Tau Matenga for the Mighty Ape Creative Lead role

Mighty Ape Creative Lead role — Tau Matenga

Hello, I’m Tau

I’ve pulled together a one pager of work that I think is relevant to the Creative Lead role at Mighty Ape. The work covers multiple marketing channels and disciplines including brand, creative direction, integrated campaigns, digital, content and AI.

Most of my career has been spent in advertising, so the work here reflects both the thinking, the ideation and the craft needed to bring it to life. Hopefully it gives you a quick sense of the kind of work I’ve led, made and helped others bring to life. I’ve also added a short hype reel just below.

Selected projects

KFC Campaign & Digital App Best Bites Digital Experience & Product Design Serato Brand Strategy & Creative Direction The Outlet Digital Video & Art Direction Content Depot Social Content & Art Direction

KFC - Finger Kickin’ Good Campaign

Finger Kickin’ Good took their iconic ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ line and gave it a fresh campaign twist for the up and coming Super Rugby season. I was lucky enough to have helped develop the idea and then lead the execution in bringing it to life.

So not just building the app but translating the campaign into digital experiences and content while making sure the original idea stayed intact across every execution. It was a good example of moving from an overarching creative idea into the detail of how it actually works across different digital formats and touch-points.

KFC Finger Kickin' Good campaign goal posts
KFC mobile game at a rugby stadium
KFC campaign Instagram reels
KFC Finger Kickin' Good building billboard
KFC campaign mobile experience
KFC campaign outdoor billboard

Best Bites - Brand & Digital Creative Direction

Best Bites is a good example of taking one brand and making sure it works consistently wherever the customer meets it. I led the creative direction across all digital channels, developing a visual system that could move comfortably between the product itself and the wider marketing around it.

That included the app experience, website, social content, paid media, eDM and video templates, with each channel doing a slightly different job while still feeling unmistakably Best Bites. The challenge was less about creating individual assets and more about building a flexible creative system that could hold together across every touchpoint.

Best Bites mobile app experience
Best Bites mobile app interface
Best Bites email designs
Best Bites social campaign
Best Bites laptop design
Best Bites campaign food image and wordmark
Best Bites desktop website designs

Serato - Brand Strategy

Serato were looking for help to elevate their brand and support its next stage of growth. I was asked to demonstrate how I’d approach this challenge, whilst keeping the existing brand idea, “The Power of Music”, firmly at the centre.

I developed a creative direction that built on that idea through brand strategy, art direction and copywriting, then brought it to life across video, print and social.

The challenge was to make the brand feel more distinctive and contemporary without losing the connection to music culture.

Serato brand repositioning overview
Serato The Power of Music campaign
Serato brand pillars
Serato social posts
Serato sound activated retail concepts
Serato creative deconstruction

The Outlet - Seasonal & Promotional Social Content

The brief for The Outlet was pretty straightforward: take a prescribed list of sales, promotions and retail messages during the calendar year and turn them into social content people would actually stop to watch. Everything needed to be shot on site, so the challenge was finding the personality and visual interest within close proximity to the stores.

I art directed and wrote the scripts for each Reel, then oversaw the shoots and art directed the final edits through to delivery. The aim was to keep the promotional message clear while making the content feel quick, natural and entertaining rather than like a traditional retail ad.

Content Depot - AI Social Campaign

Content Depot needed to get its app in front of a new generation of budding creators. Rather than simply advertising the platform, we looked at the kind of content that was already getting their attention and used the explosion of AI-generated social content as the creative starting point.

I developed the creative direction, wrote the copy and art directed a series of social posts that borrowed from those emerging formats and trends, using AI to create content designed to feel native to the audience rather than like a traditional ad. The idea was simple: use the kind of content creators were already stopping for to introduce them to a platform built specifically for them.

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