GWM pulls the brakes on cliches in latest campaign with Thinkerbell

January 29, 2026 11:18

GWM wants you to know that its Cannon utes are more useful than you may think

GWM has released a campaign that focuses on the usefulness of its Cannon and Cannon Alpha utes, rather than relying on adventure cliches.

The car manufacturer’s new “More Can Do” platform was developed with its creative agency Thinkerbell.

The work is designed to highlight the “capability, usefulness and ‘utility'” of Cannon utes.

“The category keeps telling Kiwis and Aussies that strength looks like escape, but the truth is, strength is about being relied on,” Sean McNicholas, Thinkerbell’s “head tinker”, said in a press release.

“About being actually useful when it counts. This platform puts that utility back in you via our utes – and that’s a far more powerful behaviour to own than beach holidays.”

Launching nationally, “More Can Do” leverages a 45-second film and 15-second variants, along with creative for retail and brand channels.

“Utes have never stopped being about strength, but the category has narrowed how that strength is shown,” Steve Maciver, GWM Australia and New Zealand’s head of marketing, said in the release.

“In Australia and New Zealand, utes remain one of the most important and fiercely contested parts of the new car market, because they’re relied on every single day. With the Cannon range, we’re shifting the focus back to usefulness – to what these vehicles actually enable people to do.

“‘More Can-Do’ brings our entire range together under a single, confident idea that’s about real capability, not just image, and cements our place in a category that rewards vehicles that genuinely deliver.”

The platform sits under GWM’s “Go With More” brand promise.

According to McNicholas, the tagline “More Can Do” was chosen as a simple, clear way to capture the Cannon utes’ ability to help owners “get more stuff done”.

“The brand promise is Go with more, we wanted a way to express this for the ute range,” he said in an email to Mumbrella.

“What the Cannon utes allow you to do is get more stuff done. Hence we wanted a no fuss, straight up way of saying this. ‘More can do’ was the right expression for this. It also taps into an Australian ‘can do’ attitude.

“More Can Do” is the latest addition to a list of campaigns Thinkerbell has delivered for GWM. Both parties’ first collaboration was released in February last year.

GWM and Thinkerbell also launched platforms in May, July, August, and October.