Kyle Hugall

THE SITUATION
ABC Local Radio is one of Australia’s most trusted institutions, connecting communities through everything from politics to potholes, bakeries to by-laws, and public schools to ocean pools.
But while most radio advertising focuses on the personalities behind the microphone, we saw an opportunity to tell a different story: one that demonstrated the breadth, relevance and uniquely local role of ABC Local Radio across Australia.

THE SOLUTION

We shifted the focus from the people broadcasting Local Radio to the people, places and communities it exists to serve.
That became the foundation of a new brand platform: Everything Local.
To bring the idea to life authentically, we commissioned 23 photographers across eight capital cities to document everyday Australian life over two weeks, creating an original archive of more than 3,400 images.
The resulting campaign was designed to be national in scale but local in every expression. Out-of-home sites became open-air galleries for photography captured in those same communities, supported by bespoke TV, digital and press executions across every state and territory.
Rather than simply telling Australians that ABC Local Radio was local, the campaign made local Australia the star.

THE RESULTS

Everything Local became ABC Local Radio’s most effective TV promotion to date.

• The campaign drove the highest-ever response into weekly usage from promotion across ABC-owned TV channels

• Market Mix Modelling showed it outperformed every other Local Radio TV promotion measured

Source: ABC Market Mix Modelling, 2023–2026

THE SITUATION
The 2025/26 Ashes presented ABC Listen with a significant opportunity to grow audiences around one of the biggest events in the Australian sporting calendar. But Test cricket presents a unique challenge: five Tests, up to five days each and hundreds of hours of action make following every ball almost impossible to reconcile with the realities of modern life.
There was also a creative constraint. Without broadcast vision rights, we needed to build excitement around the Ashes without actually showing the cricket.

THE SOLUTION
We turned that constraint into the idea. Rather than focusing on the action on the pitch, we focused on everything competing with it.
Our campaign platform, Don’t Let Life Get in the Way of the Ashes, positioned ABC Listen as the way to stay connected to every ball while getting on with everything else: from work and weddings to errands, barbecues and household chores.
Rolled out across TV, radio, digital and social, the campaign used humour to dramatise the tension between the cricket fans want to follow and the lives they still have to lead. The result was a distinctive campaign for a major sporting series that, unusually, never needed to show the sport itself.

THE RESULTS
The campaign contributed to a hugely successful Ashes series for ABC Listen, significantly over-delivering against audience KPIs and helping drive the platform to record levels of awareness.

• Live audio listeners increased 54% YoY, significantly exceeding KPI

• Weekly active users increased 17%, also significantly exceeding KPI

• ABC Listen achieved its highest-ever claimed awareness, up 14% YoY

• ‘Ever used’ increased 10% YoY, demonstrating growth beyond awareness and into trial

THE SITUATION
Since its launch almost 25 years ago, James Squire has grown to become Australia’s largest craft brand by volume. But performance data showed that affinity for the brand was waning due to an imagery challenge, while newer and more exciting brands in the craft space were prompting strong switching behaviour. Concurrently, an opportunity was identified to source additional share by progressing James Squire into a more premium space within the category.

THE SOLUTION
I wrote a new brand positioning for James Squire that was about championing the unconventional route to progress, while establishing a new set of aesthetic principles and tone of voice. This foundational strategy work informed the brand’s redesign and packaging refresh as well as the new brand platform Ordinary be Damned.

THE RESULTS
While the new Ordinary be Damned platform is not yet 6-months old, it has quickly become one of the most immediately effective Lion campaigns in modern times. By deepening the brand’s meaning and pushing it into new, premium categories James Squire has been able to achieve exceptional volume growth.

