Telstrutting: Telstra’s brand campaign walks the talk with TikTokers
Brand strength is up, ROI has surged and there’s even a viral TikTok trend, is Telstra closing in on its desire to be a loved brand?
When Telstra launched its “Wherever we go” tagline and “whistling man” advert, chief marketing officer Brent Smart shared his ambition to turn the telco giant into a loved brand; 12 months on, it is making inroads.
The animated advert and its cover of Bee Gees classic Islands in the Stream, was an instant hit – or miss, depending on who you ask. Like all great advertising, people love it or hate it, which is a strong stance for the brand that is often dismissed as a big boring corporate brand. Mr Smart’s mission to prove it anything but boring has seen the campaign on high rotation across TV, streaming platforms, out-of-home, online and digital channels, helping it continue to rank on top in lists of the most memorable, liked and disliked ads – all in equal measure.
For Mr Smart it all points to impact. “Not everyone has to like it, they just can’t ignore it,” he said.
The campaign’s impact has been unmissable, with the biggest indicator coming from the least likely place: TikTok. As the campaign rolled on, the TikTok generation embraced the ad, or more specifically the Telstra walk, which has become a major viral trend.
Over on TikTok, the Telstra walk, or Telstrut, has clocked up more than 22 million views, and 1.7 million likes, as more and more versions of people doing the walk flood the site. It’s also dominating searches as users seek out the content, with a staggering 93 per cent of TikTok searches in the telco category having been for Telstra over the past few months.
“We’ve absolutely dominated search on that platform, so I think that’s pretty extraordinary,” said Mr Smart. Particularly, when you consider the average TikTok user represents a much younger demographic than Telstra’s typical customer base.
This younger audience represents a crucial element of Mr Smart’s ambition to turn Telstra from a beige corporate business into a loved brand.
“There are two important jobs for any marketer. One job is to convert existing demand, and you’ve got to be really good at that,” he said. “You have to be good at performance marketing, retail marketing, optimising the channels and maximising existing demands in the market.
“But the second job, which I don’t think that a lot of marketers do as well as the first job, is to build future demand. People who aren’t going to buy your product this quarter, because they’re not in the market, but they’re going to buy it next quarter, or in three quarters, or three years.
“And that’s what I think we’re doing with all this engagement we’re getting on TikTok, we’re building future demand with future customers. That’s exciting. Now, I can’t measure that right now, but I believe that we’re going to see that turn up in the future.”
While future demand is difficult to measure, there are metrics for the brand’s value and strength, which suggest the marketing activity is making inroads.
Telstra is currently ranked the third-most valuable brand in Australia, behind Commonwealth Bank and Woolworths, in Brand Finance’s annual report. Significantly, while the overall brand value has dipped slightly, from second place last year, it has benefited from a boost in its brand strength, which increased 2.9 per cent in the past 12 months.
Mr Smart is keen to point out Telstra’s increase has outperformed the market, with the telco category declining by 1.4 per cent in the same period.
The increase in brand strength saw Telstra rank as the fourth-strongest telco brand globally, despite ranking 18th for value. The metrics confirm the marketing activity is “absolutely changing how people feel about the brand”, Mr Smart said.
Plus, the campaign has also helped improve the return on investment, with the brand campaign driving a lift in effectiveness across the brand’s performance marketing.
“As we’ve invested more in brand (campaigns), we’ve seen our marketing ROIs improve and they have more than doubled since we’ve been on this journey. Brand is a performance multiplier and that is true for what we’re seeing.”
The results serve as an endorsement of the importance of creativity as a business driver, said Mr Smart.
“It’s the best commercial decision you can make as a marketer,” he said. “Doing something creative is more likely to stand out, to be remembered, and to do positive things for the brand and the business.
“I think the biggest risk is doing something boring. I don’t understand people who think that doing something crazy is a risk. I think it’s the opposite. We live in a world of too much content. I think if you’re not trying to make stuff that’s entertaining and creative, then good luck.
“We’re competing for people’s attention. That’s the real competition. Sure, we’ve got competitors when it comes to selling telco stuff but if you want to grow you need to build mental availability. So we are competing for share of mind. That’s why I try to focus on work that is really memorable, and is more memorable than anything else in our category or any other brand in Australia.”
Telstra’s marketing activity in the three years since Mr Smart joined has achieved its aim of being memorable. The brand’s campaign for the Olympics, which saw the creation of stop-motion spots promoting the brand network coverage, was highly lauded at advertising awards claiming the coveted Grand Prix for Film Craft at the Cannes Lions, in addition to a host of other awards. Meanwhile, its Christmas campaign won two coveted Effie awards for effective advertising. Plus, the work keeps coming.
There’s also a business campaign, Christmas campaign and a host of films created by Telstra’s agency, +61, which includes Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, TBWA and OMD. The work has been unique and memorable, although it’s also been criticised for lacking consistency, with each spot appearing completely different to the last.
The brand’s latest campaign, starring Steve Buscemi as an alien overlord trying to attack Australians with scams, only to be thwarted by Telstra’s network, is a prime example. However, Mr Smart argues this is part of the point.
“There’s a narrative in marketing around consistency, and the idea that we should be very consistent. I think we’ve built a coherent voice, and a very distinctive voice that feels the same, it doesn’t all look the same. That’s why we can go from an animated Telstra walk to Steve Buscemi as an intergalactic emperor, to singing donkeys at Christmas – it’s all very on-brand for us. It’s not literally the same thing all the time and I think that makes our brand more interesting.”
When Mr Smart launched the brand platform last year he told The Australian a key challenge was getting non-customers to reappraise the brand, and he believes this strategy of work that surprises consumers is achieving that aim.
“It helps us drive reappraisal because there’s a certain group of non-customers who if we just turn up the same way and they think, ‘oh, there’s Telstra again’, that doesn’t drive any reappraisal. That doesn’t make them think differently or change their point of view. It’s a very deliberate strategy from us, but for certain people it’s not literally consistent enough. I think that’s a very literal and boring way to think about brands,” he said.
Telstra’s performance has come as rivals Optus and Vodafone have been quietly regrouping, appointing new agencies and readying for their own creative comebacks, which look likely to kick off towards the end of the year or early next year.
Telstra is ready for the telco wars.
“It is a very competitive category, and competition is a good thing. It makes everyone be their best and that’s going to be good for how the category is perceived and ultimately good for customers. So I say, bring it on.”
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