Aussie TikToker Maddy MacRae Is Staying At Changi Airport This Entire Week In New Campaign By Connecting Plots
In a social-first stunt called ‘The Week-Long Layover’, MacRae will live at Singapore’s Changi Airport for five days straight, broadcasting her experience live to her 1.9M TikTok followers and 1M Instagram followers and inviting them along for the ride. The activation kicked off Monday 28 July and is being streamed live daily via TikTok Live.
Inspired by the popular film, ‘The Terminal’, the bold idea has been brought to life by Connecting Plots in partnership with Changi Airport, with the aim of showcasing the airport’s reputation as more than just a travel hub, but a destination in itself. By turning a stopover into a stay, the campaign invites ANZ travellers to rethink their transit and consider longer layovers at Changi Airport as part of their travel itineraries.
Over the week, MacRae will explore everything from Jewel Changi Airport’s iconic Rain Vortex to Canopy Park, to the Butterfly Garden, and even the Aerotel rooftop swimming pool at the terminal. To top it all off, one lucky follower will be flown in to join her on the ground for 24 hours, immersing themselves in the airport-turned-playground.
The activation celebrates Changi’s recent title as the World’s Best Airport for a record 13th time, bringing its extraordinary experiences to the spotlight for a new generation of ANZ travellers.
“At Changi, we believe that the journey should be just as memorable as the destination. Through this campaign, we hope to inspire travellers, especially those from Australia and New Zealand, to rethink the layover and see Changi as a destination on its own. There’s so much to explore and travellers could easily spend many hours here and still uncover something new. We’re excited to bring this idea to life with Connecting Plots, and to partner with Maddy to showcase Changi’s unique blend of world-class experiences in a way that’s fresh, fun, and unexpected.”
Changi Airport Group Vice President of Corporate & Marketing Communications, Kelvin Ng
“Maddy’s irreverent tone and ability to bring wild ideas to life made her the perfect partner for this campaign. This is about reimagining what an airport experience can be, turning a layover into something people would actually want to plan a holiday around.”
Connecting Plots Creative Partner, Matt Geersen.
The week-long residency runs from 28 July to 1 August, with daily livestreams and video updates rolling out on MacRae’s TikTok (@maddy_macrae_) and Instagram (@maddy_macrae_) as well as through earned media, social and digital channels.
Maggi Flexes O.G. Status To Launch Kari Noodles Into Australia Via Connecting Plots
Instant noodles have been an Australian pantry staple for decades, driven by diverse multiculturalism and a dedicated sub-culture passionate about authentic Asian import instant noodles.
As demand for bold, authentic tastes rises, Maggi embraced the love of Asian flavours to bring one of Malaysia’s most iconic dishes to Australian shelves: Maggi Kari noodles. A cult favourite found in over two-thirds (66%) of Malaysian households, Maggi Kari is more than just a meal – it’s a national favourite and a cultural staple.
To introduce Maggi Kari to a new audience and elevate its cult status, Maggi partnered with creative agency Connecting Plots on an earned-led campaign to launch Malaysia’s most loved curry noodles and to celebrate the rich intersection of food, culture, and flavour.
At the heart of the campaign was a one-night-only foodie experience, featuring $3 hawker-style noodles at one-hatted Ho Jiak Town Hall, hosted in collaboration with award-winning Malaysian chef Junda Khoo. The event sold out in under 24 hours through earned media awareness including Broadsheet and Concrete Playground, with extra sittings quickly added to meet demand.
Diners experienced Maggi Kari reimagined three ways: Kari Mee, Maggi Sup and Kerabu Maggi, all of which were personally crafted by Junda to celebrate the spirit of Malaysian street food.
“Malaysians love bold, spicy flavours, and curry noodles are a delicious way to show that. Pure comfort food, us Malaysians eat them for lunch, dinner, or anytime in between.”
