Barbara Humphries talks to Hawkes Brewing Co founders and former Droga 5 creatives, Nathan Lennon and Dave Gibson.
Barbara is a Creative Director at The Monkeys, where she has led creative on IKEA, MLA, Blackmores, Berlei and Parmalat.
Prior to The Monkeys, Barbara has worked at Publicis Mojo Melbourne and Wieden+Kennedy London, working on brands including Nike, Lurpak, Victorian Tourism, Nestle, Yakult and Cadbury.
Her work has been awarded worldwide at D&AD, Clios, One Show, Webbys, AWARD and New York Festivals, and during her time at The Monkeys has helped them win Australian Agency of the Year 9 times across 4 National and APAC shows.
Passionate about nurturing young creative talent, Barbara has been a mentor to young creatives, a tutor at AWARD and also been part of the Creatable curriculum, a creative technology course for high school girls.
David Gibson and Nathan Lennon are a multi internationally-awarded Creative Director team with extensive experience in the Australasian, UK and US markets.
They spent their earlier years in Sydney and London, working at various leading agencies, including BBH, before returning to Sydney in 2008. They spent the following six years at Publicis Mojo and Lowe, where they helped lead high profile accounts, Toyota, James Boag’s Beer and Football Federation Australia, winning gold in Cannes along the way.
In mid-2013 they were hired by Droga5 New York, where they’ve since led work for Toyota, Motorola, Quilted Northern and Honey Maid, the latter of which they helped relaunch to an overwhelming response. Honey Maid’s ‘This is Wholesome’ campaign has earned plaudits from every major news outlet and publication in America and was quoted as “The most progressive campaign of the decade” along with becoming The New Yorker’s second most shared article of all time. The campaign won a coveted White Pencil at D&AD, was shortlisted for a prestigious Titanium Lion in Cannes, as well as picked up a Gold and Silver Lion, plus a rare Gold Effectiveness Lion. All of which contributed to Droga5 New York winning Cannes Lions, AdWeek and AdAge ‘Agency
of the Year’. Further to this, the campaign was mentioned by President Obama during his address at the LGBT Pride Month reception at The White House in June 2013.
Further to their creative success, David and Nathan were instrumental in helping to secure Droga5 their first automotive client, having helped lead the pitch to launch Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the Mirai. The year long pre-launch program was headed up by the ‘Fueled By Everything’ campaign, which concluded on October 21st 2015, when the car officially hit the road and the campaign itself owned one of the most famous dates in pop culture history.
