When you’re hungry and you want the food you love to come to you, the hero in your head is closer to home than Christina Aguilera or Katy Perry. They’ve done a great job of giving Menulog (aka, Just Eat) its cool. But this year, Thinkerbell’s strategic thinking realised that there was power to be harnessed in local food legends. Australian music legends, Bliss n Eso, provided star status (and the cool of a hip-hop Did Someboy Say…) but a vast collection of local cafes, restaurants and food stall owners took the stage in a new wave of advertising. The star attraction became seeing your local community heroed in an ad.

Thinkerbell and Menulog recruited a mate, AI, and sent dozens of hyperlocalised ads across Australia. Not cookie cutter ads, with the names changed. Dozens of unique ads sent to dozens of unique locations. Here’s the story behind that feat:

The Stable: It can be a real challenge extending a well-known campaign that’s been going on for a long time. How much creative freedom were you given? What was the new campaign’s aim?

Sesh Moodley: The localisation strategy meant we needed to take the fame that already existed and stretch it into culture at a local level. The aim was not to reinvent the brand, but to reframe it so every Aussie suburb could see themselves in it.

We had the freedom to rework the song with Bliss n Eso and make it relevant for every hood. The ambition was massive, a version for every region and suburb Menulog delivers to. On top of that, we pushed ourselves to dream up the wildest things to visualise in the films. None of that would have been possible without the trust of our client partners, and Aussie artists willing to lean into uncharted waters with us, using AI as a tool to scale the ambition without losing the craft.

The Stable: Previous Menulog campaigns have been mega-star, massive budget productions with a be like the cool celebrity hook. What made you decide to make the campaign be like the everyday Aussie “legend” …and then build on that to hyperlocalise the idea with Bliss n Eso more in the background?

Sesh Moodley: The noodle shop owner, the pizza joint, the sushi spot that keeps everyone fed. This is the vibe we wanted to create with local legends Bliss n Eso. They gave the campaign its backbone, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the locals.

 We wanted to hero the restaurants, but it really came to life through Bliss n Eso rapping about what they love, which also happens to be what most of us love about our local go tos.

The Stable: You worked with AI to create all the different versions for What’s Good in Your Hood. How?

Sesh Moodley: AI does the heavy lifting, to make an idea like this happen. We feed it real shopfronts, street signs and accents so the outputs feel legit to each hood. If you are in Marrickville, you see your pho place on a billboard. If you are in Bundaberg, you hear lyrics on radio about your local Indian spot Miss India.

But the magic comes from people. Our editors, art directors and sound engineers are across every asset to keep it sharp. AI gives us the scale, we give it the soul. That balance makes the work feel crafted and funny, not just spat out by a machine.

It is about iteration and discipline. We build a creative system, not just a campaign. Localisation matches the media. Hyper tailored in digital audio and OOH. Broader but still human in TV. The challenge is making every suburb feel seen without losing consistency. That is why we obsess over craft at every layer.

AI is not always easy to control. Sometimes we run 100 prompts just to get the right output. But the engine gives us flexibility too. We can stay fluid in the film work and swap or reshoot moments digitally in ways traditional filmmaking does not allow.

There is still manual oversight on everything because the machines still need to be controlled. That will change soon, but right now the best work comes when humans steer the tools, not the other way round.

The Stable: How did you deliver tailored versions to so many local areas?

Sesh Moodley: This was not cookie cutter dynamic creative where you just swap a name or an image in a template. We went way further. Every suburb got its own story, from Bliss n Eso verses to shopfronts rebuilt at cinema quality. A proper mix of human craft and AI.

On the tech side, Innovid (formerly Flashtalking) powered the delivery. It pushed out more than 250 audio and 25 video assets with postcode level precision. The messaging adapted in real time using geo and first party data. So instead of a lazy swap, people got their own story told back to them.

If you were in Bondi, your bus stop poster showed your sushi spot. Jump on Spotify and Bliss n Eso were shouting out the same joint. Flick on the TV and the film still tied back to your hood. That was the win, making it personal without breaking the brand.

The Stable: How do you feel about working with AI? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages (or challenges) and how do you see the likely future role of AI in advertising?

Sesh Moodley: We see AI as a mate in the room, not the one running the room. The upside is obvious. It gives you speed, scale and the ability to personalise without blowing the budget. The downside is when people let the tech take over and the work turns into wallpaper.

AI helped us pump out hundreds of local versions, but the heart of the campaign still came from people. The craft, the humour, the storytelling, that was all human.

The future of AI in advertising will come down to who is steering. If we keep their hands on the wheel, AI can help us push ideas further and faster. If machines steer, we will just get generic noise. I would rather use it to make work feel more human, not less.