Ho Jiak Town Hall Head Chef, Junda Khoo
With a younger, culturally curious audience turning to TikTok and YouTube to fuel their noodle obsession and exploration, the campaign tapped into this rising subculture of instant noodle lovers hungry for the real deal, with influencers partnerships including @dimsimlim, @anniesbucketlist, @sydneyfoodboy and @2hungryguys.
“We wanted to showcase that Maggi is part of authentic Asian food culture. Maggi Kari is loved in Malaysia so we are bringing that same street cred here, through taste, experience and storytelling.”
Connecting Plots Creative Partner, Matt Geersen.
Beyond the event, to help Aussies elevate their 2-minute noodle game, earned media and influencers took inspiration from Junda’s spicy curry noodles to recreate recipes from the sold-out event at home.
Maggi Kari is now available in 5-packs at major supermarkets nationwide (RRP $5) for Aussies to enjoy. Because when it comes to curry noodles, Maggi’s the OG*.
View the full campaign here →
Connecting Plots Expands Full-Service Offering With Launch of Digital & Media Capability
The new capability is spearheaded by Inez Zimakowski, who joins as Head of Digital & Media, bringing more than a decade of experience spanning in-house and agency roles across the fashion, automotive, and retail sectors, including Hyundai, Oroton and Edge.
This follows the agency’s recent expansion into PR and earned media with the appointment of Katie Eastment as Head of PR in April and complements the growth of the specialist social and influencer offering a.glo, headed up by Kent Pearson.
The agency’s integrated offering now delivers a seamless blend of creative, strategy, social, earned, production and media solutions all under one roof.
Our mission is to grow our clients’ businesses through truly connected brand experiences. Owned and paid channels are a critical piece of that puzzle. With Inez leading our digital and media capability, we’re now able to better shape end-to-end solutions that deliver business impact to our clients.
For the right types of clients, the full service offering we’re building will be the perfect fit. We’re proving that by smashing down the silos between strategy, creative and media who can build and then live optimise campaigns and creative to nail the objectives in a much more cost efficient way.
On the flip side, we’re doubling down on our collaborative partnerships with other media agencies – keeping media thinking as core to our approach, same as we’ve always done.
Connecting Plots Co-Founder & CEO, Tom Phillips
Zimakowski’s remit will include building a holistic performance and media offering for the agency, encompassing full digital and media audits, analytics and reporting, campaign and always-on media implementation, CRM strategy and deployment, website UX and customer experience.
What excites me most is how these guys are putting media, data, and creativity together seamlessly and driving results. Joining a creative-first agency like Connecting Plots gives us the opportunity to shape high-performing media from the start, not just at the end. It means better outcomes, smarter efficiencies, and greater agility for our clients.
Connecting Plots Head of Digital & Media, Inez Zimakowski
The mascot renaissance is coming to advertising
When I think of mascots, a few images immediately pop into my head. A clown. A peanut with a monocle. A southern colonel with a questionable accent. And of course those poor sods suffocating inside oversized foam suits, sweating buckets at sporting events while pretending to enjoy their miserable fate.
Mascots were once the bread and butter of advertising. Living, breathing (sometimes horrifying) symbols that lodged themselves deep into our collective consciousness. They weren’t just marketing tools; they were cultural icons. A shortcut to brand recognition that worked across TV, print, packaging, hell, even skywriting if you really wanted.
So, what happened?
Like most things, mascots fell victim to the ever-turning Wheel of Cool.
If you’re not familiar with the Wheel of Cool, let me break it down for you. What’s cool eventually becomes not cool, only to boomerang back into coolness years later. Kind of like cargo pants…. and your parents.
As the new generation took the reins of marketing culture, the perception of ‘cool’ shifted.
Through the lens of subjectivity (not what works), Mascots suddenly felt childish and outdated, relics of an ad era that seemed too scripted, too corporate, not meaningful enough.
