Cannes Contenders: J. Walter Thompson, Sydney

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How will Australia perform at Cannes this year? In the lead up to the Festival, Campaign Brief will be showcasing the work we hope will impress the judges…

J. Walter Thompson, Sydney

Parkinson’s disease, a progressive nervous system disorder, has no cure – and one of the most effective treatments for the illness involves a deep brain stimulation surgery that requires the patient to lie awake while surgeons operate on the brain. One patient’s experience with this procedure became the center of J. Walter Thompson Sydney’s “The Lucky Ones” campaign for Parkinson’s NSW. Filmed live at the Westmead Private Hospital, the spot begins with a jarring visual of surgeons drilling into a patient’s head, accompanied by a voice over. As the camera pans to the other side of the sheet, we learn that the patient himself is the one narrating the spot. It’s a confronting and compelling film that helped Parkinson’s NSW encourage donations in the lead-up to World Parkinson’s Day in 2016.

J. Walter Thompson, Sydney

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that has no cure. This campaign for Parkinson’s NSW, dramatises how the disease mixes up the messages your brain sends to the body, making even the simple everyday tasks difficult. It asks people to donate to parkinsonsnsw.org.au to help end this suffering.

J. Walter Thompson, Sydney

J. Walter Thompson, Sydney

J. Walter Thompson, Sydney

We’ve all forgotten to take the washing out of the machine or hung it out to dry only for it to rain. No-one likes doing the laundry twice, so to lighten the load and help Australian families spend more time with the kids, OMO created Peggy, the world’s first smart peg. Peggy has inbuilt sensors that combine real time weather data from your own backyard, with national data from a weather API to determine, through the Peggy mobile App, the perfect time of the day to do the laundry, how long it will take your clothes to dry and alert you when rain is on the way. There are also many environmental benefits, such as never having to rewash your clothes and encouraging families to line-dry rather than wasting energy using in-house dryers. Sentiment for Peggy has been overwhelmingly positive. The campaign gained nationwide news coverage in Australia and 18 other countries. Peggy was also picked up by tech sites globally, generating over 170 pieces of earned coverage and over 70 million earned impressions in the first week alone. More importantly, over 7000 Australian families registered in just the first two weeks, describing how Peggy would help them take the chore out of washing.

J. Walter Thompson, Sydney

For 70 years, Sydney Dogs & Cats Home has given 200,000 abandoned, lost and mistreated animals a second chance at life. But Sydney’s only no-kill, not-for-profit animal shelter was about to be evicted from the land they had leased for decades, to make way for a property development. The shelter had unsuccessfully tried to get the attention of the State Premier, Mike Baird, who had the power to help, but he had ignored them. With just weeks to go, they asked J Walter Thompson Sydney to find a better way to get the government’s attention. Our objective was to demonstrate public support for the shelter and to quickly collect 10,000 signatures to enable it to officially lobby the government. As human attempts to appeal to the Premier had failed, our idea was to get the dogs themselves to protest. We took dozens of rescue dogs to Sydney’s central business district (right outside a major TV network, the Premier’s office and State Parliament) to win the hearts of dog-lovers and politicians on their way to work. Each dog had a makeshift cardboard home with a sign saying #AlmostHomeless and a petition to help save the shelter. The activation was supported by PR, celebrity influencers, social and online content to create awareness and gather online signatures. Within 24 hours, we got the 10,000 signatures the Home needed and #AlmostHomeless was covered by all the major news platforms. But, most importantly, we got a solid commitment from the Premier, Mike Baird, to help Sydney Dogs & Cats Home on national TV that night.