Fresh From The Field: Dunedin Works Better – By Strategy Creative

1 month ago by Iris Kalff

How do you convince people to rethink where they live and work? Strategy Creative’s Dunedin Works Better campaign does it with wit, warmth, and just the right amount of cheek.

Fresh from the Field is a weekly article series sharing fresh and inspiring work from the Design Assembly community. Want to submit your work to Fresh From The Field? Fill out the form here.

The brief

Big city life is losing its shine. Traffic. Rent. Bureaucracy. Burnout. Professionals across Aotearoa are over it and looking for somewhere better. Enterprise Dunedin spotted an opportunity to flip the script. Dunedin isn’t a fallback. It’s a step up. With short commutes, vibrant job prospects, and a coastline five minutes from the office, it offers everything you need without all the extras you don’t.

We needed a campaign that could get that message across quickly, smartly and with just the right amount of cheek to encourage people to move to work and live in Dunedin.

The design response

We created Dunedin Works Better, a campaign built on dry humour, cheeky stats and the honest voice of a mate who’d already moved south.

Billboards and bus backs featured lines like “99% less dust on surfboards than Auckland”* and “Dunedin = Wellington – (the wind + the bureaucracy).” Using humour and proudly dubious statistics, we encouraged professionals in Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown to rethink what life could look like.

Rather than selling a city, we sold a feeling. Each line playfully poked fun at big-city frustrations while highlighting Dunedin’s lifestyle advantages. The campaign embraced an intentionally unscientific tone, complete with disclaimers, making it feel authentic, memorable and distinctly Dunedin.

Working with a limited budget, we paired witty copy with existing photography of Dunedin’s beaches, trails and coastline to show how accessible everyday life can be. For billboards, we stripped the design back further, using bold black-and-white layouts and simple equations to create maximum impact.

The visual system was designed to cut through. Billboards appeared in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, while bus backs ran through Queenstown. Digital placements targeted busy commuter locations, reaching people while they sat in traffic, waited for buses or endured another grey day.

This campaign didn’t just get seen. It got talked about. The Wellington billboard sparked talkback radio and media coverage almost immediately. Extending its reach well beyond the paid placements. More importantly, it shifted perceptions, leaving people wondering whether life really could be better down south.

Dunedin Works Better was recognised as a finalist at the 2025 Best Design Awards (New Zealand) and the Australian Graphic Design Awards (AGDA).