Sydney Opera House celebration is hardly the time to play it safe

The Sydney Opera House’s marketing efforts for its 50th anniversary culminated in October with a film and song by Tim Minchin. The Growth Agenda meets the makers of the campaign.

Tim Minchin and Australian Chamber Orchestra. Photo: Damian Bennett

The Sydney Opera House’s 50th anniversary has been a key focus of the iconic landmark’s marketing throughout the past year, but its pinnacle arrived on October 18 with the release of a four-minute song and film featuring a cast of legendary creative talent.

The song, titled Play It Safe, was written and composed by artist Tim Minchin and takes its inspiration from the 50-year life of the Opera House, which challenged design, architecture and engineering conventions, and since its completion in 1973 has nurtured and championed creativity and artistry in its diverse multitudes.

The film was created in partnership with creative agency The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song – the same agency behind The Ship Song – a film released for Sydney Opera House in 2010 featuring Nick Cave and his song of the same name.

The Monkeys chief executive and Accenture Song ANZ president Mark Green said: “When we got the brief, and having done The Ship Song, we recognised the importance of the institution, and also what it represents. So we put everything into it.”

Sydney Opera House’s general manager of marketing, Stephen O’Connor, said it entrusted The Monkeys and Minchin with creative freedom to deliver the project. The new film was directed by award-winning filmmaker Kim Gehrig and produced by Revolver.

“It was a really broad brief,” Mr O’Connor said.

“The Monkeys really helped hone that idea of ‘art matters’ and ‘brave creativity’. And Tim responded with something quite unexpected, but quite brilliant.”

“Brave creativity” is also an apt description for the creation of the Opera House, which has faced its share of both praise and criticism over the decades.

But as polarising as opinions about the Opera House have been, it has become one of the most iconic pieces of architecture and cultural centres in the world.

It has also become a globally ubiquitous brand, according to Tourism Australia data in a recent Deloitte report, Valuing 50 Years of Australia’s Icon, which measures the economic, social, cultural and brand value of the Sydney Opera House.

The report shows it is a top international icon, with brand peers such as the kangaroo and koala.

As part of the Opera House’s 2024-26 strategy, it is working to position the brand as “Everyone’s House”, and the Play It Safe film is a reflection of that ambition.

“The Opera House belongs to everyone,” Mr O’Connor said.

“That is really important to us, that people know that they own the Opera House. It’s their house, and that everyone feels that it’s a place for them to come and feel welcome and to feel free to express themselves and be uplifted and inspired by this place.”

Mr O’Connor called the Play It Safe film a “piece of art in itself”, and said that its enduring message to be creatively brave has a lifespan that will stretch well beyond the Opera House’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

“It’s a fight for the good side of humanity and creativity,” Mr Green added.

The Monkeys’ chief creative officer, Tara Ford added: “And less conservatism”.

Mr O’Connor said the film delivers a message of encouragement, and tries to urge people to defy that little voice inside their head that says “Play it safe and don’t stick your neck out”.

“This building has been created based on creative bravery,” Mr O’Connor said.

“It’s like a monument to bravery and to the possible. The Opera House is almost a metaphor for what’s possible, if you’re brave and what you can achieve.”

Minchin’s wry messages that are at the heart of Play It Safe ultimately highlight the vital role of creative bravery, and many of the facets that have come to define the Opera House, both inside the building and outside of it.

In the film, as he sings, he moves through the building, alongside the people who have also made the House so loved, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, The Australian Ballet, singer Ziggy Ramo, actor Zahra Newman, Jimmy Barnes and Courtney Act.

Kira Puru, Courtney Act and Ziggy Ramo pose at Sydney Opera House on September 08, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images for Sydney Opera House)

Ms Ford said: “It’s a very defiant building. And we wanted to do something that made you feel that.

“When we briefed Tim, the thing that resonated was that art really matters in the world.

“And if that building had square sides, or had been a rectangular building, no one would be talking about it in the same way. It wouldn’t be on every tea towel, poster, souvenir and T-shirt. It shows just how important creativity is – that connection to humanity. And what would life be without it?”

Like the creation of the Opera House itself, the making of the film was not without its challenges, its makers revealed.

“It’s champagne taste on a beer budget,” Mr Green said, adding that the combined efforts of leading creatives who rallied together made the project a success, including Gehrig and Revolver’s managing director Michael Ritchie and executive producer and partner Pip Smart.

“Tim is obviously such an amazing world-class talent, and a very determined creative soul,” Mr Green said.

Tim Minchin. Photo: Damian Bennett

“Everyone just made their bit happen to make it possible.

“It was that collaboration, that doesn’t always happen.”

Part of that team effort also came in the form of an 11th-hour “hail Mary” call to Tourism Australia’s chief marketing officer, Susan Coghill, who stepped in to help bring the project to completion.

“It was really down to the wire, whether it did or didn’t happen because we needed extra funding,” Mr Green said.

Tourism Australia joined as a partner for the project.

“That was the last piece of the puzzle,” Mr Green said.

“It was just that fight for, as the song says, not doing something confined to what has been done before. It’s like pushing the boat out and trying to deliver something that was as good as it could be.”