Matthew Larsen

2025

CAP RATES NOW

Taxpayers' UnionCreative Media Specialist

• Build a campaign system that could hold up on a truck wrap, rally signage, social cutdowns, and supporting collateral without losing force.
• Developed the identity, truck-wrap graphics, motion edits, and rollout assets so the message stayed legible at distance, on camera, and in-feed.
• Turned CAP RATES NOW into a real pressure moment: a high-visibility protest activation, a stronger reform narrative around rates caps, and wider fallout for LGNZ leadership.

CAP RATES NOW was built as a campaign identity that had to perform under real-world pressure, not just look good in a single mock-up. The visuals needed to read on a moving truck, outside a conference venue, across rally footage, and in rapid social edits without the message thinning out.

One of the clearest executions was a huge truck wrap applied to an 18-wheeler and parked outside the Local Government New Zealand conference. That turned the campaign into a physical protest moment aimed directly at the sector lobby group pushing for rising residential rates, rather than leaving the message as just another graphic in-feed.

The strength of the project was building one visual language that could hold its shape across those different surfaces. The truck, motion cutdowns, and supporting graphics all carried the same direct hierarchy and high-contrast tone, making the campaign feel broader and more deliberate than a single execution.

The outcome mattered because the campaign became part of a wider pressure environment around local rates reform. The sitting government later announced a rates-cap bill would be introduced within the next three years, and the broader backlash also coincided with Sam Broughton losing the next local election in a landslide, stepping down as LGNZ chair, and more councils leaving the organisation.

2025

Nicola's Fudge Campaign

Taxpayers' UnionCreative Media Specialist

• Translate a dense fiscal message into a campaign people would stop for, remember, and talk about.
• Built the satirical Nicola's Fudge campaign world across packaging, graphics, print collateral, and presentation, then directed and finished the award-winning film solo using Premiere Pro, After Effects, and video-generation models.
• The campaign cut through nationally and was later recognised with two international Reed Awards, including Best International Online Video (National) for the film created in-house by Matthew Larsen.

Nicola's Fudge was built as a satirical campaign world rather than a one-off visual. The idea had to carry serious fiscal criticism while still feeling accessible, memorable, and shareable across packaging, digital collateral, and campaign storytelling.

What makes it strong portfolio material is the range of execution held inside one system. The same concept had to feel credible on-pack, legible in campaign graphics, and distinctive enough to support the film and the surrounding rollout.

The film itself was a solo piece of work by Matthew Larsen, directed and finished using Premiere Pro, After Effects, and various video models. That end-to-end execution was later recognised with two Reed Awards overall, including a win in Best International Online Video (National).