As Creative Director on Hireup’s national brand campaign, my role was to help redefine how disability is represented in Australian advertising — moving away from tokenistic or advocacy-led storytelling toward something more authentic, human and empowering.
The campaign placed real members of the Hireup community front and centre: clients, support workers, parents and siblings sharing lived experiences in their own voices. Rather than positioning disability as something to be “overcome,” the creative focused on everyday moments, independence, personality and connection — reflecting Hireup’s belief that people should have choice and control over the support they receive.
From a creative perspective, the challenge was balancing emotional storytelling with authenticity. We intentionally stripped back overly polished advertising conventions and built a campaign grounded in realism, warmth and dignity. The visual direction focused on natural interactions and genuine relationships, allowing the work to feel observed rather than staged.
The campaign also responded to a broader representation gap in Australian media, where disability remains significantly underrepresented on screen. By placing lived experience at the heart of the work, we created a campaign that not only built brand distinction for Hireup, but reinforced its leadership position within the disability support sector.
Running nationally across BVOD, SVOD, digital, social and OOH, the campaign established a more modern and emotionally resonant brand platform for Hireup — one built around empowerment, individuality and real human connection.
