Our Pioneer in Sydney, Australia: Chantal van der Linden

Meet our Pioneer of the week: Chantal van der Linden, Campaign Strategist & Creative Writer. Having previously lived in New York and London, she now calls Sydney home. Chantal prides herself in being the curious type of creative that crosses borders, taps into local insights and builds relationships. We catch up with Chantal to find out more about life in Australia and what it is about living there that makes it creatively different and inspirational.

Through our Pioneers series, in collaboration with Nils Adriaans, we catch up with members of the Dutch Creative Community living abroad and ask them to send back personal ‘messages in a bottle’ about life away from the Netherlands.

How did you end up in Australia? What drove you?

As a kid I claimed I’d spend some time in Australia to tick off my bucket list: learn how to surf, skydive and swim with dolphins. But life happened, I tweaked my bucket list, fell in love with advertising and picked my studies over that Gap Year.

Fast forward to 2016 and I find myself living in London, wanting a change. At the time, a lot of friends were moving back to Amsterdam and my Art Director and I had gone our separate ways. I wasn’t ready to move back myself and wondered if I could pull it off; building a life on the other side of the world, without knowing a single soul. My move was more inspired by a personal challenge, expecting I’d make some friends, get a couple of campaigns out and I’d be ready to move back in a year or two. And here we are now; Permanent Residency in the pocket and no intentions of leaving.

What makes you feel at home?

My best friend and I had found this ‘penis lamp’ (a little guy whose head lights up when you turn him on - I’ll let you guess where the switch is) years ago after a big night out. We found them disproportionately funny and both bought one. It travelled with me wherever I moved and it still makes me giggle. Whoever said no good decisions are made after 2am clearly hasn’t stumbled upon a penis lamp.

However, my dog Brody gives me a true sense of belonging wherever I go. Whether he’s racing around Sydney Park with the stunning sights of the CBD in the background, pulling me into our local pub for some ‘Schmackos’ or jumping up for cuddles convinced he’s a lap dog – I know it’s an awful cliché, but he’s my happy place

What stands out the most there (professionally)?

The humbling pride people take in their country. Of course it’s all partly to do with Australia being so secluded from the rest of the world, but it’s nice to see it’s looking after itself. Generally, I think there’s a really interesting dynamic between respect for the aboriginal culture, friendly rivalry between cities and the generally easygoing attitude – there are a lot of complex levels within this pride.

What inspires you extremely as a professional?

It’s that same sense of camaraderie that also shines through in the last couple of Tourism Australia campaigns. Before lockdown forced us to stay put, M&C Saatchi tapped into the goodwill and support for local communities impacted by the bushfires, by urging fellow Aussies to ‘Holiday Here’.

Australia is such an overwhelmingly big, quite secluded island, and it’s thanks to all that ‘nothingness’ that COVID has had a minimal impact on Australia (so far at least, *touch wood*), allowing us to travel within the continent – something that a surprising number of Aussies usually don’t really seem to do. And for those who still needed a little push to awaken that travel bug within, a stunning follow-up campaign was created.

Oh, but let’s not forget Aussies don’t always take themselves too seriously.

What’s the best/most radical piece of work over there?

Truly mind-blowing work travels pretty quickly in today’s day and age. But like practically everyone, I’ve grown a great appreciation for brands that exist for the greater good. There are a couple of brands out there that capture the Aussie spirit particularly well without big bombing budgets. Both Who Gives a Crap and ZeroCo are doing an amazing job at making caring for our planet fun and so damn accessible.

What ‘souvenir’ would/will you bring home?

Hands down my love and appreciation for nature. I’ve always been such a city-girl, I never would’ve expected that going camping, off-grid with just my dog and some basic gear would become one of my favourite pastimes. (Worry not friends, I do still have a local pub and I spend way too much time there too.)