• TVC + OOH ranked No.1 by Kantar as the highest scoring for driving affinity in all of Lion’s advertising history

• TVC + OOH ranked No.1 by Kantar as the highest scoring for driving differentiation in all of Lion’s advertising history

• Kantar tracking indicates results as being significantly above norm for branding and enjoyment

• Creative delivered on positioning objective to shift the brand into a new assertive emotional territory (namely purple with a red skew in the Kantar Needscope framework)

THE SITUATION
Launched on tap in Victoria in 2014, Furphy enjoyed a groundswell of adoration amongst drinkers who connected with the classic, yet contemporary vibe of the brand and the refreshing, yet flavourful taste profile. With plans for national expansion and new product innovation—yet with no brand positioning or creative platform behind it—Furphy required a robust strategic framework to support its growth while driving trial and awareness.

THE SOLUTION
Built on the provocation to never let the truth get in the way of a good story, I led the development of a new positioning and enduring creative platform—Unbelievable—for the Furphy brand.
This work informed a complete rebrand and packaging design overhaul, as well as brand-building advertising campaigns and new product innovation in the form of Furphy Crisp.

RESULTS
The new brand platform and subsequent communications had an immediate impact in market, particularly in the Carlton-dominated state of Victoria where Furphy was an embattled challenger brand and relative newcomer.

• 4 point growth in awareness during the 6 months following launch

• 4 point increase in trial during the 6 months following launch

• Volume in Victoria up 75% vs. YAGO

• Carlton lost the lead in brand appeal in its home state of Victoria for the first time in history (coming second to Furphy by 4 percentage points 6 months after launch)

*Video passwords: paddington

THE ISSUE
In the early 2000s, Tooheys Extra Dry was one of the most culturally relevent beers in Australia, but after years of neglect and marketing divestment, the brand found itself devoid of meaning and appeal amongst a sizeable cohort of younger drinkers—critical to its future success.

THE SOLUTION
I led the team in repositioning Tooheys Extra Dry as a beer that’s acutely aware of its strengths (cheap, reliable, consistent quality) as well as its weaknesses (kind of irrelevant and totally uncool).
The strategic thought—a beer that’s proud of its ordinariness—became the enduring creative platform for the brand in the form of Proudly Ordinary.
An above-the-line advertising campaign was supported by cultural acts that were created in partnership with relevant and on-brand creatives and influencers such as The Betoota Advocate, the Inspired Unemployed, Struthless and The Big Lez Show.

THE RESULTS
The Tooheys Extra Dry work was a phenomenal example of owning your truth, while at the same time deeply understanding the category context and cultural drivers influencing target consumers. “Underselling” your product’s attributes goes against every rule in beer marketing, but the disruptiveness of the idea created cut-through, while the messaging and collaborations gave the campaign stickiness, leading to some excellent results:

• Spontaneous awareness +25%
• Brand appeal +33%
• “For people like me” +30%
• Volume sales +10%
• Penetration amongst 18-34 year-olds +70%
• Trial amongst 18-34 year-olds +84%

THE ISSUE
The brewing legend Chuck Hahn first brewed Kosciuszko Pale Ale in 2009 at a purpose-built microbrewery in Jindabyne. Since then it’s become an iconic feature of the Snowies, enjoying a cult-like following amongst those who visit the area. The ambition was to grow awareness of the brand beyond this small region of NSW and make it stand for something more than just a great, locally brewed pale ale you drink when you go skiing.

THE SOLUTION
Building on the brand’s birthplace and connection with the Snowies, I wrote a brand positioning and creative strategy that better connected it with the dynamic energy and excitement of the mountains.
By grounding it in craft from a quality perspective, but pushing the tone and visual language I was able to increase brand appeal for younger drinkers who were looking for fun and cool brands that matched their lifestyle. The brand platform Beer with Altitude was born and continues to inform activation in channels from on-mountain experiences to content.

