Jimmy Barnes stars in The Song Room’s new PlayAir campaign via Department of the Future

Australian rock idol Jimmy Barnes (left) is featuring in a new, national television campaign via Department of the Future, aimed at driving funds to buy musical instruments for underprivileged kids. Three out of four children in Australia do not have access to specialist music education at school.

The new campaign is for The Song Room and has been developed and produced by Department of the Future, an independent content agency that specialises in entertainment, education and brand promotion.

The focus of the new work is on The Song Room’s annual fundraiser PlayAir, which capitalises on the popular recreation of “air guitar” where people pretend to play guitar to actual music tracks. PlayAir encourages people to spend $2 at JB HiFi outlets to buy an “air instrument” with the donation leading to the purchase of real instruments for kids in schools throughout Australia.

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Says Ivan Gomez (above, right), managing director, Department of the Future: “Air guitar has a massive following in Australia and Jimmy Barnes is such a legend to many Australians that the two elements become quite powerful. It’s also a nice family story because Jimmy’s daughter Mahalia Barnes directed the spot for us.” 

The Song Room is a national not-for-profit organisation that impacts the futures of Australia’s most disadvantaged children with tailored music and arts programs, delivered in partnership with schools across the country. The programs are independently proven to lift the academic performance, school attendance, social-emotional wellbeing and community involvement of Australian school children.

Says Gomez: “It is a privilege to be working with The Song Room and to work with Jimmy and Mahalia Barnes (above, middle), who donated their considerable talents and time to this great cause.”

PlayAir is live across Australia now and runs to late October. 

Talent: Jimmy Barnes