Droga5 and Reconciliation Australia launch TVC with the message: “Let’s finish what we started”
Droga5 today launches a 60-second TVC for Reconciliation Australiacalling on all Australians to register their support for reconciliationat www.unfinishedoz.com.au. It’s been 10 years since more than 300,000 people crossed the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. There’s been a lot of talk, and an official apology. Now it’s time to turn words into actions.
The TVC shows a cast of famous Australians – including Jack Thompson,Ernie Dingo, Paul McDermott, Marcia Hines, Andrew Denton, WendellSailor, Neil Perry, George Negus and Johnathan Thurston – whose eyesinterchange with each other’s in celebration of our similarities anddifferences.
“I think Jimmy Little’s ultimatum at the end of the ad says it all:”Let’s finish what we started”. Reconciliation has come a long way, butclearly there’s still a lot to do, and this campaign is a clearacknowledgement of the challenge ahead,” says David Nobay, CreativeChairman at Droga5. “On a personal note, I like to say a huge thank you to Tim Gibbs andthe guys at Resolution, The Editors and Nylon Studios for taking asimple idea and taking it somewhere special.”
At www.unfinishedoz.com.au, Australians are encouraged to registertheir support and re-connect into their fellow countrymen, by naming”one Australian thing they can’t live without”. The resultant mappingis tangible evidence of how much we share as a wider community, as muchas how diverse and culturally rich we are as a nation. Answers will bematched up to similar responses using data analytics, joining the dotsand pixels to reflect a genuinely unified nation of free thinkers.
Symbolically, the campaign reminds us that reconciliation is not aboutthe past – true reconciliation is about moving forward. Tangibly,’UnfinishedOz’ also invites Australians to get involved in closing thegap between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in small or largeways via Cultural Awareness and Education programs, mentoring andvolunteering.
“UnfinishedOz asks us to respect our differences, celebrate ourdiversity and defend our common interests so we can look at thingsthrough fresh eyes. Reconciliation Australia is lucky to have thesupport of some well-known Australians, and we’re grateful they gave uptheir time to take part in this campaign,” says Karen Mundine,Communications Director at Reconciliation Australia.
“The support from David Nobay and the team at Droga5 has beeninvaluable, and they have all done a fantastic job creating thiscampaign to mark the 10th anniversary of the Bridge Walks forReconciliation using highly creative techniques to encourageAustralians to recommit to reconciliation,” she says.
Reconciliation Australia recognises that an increasing number ofAustralians are taking action towards reconciliation – yet thereremains more work to be done. Established in 2000, it is the peaknational organisation building reconciliation between Indigenous andnon-Indigenous Australians for the wellbeing of the Australian nation.It promotes respect for the special place, culture, rights andcontribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
‘UnfinishedOz’ rolls out on television, cinema, newspapers, radio andonline, and includes a strong social media component. ReconciliationAustralia’s corporate and government partners – including Foxtel,Qantas, Commonwealth Bank – will encourage staff and customers tosupport the campaign; and celebrities will Tweet about the campaign’slaunch in a bid to get more than 600,000 Australians on board over thenext year.
Droga5’s first campaign for Reconciliation Australia marks the start ofNational Reconciliation Week, which runs from 27 May – 3 June.
CREDITS
Executive Creative Director, David Nobay
Executive Planning Director, Sudeep Gohil
Copywriter, David Nobay
Art Director, Mike Spirkovski
Digital Art Director, Andy Fergusson
Director of Digital, Brett Mitchell
Director, Tim Gibbs
Post production, Resolution Design
(Eamon Davern, lead compositor; Tim Dyroff, creative director)
Editing: The Editors (Peter Barton)
Audio, Nylon
Website hosting, Bulletproof
21 Comments
Almost as good as the VB Gold work
Never saw VB Gold. Were can I see it?
Look it’s OK I guess, but we expect greatness – well at the very least originality – from this mob, who have set themselves up as so much better than everybody else.
A great idea makes you think “Fuck, I never thought about it that way” and makes you determined to act on that insight. This is just another ad, using just another cliched technique we’ve seen a million times. And I suspect we’ve seen it done better previously.
I admire these guys for putting the message way ahead of their egos. Assuming the message is, “let’s finish what we started” then I think the message is crystal clear. And that means, in my non-adwanker book, that the campaign works.