THE RESULTS
• At 74%, the Beer with Altitude work achieved the highest drive score (Makes me feel better about the brand) across all motion campaigns tracked by Fiftyfive-5 in the past decade.
• Volume up 11% in the 6mo following campaign launch
• Spontaneous awareness grew from 6% to 12%

For the Australian launch of Japanese premium beer Kirin Ichiban—I led the development of a new brand proposition that was focused on honouring Japanese craft through a contemporary lens and developed a creative strategy that included aesthetic and tonal direction.

Authenticity was critical, so instead of using the services of our local agency partners in Australia, I commissioned Hideto Yagi, a Japanese art director and artist to develop a campaign that was about celebrating the work of contemporary Japanese craftspeople who are using centuries-old techniques in exciting, modern ways.

Collaborating with an art gallery in Tokyo, we selected the works of three artists who are pushing the boundaries of their art by reinventing or revolutionising traditional craft skills in their work.

Research and sales data indicated the Furphy brand was suffering from awareness and standout issues in the on and off premise.

By simplifying the design without losing its heritage or DNA the brand was better-equipped to deliver on its contemporary classic aesthetic.

I oversaw the complete rebrand of the Furphy masterbrand and directed the process from briefing to final execution. This included a holistic packaging refresh and naming evolution for the Furphy portfolio.

To celebrate the release of James Squire’s limited edition Pioneer’s Collection, we partnered with Discommon Studio in the USA to create a one-of-a-kind bottle opener worthy of this extraordinary small-batch, barrel-aged beer.

Taking over 150-hours to meticulously craft by hand, the piece is constructed from sterling silver, burl walnut, grade 5 titanium and rare Damascus steel, which was originally used to make ancient swords.

Valued at over $30,000AUD, the bottle opener went up for auction to raise money for rural aid and cleared its reserve price by an anonymous bidder.

With a limited budget of just $100k, this activity generated a lot of press and reached 3.8 million Australians

Product Designer Neil Ferrier said: “From the initial ideation to the finishing touches of the bottle opener, uniting exceptional design and meticulous execution was always front of mind, which aligned Discommon well with the James Squire Pioneers’ Collection. The collision of rich history and modern and progressive practices from James Squire led to the creation of a truly unique bottle opener, and incorporating these two worlds was both challenging and exciting in the design process. ”

An opportunity was identified to launch a new-to-the-world Australian craft vodka into the market to compete in the premium and luxury vodka space.

Dominated by cold, northern hemispheric nations, the vodka category chases perfection with brands that are pure, polished and impossibly glamourous. It’s a world of EDM, fur coats and fast cars: Literally a world away from laid-back, sun-soaked and informal Australian culture.

I led the team in launching a vodka that had a deeper, more authentic meaning here in Australia. Rather than play by the codes of the category, I set out to disrupt them by reframing what vodka could be: Challenging the narrative around what defines quality, and pushing against preconceived notions that old world ‘cold’ countries have the best quality brands.

Most importantly, rebelling against the very foundations of the category itself by embracing the beauty of imperfection in a category obsessed with purity and flawlessness.

The proposition was to make Australia’s first ‘raw’ vodka with a process inspired by the growing ‘natural wine’ movement in Australia.
By combining low intervention distilling with the highest quality Australian ingredients, then refusing to filter out or strip away the imperfections in order to let its true character shine through, we created a unique and complex vodka, the likes of which the industry had never encountered before.

Created to meet the growing demand for alcoholic seltzers, The Lucky Drop is inspired by the feelgood optimism of Australia.

Fuelled by nostalgia and a healthy dose of colour, the brand was designed simply as a temporary escape from the dire straits of world events.

A fun, refreshing distraction that conjures up halcyon vibes of pub rock, big bananas and carefree hangs with mates.

Established in 1992, The Furphy Literary Award, became a national competition for the first time in 2020. Over 800 writers—from the emerging to the experienced—responded to the theme of ‘Australian Life’ by submitting a short story of up to 5000 words.

The Furphy Anthology 2020 features the sixteen finalists from the competition, as well as the winner—Ya Reeves—who took home the $20,000 First Prize.