The death knell? I think it might have been the woke era. As it took hold, it put fear into the thought of advertising purely for entertainment.
Suddenly brands needed a purpose. Brands became earnest, serious and what followed was a wave of minimalist rebrands and bland bullshit that stripped away every ounce of personality that made brands unique and likeable. It left us with the wasteland of sterile, functional, homogenised clutter, boring people to death.
But here’s the thing: mascots were never supposed to be cool. That was never the point. They were supposed to be memorable, to take up real estate in your brain and squat there rent-free for eternity.
And if the Wheel of Cool tells us anything, it’s what falls out of favour always finds its way back. Enter the mascot renaissance.
If you haven’t seen the ‘Are mascots making a comeback’ documentary it’s well worth a watch. It’s by brand strategist and self-confessed mascot tragic, Stef Hamerlinck who goes into the rise, fall, and unexpected comeback of brand mascots.
Some brands are starting to get it.
Bar BQ Plaza, a popular barbeque restaurant chain in Thailand, has 37 years of history with an iconic fish ball mascot, ‘Kama-Chan’. To combat a dip in sales they made the fish ball into a sad-faced version, which leveraged the mascot’s popularity and resulted in people flocking back to the stores.
But it’s not just about resurrecting the old mascots. It’s about building new ones and more importantly, sticking with them. Branding, at its core, is about consistency, and if a character is given time to cement itself into a brand’s DNA, it stops being ‘just marketing’ and starts becoming part of culture.
As we barrel into the generative AI era, creating mascots is about to become effortless. We’re talking about limitless possibilities. Hyper-realistic animations, interactive avatars, AI-driven brand personalities that evolve over time.
But here’s the catch, a mascot is more than just an image. Mascots have depth. They have stories, quirks and unique little traits that make them feel real.
AI avatars are set to be the next big thing. With many people predicting that in under 10 years there will be more artificial influencers than real ones – all trying to scale influence and monetise their platforms. IP powerhouses like Disney and Warner Bros will scale their characters and content on a scale we can’t yet imagine.
The best mascots aren’t just created, they are cultivated. And if brands have the guts to lean into them, rather than chase fleeting trends, they might just unlock the secret sauce to something modern marketing desperately lacks: staying power.
Read the article on Mumbrella –>
Mad Mex Punches Bland In The Guts With New Brand Campaign By Connecting Plots
It’s the first creative work under the brand’s new positioning, ‘Mad For !t’, a rallying cry that captures how their customers feel for Mad Mex’s food, and the brand’s own obsession with bold, fresh, and authentic Mexican flavours.
The playful new campaign spotlights the extraordinary lengths people will go to ditch bland, uninspiring meals in favour of something far more exciting: Mad Mex.
“This campaign is the perfect launch of our new brand positioning. We wanted it to depict Mad Mex as the antidote for the mundane, and capture the spirit of Mad Mex and its fans – bold, fun and full of flavour, in a tone that was unapologetically Mad Mex.”
Mad Mex General Manager of Marketing, Nick Cook.
The campaign also incorporates Generative AI-driven visual effects, a move that helped fast-track production timelines while keeping budgets lean.
“When you’ve got one ad with croc infested water and another with a microwave flying out of a window, you either blow the budget, or get creative. Generative AI and Infinity Squared let us pull off the impossible without having to wrestle reptiles, smash too many windows or compromise on the original idea.”
Connecting Plots Creative Partner, John Gault.
‘Bye Bye Bland, Hello Bold’ is live now across digital, social, influencers and out of home.
View the full campaign here →
Changi Airport Unveils 'A Taste of Asia', Inspiring ANZ Travellers To Explore Asia Through Flavour
According to Luxury Escapes’ Travel Trends 2024 Report, food tourism continues to be ranked as the most popular travel trend, with 58% of respondents saying that they plan to travel for food in the next 12 months.
