Telstra launches major campaign ‘Better on a Better Network’ featuring 26 stop-motion films via Bear Meets Eagle On Fire, +61 and OMD
Telstra has launched its latest campaign ‘Better on a Better Network’ via Bear Meets Eagle On Fire, +61 and OMD Australia demonstrating Telstra’s position as the largest and most reliable telecommunications provider.
The campaign features 26 stop-motion films, each of which focuses on a specific location around Australia and the uniquely idiosyncratic characters who live there and benefit from better coverage. The result is an undeniably Australian series of spots built around the idea that everywhere is better on a better network.
Cast from a wide variety of authentic Australians from all over the country, the characters come to life as everything from father and son krills and blokey wattle flowers, to larping Tasmanian devils and teenage goth cockatoos.
To bring this series to life, BMEOF and +61 partnered with award winning director Jeff Low at Revolver. Low brought on acclaimed animation director Tobias Fouracre, whose experience on Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr Fox made the duo perfectly suited to bring the unique production to life.
Says Brent Smart, chief marketing officer at Telstra: “I just love this work. It has the scale to match our network, yet delivers the message with humility and humour and having a bunch of these 15s continually rolling out will make them feel fresh and surprising. Huge thanks to our awesome partners at Bear and +61, who really sweated this. The level of craft and care really shines.”
View the making of film below:
Creative Agencies: Bear Meets Eagle On Fire, +61
Media Agency: OMD Australia
Production Company: Revolver
Director: Jeff Low
Animation Director: Tobias Fouracre
205 Comments
I liked these.
I love these ads. But I wish they had closed captions. I cannot hear what they are saying. I am sure I would enjoy them more.
Been counting the minutes for this to get uploaded here.
Absolute class. All of it.
Congrats to all involved
Worst ads I have ever seen. Hated them.
The latest Telstra ads are in my opinion way too difficult to understand ..
The recent Telstra ads are going the same way as the network, down hill at an embarrassing rate. Im an ex Telstra tech with plenty of freinds who are still part of the company. They are constantly commenting on how far away from customer focus Telstra has moved, your recent ads are showing how far from reality you are as well. Better get out and ask some of your customers what they think. Put your big person pants on before you leave home though, it wont be nice.
Absolutely love these adds. Sooo good!
So Creature Comforts by Aardman Animation then? One of the single most copied ideas in history?
These are lit.
So good
…now that was a nice budget.
I agree, it is very Creature Comforts, but the performances and crafting are excellent.
In terms of the messaging though, saying your product is better without any real proof points
isn’t going to convince the consumer to do anything.
‘There’s a bear in there’ definitely deserves plenty of praise though for creating work that is far BETTER
than 95% of the other agencies in this country.
Damn, I’d forgotten about Creature Comforts. You’re right. It is exactly that. I’m sad now.
It is not the same. Creature Comforts was claymation. This is puppet animation.
Saw one in the wild last night, loved it.
Then sat through these, loved them.
Great work.
Crafty as! The idea is piss-weak though, and a blatant lift and shift of creature comforts. An animation which won an oscar.
How you’ve managed to get the client to keep it simple is beyond me. The films are cool too. Nice.
Incredible guys! Well done
high brow ads that are confusing and don’t resonate with anyone i know – sad waste of money
https://www.adsoftheworld.com/campaigns/is-this-a-pointless-ad
Fudging great!
Does telstra really have to say the proof points when Optus and Voda are having network meltdowns?
I don’t think the consumer needs convincing at all in this market. They just want a brand they like. And these ads do a good job of creating that feeling.
Yes, it is certainly a similar approach.
But who cares? The average Australian in the street most certainly won’t. These are beautifully made, beautifully observed and a credit to all involved
I’m sure the average Australian on the street won’t care that this campaign is beautifully executed but more than somewhat reminiscent of one of the most famous campaigns of all time. Or that it isn’t the first Australian campaign to pay such homage.
But this press release isn’t aimed at the average Australian on the street. It is designed to promote the creativity of Bear etc and the braveness of the client for approving the campaign.
I’m sure given the talent of all parties involved no-one deliberately chose the path that seems quite obvious now. And, of course, the Creature Comforts campaign itself wasn’t an original but an adaptation of a TV show.
