A Trip Down Memory Lane: Favourite Aussie Ads of Yesteryear

Creatives from Australia take a trip down memory lane as they tell LBB’s Natasha Patel about their favourite campaigns from yesteryear and just what they love so much about them.

Nothing says nostalgia more than re-watching a clip on the TV that struck you as so relevant at some point in your youth. And, being in the creative business now seemed as good a time as any to ask a handful of Australian creatives to take us back to their younger days with the adverts that stood out to them then, and still do today.

Patrycja Lukjanow, creative director at CHE Proximity

Sorbent Toilet Paper

Says Lukjanow: “This sorbent ad from my childhood reminds me that whether it’s 1990 or 2019, lack of access to toilet paper really is the end of the world.”

Glenn Dalton, executive creative director at Hardhat

Triple M – FM 105

Says Dalton: “Lots of ads back in the ‘80s and ‘90s skipped creativity and short-cutted to rhyme and jingle to worm their way into our memories. This ad for Triple M however I remember for just being so damn cool. Instead of telling me about the presenters, the shows, or even featuring a famous rock song, they just made me feel something about them. And I believe that’s what great brand advertising is all about. The production was ahead of its time too.”

Bruce Baldwin, senior creative at TBWA/Melbourne

Toyota Hilux Australia – Unbreakable

Says Baldwin: “You can’t break an unbreakable Hilux. This ad was amongst many that cemented ‘unbreakable’ in the minds of Australia’s tradies. It’s got everything – passion, tragedy, product demonstrations, flashbacks and a happy ending.”

Yellow Pages – Not Happy Jan

Says Baldwin: “This ad proves that even the most mundane brief can result in the most brilliant of ads. The expression, “Not happy, Jan,” has been with us since 2002.”

World Series Cricket – C’mon Aussie C’mon

Says Baldwin: “1979. Mojo’s C’mon Aussie C’mon campaign hit the airwaves and fuelled Australia’s passion for sport. 30 years on, we still sing it at the cricket.”

Frank Martelli, creative director at Wunderman Thompson Sydney

Bigpond – The Great Wall of China

Says Martelli: “Emperor Nasi Goreng was an instant classic. And of course they built the Great Wall to keep rabbits out. This would have been a lot of fun to write! And in a world before Google and smartphones had taken over, Dad’s word was gospel right?”

Carlton Draught – The Big Ad

Says Martelli: “It’s a big ad. Very bid ad. It’s just so freak…ing HUGE! What an ad this was, and what an ear worm too! That song lives rent free in my head, and I’m ok with that.”

Cam Blackley, chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi Australia

Stainmaster – Mr Hart

Says Blackley: “This has been an interesting trip down memory lane. It’s fair to say that some of the ads I vaguely remembered fondly gave me a little cringe on reviewing a few decades on. There’s even a couple moments in the spots that have little red flags about them, but if we can view through the lens of nostalgia rather than inspiration then I think that’s a better place to start. A positive theme though is simplicity in the story telling and that’s timeless.

“I remember this ad so vividly from when I was young which is the mark of a good ad. It’s a simple demonstration and isn’t very progressive in today’s terms but it’s the mad mutterings of Pro Hart I really like. It’s joyous as he throws wine about, shoots a cake and drives belly first through a trail of spaghetti to create something that’d probably be worth a fortune now, only for his housekeeper to ‘wreck’ it in the name of cleanliness. Like “not happy Jan” the memorable trigger is a quick phrase “Oh Mr Hart, what a mess” nothing much too it really but that. Didn’t need anything more.”

AIDS – Grim Reaper

Says Blackley: “Want to scare the shit out of a kid of the ‘80s? Make them watch this. Grim Reaper was an absolute breakthrough of the time I reckon. It was the advertising equivalent of someone jumping out of the cupboard and screaming in your face nestled in between Cottee’s cordial ads and Life-Be-In-It commercials. We hadn’t seen anything like it and it took our innocence away. And whilst the effects are pretty hilarious now there’s something about the ‘schlockiness’ of it that I think would get social traction now.” Continue reading on LBBOnline…