The new content series, ‘A Taste of Asia’, leverages this insight, using it to position Changi Airport as the ultimate gateway to Southeast Asia’s rich, authentic culinary culture. This offers Aussie travellers easy connections across the region while tapping into food as a key driver of travel decisions.
The campaign follows Australian content creators Sinead Chabowski and Joshua Shediak on mouth-watering adventures across Chiang Mai, Phnom Penh, and Da Nang. Through a series of 3 minute episodes, they explore vibrant street markets, uncover hidden local gems, and highlight the diverse culinary cultures that make Southeast Asia a dream destination for food lovers.
“Hordes of young Aussie travellers flock to Europe to the same Instagram destinations that pepper our newsfeeds all winter long. But Southeast Asia is the often less considered destination that has everything from natural beauty to Michelin-recommended street food and charging nightlife. We needed a campaign that would show travellers the potential of the region – with Changi Airport as the perfect home base to get them there.”
Connecting Plots Creative Partner, Matt Geersen.
Produced by Infinity Squared and directed by Luna Laure, the production was a whirlwind tour, filmed in four countries across 12 days. Laure worked closely with cinematographer Liam Brennan to develop a cutting edge camera system that used state of the art technology which allowed a lean crew to capture stunning visuals and bring Laure’s creative vision to life.
The series is housed on changiairport.com and was rolled out across YouTube, TikTok, Meta, and Teads.
View the full campaign here →
Connecting Plots Launches PR & Earned Offering
With over a decade of experience across earned, influencer, and social, Eastment joins Connecting Plots from The IMPACT Agency, where she rose through the ranks to Head of Consumer and most recently Group Account Director. In her time there, she worked across a diverse range of clients including Nestlé, Modibodi, Connect Hearing, Solahart, and The Growth Faculty.
Renowned for her results-driven approach and passion for integrated thinking, Eastment thrives on developing creative solutions that span earned, influencer, events, and partnerships – with some of her most memorable projects coming from campaigns that broke the mould of traditional PR.
In today’s world, brands can’t just buy attention, they have to earn it. Now more than ever – brands need stories that hit different, connecting seamlessly across everything they do, and shape how a brand is felt, not just seen. More and more of our clients have been asking us to carry our earned creative thinking into PR. Katie’s energy, smarts and experience will be instrumental as we introduce Connecting Plots PR, adding new layers to our creative and comms toolkit that take our clients’ brands to new heights in innovative ways.
Connecting Plots Co-Founder & CEO, Tom Phillips
I’m excited to be joining Connecting Plots at such a pivotal time. What really drew me to the agency was their passion for insight-led, integrated thinking and creating work that genuinely earns attention. I’m looking forward to building the agency’s earned capability and helping clients find creative ways to tell stories and stretch their budgets further.
Connecting Plots Head of PR, Katie Eastment
The new role follows last year’s appointment of Kent Pearson as Managing Partner of a.glo, the agency’s influencer and social business unit and this year’s appointment of Kate Sheppard as Managing Director, whose role is responsible for growing and operationalising the agency’s integrated offering. Eastment’s appointment marks a significant milestone for Connecting Plots as the agency continues to expand this integrated offering, providing clients with a seamless blend of creative, media, social, production and now earned solutions.
Mumbrella Dynamic Duos: A two-week contract turned ten-year partnership
John Gault
When you walk into an interview as a battle-scarred creative and sit down opposite a baby-faced creative director you immediately think two things – I wonder who this nepo baby’s parents are, and how did I get ‘old’?
I eventually learnt the answer to the first question, (he was untainted by nepotism), but am still ruminating on an answer to the second.
After working together for a few weeks it became clear that Matt was ‘The Doogie Howser of Advertising’; a prodigious young talent capable of surgical creative precision. I like to think of him wearing a stethoscope to client meetings as well back then, but that might be the metaphor talking.
