Snapchat’s Creative Council Winners Launch Campaign Connecting Gen Z with First Nations’ Storytellers

Snap today announces the first winning campaign of its Creative Council programme - ‘Dreamy’ created by Ogilvy. The Council, which launched last September in partnership with Creative Equals, features leading Australian creatives and encourages them to use Snapchat to develop creative solutions to pressing societal issues. They do this through nominating small teams in their agencies to respond to a brief. The winning idea is produced and launched on Snapchat.

The winning campaign was created by Jake Ausburn, copywriter and Tom McPhail, art director, a team put together by Ogilvy’s former executive creative director Gavin Mcleod. The team looked at research that showed that while the majority of Australians believe it’s important to know about the history of the First Nations People, only 42 per cent believe they have strong knowledge of that history: a culture belonging to the oldest continuous civilisation in the world. They also saw research that revealed that one in three Australians struggle to fall asleep. With these insights in mind, the team wanted to do two things: give First Nations storytellers a new platform on which to share and celebrate their cultures and help calm anxious Australians before bed.

To do this, they partnered with First Nations-led not-for-profit, Common Ground to source five original sleep stories written by First Nations storytellers: Jazz Money, Aurora Liddle-Christie, Dakota Feirer, Genoah Gela and Dr. Romaine Moreton. They asked emerging First Nations visual artist Carmen Glynn-Braun to create a series of accompanying artwork that Ogilvy transformed into ambient looping animations. They brought these to life in an integrated campaign including a microsite, video content and an Augmented Reality (AR) Lens that guides a Snapchatter through a short deep breathing meditative exercise before entering a magical state of mind where they can dream to sleep stories from First Nations storytellers. Through giving a contemporary twist to the ancient art of storytelling, Dreamy brings an 80,000-year-old oral tradition into the digital space. It takes listeners from all walks of life on a journey of cultural awakening and connection to place, helping people disconnect from their screens by connecting to Country.

The AR lens can be found on the Snapchat carousel from this week, by searching ‘Dreamy’ on Snapchat, or by scanning the below Snapcode. The video content will run on Snapchat over the next two months. Both link to a dedicated microsite: dreamysleep.com.au, where the five soothing sleep stories accompanied by digital animations will appear. They will also be accessible on podcast platforms and will be featured on select radio stations.

Snap’s Global Director of Creative Strategy, Will Scougal, said “We started the Creative Council because we truly believe that Snapchat and ideas powered by its camera can be a force for good. We also wanted to encourage creatives to innovate with AR as a storytelling canvas. We received some incredible submissions and we’re delighted that the Council chose ‘Dreamy’ as the winner.  The Ogilvy team put together a strong integrated campaign that celebrates Australia’s rich history and brings untold stories to the fore.” 

Tom MacPhail, Art Director at Ogilvy said: “One of the great privileges of our job is having the opportunity to work on projects like this one. We all need to take care of ourselves, now more than ever, so we’ve been honoured to work with Common Ground to create this free mental health resource. We hope these stories will help anxious sleepers disconnect from their screens and connect with the traditional custodians of this country. Listening to these incredible First Nations storytellers won’t just help us sleep better – it’ll help us acknowledge the land upon which we sleep and dream”.

First Nations visual artist Carmen Glynn-Braun said “Dreamy was such a special project to be part of. I’m super grateful to have the opportunity to create work alongside such an extraordinary cohort of First Nations storytellers. I love the contemporary nature of these yarns. The stories are very much here and now, but at the same time deeply encompass our ongoing ancestral connections to both story and place.”

Rona Glynn-McDonald, CEO at Common Ground said:  “We feel incredibly proud of this project, which shares First Nations knowledge, storytelling and creativity with the rest of the world. Through Dreamy, all people can connect with voices that can ground us in this moment and help us shape futures that are connected to Country and land.”