Read time: 8 minutes
Australian advertising has a global reputation for wit, authenticity, and creative bravery. From campaigns that sparked national conversations to work that redefined how brands connect with audiences, the best Australian advertising campaigns don’t just sell products – they build cultural currency and drive measurable business impact.
For brand leaders and marketing directors, these campaigns offer more than inspiration. They reveal strategic principles that translate directly into stronger brand positioning, deeper audience connection, and commercial results. Milkable has spent over a decade studying what makes creative work truly effective, and these five campaigns demonstrate the fundamentals of high-impact brand communication.
When Tourism Australia invested £36 million in a 2018 Super Bowl campaign, they didn’t just buy airtime. They orchestrated a masterclass in strategic misdirection that generated over £7 billion in media value.
The campaign initially appeared as trailers for a Crocodile Dundee reboot, featuring Chris Hemsworth and Danny McBride. Audiences worldwide speculated about the film’s release date. Then, during the Super Bowl, Tourism Australia revealed the truth: it wasn’t a movie. It was an invitation to visit Australia.
This campaign succeeded because it understood platform dynamics and audience behaviour. Super Bowl viewers expect entertainment first, advertising second. By delivering genuine entertainment value before the brand reveal, Tourism Australia earned attention rather than interrupting it.
The execution required absolute confidence in the creative concept. Many brands would have hedged, adding early brand cues or safety nets. Tourism Australia committed fully to the misdirection, trusting that the payoff would justify the risk. It did – the campaign drove a documented 83% increase in travel intent among American audiences.
For brands considering bold creative moves, the “Dundee” campaign demonstrates a critical principle: when you’ve identified a genuinely disruptive advertising campaign idea, diluting it for safety often destroys its effectiveness. The campaigns that generate outsized returns are typically the ones that make stakeholders slightly nervous before launch.
In 2005, Carlton Draught released “Big Ad” – a four-minute epic that parodied grand-scale advertising while simultaneously being grand-scale advertising. The campaign featured hundreds of people in a remote landscape, forming human patterns whilst a bombastic score proclaimed: “It’s a big ad. Very big ad.”
The self-aware absurdity struck a chord. “Big Ad” became one of Australia’s most-watched and shared commercials, winning multiple international awards and driving significant sales growth for Carlton Draught during a period when beer brands struggled to differentiate.
“Big Ad” succeeded because it acknowledged what audiences already thought about advertising. Rather than pretending to be something it wasn’t, the campaign embraced its commercial nature with humour and spectacle.
This approach requires understanding your audience’s media literacy. Modern consumers, particularly in markets like Australia with high advertising saturation, appreciate brands that respect their intelligence. The campaigns that resonate aren’t necessarily the ones with the most earnest messages – they’re often the ones that demonstrate cultural awareness and wit.
Think of your brand communication as a conversation at a dinner party. The person who takes themselves too seriously rarely makes the strongest impression. The one who demonstrates self-awareness, intelligence, and the ability to not take themselves too seriously often becomes the most memorable presence in the room.
For brands in competitive categories, “Big Ad” demonstrates that distinctiveness often matters more than conventional persuasion. When every competitor makes similar functional claims, the brand that establishes a unique personality wins attention and preference.
“Dumb Ways to Die” launched in 2012 as a railway safety campaign with modest ambitions. It became a global phenomenon, generating over 5 billion impressions and spawning games, merchandise, and international adaptations.
The campaign featured cartoon characters dying in absurd ways – setting fire to their hair, poking a grizzly bear, eating superglue – before highlighting genuinely dangerous behaviours around trains. The catchy song and dark humour made a traditionally dry safety message genuinely engaging.
Metro Trains succeeded by rejecting category conventions entirely. Traditional safety campaigns use shock tactics, statistics, or earnest appeals. “Dumb Ways to Die” used charm and entertainment to deliver the same message more effectively.