Successful creative partnerships are a unique mix of complementing skill-sets, personality, ambition and sheer serendipity. We were 4 from 4. Rapport that normally takes months was instant, we could build on each other’s thoughts, and quickly kill off the lesser ideas without either of us batting an eyelid or feeling slighted. There was no score keeping, just a passion for doing what was best for the work and the business problems we were solving.
Fast forward nearly 10 years, and rather than maturing into a stale, long-term relationship, we’ve burgeoned into a loving creative marriage. We won lots of awards, started our own business, had said business acquired, and now find ourselves heading up the creative output at Connecting Plots. Agency plug alert: it’s a bunch of high-performing legends who put imagination in every impression – come chat!
And despite the time passed, the briefs cracked, and the shared ups and downs, my favourite thing is still sitting together, with a problem in front of us, and a blank piece of paper. I know we’ll laugh, and I know we’ll come up with a great solution that punches above its weight. I know this because I’m sitting next to a creative superstar and an even better human, that makes my bad days good, not only creatively, but in life.
Most Memorable Moment With Matt: I’d have to say having the first money hit our company account when we started Two Gs. Equal parts terrifying and exciting. I’m sure this will be topped though by attending Matt’s wedding later in the year. Special mention for a ‘Hey ya, cheesbur-ga’ abomination of a thought that thankfully was never presented. It still brings us to tears of laughter.
Best Word To Describe Him: Loyal. It’s not the sexiest of terms and I’m obviously forgoing all of the other possible superlatives I could have gone with, but it’s the one that means the most to me.
Most Annoying Habit: Oh wow, he’s going to have a field day with this one on me. But I digress. Both endearing and annoying is his ability to find an answer instantly, that seems blindingly obvious once he says it, in response to a question/problem I’ve been wracking my brain over for hours, days, sometimes weeks.
Connecting Plots Creative Partner, John Gault
Matt Geersen
John and I first crossed paths in 2016 at VML. I’d brought him on for, what was supposed to be, a two week contract to get us through some pitches. I was under the pump and offered a mediocre brief, promising that we’d get together and hash it out. Cut to 4 days later when I finally checked in, only to find he’d filled in the gaps and come up with some killer work. It was clear he was different – John’s resourcefulness was a rare quality, and one that immediately set him apart.
We quickly developed a shorthand that felt seamless and instinctive, and were eating our fair share of burritos together over lunch. When the time came to move on, it made sense to apply that chemistry to something of our own. We founded Two Gs, a small but mighty independent agency that landed clients like Mad Mex (our love of burritos paid off), Metricon, Amazon Prime Video, Penguin Books, Finder and more.
Building an agency together tested us in ways we couldn’t have anticipated. When you no longer have the safety net of a stable pay cheque, it becomes about more than just your ability to solve creative problems together. We discovered there’s a yin and yang to a great partnership that doesn’t always come from a 50/50 split. There are moments when one of us carries more weight, and that’s okay. It’s about knowing each other’s strengths and stepping in when the other needs to be lifted up. Some days, that’s me. Other days, it’s John.
After nearly a decade, John isn’t just my creative partner, he’s one of my closest friends. What started as a short term contract has grown to an almost 10 year partnership that’s spanned some of Australia’s best agencies, 120+ awards, our own successful business and an acquisition by Connecting Plots, which now finds us working with a talented group of people as we grow and shape an indie agency with everything to prove.
Statistics say that only 5% of business partnerships last beyond five years. I’d credit defying those odds to three things: our willingness to have difficult conversations, our openness to different perspectives, and our ability to admit when we’re wrong. So as long as we keep pushing, challenging, and staying honest with each other, I don’t see this partnership slowing down anytime soon.
Most Memorable Moment With John: We flew up to Queensland with a crew to do our first shoot for our founding Two Gs client. It was only Jetstar economy, but it might as well have been first class.
Best Word To Describe Him: Insightful – he has a bit of a gift for knowing clients and what they’re looking for which makes focusing your efforts on the right answers much easier.
