Kylie Minogue would have been a great ambassador for the ABC, says Adam Ferrier – the creative director of the ABC’s promotional campaign – despite the idea being rejected by the ABC management.

Ferrier, the principal of the advertising agency Thinkerbell, which consulted on the campaign, has confirmed that using Minogue as part of the #ABCYours promotion was discussed by the ABC. However, he declined to say who recommended the singer.

The ABC’s in-house creative agency, ABC Made, partnered with Thinkerbell for the major campaign, which launched in February.

Ferrier was commenting on a report in Fairfax Media that said the former managing director Michelle Guthrie “hit the roof” when the former chairman Justin Milne wanted to spend $750,000 on hiring Minogue to sing a song for the videos. Milne told the paper it wasn’t his idea but he thought it was “cool”.

“It wasn’t my idea,” he told Fairfax. “An emotional campaign with Kylie singing a song ... I thought that could be cool.”

The story is the latest allegation from the Guthrie camp that Milne was an interventionist chairman. Leaks about Milne’s conduct have been pouring out since Guthrie was sacked by the board last Monday. After a series of leaks that Milne had asked for journalists to be sacked for upsetting the Coalition, Milne himself stepped down.

“We’ve worked with the ABC on a few projects,” Ferrier told Guardian Australia. “Kylie is a much-loved Australian and, apart from any associated costs, would be a great ambassador for the ABC.”

“I can’t confirm if we recommended Kylie or not. All I can say is that she’s a much-loved Australian and would be a great ambassador for ABC.”

The ABC rejected the idea but did end up working with personalities including Claudia Karvan, Elaine Crombie, Guy Pearce, Jimmy Barnes, Justine Clarke, Rove McManus, Sam Neill, Tim Minchin, Tim “Rosso” Ross and Warwick Thornton, who spoke about what the ABC means to them.

ABC Made, headed by creative director Diana Costantini, wanted to portray the national broadcaster as confident and courageous and inclusive.

“‘Yours’ might be a simple word but it certainly carries a lot of weight,” Constantini said when the branding campaign launched. “It reminds us all, every day, that the work we do is for all Australians. With false facts being rife and commercials masquerading as entertainment, we wanted to find an honest expression and a unique brand position. The ABC belongs to Australia and ‘Yours’ sums that up.”

ABC Made said the brand position had been tested with Australian audiences and was “overwhelmingly accepted as reinforcing inclusiveness and differentiating from commercial media”.

The campaign was launched at the inaugural annual public meeting in February and replaced “Our ABC” from 2014 and “Everyone’s ABC” from 2002.