Category Archives: News

The new campaign continues to build on its rich engineering heritage, constant innovation and high customer satisfaction and trust scores through the Canstar and Choice Awards.

The campaign, directed by Tony Rogers from Guilty, puts a playful spin on the simple thought that to truly understand air, MHIAA technicians take air exploration to the extreme. To keep customers truly satisfied they continually explore the air, in ways that go above and beyond pure engineering and science.

“Air conditioning isn’t a particularly exciting purchase for anyone and the way the category advertises is formulaic and incredibly rational,” says Dave Jansen, Co-Founder & Creative Partner at Connecting Plots. “Hopefully this gives people something different to think about so that when the day comes to purchase A/C, we’re the brand they think of.”

“This work continues our journey of pushing MHIAA to be more distinct in a category of sameness,” says MHIAA Executive Marketing Manager, Jenny Perello. “The Experts in Air platform has already delivered strong growth for the business with a significant increase in sales YTD.”

The campaign launched on Sunday 17 July across TV, online, social, print and POS, working alongside media agency Speed.

The unique fusion of Jägermeister’s original recipe and the subtle Cold Brew coffee flavour is a strategic move for Jägermeister as they look to shift preconceptions around the brand and its consumption habits while increasing market share. 

The launch campaign ‘When the night is brewing’ by Connecting Plots positions Jägermeister Cold Brew coffee, with its unexpected coffee and Jägermeister flavours, as the catalyst to unleash the night’s potential in new and unexpected ways. 

“We all know that moment, where we have the opportunity to set our night in a direction that we’ll remember forever,” says Dave Jansen, Co-Founder and Creative Partner at Connecting Plots. “It’s often a question of choosing between the same thing we’ve done before or trying something new and unexpected. That’s the moment we want to own.” 

“Jägermesister wants to celebrate those epic nights that we remember forever,” says Ollie Dickson, Marketing Director ANZPI for Brown-Forman, who continues “Jägermeister Cold Brew Coffee is the perfect drink for this transitional moment when those unexpected twists and turns come to life. This new product will play a critical role in our portfolio and growing market share.”

‘When the night is brewing’ comes to life as an integrated campaign via media placements in OOH, digital, social and point-of-sale. 

At the heart of the campaign is a consumer promotion which offers the most unexpected night possible. In partnership with Time Out, Jägermeister Cold Brew Coffee gave one lucky winner and a mate exactly 48 hours to pack their bags and head overseas for the ultimate unexpected night out. 

The competition, which ended on Wednesday 22 June, received over 2000 entries, with consumers eager to win the opportunity to travel abroad and experience an unexpected change to the everyday.

Now in its 23rd year, Reader’s Digest Trusted Brands survey asks everyday consumers to rank which products and services have the best reputation. The independent annual survey is carried out by leading market research company Catalyst, which surveys more than 3,300 Australians across 70 consumer categories from various industries and sectors. Features that drive Australians to consider a product trustworthy include being of premium quality at an affordable price, being reliable and cost effective, having a positive reputation and business longevity. 

We’re 5+ years into a great partnership with the team at Electrolux and are immensely proud to play our small part in helping them achieve this accolade.

“We’re honoured that our first ever entry has been shortlisted for an APAC Effie,” says Connecting Plots co-founder and creative partner, Dave Jansen.

Within the 107 finalists for this year’s awards, 28 finalists were from Australia, including Ogilvy, The Monkeys, HERO Melbourne and Leo Burnett.

“This work for Fantastic Furniture is a demonstration of timeless creativity meeting modern connectivity. It proves when creative is rooted in a deeply felt and relatable human insight and the campaign is designed to get attention in every channel, it works. ‘When it feels like home, you feel like you’ proves that with everyday low-prices and on-style furniture, Fantastic enriches Aussie homes, allowing life’s precious moments to play out to the backdrop of our furniture.” 

The final round of judging was led by chairwoman, Nicole McMillan of Carlton & United Breweries and the eight Heads of Jury – Akira Mitsumasu of Japan Airlines, Dhiren Amin of NTUC Income, Fern Canning of Edelman, Jane Lin-Baden of Publicis Groupe, Karl Cluck of TikTok, May Ling Chan of KFC Malaysia, Siew Ting Foo of HP and Vishnu Mohan of Dept. 

“Across the board, we are seeing more diversity in terms of entries received – from non-traditional markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as submissions from independent agencies and clients, says McMillan. “I’m pleased that some of these entries have also made it to the finalist list, and I can’t wait to reveal the full results at the Awards Ceremony.” 

The full list of finalists can be found here, with the winners being recognised in an awards ceremony in September.

Westinghouse, part of Electrolux Group, has launched a new campaign to drive awareness around the brand’s official entry into laundry appliances after a 10 year hiatus.

