Campaign Review: Australia’s latest sport, the OG bachelor, and the Sunshine Coast go head to head

In Campaign Review, Mumbrella invites industry creatives and strategists to offer their views on recent ad campaigns.

Brand: Yates

Campaign: ‘National Gardening League’

Agency: Howatson+Company

The verdict: Innovative for the category and brand.

Tanvi Singh, head of strategy & planning, The Media Store, gave it a 7.5/10 and said:

Yates’ latest campaign is a shining example of a strong consumer insight turned into a participatory campaign. It’s one of those campaigns where you go ‘ahh that makes sense’. While lawn care might be mundane, there’s no denying homeowners are low key proud of their well-maintained garden and won’t miss an opportunity to brag about them. This is what the campaign leverages and successfully turns the everyday grudge work into a competitive sport.

Tanvi Singh

The campaign experience is designed to be intuitive, with a simple QR code scan to participate. The intelligent use of image recognition tech ensures the competition is driving participants up the leaderboard. This overcomes a common challenge with many tech-led ideas, where the user experience is broken or too tedious. I really hope this ease of participation is replicated across platforms and media executions.

The true test of this campaign’s success will be in the number of participants and spectators it attracts. I would love to see this campaign live on and not fizzle out like many other contests. It has the potential to become a long-term marketing property for the brand which can be activated seasonally and develop its own fan following.

Honor Severs, head of creative, Vonnimedia, gave it a 7/10 and said:

Yates’s campaign is a masterclass in challenging a stagnant category. For years, lawn care marketing has been a “sea of sameness,” relying on the classic before-and-after trope, much like the hair growth category. The introduction of the National Gardening League is a true seed of disruption. It cleverly reframes gardening not as a chore, but as a sport, transforming a product launch into a new form of entertainment.

This reframe is built to generate curiosity and conversation, engaging an audience that might not have previously cared about lawn maintenance. While Yates has previously explored a sporting angle with the quieter “turn your lawn professional” campaign, the National Gardening League is a far more ambitious and public effort.

Despite its innovative nature, the campaign has a key flaw: its execution is rooted in a traditional media model and poor timing. Launching during the busiest sports season of the year, it battles for attention during major events like the grand finals. The true disruptive potential of this idea would be a year-round, always-on platform that aligns with the long-term investment required for a healthy lawn.

Ultimately, this campaign is presented as a fun competition, but it’s a brilliant strategic move to collect first-party data. The app isn’t just a referee; it’s a sophisticated tool for Yates to gain real-time insights into the state of Australian backyards. The brand is getting more than photos; it’s getting valuable information on consumer behaviour, pain points, and regional lawn health, allowing them to tailor future marketing and product development. It is an innovative product launch that serves a dual purpose, acting as a powerful data-gathering mechanism for the brand.

Brand: Dusk

Campaign: ‘A Halloween Love Affair’

Agency: In-house

The Verdict: A good idea with misguided execution.

Tanvi gave it a 5/10 and said:

The campaign does justice to the Halloween theme. The use of a reality TV star to stir conversations on social is smart. But the campaign misses the mark on making the product range and brand standout. The first half works better for me as there is an element of anticipation about where the scene would lead to but after the big reveal, audiences might lose interest.

The Halloween product range that features in the ad gets lost in the maze of setup décor and in the end, the brand does not stand out for me. That is a missed opportunity. But I can totally imagine this story making more sense in the owned social channels of the brand where the video would sit next to a post featuring the Halloween product range, helping audiences to make the connection.

Honor gave it a 4/10 and said:

This campaign had a compelling creative intention: a home fragrance brand owning the mood and atmosphere of Halloween. The idea of a witch summoning her dream man using the original Australian Bachelor as a nostalgic hook is conceptually sound. However, the execution is a narrative misfire.

Honor Severs

The one-minute, 17-second film is a tactical misstep. It’s too long for a quick social media hit and too simple to be a truly compelling narrative. Tim Robards appears, delivers a few lines, and then vanishes, leaving the audience with an anticlimactic ending. The length and lack of a strong plot make it feel like a piece of content from a different era, completely out of sync with the fast-paced, visually-driven platforms it was intended for.

The biggest strategic failure is the celebrity choice. While a nostalgic nod for some, a celebrity whose fame peaked over a decade ago is a questionable “social-friendly hook” for a modern, younger audience on TikTok and Instagram. This campaign gambles on a retro reference that risks feeling irrelevant to a fresh consumer base. The product should be the star, not a prop in a mediocre, celebrity-driven narrative.

Brand: Visit Sunshine Coast

Campaign: ‘Sunshine Moments’

Agency: BCM and Ivy PR

The verdict: Clever but needs to go the distance.

Tanvi gave it 6.5/10 and said:

The campaign’s core strength is its reliability and that it moves beyond the generic scenic shots common in the tourism category, to focus on the ‘feeling’. It delivers that feeling in 15 seconds – that’s a win.

The campaign leverages that common sense of anxiety we all carry from our hectic lives into our holidays, including the struggle to switch off. It beautifully resolves it with intelligent copy. It great to see that the theme of this campaign is a continuation of the last campaign ‘chucking a sickie’.

I am hoping the idea extends into owned channels and socials to get audiences to have a dialogue with the brand and a potential for user generated content – if not that would be a missed opportunity.

Honor gave it a 5/10 and said:

Tourism ads are saturated with perfect ‘moments.’ Polished backdrops, aspirational quotes and undisturbed landscapes.

Visit Sunshine Coast has taken a clever, if slightly timid, leap forward with its “Sunshine Sickie” campaign. The core idea is more raw, directly addressing the all-too-common issue of workplace burnout by co-opting the colloquial term “chucking a sickie.” It’s an approach that’s both relatable and a much-needed break from the usual travel content.

The campaign’s strength lies in its bold, culturally resonant insight. By inviting Aussies and Kiwis to win an all-expenses-paid trip, Visit Sunshine Coast positions itself as the ultimate antidote to burnout. The promise of the CEO personally calling a winner’s boss is a stroke of PR genius, injecting a playful, risk-taking element that’s bound to generate media attention.

The campaign’s execution doesn’t fully capitalise on its own daring premise. The “Sunshine Sickie” feels less like a full-throttle brand statement and more like a limited-time tactical stunt. The campaign is confined to a brief, 11-day window in September, missing the opportunity to build a year-round, always-on platform around the theme of wellness and rejuvenation. Imagine the potential for ongoing content: a series of short films highlighting “sickie-worthy” spots, partnerships with corporate wellness programs, or even a branded “sickie note” generator.

In essence, the campaign is a high-impact, one-off event. It successfully creates a momentary cultural conversation but falls short of establishing a durable brand narrative. It’s a great idea that could have been a truly enduring campaign. The “Sunshine Sickie” is a brilliant opening salvo, but we’re left hoping for the full-scale brand revolution that could follow.

As submitted to Matthew Leong.

If you are a senior creative or strategist who would like to take part in Campaign Review, please email me at melong@mumbrella.com.au.

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