Optus hopes to be gifted success with new sugar glider Christmas ad

The pretest ads “knocked our socks off”, and top Optus marketer Mel Hopkins hopes the ad lives up to expectations out in the wild.

Move over NRMA koala and the Qantas kangaroo as there’s a new brand-backed marsupial in town, and this one actually flies.

Launching this week, the telco’s holiday season campaign has Australian sugar gliders front and centre as the business leans into a heartwarming story of the creature risking life and tail for an ambitious surprise for its partner at Christmas.

Optus’s VP of marketing Mel Hopkins said the strategic creative, with partners Special Group New Zealand, Finch and Flux Animations, is a move it hopes will help cement it as one of the nation’s favourite brands.

“After the year we’ve all experienced, we really wanted to share some fun, optimism and a little bit of magic to hopefully give Australians something to smile about,” Ms Hopkins said.

“We’re on a mission to become Australia’s most loved everyday brand with lasting customer relationships, and making work that people love rather than just like, is a big part of that. We hope that people love it as much as we do.”

Optus’ VP of marketing Mel Hopkins

Admitting the results from the pretest ads “knocked our socks off”, the top marketer said she was keen to see the ad out in the wild to see if it lives up to expectations.

She said there was pressure with any holiday season campaign, as consumers expect it to hit the mark.

“The biggest pressure is ensuring that it is distinctive, can cut through the noise and really demonstrates relevance to your brand. Most importantly there needs to be an idea – not just a wash of vignettes celebrating Christmas Day,” Ms Hopkins said.

“Many people don’t know what a glider is. Most Australians know about wombats, koalas, and quokkas, but there was little knowledge of these small flying marsupials.”

The ad is the third instalment of its “It Starts with Yes” brand platform, and the move also sees Optus partner with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy to raise in excess of $50,000 to help with the declining population of sugar gliders, which are threatened by bushfires.

The new Optus campaign highlights the threatened population of sugar gliders.

With the goals of moving the dial of brand consideration to ensure Optus is top of the list as a gifting option at Christmas, and also driving “brand love, pride and becoming even more of the part of the fabric of Australia”, the limited public awareness of the sugar glider’s plight meant the animal very nearly missed out on the starring role.

Ms Hopkins said the biggest challenge with the campaign was that its protagonist wasn’t always planned as a sugar glider.

“Originally, at concept stage, he was a native Australian mouse, but as large parts of regional Australia started to experience the dreadful impacts of the mouse plague; out of respect we felt we needed to shift,” she explained.

“That led to a journey on what was the right creature and in fact strengthened the campaign by selecting an endangered species.”

Optus saw this as an opportunity to teach Australia about the diversity the country holds and with so few gliders left in the wild, it wanted to use its platform and advertising as an opportunity to start a conversation, raise awareness and funds.

Choosing a cute and furry animal to star in a big brand ad feels a move straight out of the marketers playbook, with the likes of insurance brand NRMA’s award-winning ads honing in on the koala, Compare the Market owning the meerkat and of course Qantas having the kangaroo as its logo.

Ms Hopkins said any brand would “absolutely love the success” that NRMA has had recently as it’s a shining example of the importance of creativity and longevity of a platform for brands, however Optus’ glider move is a piece of a broader brand play.

“At the heart of NRMA’s strategy is ‘Help’ and the koala is an amazing articulation of that, ours is ‘It Starts with Yes’ and it is the sum of the parts, not just one ad that will move the dial,” she said.

While the glider may not become a regular in its campaigns, Ms Hopkins said its core marketing message will be the same – that great things in life come from having the positivity and optimism to say “yes”.

Ms Hopkins said marketing is an “absolute critical pillar” in helping it become one of the nation’s most loved brands, but it requires substance behind it. She adds that creativity is essential in getting there, but creativity should not be limited to marketing and must exist across product development, customer service, customer experience and user experience.

“I believe that marketing has come to an inflection point – one where change is required – this really excites me, but also is a little scary as we need to rewrite the rules,” Ms Hopkins said.

“At the heart is ensuring that marketing only delivers growth – I think we have forgotten our job is to drive commerce – but driving that in a sophisticated way is the untapped area.”