Old Mate

Old Mate • SATC

This campaign was born from a very simple truth; it’s the people who have never even been to Adelaide that think it’s dull.

Our job was to challenge these people directly and invite them to make up their own minds about the state. The campaign was targeted to interstate travellers only and was called, “You Be the Judge”.

To launch the campaign, we ran a 30” fable on TV that dramatised the potential consequences of not judging Adelaide for yourself. The spot definitely struck a nerve, sparking a national debate about Adelaide (and also a bit about the ethics and strategic merits of using a lonely old man in a tourism spot…)

‘Old Mate’ was immortalised in memes, newspaper cartoons and even parodied by Tasmanian Tourism.

Conveniently overlooked by many local critics, we actually launched eight other TVCs at the same time that featured the best of South Australia.

Having put Adelaide front of mind with ‘Old Mate’, these spots were designed to present some of Adelaide’s most irrefutable draw cards, and challenge the audience to come and judge them for themselves.