It’s a season that will live long in the memory of the ‘home of the long idea’. BMF had a stellar 2023, which was underlined by more than doubling its trophy haul (70-plus) from the previous year.

The agency’s 85 pieces of work for 30 clients often hit the mark, picking up silverware across all of the major awards events globally, including Cannes Lions, D&AD, Spikes, LIA Awards and a trophy cabinet full of Effies.

Work that really shone includes the emotional “Reluctant Shanty” campaign for the UNHCR that depicted refugees in unbearable conditions on the ocean singing shanties that illustrate their plight. That campaign alone won awards across the board, including a B&T Award for Bravery.

The agency’s work also made ALDI “vulnerable”; turned tacky tourism merchandise into an avant-garde collection of ‘Off Cuts’ with Tourism Tasmania; rebranded tennis in Australia and helped combat child sexual abuse.

In a challenging economic environment, BMF evolved its service offering by hiring Google APAC’s former head of creative, Tara McKenty, as chief innovation officer. A new innovation arm, ‘Innovation BMFTR’, soon followed and has already run innovation sprints with clients including Tennis Australia and Tourism Tasmania.

Speaking of the latter, its “Come Down For Air” platform continued to win plaudits, even if the tourism board launched a shock creative review in 2024.

On the new business front, BMF claims it has an above average strike rate, and in the 2023 season it won prestigious new accounts including Tennis Australia, Afterpay, QBE, the Department of Health and Alinta Energy. 

Although the agency, part of the listed Enero Group, cannot reveal its financials, B&T understands its revenue and profit growth is in healthy shape and well above the industry norm. 

BMF is also innovating on the people management front, working with D&AD to launch ‘shiftrnships’; developing a Diversity Index plug-in to increase the agency’s Diversity IQ; and working with Cross Cultural Consultants to ensure it has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and representation in everything the agency does.

Its BRAVO employee engagement platform gamifies the celebration of work and the people behind it. 

BMF’s employee engagement scores range between 85 to 95 per cent. It’s little wonder BMF picked up B&T’s People and Culture Award.