We’ve continued to work with the Australian Museum on a raft of brand and campaign projects since beginning our partnership during the early days of the pandemic.
With Sydney once again a-buzz with activity, summer on the way and tourism steadily returning to the city, the museum have opened their latest toothsome exhibition, SHARKS, and we’ve helped them bring it to the public on an epic scale.
SomeOne, alongside sister agency VCCP have developed a city wide (and beyond) campaign for the show aimed at peaking the curiosity of young and old alike and demonstrating the many facets to the most feared species on the planet.
Duuuhhh–Nuh. Duuuhhh-Nuh. Duuuuhhhh–Nu, Duuh-Nu, Duuh-Nu…
When most of us hear the word ‘shark’, our brains automatically jump to razor-sharp teeth, a hunt, an attack, swift and deadly. Monsters.
Hollywood has done a terrific job of pigeonholing this family of fish, when there is an ocean’s worth more to their story.
As a leading authority on the natural world in Australia, the AM have spent the past 5 years putting together the largest and most in depth, interactive exhibition all about sharks, in part to shine a light on the truth and beauty behind a magnificent family of more than 500 different species, spanning more than 400 million years.
The exhibition will give visitors the chance to get up close and personal with the shark kingdom — it’s millions-of-years long history, rich diversity, connection to culture (ancient & modern) and take on humanity’s mixed perceptions of sharks.
With a long exhibition run of 8 months (spanning multiple school holidays and tourism influxes), the campaign had to appeal to a wide audience and peak the interest of kids and adults alike. We conducted a series of focus groups and interviews to get a feel for what gets people excited (or terrified) about sharks.
Despite the associated fear, there is an innate fascination with them too. They may look scary and bizarre to us, but we can’t help but want to see them up close, to get eye-to-eye with these gigantic and tiny natural wonders.
From all the discussions we had, and despite the differences in opinion, there was one key theme that kept rising to the surface:
Everyone wants to know what makes a Shark tick.
Curiosity is an ingrained tendency and an intrinsic drive in all of us. Curiosity ignites when you are shown a ‘gap’ in your knowledge. If you learn there is something more to the story than meets the eye, you always want to delve deeper and find out more.
The strategic aim of our campaign was to ignite your curiosity through a series of scenarios that decode and demystify sharks, illuminating their range of idiosyncratic and captivating traits . The more you learn, the more you realise just how misunderstood they are.
Sharks have a diverse set of unique behaviours and one way of changing perceptions about sharks is to decode them. Our work aims to demystify them and redress the perception that they are uniformly aggressive and threatening.
The Australian Museum has a reputation for truth-telling. Every exhibition they build endeavours to bring you unexpected stories and new ways to engage. Developing a creative answer not only had to look impressive, but stand out and challenge our audience’s expectations.
Introducing the ‘Shiver’.
A shiver is the collective noun for a group of sharks and is what we based the hero creative on. A beautifully balanced synchronisation of 12 different shark species that appear to be swimming in perfect harmony to form a sphere. A diverse representation of the world of sharks — putting the focus on the majesty, diversity and beauty. Instead of teeth and terror.
Our campaign puts the spotlight on the diversity, beauty, and behaviours of sharks to provoke curiosity and encourage people to seek out the truth.
Working with photographer Andrea Venegas, we captured wide-eyed children and awe-struck parents reacting to each of the different shark species that feature in the exhibition, highlighting our fascination with these powerful creatures.
We also collaborated with Never Sit Still on a series of teaser films that shine dappled volumetric light on three of the most known shark species, with a twist. The films pose a double-edged narrative of perceived reputation vs reality. Built entirely with CG techniques, we had full control of each shot — something that would have been impossible with real footage.
The campaign lives throughout the museum itself, from external fascias to entrance hoardings and shop merchandise (SHARKS tour t-shirt anyone?) as well as appearing across the city on flags, busses, billboards, newspapers, in a funny radio ad — and is capped off by a 16m Great White tram wrap that swims its way around Sydney.
The radio spot takes a popular nursery rhyme and retells it through the voice of a Great White. Sound mixing by Smith & Western.