The campaign reduced rail-related accidents and injuries by 30% in its first year – proving that memorability and engagement drive behaviour change more reliably than fear or information alone. When your message competes with thousands of others for attention, being likeable matters as much as being right.
This principle applies across categories. Professional services firms often default to formal, information-heavy communication because it feels appropriate to the category. But appropriateness doesn’t guarantee effectiveness. The brands that break through are typically the ones willing to challenge category norms whilst maintaining strategic focus.
“Dumb Ways to Die” also demonstrates the value of design services that prioritise distinctiveness. The campaign’s visual style – simple, colourful characters with a consistent aesthetic – made it instantly recognisable across platforms and applications. That visual consistency amplified the campaign’s reach and cultural penetration.
Menulog’s 2020 campaign featuring Snoop Dogg transformed a functional service message into a cultural earworm. The simple hook – “Did somebody say Menulog?” – became instantly recognisable, driving significant brand recall and market share growth in Australia’s competitive food delivery sector.
The campaign worked because it prioritised memorability over complexity. Rather than explaining features, comparing services, or making rational arguments, Menulog created a mnemonic device that embedded the brand name directly into the recall cue.
In categories with high purchase frequency and low involvement, mental availability often determines market share. Menulog understood that when someone decides to order food, the brand that comes to mind first typically wins the transaction.
The Snoop Dogg partnership added cultural credibility and shareability, but the strategic foundation was the sonic branding – a simple, repetitive phrase that connected the need state (wanting food) directly to the brand name. This represents sophisticated marketing disguised as simple entertainment.
For brands in competitive digital markets, Menulog demonstrates that distinctiveness and memorability often drive growth more effectively than feature differentiation. When multiple competitors offer similar services at similar prices, the brand with the strongest mental availability captures disproportionate market share.
The campaign’s success also highlights the value of video production that prioritises platform-specific optimisation. Menulog created multiple versions of the core concept for different channels and contexts, ensuring the message worked whether audiences encountered it on television, social media, or digital audio platforms.
Commonwealth Bank’s long-running “Can” campaign repositioned Australia’s largest bank from a transactional service provider to an enabler of possibility. The campaign featured real customer stories of achievement – buying first homes, starting businesses, pursuing education – with the consistent message: “Can.”
The campaign maintained this strategic positioning for years, building cumulative brand equity through consistent messaging and compelling storytelling.
CommBank succeeded by understanding that people don’t want banking – they want what banking enables. The campaign shifted focus from features (interest rates, account types, digital tools) to outcomes (security, opportunity, progress).
This represents a fundamental principle of effective branding services: brands that connect to higher-order benefits and emotional outcomes typically command stronger preference and pricing power than those competing on functional attributes alone.
The “Can” campaign also demonstrates the value of consistency. Rather than changing creative direction with each campaign cycle, CommBank maintained the core positioning for years, building cumulative brand equity. This requires organisational discipline and confidence – resisting the temptation to chase trends or refresh creative simply because internal stakeholders have seen it repeatedly.
For brands in service categories, CommBank’s approach offers a clear lesson: your brand story should centre on what customers achieve, not what you do. The technical capabilities matter, but they’re table stakes. The emotional connection comes from demonstrating that you understand and enable customer aspirations.
Analysing these five Australian advertising campaigns reveals consistent principles that transcend categories and budgets.
Every campaign on this list required creative bravery. Tourism Australia is committed to an elaborate misdirection. Carlton Draught made fun of advertising itself. Metro Trains used dark humour for a serious message. These weren’t safe choices – they were calculated risks that paid off because the strategic foundation was sound.
When brands dilute advertising campaign creative concepts to make them safer, they typically destroy the very qualities that would have made them effective. The campaigns that generate outsized business impact are usually the ones that make stakeholders slightly uncomfortable before launch.
None of these campaigns succeeded primarily through rational argument or feature comparison. They won attention and preference by being genuinely distinctive – in tone, execution, or strategic approach. In crowded markets, being different often matters more than being better.
