Nova Entertainment has rolled out the next phase of its ‘Don’t Think, Just Nova’ brand platform, shifting the focus squarely onto on-air talent as the engine of both brand meaning and audience growth.
The national campaign, launching today, builds on the momentum of last year’s positioning work and is designed to amplify Nova’s 2026 programming slate – including the debut of Ricki-Lee & Tim on Sydney Breakfast and the network’s new national Drive show, Fitzy, Wippa & Kate.
Rolling out across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, the campaign features key presenters from each market and evolves the creative to highlight Nova’s show lineup as an antidote to daily overwhelm, positioning live radio as a frictionless, feel-good choice in an increasingly cluttered media environment.
Talent as brand shorthand
Rather than treating presenters as promotional assets, Nova is using talent as brand shorthand and bridging the gap between programming and positioning.
Adam Johnson, Chief Growth Officer at Nova Entertainment, said the refreshed campaign was a direct extension of last year’s performance.
“Our new show lineups gave us a really exciting opportunity to build on the 2025 success of the ‘Don’t Think, Just Nova’ campaign.
“The success of the campaign, which saw a marked increase in brand awareness, consideration and – most importantly – audiences, gave us the confidence to use this brand platform in this next phase, bringing our talent together in a bold, fun and visually arresting way,” Johnson said.
Turning emotion into something tangible
Marketing Director Troy Pearce said the second phase sharpens the brand’s emotional proposition by translating it directly to a show level.
“Building on the strong momentum of last year’s ‘Don’t Think, Just Nova’ campaign, which really cemented spontaneity as the heart of our brand, this next phase demonstrates it in an even more playful and prominent way,” Pearce said.
“Working in partnership with R/GA, we’ve created a campaign that puts our talent front and centre as the antidote to overwhelm. The campaign translates an emotive brand proposition into something tangible at a show level.”
That emphasis on tangibility matters. In a category often forced to defend relevance against streaming and algorithmic audio, Nova is leaning into the one decision it can remove entirely from listeners’ cognitive load: what to listen to.
A product-centric brand evolution
The campaign was developed with creative innovation company R/GA, which approached the brief as a continuation rather than a reset.
Rachel Blacklaws, Creative Director at R/GA, said the second iteration deliberately foregrounds Nova’s “product” – its shows and presenters.
“Because brands are built over time, we relished the opportunity to tackle our second campaign for the ‘Don’t Think, Just Nova’ platform with a truly ‘product’ centric interpretation of the brand campaign,” Blacklaws said.
“Uniquely, this isn’t a campaign about telling people what to think. It’s about reminding them how good it feels not to.”
Nova will take the campaign to market via a phased, three-month rollout, supported by large-format digital out-of-home, transit, street furniture and rail placements.
Paid media is backed by Nova’s owned and social channels, designed to both retain existing audiences and drive trial of the new shows.