I developed the vision and concept for the book—including creative direction of the cover—as well as leading a refresh of the Furphy Literary Award’s branding.

With innovation a key component of the growth strategy for Furphy, I led creative execution on the launch campaign of Furphy Crisp—a new, easy drinking lager.

Supported by a TV and OOH campaign, Furphy Crisp exceeded all trial and awareness targets in the first 6 months following launch. It continues to be one of the fastest growing line-extensions in the Lion portfolio.

I led the strategy and creative direction for Open Byron—the launch campaign for Byron Bay Brewery’s Premium Lager, which rolled out nationally in the summer of 2019 supported by OOH, TVC, Social and OLV channels.

Capturing the vibe of the brewery’s birthplace, while partnering with local creatives and artists—such as The Babe Rainbow (who provided the soundtrack for the campaign)—allowed us to bottle the essence of Byron and export it to the world.

As Australians moderate their consumption of alcohol and look for lighter, “better for you” beverages to compliment their healthy, fashion-forward lifestyles Lion saw an opportunity to meet their needs with a completely different kind of alcoholic drink.

Quincy is Australia’s first sparkling alcoholic seltzer brand. It uses a proprietary rice-brewing technology for a clean, crisp taste that’s low in sugar, carbs and completely gluten free. 

I developed the brand concept—including the naming and positioning—and led the creative direction of everything from the the visual identity and packaging to the launch advertising campaign.

Five years in the making, Hahn Ultra Crisp is Australia’s first mainstream full strength lager that’s also gluten free, low carb, sugar free and preservative free.

With such a broad range of functional benefits designed to compliment a healthier lifestyle, a new creative strategy was required to position the brand squarely in the active lifestyle space, but in a way that would deposition its key competitor—Pure Blonde.

For our target audience, the benefits of living an active lifestyle are as diverse as the “portfolio” of activities they engage in. From jogging on a Saturday morning and playing pickup basketball with friends, to training for their next triathlon, such activities results in a confidence and optimism that carries through into all corners of their lives.

This insight became the driving force of the launch campaign for Hahn Ultra Crisp where we depicted the product as being just as good on the inside as you.

A highly distinctive and bold look and feel signalled a major departure from where the ailing Hahn brand had been and pushed it into a new, surreal territory.

*Video password: paddington

For 50 years Sesame Workshop has been informing and entertaining children around the world with their unique brand of education, but recent leaps in digital media and technology had created a new opportunity to rethink their educational offering. I was briefed to develop more innovative solutions to better prepare Pre-K kids for school and life, especially those most vulnerable to the growing education gap.

Through robust, immersive research we discovered that while learning styles are highly individual to each child, most learning programs were developed for a ‘one size fits all’ experience. Working with the team at Sesame Workshop, I created “Jigsaw”: an ambitious platform prototype that would not only house a huge ecosystem of products, content and services, but also use machine learning to adapt and grow to the individual needs of the child.

The Jigsaw prototype was optimised over 12-months via a testing platform that utilised data from over a thousand Pre-K kids. The learnings and insights paved the way for a three-year partnership with the IBM’s AI platform Watson to further develop the technology and UX.

Vox media is an American mass media company with a large portfolio of iconic editorial brands that include New York Magazine, The Verge, Eater, Vulture and Intelligencer, among many others.
In an increasingly dynamic and complex media landscape of superficial content, ‘listicles’ and success metrics defined in seconds, Vox Media wanted to stand for something more meaningful.

By positioning their masterbrand around the concept of rigour and depth—expressed by the tagline Go Deeper—we were able to define everything from the output of their stable of editorial brands, the philosophy of their creative studio, their portfolio acquisition strategy and the way they showed up visually by completely rebranding the organization.

A segmentation of the Jack Spade consumer base resulted in the creative portraiture of five key Jack Spade consumers: The Iconoclast, The Weekend Professor, The Magnet, The Laptop Warrior and The Relaxed Sophisticate.

