A Dunedin flat, porn stars and herpes: Kiwi ad agency on 10 years of shaking up the industry

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A still from Kiwi advertising agency Motion Sickness’ “Keep It Real Online” campaign.
From living in a cramped and smelly Dunedin flat as a university student to leading a multimillion-dollar advertising agency, Sam Stuchbury and his team have come a long way in the industry in just 10 years.

Stuchbury is the founder and executive creative director of Motion Sickness,
an independent creative agency making noise globally among much larger players with their boundary-pushing campaigns.

He founded Motion Sickness while in his final year of study and was later joined by three friends as partners.
The company now has 25 fulltime staff, along with a wider casual pool of staff, and has moved into new digs on Maidstone Street in Auckland’s Grey Lynn.
It’s a step change from their Dunedin flat days.
“We thought we’d cracked it when we won a contract for $500, for six videos. In the scheme of things it was small potatoes, and we ultimately lost money on the project. But it was lucrative in learnings – it was our ad school and it paid,” Stuchbury said.
However, reality struck when an expensive camera lens was dropped at the end of that shoot.
“With no insurance, it meant tightening our belts, which in our world was having carrots for dinner,” Stuchbury said.
Stuchbury said Motion Sickness won its first integrated account in 2015 with Emerald Foods, putting them in charge of four brands – Movenpick, New Zealand Natural, Killincey Gold and Zilch.
The creative has since worked on campaigns for government agencies, DB Breweries and Les Mills.
Its work will be familiar with many, like Frank Energy’s “Same Energy, Probably Cheaper” campaign.
Stuchbury said it was so successful Frank Energy had to hire more call centre staff.
“We also created that brand from scratch, and [it is] the leading tier-two brand in [the] market and just won a prestigious gold Effie,” he said.
But one of Motion Sickness’ most eye-popping and daring campaigns was undoubtedly its “Keep It Real Online” work for The Department of Internal Affairs, which earned the agency global fame.
The campaign featured naked porn stars showing up on the doorstep of an unsuspecting Kiwi family’s home in a bid to promote internet safety.
The actors tell a stunned mother: “Hiya … your son’s been watching us online.”
The campaign clocked up more than 40 million organic video views of the ads.
Even Motion Sickness’ pitch was anything but normal, with it being forced to present to large government departments from lounges and home offices during the Covid lockdown.
It also put the Kiwi agency up against multiple large, globally-owned agencies, sometimes with 300-plus people working for them, Stuchbury said.
“It was hard going,” Stuchbury said regarding going up against larger agencies with significantly more money and staff behind them.
“It took us time to build our reputation and brand.
“We were, and still are, pitching against agencies and networks that have been in business for over 70 years with more than 10,000 global staff. But now we are often winning these pitches, and we’re proud of that.
“We put this down to our unique work and letting that speak for itself.”
Stuchbury said global advertising spend is predicted to top US$1 trillion by the end of 2024, with much of it being soaked up by the goliaths of the industry.
Even across New Zealand and Australia, an estimated 80% of ad spend will be controlled by the large global agency networks, he said.
Stuchbury said the company has had its best two years in business ever.
“[It’s] something to be proud of considering the economy and uncertain future of conventional advertising. We’re happy and just want to keep making great work.”
Motion Sickness picked up two silver awards earlier this year at the Campaign Global Agency of the Year Awards gala in London, for Global Creative and Global Independent Agency of the Year.
“It was a pretty cool moment to be in a room full of global agencies that inspired us to get into advertising in the first place, congratulating us and saying they love our work,” Stuchbury said.
“It really hit home that we have a global reputation and have reached that level now.”
Stuchbury is no stranger to recognition. In 2018, he was announced as the only New Zealander on the prestigious annual Forbes “30 Under 30” list.
And the agency isn’t stopping there with its bold campaigns, recently launching “Make New Zealand The Best Place In The World To Have Herpes” for the New Zealand Herpes Foundation.
The campaign aims to educate the nation and destigmatise herpes, featuring famous local names including Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Sir Graham Henry, Sir Buck Shelford, Angella Dravid, and Mea Motu as celebrity presenters in the “Herpes Destigmatisation Course”.
Stuchbury said the agency is creating work that sparks conversation, shifts narratives and captures attention both locally and globally.
“We’ve always embraced the chaos… Every challenge taught us something, and that’s what makes celebrating 10 years even more meaningful.”
Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics including retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.
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