With over 60 years of innovation behind them, Westinghouse is now offering a sophisticated and beautifully designed laundry range that brings to market innovative features for Westinghouse consumers.

“Laundry provides Westinghouse an opportunity to drive significant growth, leveraging the success of our recent kitchen campaign,” says Electrolux Group’s acting Marketing Director Christina Kumcevski. “Westinghouse has always been about making daily family life a little easier through innovation (in the kitchen), now that innovation can extend into the laundry, a room in our homes we’d all like to spend less time inside.”

The campaign is a continuation of the existing brand platform ‘Now You Can’, developed by Connecting Plots, which has helped Westinghouse achieve +30% increase in sales over those two years, and also elevate Westinghouse’s consideration up into 3rd in the kitchen category.

The new laundry campaign continues to break category conventions with a unique, stylised visual language and with playful characters who can now get their laundry chores done quickly, allowing them and their families to thrive, giving time for the more important things in their life, thanks to their Westinghouse appliances.

“Creative in the whitegoods category is bland, always focused on features. Our creative for Westinghouse keeps the message simple and drives home the relevance for the audience by showing how the innovation lets them focus on the things they love in life, not chores,” says Connecting Plots Co-Founder Dave Jansen. “Pushing the visual language into something more stylised helps to stand apart from our competitors and create long term brand impact.”

The campaign is rolling out across digital and social.

Fantastic Furniture has launched a new campaign celebrating their Australian made story, showing how buying Aussie made furniture feels as comfortable as their couches.

“Fantastic Furniture are extremely proud of our history as a brand that was born over 30 years ago in Sydney’s west. We know that home is more important than ever, and we also know that our customers love our home-grown Aussie made products,” says Will Dance, Head of Marketing. “With 83 stores right across Australia, we believe all Australians deserve affordable and stylish furniture at a ‘Fantastic’ price. We’re excited to be giving our Aussie Made sofa range the focus it deserves, knowing the range is supporting Australian manufacturing and our local community, which we think our consumers will love too.”

The campaign by Connecting Plots is the next extension of the ‘When it feels like home, you feel like you’ platform, connecting the special role Fantastic Furniture plays in making homes more comfortable with the Australian manufacturing credentials of the brand.

“Furniture is a key ingredient in making our homes comfortable and welcoming,” says Connecting Plots’ Co-Founder and Creative Partner, Dave Jansen. “In our years of working with Fantastic Furniture we’ve explored how the brand helps its audience have the home they want regardless of their budget. With the new work we are adding proof to that comfort. This creative shows that by making furniture right here in Australia, Fantastic Furniture is helping Aussies feel comfortable in their homes and in their choices.”

The campaign features Fantastic Furniture’s Australian made sofas and mattresses and will be rolling out across television, OOH, radio, digital and social channels.

Connecting Plots has been announced as an official AR Lens and Video Partner for Snapchat working alongside Snap Inc’s APAC HQ in Sydney.

With a focus on unleashing the true power of Snapchat as an e-commerce platform and marketing tool, the partnership will combine Snap Inc’s leading technology in AR and video with Connecting Plots’ creative and platform-centric thinking to create best practice creative and strong business results for Connecting Plots’ existing client base as well as new advertisers across the Asia Pacific region.

From conceptual design through to execution, this new partnership will see Connecting Plots create fit-for-channel AR lenses and filters and immersive video experiences in-house for the team at Snap Inc.

“We pride ourselves on both our creative work and our platform-focused approach to advertising” said Connecting Plots’ CEO, Tom Phillips. “This new AR and Video partnership with Snap will enable us to deliver first-to-market innovation opportunities for our clients as well as allowing new brands and partners to achieve better outcomes and reach audiences in more persuasive ways.”

Connecting Plots has been creating custom Snapchat lenses and video content for its clients since the beginning of 2021, refining its in-house augmented reality offering to ensure its clients are maximising the platform possibilities to achieve transformational results.

Connecting Plots has been selected as the digital creative agency for Henkel’s home care brands.

The win follows a competitive pitch for Henkel that kicked off in February of this year and will see Connecting Plots design and execute all digital campaigns from now through to 2024. Included within this remit are the full range of Henkel’s home care brands, which includes Bref Toilet Care and Somat Dishwashing Products.

“We’re thrilled to be working with the team at Henkel,” says Connecting Plots’ CEO, Tom Phillips. “We’re excited by the huge potential that the brands have and love that the team at Henkel are so open to the bold and creative thinking that we pride ourselves on.”

As its first task, Connecting Plots has developed a new platform for Bref Toilet Care, named ‘Keep Your Happy Place Clean’, which celebrates the ‘sanctuary’ that is the beloved bathroom. The campaign will be rolling out in the coming weeks, alongside media agency Wavemaker and experiential agency The Live Agency.