I wonder how many of the people jumping on this because they see the name Droga5 actually walked over the bridge 10 years ago? I did. And the work speaks loudly to me. For once, let’s see the bigger picture, for Christ sakes.no wonder no-one takes us seriously.
You want a Fuck, I never thought about tit this way moment, How about:
Reconciliation is a bullshit term invented by politicians. It infers that at some stage we had a good relationship and it went bad. The truth, we stole, raped and pillaged right from the beginning.
“Moving forward”, I’ve been in too many marketing meetings where this is used as a cover up for, we really fucked up and I’m trying to ignore that fact.
However, I completely buy into the unfinished business idea.
Friday, a couple of beers and look how pedantic I become.
Oh well.
That reminds me, does anyone have the too-hot-to-publish Ernie Dingo shots?
Great brief. Average ad. This could have been famous – not just in Australia but worldwide. Missed opportunity, i’m afraid.
So, just because it’s from Droga 5 we’re meant to love it? So many ads cop a hard time on this blog – I wonder if this one will…
Sydney-centric – look at how touchy-feely caring I am – crap.
About as useful as Earth Hour. Lots of noise, but nothing really happens.
Advertising is so great. Amazing people cHanging the world.
Im sure everyone here has, in some small way? Right?)
The message is clear. And the challenge compelling. Switching the eyes is cool. Seen it done with voices before, but not eyes. Pretty powerful. I don’t work at Droga5, but Im not a hater either.
If the idea is seeing things through others’ eyes, shouldn’t you be able to get this from the ad?
I’ve watched it four times and still miss the eye swapping.
Assuming it has been done, the effect is so seamless as to be invisible.
maybe an idea would have helped but it is a needed communication well executed. especially well done Peter Barton – great craft!
h.
I agree with a comment above. Reconciliation, is a term bandied about by people who never sat in the same classroom, same dressing room or wedding reception as a koori. And it’s a shame. Noble, high minded people talking about ‘equality’ and ‘bringing people together’ : Can I ask a serious question guys at the agency.
In all seriousness, how many koori’s do you know?
What qualifies you to comment on this?
It’s nobal, it’s good. North Queensland and Alice Springs seriously need it. But the rest of us are getting along pretty damn well if you hadn’t noticed already.
As an elder said to me once, ‘reconciliation is the gubba’s word for cultural genocide.’
I’m sorry, I can’t help myself.
When someone from overseas or a very white secluded suburb, who’s never talked to, known or been friends with a First-Australian starts telling me about reconciliation, I get very pissed off.
Can you see the hypocrisy here?
You’re preaching reconciliation, but amongst your 5000 friends on Facebook not one of them are first-australian.
You want to fix the problem?
Go down to redfern. Get off the train. Turn a few corners and go fucking talk to them.
5:47
So, you walked across the Bridge 10 years ago. Well done.
But if you’re anything like 99% of 100’s of 1000’s who walked with you chances are you’ve done little, or nothing more for reconciliation since.
That’s the problem with ‘events’ like Earth Hour and Reconciliation walks.
They’re very Kevin Rudd. They take the easy option.
Promise the world, deliver nothing.
Using eyes to hook people in. Very original. Almost as good as an ad i saw last week featuring a light bulb to say ‘smart’.
Here we all go, the self-anointed righteous, telling people “If you haven’t got Koori friends, you have no right to preach”. Come oooooon, that’s like saying you can’t write headlines for BMW unless you own one.
The Generation One work that Patts Sydney did was a lot better.
9:02 it’s completely different.
Define reconciliation:
Noun
S: (n) reconciliation, rapprochement (the reestablishing of cordial relations)
S: (n) reconciliation, balancing (getting two things to correspond) “the reconciliation of his checkbook and the bank statement”
Now tell me how it’s self-anointed or righteous to say somebody who has never met an Aboriginal has the right to preach reconciliation.
What’s that sound? I believe sir, it’s the sound of a carrot being slowly pulled out of your arse.
Now back to the work – I like it. It’s just the concept of reconciliation I dislike, namely people with english accents smoking pipes in leather arm chairs discussing how to do something about the frightful issue of inequality amongst indigenous and non-indigenous subjects.
It’s very counter productive in the long term.