But I’m flabbergasted no-one along the way picked up on the similarities.
Stop frame animation is a very insular world. There is just no way the production company at least weren’t familiar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZBj30keqCE&ab_channel=CharlieBowser
To hear what country Boomers think of this campaign as they watch pixelated on their 4G Android phones. And I’m sure they’re all fans of Creature Comforts and Wes Anderson!
Country boomers don’t even know what Optus is, let alone Vodafone.
Still a great use of isolation as a way to talk to superior coverage but so poorly branded compared to previous work (the use of blue and orange in the landscapes from previous work was just so fucking on-point). I fear this will fall flat and that very few will ever tie this back to Telstra.
And beautifully Australian. But again blurring the lines between ‘inspiration’ and ‘imitation’.
Amazing. Very, very watchable and beautifully written. Congratulations!
They’re 15 seconds long with a big Telstra logo at the end, I think people will get who they’re for
More please!
Pfft. so many bitter people on here
This is some of the best work currently running in Australia, let’s just appreciate it for what it is and what they achieved.
LOVE
An an ex-CD I’d never have let a team copy another campaign. This should instantly rule this work out of any awards.
Thanks for your take ex-CD.
This is absolutely beautiful.
They’re lovely, they will work. But hey are too similar to creature comforts. Creature comforts is one of the all time greatest ad campaigns??
…it’s ok to be similar to a famous campaign, if you’re BMEOF, and you craft it well???????
Soooooo gooooooddddddddd
This is how it’s done.
Just beautiful guys. Love the nuance and the tight delivery of message.
Wow. Bravo. This is another level. Well done.
Creature comforts is a completely different idea and it’s not the same animation style. I’d liken this more to Fantastic Mr Fox, Creature Comforts is more like Wallace and Grommet.
Also, nobody that sees this ad (aside from some ad people) will know a 40 year old campaign from the UK. Get your heads out of your puckered starfishes and enjoy the great work from these legends.
Your lack of knowledge is showing Zac. Creature Comforts was made by Aardman Animations who also produced Wallace and Gromit. That’s why they’re more alike.
Maybe your obsession with awards is the reason you’re an ex cd.
Damn that is one good BTS film thanks for sharing
Finally a big Australian brand makes something specifically for the internet in 2024 and it isn’t cringey influencer-starring horseshit.
Not an original idea of course, but its fantastic in the current state of ads.
So so so good. Mad craft. Funny as. Props all. Carrots.
This is fucking sick. Felt hats off to everyone.
Brillant
Now THAT is the standard.
These are charming, funny and will stand out on TV. End of story. Everyone already knows Telstra has the best coverage, so no need to repeat it, just show all those places their coverage reaches.
CGU Tall Poppy, but improved. And doesn’t ask 5 mins of the audience.
If they weren’t already on fire this would be the thing that made you say they’re on fire.
Incredible. what is the Bear meets fire secret sauce that persuades their clients to buy interesting work. They are levels above the competition in terms of style and tone.
Yery jealous, this is great, transform Telstra into a brand people actually like.
Its inverted to that. Clients go to BMEOF who want to make this work. The sell in would be straight forward.
Maybe the ‘ex’ in front of ‘ex CD’ is because your starting point was winning awards and not delivering the best business outcomes for your clients?
Bellissimo
How exactly is it a completely different idea to Creature Comforts..?
This is nice, but that ‘pointless ad’ is brilliant.
As at June 5.
25 Campaigns on CB front page.
22 directed by men.
3 directed by women. (Up 2 from last report, of 1/25.)
Free the bid.
I love this. Such a big fan
Very expensive way to try to make people forget about the pointless ad.
This feels like a quick response to a Pointless ad that didn’t really run/work. Record customers, copy an old favourite, and put it out in quick short form to please the board.
It’s stop motion lol. Not really something you make ‘quickly’
That’s Carbon-e!
Am I smoking something or has +61 locked all their staff, friends and family in to write glowing reviews of this work all day?
This work is fine, nice, not great. Work created to resonate with this industry, but doubtful going to have much impact or be noticed by the average mass Australian.