Most Annoying Habit: Being a perfectionist. It’s both annoying when you think the work is done, but when the client specifically shouts out that one specific change you realise it was worth it.
Connecting Plots Creative Partner, Matt Geersen
Read the article on Mumbrella →
Influencers, authenticity and the sameness game.
The rise of influencers, creators, and native content has transformed the way brands communicate. Fast, cheap, and wrapped in a veneer of authenticity, this new wave of content is the flavour of the moment. It’s an era where relatability trumps polish, and a well-placed TikTok mention can drive more conversions than a million-dollar ad campaign.
But beneath the surface, a bigger question looms.
Are brands building something sustainable, or setting themselves up for an epic fail?
At first, the shift seemed revolutionary. Traditional advertising – polished, scripted, and undeniably corporate – was losing its grip on consumers who craved something real. Enter the influencer economy: creators who built trust with their audiences, weaving brand endorsements seamlessly into their daily lives. Brands, eager to tap into this goldmine of credibility, rushed to partner with influencers, flooding feeds with sponsored content.
But here’s the problem: what starts as fresh and innovative can quickly become homogenised. Scroll through social media on any given day, and you’ll see it – an endless loop of identical trends, recycled hooks, and near-identical product placements. The aesthetic varies, but the formula remains the same. The result? Sameness.
In the short term, this might not seem like a big deal. Consumers still engage, sales still tick up, and brands still feel like they’re winning. But long term? The consequences are more troubling. Sameness erodes distinctiveness. When every brand follows the same blueprint – same influencers, same storytelling techniques, same viral challenges – it becomes harder for any single brand to stand out. What was once cutting-edge becomes white noise. And in a digital landscape that moves at lightning speed, being forgettable is a death sentence.
So, when everyone’s playing the same game, who actually wins?
Spoiler: probably not the brands. The real winners are the platforms, which thrive on an endless churn of content, and the top-tier creators who can command premium deals. Meanwhile, brands risk becoming interchangeable, trapped in a cycle where they’re constantly chasing the next trend rather than defining one.
The solution? Brands need to move beyond the quick-fix approach of influencer marketing and invest in strategies that prioritise long-term brand equity.
The goal shouldn’t be to simply keep up, it should be to cut through. That means owning a unique voice, using creativity to stand apart to occupy a unique space in consumers minds. Because in a world of copy-paste content, differentiation isn’t just an advantage; it’s survival.
Read the article on Mumbrella –>
Australian Eggs Turbocharge Dinner Via Connecting Plots
A daring egg gets behind the wheel, with a little help from a mystery driver, and takes on the obstacle course of a typical family home in order to make dinner shine in this latest campaign by Connecting Plots.
The new campaign is an extension of the ‘Bring the Bright’ platform which launched in September 2023 following a competitive pitch. With the goal of elevating the use of eggs within a broader range of meal occasions, the brand platform encourages Aussie households to brighten not only their meals, but their family’s demeanour thanks to the flavour and rich nutrients packed inside eggs.
The latest instalment echoes the playful and relatable tone of the previous campaigns, while evolving to hero the intergenerational relationships within the family from grandparents to parents and grandchildren.
“Our first two campaigns showcased the playful family moments that exist around mealtimes, from the perfect flip to dinner’s cheeky interruptions. But eggs are for everyone, young and old, so for the next campaign, we wanted to showcase the wider range of relationships that exist within the extended family dynamic.”
Australian Eggs Marketing Manager, Becky Vila.
“Becky, Nat and Rowan from Australian Eggs helped us drive the ‘Bring the Bright’ platform to even greater heights with this one. Dare I say, they’re good eggs.”
Connecting Plots Creative Partner, John Gault.
The campaign has come to life in partnership with production company, Infinity Squared and rostered director Richard Vilensky and will roll out across online video, BVOD, social media and OOH over the coming months.
View the full campaign here →