Menulog’s Hyperlocal Campaign Blends AI and Aussie Hip Hop to Celebrate Community Restaurants

Using AI Creative and Distribution Tools in Menulog’s Local Campaign

Menulog’s latest campaign, developed with Thinkerbell, focuses on celebrating Australia’s suburbs and regions. Titled ‘An Ode to Local’, it features Australian hip hop musicians Bliss n Eso and leverages a combination of AI creative and distribution tools to create personalized, hyperlocal content.

Thinkerbell’s executive creative tinker, Sesh Moodley, explained that AI was used as a collaborator rather than a shortcut. The goal was to craft thousands of unique local stories that feel authentic to each suburb and restaurant.

“Every suburb, every restaurant, every shout-out feels unique because it was designed to,” Moodley said. The campaign was driven by creativity, with AI amplifying rather than replacing artistic input. Mushroom Records and Bliss n Eso were key partners, demonstrating how technology can enhance creative work without diminishing its value.

How AI Was Integrated into the Campaign

• Thinkerbell, together with Heckler and Made Promptly, created live-action food shots.
• AI-trained models converted ordinary shopfront photos into cinematic visuals.
• Bliss n Eso recorded a library of verses and trained a voice model to generate personalized shout-outs for any suburb or restaurant.

This approach allowed the campaign to produce over 250 audio and 25 video assets with postcode-level precision. Innovid’s ad-serving technology adapted messaging in real time using geo and first-party data, enabling hyperlocal personalization across programmatic video, digital audio, YouTube, and paid social channels.

Championing Local Communities at Scale

Simon Cheng, Menulog’s marketing director, highlighted the challenge of featuring small and independent restaurants on a large scale. This campaign addresses that by creating hundreds of hyperlocal ads that showcase local food heroes and add value to their businesses.

“Creativity and technology can come together to do something extraordinary, fresh, and fun for the communities we serve,” Cheng said.

Strategic Localisation with Craft

Thinkerbell’s head thinker Kiely Decker emphasized the importance of maintaining creative craft while scaling hyperlocal content. They worked iteratively with AI to ensure quality matched ambition, making sure every suburb felt genuinely recognized.

“The strategic thinking extended from the big creative platform down to the smallest local detail,” Decker said. Localisation was matched to media formats—hyperlocal for digital audio and out of home, broader for terrestrial TV.

Credits

• Client: Menulog
• Creative agency: Thinkerbell
• Media: UM
• Production: Heckler, Made Promptly
• Sound: Heckler Sound
• Music: Bliss n Eso & Mushroom Group