News Corp Australia today kicked off a national campaign aimed at clients using the power of visual storytelling. Called A Whole News Way To Grow the campaign draws inspiration from the growth of Australia and how News Corp Australia has used storytelling to reach and represent the many communities and client groups.
The creative centrepiece of the campaign is a commissioned piece of art by world renowned Torres Strait Islander artist Alick Tipoti called Mura Ukapilamayzinga (All Connected).
In honour and respect of First Nations peoples and their long history of storytelling, this original artwork was created by Tipoti to showcases a story of growth, how connections between communities have changed throughout the years and how different categories such as food, travel, sport, technology and data all play a role in connecting people and culture.
The visual story draws on the traditional carvings of Tipoti’s ancestors. It shows a global journey and in doing so, represents News Corp Australia’s journey.
“The patterns carved into this particular work are of Melanesian style. Each pattern touches all the symbols depicted in the work and they are all connected together,” said Tipoti.
“It starts from the symbol of fire. Fire is represented at the top right corner of the print as the smoke marking starts to spread into the top half of the work. Through the smoke patterns, I have shown the evolution of communication into the world of technology. This fire represents the beginning of all cultures of the world.
“I felt it was important to depict the ancient ways of how things were done to complement how things are done today. By this I mean the different images of all the themes associated with the work tell the story of changing and growing.
“It was unusual yet satisfying for me to carve modern images in this new work, which I see as a collaboration of old, current and future imagery and themes interpreted through the eyes of a Zenadth-Kes Islander (Torres Strait Islander).”
News Corp Australia’s managing director of national sales Lou Barrett said: “This campaign visually depicts a community’s transition from the past to an increasingly digital world. A transition that News Corp Australia has made over the years. We think differently now about our clients’ businesses and the campaign aims to demonstrate this.
“Our approach with clients is about understanding the journey that their business is on; and what I love about the artwork is that it reflects this. Showing not just our journey but those of our clients and our country. The art also shows connections, the connections between different audience groups and different parts of the community and our role in connecting our clients to our audiences.
“We wanted to take a creative approach to this campaign to reflect the level of creative thinking we will always bring to solve our clients’ problems.
“Clients are actively looking to us for strategy, insights and advice to drive their business in an ever-changing world, rather than just a straight transactional relationship.
“We have an audience of 17.4 million Australians across our network, which marketers can connect their brands with using our market-leading data and digital capabilities, our industry specialisation and our high quality content marketing, audio and video production services.”
Barrett said clients’ marketing needs have shifted rapidly over the past year.
“The economic fallout from COVID-19 has prompted us to really refocus our business and our efforts to meet their needs in a market that has a significant amount of change going on. We are agile; and we are laser focused on delivering return on investment for our clients,” said Barrett.
The campaign using Tipoti’s artwork has been developed by News Corp Australia’s in-house creative agency, Roller. It will roll out over eight-weeks through high-impact placements across key trade media websites and The Australian.