Bryan Brown reflects on fatherhood in RM Williams Father’s Day campaign

August 22, 2025 11:15

RM Williams has rolled out its 2025 Father’s Day campaign, fronted by veteran Australian actor Bryan Brown.

‘The Role of a Lifetime’ campaign centres on an 82-second film showing Brown spending time with his loved ones on the family’s property in northern News South Wales. A conversation between the Darby and Joan actor and his filmmaker daughter Matilda Brown plays throughout the film, offering viewers insights into the Brown’s thoughts and reflections on fatherhood.

“What defines a good father?” Matilda Brown asks in the film.

“Being around. You know, being there,” the actor states. “When you’re a father, you’re having to not think about you, because it’s their life that’s far more important than your own life. So … it makes you stop thinking about yourself.”

According to RM Williams’ head of creative, Nic Briand, Brown’s views on fatherhood made him the perfect face of the brand’s Father’s Day campaign.

“Bryan Brown is more than a celebrated actor – he is an enduring symbol of Australian identity, grit, and character. With a career spanning decades, he embodies the very values that R.M.Williams stands for: authenticity, longevity, and understated strength,” Briand said in a statement sent to Mumbrella.

“His lived experience of fatherhood, paired with his cultural legacy as a storyteller, made him the natural choice to bring this campaign to life.

“We also wanted someone who could reflect the quieter, more profound realities of being a father: showing up, being present, and leaving a lasting legacy – qualities Bryan embodies in his day-to-day life.”

Visually and tonally, the campaign is softer and more intimate than the stereotypical Father’s Day campaign. RM Williams intentionally chose that route because “there was a bigger story to tell”.

“Fatherhood today isn’t about clichés of toughness or stoicism – it’s about presence, gratitude, and connection. With this campaign, we wanted to shift the narrative towards something more human and tender, while still holding onto the strength and resilience that define R.M.Williams,” Briand said.

“By showing Bryan in conversation with his daughter and surrounded by his grandchildren, we’re celebrating the softer, everyday moments that actually define the role of a lifetime.”

The project didn’t come without a major challenge — capturing the intimacy of fatherhood without the work coming across as staged. Despite this, Brown and his family made the process easier.

“Working with Bryan and his family gave us the honesty and emotion we needed to tell that story authentically,” Briand said.

“We also wanted to balance a cinematic quality with a feeling of intimacy, ensuring it still felt like an R.M.Williams campaign but one that leaned into honesty and warmth. It was about creating space for real stories to unfold.”

‘The Role of a Lifetime’ is now playing in market via online, digital and in-store channels.

RM Williams has rolled out two other creative campaigns in 2025. The brand worked with digital publisher Man of Many and Catinella on a long-form campaign that offered consumers a behind-the-scenes look into RM Williams’ Adelaide workshop, and the work that does into creating its Craftsman boot.

It also delivered its ‘Grab Life by the Tugs’ campaign with brand experience and marketing agency Banter. The platform was designed to inspire Australians to act upon their bucket list and live their lives.

Crediting Details
COM: Kai Tunley
Head of Creative: Nic Briand
Producer: Skye Campbell
Photographer: Simon Lekias
DOP: Jack Younger
Stylist: Gemma Keil
Hair & Make up: Kristen Brett