Russell Crowe's former nanny is giving Perth parents the gift of sleep, for free

CLIENT: SleepBaker

OUTLET: Channel 7, PerthNow, Daily Mail

A former nanny to Russell Crowe, Camilla Franks, and Red Wiggle Caterina Mete has turned her years of elite childcare experience into a thriving sleep consultancy, and this week she brought her expertise to Perth parents at no cost. DL COMMS client Anna Baker, founder of SleepBaker and one of Australia's most sought-after child sleep specialists, made headlines across PerthNow, Daily Mail Australia, and 7 News Perth after hosting free masterclasses at Milestones Early Learning centres in Middle Swan, Edgewater, and Canning Vale.

In a feature by PerthNow journalist Zach Margolius, Baker drew on her extraordinary career to share practical, no-nonsense sleep advice for Australian families, noting that parents lose an average of 133 nights of sleep in their child's first year. Picked up nationally by the Daily Mail and broadcast with a TV exclusive with 7 News Perth reporter Brandon Demura, the story shone a well-deserved spotlight on Baker's mission to help families across the country, having already worked with more than 32,000 of them worldwide.

From Roman battlefield to 3,000 Australian stores: Merrick Watts' Posca Hydrate scores national media double Website post body

CLIENT: Posca Hydrate

OUTLET: Australian Financial Review, News Corp Syndication

Sydney comedian turned drinks entrepreneur Merrick Watts has built a $2.5m business from a recipe Roman soldiers carried into battle more than 2,000 years ago, and this week the story landed where it belongs: in front of a national audience. Posca Hydrate, the sugar-free hydration soda Watts launched in late 2024 after two years of development through hundreds of formula iterations, has now sold 800,000 cans and is stocked in 3,000 stores across Australia, with sales up 50% in the last financial year. The company is now raising between $5m and $7m via equity crowdfunding on Onmarket to fund continued Australian growth and a targeted US market entry.

The milestone was recognised this week with features in two of Australia's most prominent mastheads. Simon Evans explored the brand's US ambitions for the Australian Financial Review, detailing Watts' plan to take a "fortress city" approach to breaking into California and Texas. Meanwhile Journalist Savannah Pocock covered the crowdfunding raise for News Corp Syndication. DL Comms is proud to have played a role in bringing the Posca Hydrate story to life at this critical stage of the brand's growth.

Aussie sport legends take on the $6.3bn supplement industry

CLIENT: Next50

OUTLET: News Corp Syndication

Two of Australia's most recognisable sporting figures are calling out what they describe as a culture of confusion in the nation's booming supplement industry. Olympic gold medallist Duncan Armstrong and Ironman legend Guy Leech, founder of supplement brand Next50, have gone public with concerns that older Australians are too often being sold complexity and anti-ageing promises in place of clear, honest information about what they are actually buying.

The story, reported by Andrew Hedgman and syndicated across more than a dozen News Corp titles including The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and news.com.au, draws on data showing Australia's complementary medicines market has grown to $6.3bn, with 74% of Australians having used supplements in the past year. Armstrong, who suffered a heart attack and triple bypass at 52, and Leech, who created Next50 after becoming frustrated with taking around 10 products a day himself, are calling for greater labelling transparency and a simpler, clearer standard for an industry that is only getting bigger.

REALISM gives away $100k of clothing at Blues Point Reserve in Channel 9 segment on fashion's landfill crisis

CLIENT: REALISM

OUTLET: Channel 9 News

The fashion industry's unsold stock problem is drawing increasing scrutiny, with brands worldwide under pressure to account for the millions of garments destroyed or sent to landfill each year rather than sold or donated. Melbourne-founded premium streetwear label REALISM stepped into that conversation head-on, staging a $100,000 giveaway at Blues Point Reserve in North Sydney, distributing around 900 pieces of brand new clothing directly to waiting crowds straight from the back of a truck.

The activation was covered live by Channel 9, with founder and CEO Edwin Low speaking to the camera from the event as it unfolded, explaining the brand's decision to give stock a second life rather than destroy it. The giveaway also served as a launch celebration for REALISM's new Parramatta store, marking the brand's first move into Sydney and a significant milestone for a label that has grown to eight-figure annual revenue in just over four years.

Nearly $5 million worth of supercars just took over Queensland. Here's why.

CLIENT: Robb Report

OUTLET: The Today Show & 9 News

It is not every day that million-dollar supercars go cruising through the Queensland hinterland, but that is exactly what happened when Robb Report Australia & New Zealand brought its 2026 Car of the Year finalists to Southeast Queensland for two days of serious driving. Eleven of the world's finest luxury performance vehicles, including the Ferrari 849 Testarossa, Lamborghini Temerario and Porsche 911 Turbo S, converged on Brisbane before winding south through some of the region's most spectacular roads, with a field worth more than $4 million on the line and a prestigious title up for grabs. 

The story captured the attention of Channel 9, with Editor-in-Chief Horacio Silva appearing live on the Today Show and across both the 4pm and 6pm 9 News bulletins on Wednesday 16 September 2026. Reporter Ned Barne joined the convoy for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at a competition that, as Silva noted on air, judges not on price tag but on design, innovation, emotion and the feeling behind the wheel. The 2026 winner will be announced in the March 2027 edition of Robb Report Australia & New Zealand.

