.
The team looked at research that showed that while the majority of Australians believe it’s important to know about the history of the First Nations People, only 42% believe they have strong knowledge of that history: a culture belonging to the oldest continuous civilisation in the world. Research also revealed that one in three Australians struggle to fall asleep, so the campaign was given two aims, to give First Nations storytellers a new platform on which to share and celebrate their cultures and help calm anxious Australians before bed.
To create it, they partnered with First Nations-led not-for-profit, Common Ground, to source five original sleep stories written by First Nations storytellers: Jazz Money, Aurora Liddle-Christie, Dakota Feirer, Genoah Gela and Dr. Romaine Moreton. They asked emerging First Nations visual artist, Carmen Glynn-Braun, to create a series of accompanying artwork that Ogilvy transformed into ambient looping animations. Then they created a campaign that included a microsite, video content and an Augmented Reality (AR) Lens that guides a Snapchatter through a short deep breathing meditative exercise before entering a magical state of mind where they can dream to sleep stories from First Nations storytellers. By giving a contemporary twist to the ancient art of storytelling, Dreamy brings an 80,000-year-old oral tradition into the digital space.
The AR lens can be found on the Snapchat carousel from this week, by searching Dreamy on Snapchat, or by scanning the Snapcode below.
The video content will run on Snapchat over the next two months. Both link to the microsite, dreamysleep.com.au, where the five soothing sleep stories accompanied by digital animations will appear. They will also be accessible on podcast platforms and will be featured on select radio stations.
Snap’s global director of creative strategy, Will Scougal, commented, “We started the Creative Council because we truly believe that Snapchat and ideas powered by its camera can be a force for good. We also wanted to encourage creatives to innovate with AR as a storytelling canvas. We received some incredible submissions and we’re delighted that the Council chose ‘Dreamy’ as the winner. The Ogilvy team put together a strong integrated campaign that celebrates Australia’s rich history and brings untold stories to the fore.”
Tom Macphail stated, “One of the great privileges of our job is having the opportunity to work on projects like this one. We all need to take care of ourselves, now more than ever, so we’ve been honoured to work with Common Ground to create this free mental health resource. We hope these stories will help anxious sleepers disconnect from their screens and connect with the traditional custodians of this country. Listening to these incredible First Nations storytellers won’t just help us sleep better – it’ll help us acknowledge the land upon which we sleep and dream.”
Carmen Glynn-Braun added, “Dreamy was such a special project to be part of. I’m super grateful to have the opportunity to create work alongside such an extraordinary cohort of First Nations storytellers. I love the contemporary nature of these yarns. The stories are very much here and now, but at the same time deeply encompass our ongoing ancestral connections to both story and place.”
Rona Glynn-McDonald, chief executive officer at Common Ground, noted, “We feel incredibly proud of this project, which shares First Nations knowledge, storytelling and creativity with the rest of the world. Through Dreamy, all people can connect with voices that can ground us in this moment and help us shape futures that are connected to Country and land.”
Dreamy credits:
Agency: Ogilvy Australia
Art Director: Tom MacPhail
Copywriter: Jake Ausburn
Creative Directors: Chris Little, Luke Smith & Ben Smith
Director, DOP & Editor: Newman Sorensen
Executive Creative Director: Gavin McCleod
Copywriter: Isabella Smith
Design Lead: Chad Edwards
Senior Digital Designer: Christian Moore
Motion Creative: Diego Poveda
Senior Strategist: Magdalena Tomislav
Senior Integrated Project Manager: Morwenna Farwagi
Senior Account Director: Mireille Pons
Business Director, Ogilvy PR: David Radestock
Digital Project Manager: Bastien Legay
Creative Technologist: Nick Robinson
Executive Producer, Head of Production: Rob Spencer
Senior Editor: Daniel Matotek
Editor, TV & Radio Dispatch: Josh Blakiston
Production Assistant: Liv Gillian