“In partnering with Connecting Plots, we look forward to bringing innovative products and an exceptional experience to our consumers in the home care category,” says Melissa Sherry, Henkel’s ANZ Marketing Director for Laundry and Home Care. “Connecting Plots impressed us with their creativity and strategic thinking during the pitch process and we are pleased to appoint them as our new agency.”

Connecting Plots has also been appointed as the digital creative agency for Henkel’s Beauty Care Consumer portfolio.

Creative agency, Connecting Plots has appointed a new leadership team to help shape and accelerate the performance of the agency during a period of growth.

The new leadership team is made up of owners, Tom Phillips, Sophia Kang and Dave Jansen with the newly added support of senior members spanning the company’s strategy, creative, accounts, and studio departments. Included in the new leadership team are Gemma ap Geraint – Client Partner; Chris Johnson – Creative Director; Bonnie Ledsam – Senior Integrated Producer & Studio Lead; Mary Morrell – Creative Services Director; and recently appointed Partner, Tim Collier, Head of Integrated Strategy & Planning.

Founded in 2018, Connecting Plots has grown to approximately 30 people with the independent agency working alongside notable clients including Nestlé, Menulog, Tourism Australia, Fantastic Furniture and Electrolux. 

“We’ve been exceptionally fortunate to experience such growth over the past few years but our focus is firmly on the next three years,” said CEO, Tom Phillips. “We’ve taken time to establish the right mix of leaders who are driven by ambitious creative work and focused on delivering effectiveness for our clients. I am confident we’ve got the right people on the team. Each and every one of them are proven leaders in their own right, be it from large corporates, agile independents or network agencies – I’m excited about what we can achieve together.”

In this new role, the team of eight will build on the agency’s established foundations and culture whilst evolving the offering to future proof the needs of their clients and talent.

The leadership team is the next senior advancement for Connecting Plots, who have also been working closely with award-winning industry leader and business growth specialist, Chris Savage for the past 12 months. In his role as chairman, Savage has been helping the agency accelerate its growth and ensure it is delivering the highest value to its existing clients. 

“I’ve loved working with Tom, Dave, Sophia and the team at Connecting Plots over the past year,” said Savage on his role as chairman. “It is a great privilege to work with highly talented, energetic and entrepreneurial leaders and I’ve seen the company go from strength to strength in my short time working with them. This new leadership team will help accelerate the business to the next level of scale and effectiveness.”

Menulog has launched ‘Treat Yo’ Self, a new retail platform led by creative agency, Connecting Plots.

The initial campaign showcases Menulog’s wide range of cuisines, restaurants and meals fit for any occasion by celebrating the hundreds of ‘little win’ excuses for customers to succumb to their cravings and order from Menulog. And any old reason will do. 

Launched on Sunday 3 October, the campaign is rolling out across YouTube, Facebook and Instagram via a series of short-form films that spotlight different fun and timely at-home moments that warrant the need to ‘Treat Yo’ Self’. The executions range from having to wash a very cranky cat, pwning an 11 year old on a video game through to managing to keep a plant alive for longer than a week. 

“Who doesn’t love the anticipation of that burrito, burger or bhaji landing at the front door? Especially of late,” said Chris Johnson, Creative Director at Connecting Plots. “And with the added bonus of seeing a new face, albeit masked, then any excuse will do to Treat Yo’ Self with Menulog.”

“These last two years, more than ever, we’ve had to learn how to roll with the punches and treat ourselves to even the smallest of wins,” said Menulog’s Head of Brand, Fiona Bateman. “Menulog is all about delivering joy – that instant satisfaction that comes with having your exact craving arrive on your doorstep so this new campaign encourages our customers to embrace those moments, especially while they’re spending more time at home. You know you deserve it.”

“This is exactly the kind of work we aim to create for our clients” added David Jansen, Creative Partner at Connecting Plots. “Work that not only stands apart in channel but is also designed to get talked about and be popular.”

#Live Colour Change celebrates Schwartzkopf’s passion for hair, by inspiring their audience to create their own style and experiment with new and different looks with the bold and adventurous colours featured in the live colour range. 

This campaign was brought to life through a Branded Effect and Hashtag Challenge package (including 1x TopView and 1x One Day Max), and supported by InFeed ads. The purpose of the branded effect was to allow the TikTok community to ‘try before they buy’ and ultimately to drive purchase consideration once they have interacted with the branded effect and seen what they look like with different hair colour.

The campaign reached at least 4M Australian’s, by delivering over 32M ad impressions at a cost effective CPM of $6.78. On top of the incredible reach, the community embraced the interactive and fun branded effect, creating 3,739 pieces of UGC (more than 50% of which used the #, branded effect and official music, 17x vs benchmark). The combination of ad formats across reservation and auction drove a lift of 8.9% in ad recall, 2x vs Kantar norms for the personal care category. More importantly, the campaign delivered a lift of 5.02% for purchase intent, delivering on the campaign objective of driving consideration.