Telstra launches new cybersecurity ad campaign to reassure customers

Telstra’s new campaign offers sharp insight into its commitment to cyber safety and has been created in partnership with the Australian creative agency, The Monkeys.

A still from Telstra’s new cyber security advertising campaign.

Following a year where major data breaches rattled the confidence of consumers, Telstra has launched a new campaign aimed at highlighting its commitment to cyber security and safety.

This issue is still front-of-mind for many. Last week, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman’s (TIO) Quarter Two Complaints Report showed a 9.9 per cent increase in the number of phone and internet complaints. The report, which tallied complaints between October and December 2022, attributed the increase largely to the Optus data breach.

To instil confidence in Telstra’s tactics to ward off millions of cyber threats, the brand’s new ad campaign aims to illustrate the level of security the telco’s customers can expect.

Launched Sunday, the ad is the first major campaign under the leadership of chief marketing officer Brent Smart since he joined Telstra in September.

Mr Smart told The Growth Agenda: “I didn’t expect to be making a big ad this quickly into the job. But as a marketer, you need to move at the speed of culture. With more connected devices than ever in an increasingly digitised world, cyber security is now a major consideration for Australians – and as Australia’s largest telecommunications provider, it is critical that we are leading the way.”

Telstra worked with long-term creative agency partner of more than a decade, The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, to bring the fully integrated campaign to life.

Telstra chief marketing officer Brent Smart, left, and The Monkeys co-founder and lead Accenture Interactive ANZ, Mark Green. Picture: Jane Dempster/The Australian.

Comprising a 60-second video and 30-second version, a screen strategy was chosen to maximise reach and maximise emotional storytelling impact across broadcast, outdoor and digital platforms.

Shot in Cooma, NSW, the ad depicts a family of four (some on their devices) travelling along an empty regional road. With cinematic bombast, helicopters, motorcycles and Humvees converge with military precision to shield them against unseen assailants: cyber attackers. The Hollywood blockbuster-style execution is an apt visual metaphor for the enormous co-ordinated effort required to protect customers.

Mr Smart draws a parallel between Telstra’s new security work and the iconic Koala work for NRMA, citing the power of metaphor as a creative device. “The ad is a visual metaphor, not a campaign about physical security. The idea that ‘every home is worth protecting’ used the endangered homes of Koalas as a metaphor for home insurance. Metaphors give you a less literal storytelling approach that break category conventions and have been proven to increase understanding and memorability,” Mr Smart said.

Like the vulnerable Koala that became synonymous with NRMA, the emotional touchpoint in this campaign is protecting loved ones against unpredictable and indiscriminate threats.

A still from Telstra’s new campaign

This campaign lightens the mood by juxtaposing a mundane family trip with a massive security operation.

“The family scenario is one that everybody relates to,” said Mark Green, Accenture Song’s ANZ president, group chief executive officer and co-founder of The Monkeys.

“The levity that the family scenario gives you against the backdrop of this big security operation is the thing that will connect with most Australians.

“[Smart] has always been a very bold marketer who champions creativity and effectiveness. He’s the perfect client for any agency that likes to make sure that the work is unique and drives impact on behalf of the brand.”

The campaign offers an insight into Mr Smart’s vision for Telstra’s creative and commercial future. He plans to lean into trust-building storytelling that echoes the approach behind the Grand Effie-winning HELP campaign for NRMA, which The Monkeys also architected during Mr Smart’s leadership as IAG chief marketing officer.

A still from Telstra’s new cyber security advertising campaign.

“I have a similar vision for building the Telstra brand through emotional storytelling; brand reputation and trust are emotional things, not rational things, it’s all about how a brand makes you feel,” Mr Smart said.

While the campaign builds on the existing “Australia is Why” creative platform, it represents a creative shift for the brand.

“It shares the same scale, confidence and strong sense of place, while retaining an important humility around protecting what matters. What’s different is using less literal storytelling and more of a visual metaphor. The brand definitely can stretch in terms of creative storytelling and personality but staying true to the foundation and equity of the current work,” Mr Smart said.

The ad celebrates existing initiatives that make its customers safe and allow the telco to block millions of cyber threats. “If we weren’t doing all this great work in the business, we wouldn’t be able to share such a strong security message outside of it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Smart hints at his future plans for Telstra with several concepts on the way.

“Telstra is a big creative canvas, one of the main reasons I wanted this job; there are so many creative opportunities across the business and the chance to make a lot of work, so I’m like a kid at a hotel breakfast buffet right now.”