Apparition Media cofounders Tyson Hunter, Tristan Minter and Hamish McBride specialise in hand–painted murals.

From painting murals for free in 2014, the business has exploded in 18 months with over 100 murals painted, another 15 sites added to an ever-expanding portfolio and 15 employees added to their payroll. The business has experienced 400 per cent growth in the last 12 months and Apparition are on track to turn over two million dollars this financial year.

Apparition murals aren’t average – the artistic team are often seen hanging over the sides of buildings, 15-stories high, painting 200sqm pieces of art. For each design completed, video content and photography detailing the creation is shared online. Images of Apparition works have reached the front page of Reddit, receiving 1.2 million views.

The team has created murals for the likes 2oolander (Zoolander 2), Halo 5, Nike and Vans, Roadshow, Samsung, Disney and Marvel.

Inspired to start the business in 2014 after seeing a worn billboard advertisement for The Dark Knight movie on an old milk bar in Melbourne’s Preston, and thinking how much better it would look if it were hand painted, the trio got to work creating free murals for brands they wanted to work with in the hope they’d get noticed.

“One day we got a phone call from Universal McCann – they had won the Coca-Cola Amatil account and asked us to present,” said Hunter.

“I flew up, presented and, when I walked out, called Tristan and Hamish and said I had a really good feeling about it.

“Sure enough, we won it and have never looked back – we’ve seen a steady stream of international clients come knocking on our door ever since,” he said.

“Dulux has sponsored us from the off and Bank of Melbourne was one of our first big clients. They have both shown us exceptional levels of ongoing support throughout our trajectory,” said Minter.

“We still work with them today, seek their advice and collaborate on projects. We foster great relationships with all our clients in fact, and this will always remain part of our business model,” he said.

Apparition Media is an outdoor advertising agency and art studio that produce high-quality, hand-painted murals. The team create a link between urban, street-art culture and companies wanting to harness their wares.  By hand painting works of art onto the walls of pre-existing buildings Apparition Media create advertising that becomes part of the streetscape and present brands in such a way that their authenticity and credibility with the urban population is enhanced.