Rock legend Jimmy Barnes stars in Telstra's latest campaign, 'Our Network Commitment', the first in a series to roll out over the coming months featuring famous Australians. It's "more than a marketing strategy", says the telco.
Created by DDB and OMD, the campaign will "help us tell the story of change that is sweeping through Telstra". Telstra director segment marketing Andy Bateman said: "This ad is the first of a series that we are planning, which uses famous Australians, together with our own Telstra staff. The series will showcase the different roles and expertise of our staff and our commitment to caring for our customers – so much so that we want to be famous for it.
“The first campaign, featuring Jimmy Barnes, conveys the message that we are committed to giving our customers Australia’s best and most reliable mobile network – one that covers over 2.3 million square kilometres and is significantly larger than the next largest network.
"The three campaigns that follow in this series will each have a slightly different focus, but again will feature famous Australians working alongside and being helped by our real staff in different Telstra workplaces, for example on our network tower sites and in our contact centres.
"It is important to note that this campaign is much more than a marketing strategy, it marks the beginning of a deep shift in our company’s DNA. We are not perfect and we know we have more to do, but we’re committed to showing our customers how much we care about helping them connect to the people and things they love and with this campaign we want to also do that in a fun and engaging way."
DDB Sydney executive creative director Dylan Harrison said: "The scale of change around these commitments demanded an equally ambitious creative idea. We wanted to use real staff in real locations so Australians could hear it straight from the engine room where the change is happening. Much loved, well known Australians are the magic dust to make the ads really stand out.
"People love to solve puzzles when watching ads and are curious to know why some of Australia’s favourite celebrities are now working for Telstra. The punch line works really well, when a real Telstra staff member takes over from the celebrity, representing all Telstra employees who not only want to be famous themselves but are the people who are making it happen."
The campaign will run across TV, print, out-of-home and digital.
