RECOGNISE campaign starts pitch for agency to carry on Neil Lawrence’s creative flame
The campaign to have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders recognised in the Australian Constitution is launching a pitch to find a new creative agency to carry on the work started by Neil Lawrence.
Lawrence had worked with Tim Gartrell, the former secretary of the Australian Labor Party he partnered with to develop the Kevin07 campaign, to create the RECOGNISE campaign, part of Reconciliation Australia.
Lawrence Creative Services had already developed a number of communications and a strategy for RECOGNISE over the past three years and the organisation is now seeking a creative agency to carry on the development of the campaign following Lawrence’s sudden death earlier this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yyxe77UXXw
The issue was a very personal one for Lawrence, who worked with survivors of the Stolen Generation as a social work student in Melbourne long before he turned his hand to advertising.
Along with a series of emotive ads, he also helped design the logo for the RECOGNISE.
Tanya Hosch, joint campaign director for RECOGNISE, said that while Lawrence’s DNA would continue to infuse the campaign it needed to move forward with the help of an agency that had a clear understanding and experience of the issues faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“We were deeply saddened by Neil Lawrence’s death,” said Hosch.
“With his strategic and creative skills, he was uniquely placed to help this cause of national and historic importance. Neil had a deep understanding of and commitment to Indigenous issues. He also had great experience of social issues campaigns. However, we must find a replacement.”
Lawrence’s sudden death while on holiday in the Maldives shocked the industry and the wider Australian community, who had come to know him from his insightful appearances on Gruen, and was followed by an outpouring of tributes.
RECOGNISE has brought in Colin Wilson-Brown from The Clinic to run the search for a creative agency, but is keen to cast the net wide across the creative advertising industry to find the right partner.
The organisation will continue to work with media agency Ikon.
The Federal Government and opposition have committed to recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the constitution, although there is no clear timetable yet set.
RECOGNISE is the second client of Lawrence Creative Services to put its business out to pitch following Lawrence’s death after Qantas completed a review of its creative agency roster two weeks ago settling on The Monkeys, With Collective and BWM Dentsu.
Simon Canning
