After 697 days of border closures, Western Australia was finally reopening. That meant guests, relatives and interstate visitors were about to start arriving again, and Australians needed somewhere to put them. Koala had the perfect product for the moment: a sofa bed. But with a tiny budget, we needed to make it feel like news.No one was more associated with opening and closing borders than Mark McGowan. And, tongue firmly in cheek, he shared a lot of qualities with a great sofa bed: reliable under pressure, welcoming when open and able to close again very quickly.

In 48 hours, we renamed Koala’s Cushy Sofa Bed as the McGowan Sofa Bed across every touchpoint and launched it with a full-page press ad.The campaign turned a practical product truth into a cultural gag, giving Australians a timely reason to think about guest-ready furniture just as visitors were coming back.
A sofa bed became the perfect product for a country reopening its doors.