The Stable at AdFest: Craig Brooks ECD R/GA. “It’s the underdogs that always surprise and are worth celebrating”

Craig Brooks thinks differently. The executive creative director at R/GA Sydney began his career as a developer. While ad agency people were trying to come to grips with the mysteries of digital, the digital pro was acquiring expertise as an agency creative. He then joined TBWA\Tequila, where he stayed for eleven years, gathering an impressive haul of awards and a portfolio of big brand work. He is now executive creative director at forward-thinking digital agency, R/GA in Sydney. At AdFest 2019 he has been judging Branded Entertainment Lotus, Effective Lotus and Integrated Lotus. He has some very interesting words to say about that – and R/GA.

The Stable: What will you be looking for in particular in branded entertainment? What makes branded entertainment good or bad?

Craig Brooks: The clue is right there in the category name. This field is a chance for brands to entertain their audiences and connect in more meaningful ways than just comms. The great challenge within this field is to strike the harmonious balance between engaging with customers whilst retaining a genuine connection to the brand that facilitates the storytelling.

TS: There is often a disjunct between effectiveness winners and creative winners? India, for example, currently has the top three effectiveness campaigns in the world, but is nowhere to be seen in creative rankings. Should advertising be worried about this? What are the key characteristics of an effective creative campaign?

CB: There are multiple levers we can pull as marketers when working with our client partners, and we’re tasked with creating vastly different desired outcomes with our work. Of course, the best test of an idea is that it is creatively unique and still brilliantly effective. The sheer scale of the population numbers in Asia often skews how a piece of creative is considered effective, but from what I’ve seen so far there are some lovely ideas that have transcended both those markers of success.

TS: “We are creatively driven—and all our work is informed by our culture of collaboration” R/GA took a while to find its feet creatively in Aus? What challenges has it conquered to get to where it is now and what is on the horizon? How collaborative is the R/GA network and in what ways?

CB: Every office in our network has evolved through pure organic growth with no acquisitions and no mergers. In very little time Australia has grown from a tiny office of 5 to over 100 people across 2 offices – and, APAC is the fastest growing region in the network. Part of that rapid growth has been our in-built connectivity – this is the most collaborative agency I’ve ever experienced. We consistently have creatives and strategists from all over the world working together on multiple projects. Our relationship with Wine Australia is a great example of this, where I currently have teams in Shanghai and New York bringing their local insights to our creative platform that helps us gain far better traction in those markets.

TS: Where and how does creativity fit into the agency’s scheme of things?

CB: Creativity is at the heart of what we do. Our interpretation of what creativity is has evolved and broadened, and that’s reflected in our global and local leadership teams, and that’s what gives R/GA such a unique proposition in the market. Everyday my storytelling insights are stretched and enriched by R/GA’s strong heritage in systematic thinking and business transformation.

TS: What are you most excited about seeing and doing at AdFest?

CB: AdFest always unearths hidden gems because it shines a light on work that harnesses local insights to tackle local problems in unique ways. With the scale of the region we’re often aware of the bigger pieces of work before you get into judging, but it’s the underdogs that always surprise and are worth celebrating.
TS: Traditionally, adland Australia has tended to align itself with, and measure itself against Europe and the US. How important is it to recognise itself as part of APAC – in a business sense as well as for creative resources and inspiration?

CB: The skills of our people, and the way we approach challenges, are global so our people move freely between offices to work on different projects where their expertise is needed. That’s particularly true of APAC. It’s very common to find our people from Sydney in Singapore, in Tokyo or Shanghai at any given time, and also to find people from those offices collaborating in Sydney or Melbourne. It’s also why I feel shows like AdFest are particularly important for Australian creatives to experience so they can get a broader view of the kind of work that resonates with Asian audiences.

TS: What do you think is your best work

CB: Over the past 12 months, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve created with the NRL. There are the off-field narratives that are driven by media, by at the moment the game is the best it’s ever been. here’s an emerging pool of incredible new talent. The game is introducing exciting new formats and innovations like the magic round, and we’re so happy to help tell this story. In the first year with NRL as a client, we set about establishing an incredibly strong whole of business idea in This is how we league and followed that up with a surprising campaign for Origin, Out for Blood. We’ve just helped re-launch the brand with A New Era, and have some exciting projects planned for the rest of the season.