This rich portraiture then allowed us to better target guys with product and comms and resulted in a new campaign that told real heritage stories of “heirloom” Jack Spade products from the past 20 years.

When SoBe first launched in South Beach, Miami in 1996 it pioneered a new wave of “new age” beverages that were synonymous with health and wellness.

However, after failing to keep up with trends and innovations in the health and wellness space its long track record of success suddenly diminished as the brand and its offerings became irrelevant. 

With a positioning around the concept of “Wild, Cultivated”, and a new innovation platform that used phytonutrients as the core benefit chassis to drive the brand into the future, I led the concept development and a new vision for SoBe.

Owned by Equinox, Blink Fitness is a fun and contemporary affordable gym brand in America that was expanding into low income neighbourhoods across the New York metro area. While it's functional offering was clear and competitive, it was lacking an emotional resonance that was needed to achieve cut-through.
Ultimately, they needed to create a culture of fitness in communities where it didn't previously exist.

I did this by positioning Blink around a new idea previously unexplored in the gym-fitness category. Instead of obsessing over the traditional body image benefits of working out such as weight loss and six-pack abs, I focused them on the concept that fitness has the power to transform you on the inside. I called it The Power of Inner Fitness and its unique point of view helped grow membership by 40% in the year following its launch.

Just two years after its 30th anniversary, fashion label Kenneth Cole had lost sight of its audience and those it represents. A new strategic vision for the brand was needed to differentiate it competitively within the market and establish a powerful new connection with consumers.

Working directly with Kenneth Cole himself I led a cross-functional team in embracing his brand's gritty New York roots and reframing the audience he was designing for: namely the ambitious, go-getting individuals inhabiting New York City. We gave them a name—The Courageous Class—and pivoted the design team towards creating an “urban uniform” that would appeal to this stylish and understated New York tribe. Finally, we used the strategy to inform a complete rebrand of the Kenneth Cole VIS that included advertising execution and even store redesigns.

The work resulted in a total brand refresh complete with a new logo, website and communications campaign that created a positive shift in the demographic makeup of its audience and dramatically lifted sales just two months after it launched.

Emeril Lagasse first appeared on The Food Network in 1995, giving rise to the era of the celebrity chef and playing a key role in the evolution of contemporary American food culture. His success resulted in cookware and food products that, while successful, had failed to keep up with the times.

I worked directly with Emeril to reposition his personal brand around the idea of Redefining Perfection—inspired by his philosophy that cooking is about instinct and having fun: It doesn’t always need to be perfect to taste amazing. This idea informed a redesign of his brand and numerous product lines, resulting in an aesthetic that was more vibrant, contemporary and true to the new core idea.

Oban Single Malt Whisky is a centuries-old whisky with a rich heritage that at the time was largely unknown in its key markets in the US and Asia. As one of the more mysterious whiskies in Diageo’s Classic Malts collection—and with a desire to grow the brand’s awareness and innovation strategy—I relocated to Scotland for a month to unearth the story of the Oban brand.

In Oban I interviewed everyone from those who make the legendary spirit, to the local pub landlord and even the town historian in order to get a multifaceted insight into the whisky’s birthplace.

I also visited distilleries from Islay to Speyside to build robust category analysis and gain insight into how different single malt whiskies used storytelling to deepen the meaning of their brands.

The outcome was a new positioning for the brand and an enduring brand platform—Strength in Modesty—which was directly inspired by my immersion and designed to disrupt a category that was saturated with overtly boastful whisky brands obsessed with status.

The strategy informed everything from a new signature serve called Oban & Roots which utilised crystallized ginger to bring out the key notes of the whisky, to their first ever piece of advertising in their 200 year history.

A 6.9% golden lager crowned with a heads-and-tails bottlecap, Miller Fortune is a new-to-the-world beer brand designed to ignite spontaneity.