The most successful campaigns maintain strategic consistency even as creative execution evolves. CommBank’s “Can” positioning has remained constant for years, building cumulative brand equity. Short-term creative changes rarely build long-term brand value.
Each campaign delivered genuine entertainment value before asking for attention to commercial messages. “Dundee” was entertaining misdirection. “Big Ad” was a spectacular self-parody. “Dumb Ways to Die” was a catchy song with charming animation. This isn’t about being funny for the sake of it – it’s about respecting that attention is earned, not demanded.
These campaigns succeeded partly because they understood how audiences engage with different platforms. Tourism Australia exploited Super Bowl viewing behaviour. Menulog created platform-specific versions. Metro Trains are designed for social sharing. Effective campaigns aren’t just good creative – they’re strategically optimised for how and where audiences will encounter them.
For brand leaders and marketing directors evaluating your own creative strategy, these campaigns offer practical guidance.
Every effective campaign begins with clear strategic positioning. Before discussing creative execution, define what makes your brand genuinely different and why that difference matters to your specific audience. Creative brilliance can’t compensate for strategic confusion.
In competitive categories, being memorable often drives more business impact than being persuasive. Audit your current brand communication: would your audience recognise it as distinctly yours if you removed the logo? If not, you’re likely underinvesting in distinctive brand assets.
Resist the temptation to refresh creative direction frequently. The brands with the strongest equity typically maintain consistent positioning for years, allowing recognition and preference to compound. This requires organisational discipline and confidence in your strategic foundation.
These campaigns succeeded partly because production quality matched creative ambition. Tourism Australia created genuinely convincing film trailers. Metro Trains produced polished animation and professional music. Quality execution signals brand credibility and amplifies creative impact.
Working with experienced digital services and photography services ensures your brand assets meet the quality standards audiences expect from premium brands.
Before launching major campaigns, ask a critical question: would anyone choose to watch, share, or discuss this if it weren’t from our brand? If the honest answer is no, the campaign likely lacks the engagement value necessary to break through.
These five Australian advertising campaigns collectively generated billions in media value, drove measurable behaviour change, and built lasting brand equity. They represent the commercial case for investing in creative excellence rather than settling for safe, conventional brand communication.
The brands that achieve sustained growth in competitive markets are typically those willing to invest in distinctive, strategically grounded creative work. This requires accepting some discomfort with unconventional ideas, maintaining consistency even when internal stakeholders want change, and measuring success by business outcomes rather than just campaign metrics.
When you’re ready to develop brand communication that genuinely cuts through, get in touch with our team. We’ve spent over a decade partnering with ambitious brands to create work that drives measurable business impact – not just awards and attention, but commercial results that justify creative investment.
The most effective Australian advertising campaigns share a common foundation: strategic clarity, creative courage, and relentless focus on distinctiveness over convention. Tourism Australia’s “Dundee” campaign, Carlton Draught’s “Big Ad”, Metro Trains’ “Dumb Ways to Die”, Menulog’s sonic branding, and CommBank’s “Can” positioning each demonstrate that brands willing to challenge category norms and commit to genuinely distinctive creative work generate disproportionate business returns.
These aren’t just entertaining case studies – they’re proof that investing in high-impact advertising campaigns delivers measurable commercial outcomes. The brands that achieve sustained growth in competitive markets are typically those that prioritise distinctiveness, maintain strategic consistency, and have the courage to execute creative concepts that feel genuinely different.
For brand leaders evaluating your own marketing strategy, these campaigns offer a clear lesson: safe, conventional communication rarely builds strong brands or drives significant growth. The work that generates outsized returns is typically the work that makes stakeholders slightly uncomfortable before it proves its effectiveness in the market.
We create awesomeness!
Milkable is an award-winning, Australian-based creative agency delivering fresh content for clients across the world. Find out more about our creative, branding, design, film, photography & digital solutions.
Menu
Enquire now