I thought BMEOF was part of +61? Or have they realised that being associated with TBWA is detrimental to their business?
Making advertising for advertising buffons. this will do nothing for the actual customer.
Another pointless ad!
I’m guessing campaign photographers are an eerily similar stat.
To all those people who are so passionately defending this campaign, you’re right.
It is a great piece of work and a million times better than everything else out there. It’s magnificently crafted and executed. It’s beautifully observed and written.
It’s just not an original idea. And that’s OK. So few things are these days.
So let’s all just settle down, ring someone we know in some far flung part of Australia and ask them how their Roobadge is working for them.
I saw some of these on TV, they were hard to hear. The balance of sound is not right on some of them. A shame as they are cute!!!
I think this is a dangerous campaign to celebrate. If we say this is ok, it ends the requirement to be original.
Open on s a talking seal, inexplicably washed up on the sand at Cannes during the ad festival: “It doesn’t matter AT ALL that these are a little bit like ‘Creature Comforts’. They’re great. I’m glad they’re on the telly, or wherever they are. They’re a pleasure to watch, which doesn’t happen often enough in my book. I mean, not in the advertising awards books either, if you know what I mean.”
Get off your high horse, what exactly is original these days?
The joy of creature comforts was that the voices were real people, interviewed on the street and then that became the voices of the animals. So for me, the writing falls flat here – feels addy and contrived. Looks beautiful though.
Agree entirely.
Thank god it’s not a boring montage of people on phones in rural areas with a soaring voice over.
Now that would be pointless.
Kudos to Telstra for doing this.
Nobody is allowed to do talking animals because another campaign once did talking animals?
No other creative field works on this principle. Everything’s a version of something else. Some versions of other things are wildly original.
It’s fair to argue that originality should be taken into consideration in an award show environment. So if you’re good enough to be on the jury, and this comes up, you don’t have to award it.
Stop making creativity boring with your dumb rules.
That’s why I was always scared to work in adverising industriy. People in this comments are so vicious full of bad vibe.
Come on, friend. It’s exactly the same. It’s not just that animals are talking. Don’t be so reductive. It’s the entire thing and the entire things premise
You’re probably going to get a lot of these, my friend, but …
If you watch the BTS video you will discover that they do, in fact, use mostly real people from the actual places.
Soz. Let the deluge begin …
The voices in this ARE real people – they even copied that bit …
Scroll down the CB blog. Look at a the vast majority of work pr’d on there. Go back weeks, or months if you can be bothered. Then come back here and judge this campaign.
There are really people here, on an industry blog for and about original creativity, defending plagiarism and idea. Do that in front of any of the legendary CD’s and you be on the street in minutes. How far we have fallen.
Do great stuff, just don’t do what’s already been done.
And if you do (sometimes we all have to), don’t crow about it, or hope for praise.
Picture the exact opposite of city advertising types.
This is who this campaign is aimed at.
Undoubtedly the craft is wonderful.
But will it work or is it an indulgence by both the agency and client?
Time will tell.
Another copy.
Could we not say that these were simply inspired by Creature Comforts? Everything’s an iteration of something else – too many precious egos here. The average Aussie will love them and for those areas lucky enough to have a spot dedicated to their little slice of Australia, they’ll be tickled.
Also, YOU USE YOUR WINGS keeled me over.
tickled??? I just spat out my drink…time to get out of adland and meet some actual australians
If anyone (outside of this industry) cared they’d be watching and sharing on youtube. The video with highest number of views is 607. Minus people at Telstra and BMEOF and it it’s probably less than 100 everyday people. But that won’t make the award submission video.
Go watch behind the scenes, I bet you wished you had done it.
Absolutely flattered!
Who wrote the scripts? There’s so much gold in the dialogue.
So ripping off is ok if the original is old enough?
I applaud that a campaign like this was able to be made for a brand as historically safe and politically difficult as Telstra. The fact that these were able to be crafted as beautifully as they were and while remaining rather single-minded is remarkable considering the degree of difficulty.
This campaign alone will not change the fortunes of the Telstra brand. It will take many years of staying the course, and building upon this for it to have any lasting impact or legacy. Brands and marketeers these days aren’t really into forging legacies – campaigns, taglines, and incumbent agencies change as regularly as the person sitting in the client’s seat (which is 2-3 x years, generously).
