THE ULTIMATE TRADIE

JAC - Southpac Trucks

Campaign for the JAC T9 Ute entering the New Zealand Market

The Brief

Mechanic came to us with a brilliant idea: The Ultimate Tradie.

A character-driven platform built to show what happens when you put the JAC T9 Ute through its paces with a tradie who’s almost mythically capable. Our job?
Help shape the creative, sharpen the strategy for digital, build out the character, and create a full suite of films + stills that brought the world of the Ultimate Tradie to life.This wasn’t a “just shoot this” project. It was a properly integrated collaboration from creative to strategy to production.

The Collaboration

We partnered closely with Mechanic, who developed the core creative idea and wrote the incredibly sharp VO for the films. This set the tone beautifully and our job was to build the character, extend the idea, and make it live convincingly on screen and online.We also teamed up with one of our favourite production partners, bringing their energy and depth of experience to the shoot. Together, the three teams built a seamless, shared creative engine that kept the work tight, fun, and absolutely on-brief.

Our Approach

We created the Ultimate Tradie character. larger than life, straight-faced, and effortlessly good at everything.
Then we threw him into real-world moments across Auckland, stress-testing the T9 through the lens of someone who’s genuinely unflappable.The goal was simple:
Show the ute’s capability in a way that’s entertaining, memorable, and unmistakably Kiwi.

They say his nail gun doesn’t jam… it just politely asks for a rest.

What We Delivered

Long form Hero Film to showcase the JAC T9's arrival into the NZ market
30" and 60" Hero Films for online use
10 x 16:9 15" Cutdowns
Social formats for all outputs
Full stills campaign to complement the film work
Cross-channel creative thinking + digital strategy integration
Character development + campaign world-building

The Outcome

A campaign we're so proud of. One that feels confident, distinctly New Zealand, and packed with personality. Mechanic’s idea landed perfectly, the character came to life, and the JAC T9 got exactly the showcase it deserved: useful, tough, and ready for anything a real tradie can throw at it (and a few things only an Ultimate Tradie could dream up).