Liam Ratliff: Variety is the spice of advertising life

With TV spots for AAMI Insurance, OOH work for Bridgeroad Brewers, and a campaign for an Australian bar in New York under his belt, twenty-nine-year-old senior creative and copywriter Liam Ratliff recently moved to London to further his career.  

Here, he talks awards, of which he has already won a few, (including the inaugural AWARD Lab GenAI Sprint, a 60-hour challenge using Leonardo AI to develop a digital out-of-home campaign for AUSVEG), the changing nature of the industry, and how a minor police incident paved his creative path. 

What attracted you to the advertising industry in the first instance? 

Seeing great work was a huge influence, PlayStation films like Mountain and Double Life, along with dystopian print work, the Nike football ads of the early 2000s and, of course, Guinness.  

Was being a creative always something you wanted to do? 

Mum always wanted me to get into law, but after finding myself explaining some spray paint-related decisions to the police when I was 16, we both agreed something a little more creative was probably better. 

What was your understanding of the advertising industry and what a creative was before you started working in the business? 

My brother Spencer was an account director at R/GA and The Monkeys [now Droga5], so I had a pretty good window into the industry before I started. That said, nothing really prepares you for the pace of agency life when you’re a wide-eyed junior. 

Above: Ratliff's work for AAMI Insurance, through Ogilvy Melbourne.

You now live and work in London; from a work perspective, what are the differences between the Australian and English industries? 

Bigger budgets, for starters. There’s also an incredible concentration of talent, which means you have access to some of the best directors, photographers, production partners and specialists in the world.  

You’ve won a D&AD New Blood Pencil and came third in Cannes’ The Brief, in 2023; how important are awards and prizes in staking a claim within the business? 

Awards are important, particularly when you’re starting out. They can open doors, help your work get noticed, and give you a benchmark for what’s possible creatively. But I’m increasingly focused on the work itself. After all, the best awards are usually a by-product of great work, not the reason for doing it. 

In the few years since you’ve been working in advertising, what are the main changes - if any - that you’ve seen? 

The biggest change has probably been fragmentation. When I first started in the industry, it still felt like there were more shared cultural moments. People would come into work having seen the same ad the night before,  and have an opinion on it. That’s much rarer now.  

The bar for earning someone’s attention is higher than it’s ever been.

You’re no longer just competing with other ads; you’re competing with everything else on the internet. The bar for earning someone’s attention is higher than it’s ever been, so if you’re going to interrupt someone, you’d better be worth it. 

Above: Ratliff worked on the campaign for Old Mates, an Australian bar which opened in New York.

You’ve worked on a variety of campaigns; do you have a preference for the type of work you’re involved with? 

 I’ve never really had a preference for a particular medium. The most exciting projects tend to be the ones where the idea dictates the execution, rather than the other way around. Sometimes that’s a film, sometimes it’s an outdoor campaign, and sometimes it’s whatever category launching an Australian pub in New York falls under. The variety is half the fun.

Where do you think the industry is headed and how significant do you think AI will be? 

AI is undoubtedly where the industry is heading. It’s both exciting and terrifying, but I’m probably more optimistic than pessimistic. 

AI is undoubtedly where the industry is heading. It’s both exciting and terrifying.

As a copywriter, I’ve always been a visual thinker, but I haven’t always known how to use every tool needed to bring an idea to life. What’s exciting is that you no longer need to master all the tools. If you can clearly express a vision in words, AI can help bring it to life. 

Above: An OOH campaign for Bridgeroad Brewers, which Ratliff worked on.

Would you recommend advertising as a career path?   

If you want to be home by 5pm every day, or you’re primarily driven by money, then I’d probably point you elsewhere. But if you want to knock heads with some of the greatest creative minds in the world, collaborate with incredible talent, and work on an endless variety of problems and opportunities, then absolutely.  

How does it feel to be nominated by Rob Galluzzo as an Innovator? 

I’m incredibly grateful. Rob’s an exceptional creative, and someone who’s done a huge amount for Australian creativity on the world stage, so it’s a real honour to be nominated by him. I’ve got a long way to go before I’ve achieved even a fraction of what he has, but it’s a nice vote of confidence.  

Liam was nominated as an Innovator by our Icon, Rob Galluzzo, whose interview you can read here.