Shark alerts are coming to your wrist: the Aussie app keeping swimmers safer in real time

CLIENT: Dorsal Watch

OUTLET: 7 News, Sunrise, & News Corp syndication

Official shark monitoring only ever tells half the story. A significant number of shark sightings across Australia each year are never reported to any government or lifesaving platform at all, seen by a member of the public and shared nowhere beyond word of mouth. In states like Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, there is no official public shark sighting platform to report to in the first place.

That's the gap Dorsal Watch, Australia's largest community-powered shark reporting and alert network, was built to close. The platform combines verified public sightings with official alerts and distributes them in near real time, and is now building a smartwatch app designed to reach people in the water at the very moments they need it most, including at dawn and dusk, on remote stretches of coastline, and outside the hours when official drone surveillance programs are operating.

The story was featured across 7 News, Sunrise, News Corp syndication, and ABC radio coverage, shining a well-deserved national spotlight on the work of Dorsal co-founder and former professional surfer Sarah Beardmore. With more than 750,000 users, 627,000 social followers and 255,000 email subscribers, and having ranked as the second most downloaded free sports app in Australia over summer 2025/26 behind only the Australian Open, Dorsal is emerging as an essential layer of ocean safety infrastructure for Australian beach communities. The company is now opening an equity crowdfunding raise on Birchal to fund its next stage of growth, including smartwatch alerts, drone integration and new surf intelligence tools.

When life serves you lemons, build the business that solves the problem.

CLIENT: TUMME

OUTLET: Newscorp Syndication

When life serves you lemons, entrepreneurial spirit can turn them into something far bigger than lemonade. For Rudi van der Vlies, a personal health crisis became the catalyst for a business with the potential to help thousands of Australians.

After being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at 50, Rudi discovered the one fibre that worked for him had disappeared from Australia.

So he brought it back.

The entrepreneur, who helped launch ALDI’s Expressi coffee system and co founded Vöost Vitamins, turned his personal problem into TUMME, Australia’s only sterculia based fibre supplement.

Within its first year, TUMME passed 10,000 orders and generated more than $1 million in revenue.

What began as a necessity for Rudi has become a much bigger mission. He realised that the problem he was trying to solve for himself was shared by thousands of other Australians.

It is perhaps the ultimate example of entrepreneurial thinking, turning adversity into an opportunity, then building a business around solving a problem you know firsthand.

Should Australia ban energy drinks for under-16s? Paediatric nutritionist Mandy Sacher says yes

CLIENT: Mandy Sacher

OUTLET: The Today Show

Renewed calls to ban energy drink sales to children under 16 in Australia are growing louder, following the UK government's landmark decision to make such a ban law across England from April 2027.

Paediatric nutritionist Mandy Sacher appeared on The Today Show and Nine News to share her concerns, arguing that Australia's current protections do not go far enough and that the risks of energy drinks to young people extend well beyond their caffeine content.

Sacher told Nine News that the newly launched range of McDonald’s Red Bull energy drink formulations are ultra-processed sweetened beverages loaded with artificial flavours, colours and sweeteners, with some products containing up to 12.5 teaspoons of sugar. She warned that consumption artificially stimulates young nervous systems, exacerbating already rising rates of anxiety, ADHD-like symptoms and depression among Australian teenagers, and called on parents to return to the basics, prioritising hydration, whole foods and sleep over quick-fix stimulants.

Berries, bugs and our kids: paediatric nutritionist Mandy Sacher sounds the alarm on Australia's insecticide proposal

CLIENT: Mandy Sacher

OUTLET: The Today Show

Health experts are raising serious concerns after Australian food regulators received a proposal to increase the maximum residue limits of a new insecticide called isocycloseram on locally grown berries. The proposal has drawn criticism from parents and nutrition advocates alike, with questions mounting over the long-term safety of increasing chemical exposure in foods that children consume in large quantities relative to their body weight.

Paediatric nutritionist Mandy Sacher appeared on The Today Show to address the issue head-on, urging regulators and consumers to shift the conversation from acceptable limits to active reduction of chemical load. Sacher provided practical guidance for families, including washing berries for 30 to 60 seconds, soaking them in bicarb or apple cider vinegar, rotating fruit varieties and considering frozen organic options as a more affordable alternative. She emphasised that berries remain a healthy and important part of children's diets, while calling for greater scrutiny of cumulative pesticide exposure across the food supply.

From Dubbo tradies to Times Square: How Frase Skin cracked the global skincare market

CLIENT: Frase Skin

OUTLET: Syndication Across Newscorp Mastheads

Two brothers from Dubbo with backgrounds in carpentry and plumbing have taken their self-funded skincare brand to one of the world's most iconic stages, a Times Square billboard in New York City, after identifying a gap in the market the major beauty brands had long overlooked. Beau London, 26, and Zac London, 31, launched Frase Skin in May 2023 after finding there were no skincare products designed to speak to tradies and outdoor workers. The brand has since grown from $48,000 in revenue in FY23 to $3.5 million in FY26, with total sales now exceeding $5.5 million.

The story was covered by Savannah Pocock and syndicated across the News Corp Australia network, including the Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, Courier-Mail, Adelaide Advertiser and beyond. With Frase Skin now live on Amazon Prime in the United States and a crowdfunding campaign on OnMarket having raised more than $851,000 from 301 investors in under a week, the momentum behind the brand is undeniable. DL Comms is proud to have helped bring this story to media.