Brewed to compete with spirits in high energy occasions, Miller Fortune remains the largest new product launch in the history of the MillerCoors JV.

After robust consumer, cultural and category research I developed the core proposition and concept, trademarked the naming and aligned with the design team to develop the VIS.

The current commercial landscape demands a greater emotional connection with consumers, a deeper understanding of culture and perpetual analysis of the future.

Rather than rely solely on trend forecasting to inform innovation, I partnered with MillerCoors to create HX (Human Experience); a new philosophy and innovation framework that was built entirely on empathy and richer human understanding.

Powered by a purpose-built team and process, HX looks deep into the future through a very human lens to plan and prepare for tomorrow’s threats and opportunities and crafts solutions to meet them.

MillerCoors—the second-largest brewery in the USA—needed help to optimise their innovation process, develop their creative muscle and inspire a new way of launching brands and products.

Bottle Rocket was a strategic vision that not only laid out a clear set of principles for breakthrough innovation, but also provided a step-by-step framework for how to go “From Post-it, to product”. I developed the strategy, as well as a robust innovation process that was codified into a book, which I authored and art directed.

Bottle Rocket became the blueprint for all innovation within the MillerCoors business and is still in use to this day.

Suffering from a lack of clarity around key objectives and a subsequent talent retention crisis, the marketing department at MillerCoors needed help. After careful study, it became clear that the internal culture wasn’t just broken, it was non-existent.

I worked directly with the CMO to develop Zigü a new vision and suite of behaviours designed to permeate the organisation and put creativity and risk-taking at the heart of the business.

By wrapping the vision in a brand and creating assets like books, stickers, bags, and even beer, it was quickly and passionately adopted.

Designed for Mexican-American millennial drinkers, Zumbida is a new-to-the-world brand of alcoholic aguas frescas that taps into the bi-cultural mindset of its target audience.

Inspired by a deep cultural immersion in Mexico, as well as robust consumer research that included qualitative and quantitative study, Zumbida was launched in geographies that overindexed in Hispanic and Latin American consumers where it enjoyed significant volume growth.

Michael Haar is a Master Barber and New York City style icon whose obsession with the mid-Century aesthetic is legendary.

After plans were hatched to open his own barbershop in partnership with the Italian grooming brand Proraso, I was commissioned to lead the brand strategy and creative direction of his new brand and its launch on Christopher Street in the West Village of Manhattan.

Love letters. Nostalgic and whimsical, simple and heartfelt. They reflect not only the love, but also the lover. They reveal us to ourselves in ways we can’t predict, or even control.

In order to learn more about each other, employees at Redscout wrote a letter to the things, places and ideas that move us. Sure, we love our kids and our boyfriends, but how often do we acknowledge our affection for the color grey or the Lake Champlain monster?

These letters provided a weird and wonderful insight into the diversity of passions that fuel and inspire us. From fortune cookies, rainy days, and defunct uptown eateries, via the 1970 Brazilian football squad and death metal, to a lifelong relationship with a rock.

I conceived the idea and led the creative direction and print execution of the book.

Cricket is special.

The format and pace of cricket allows it to transcend beyond the visual spectacle, making a listen-only experience just as rewarding.

Which is useful, because the majority of us don’t have the luxury of time to sit and watch it for hours on end.

A multi-hour, multi-day, multi venue Ashes behemoth is a monumental thing. It may be sports greatest rivalry, but it’s also sports most gargantuan event.

Which is awesome.

But also, we’ve got sh*t to do.

We’ve got the patio to pressure-wash, the kids to chauffeur, weddings to attend, hardware stores to visit. Some of us even have JOBS.

But this is cricket. The Ashes. The Poms and the Barmy Army. Women’s cricket. Men’s cricket. The Big Bash, the ODI’s and the T20i’s… A wall-to-wall summer of the stuff

And that’s waaay more important than something as insignificant as… LIFE

But cricket waits for nobody…