I hope the vision behind these gets realised, and I hope that Telstra doesn’t water this down. I’m somewhat sceptical how this creative vehicle can do all that “advertising” stuff a telco needs to do, but I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.
Clients of Australia – please take note. Don’t be boring.
Well written, funny, look beautiful.
They’re clearly inspired by Creature Comforts and Wes Anderson but who cares?
Well. They were also inspired by The wind in the willows and other stop-motion pictures. The art of creativity is to combine different ideas to make something new.
Love these spots. Brilliant craft in all aspects. Simple idea, enviable work. What I love about Advertising.
Reading the comments, I’m reminded about everything I hate about Advertising. Negative nuffalumps. Get over yourselves.
Let me start with this, as an advertising person, I absolutely love these. The craft and writing is amazing. But… seeing them come on TV throughout Origin I did have the thought that the target audience doesn’t have the same appreciation for the odd. They’re talking to country folk and footy fans. I’m not entirely sure it will land – it could be too ‘advertising’. Happy to be wrong, I’ve learned I am a lot.
Aardman did very similar ads for British Electricity using creature comforts in the 80s. The animation is obviously different but they interviewed real people spruiking their service.
https://youtu.be/DW3oMeXQoc0
I like Creature Comforts, I like this too – I think there’s room for both. I wish I’d made this, its great work. I bet Optus wish they’d never let go of animals.
sparkly stuff. Me likey. Me no get. But me likey.
From a real person who did one of the voice overs, I’d just like to say it was fun doing it. The production crew were fantastic.
It was really great to see what I animated with your voice, finally! We never met but we’ve created something nice together!
As a client, if this is the state of Australia’s ad industry – having to borrow ideas from the UK – then you’re in worse trouble than we thought. As a consumer, I love them.
“Low brought on acclaimed animation director Tobias Fouracre, whose experience on Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr Fox.”
‘look we have this great idea that has already been done and is very famous. let us take your money and we will just copy it!’
i would be asking for a refund.
These are excellent! Simple, beautifully executed, funny and unique.
Who needs proof points… bravo team for convincing client to steer away from the noise of this market. It’s nice to see creative work in the wild like this. Very rare to see
All this Creature Comforts talk has made me rewatch some of them. I must thank you as they’ve brought a smile to my Big Book of British Smiles face. Right, I’m off to the dentist. Cheerio!
Nice work bear and +61
These are incredible. Just a phenomenal campaign. Completely unlike anything else in the market.
Tone also feels very HBF quokkas. Aussie humour is so same-same.
They seem to be the agency of record, yet BMEOF is a whole other agency that does all the work? What’s +61’s role? Are they just the schleppers who do all the press releases and the occasional re-targeted banner ad? Weirdest set up I’ve ever heard of.
These are really good and people will like them. All the talk otherwise reeks of bitter industry nonsense.
The intentionally redesigned research will say “best, most effective, highest recall, ads for Telstra, ever, in the history of Telstra ads”. In the mean time Optus gone MIA after data hacks and network outages; and Vodafone/TPG can’t work out who they are or what they want to be, so have created clear space. That aside, certainly different for Telstra. Quirky. Eastern suburbs elite.
Which Australian telco will people remember after seeing this…
Optus with a decade or more of talking animals or Telstar after 2 seconds of logo?
Brave to pick up where your biggest competitor left off, then doubling down with almost no branding. Its 15 seconds not 7 mins straight of 15 second spots consummers will see.
If I was Optus I’d steal your spend by rerunning a few from thier past to help the misappropriation.
No one remembers the Optus animals because they were African for some reason, had no memorable dialogue, and were of their time visually.
Look at the the rest of the work on the blog right now. This is, by a considerable margin, the best piece of work. It also easily has the most negative comments. Does anyone actually realise that if other agencies make good work, it helps us all? This work is not your enemy. I can guarantee you, other CMO’s are asking how they too can get work that’s this simple, this entertaining and this memorable. They might not all follow through, and not all agencies know how to deliver this, but suddenly they’re reevaluating their approach. But instead of holding it up as a gold standard, we all bitch and moan that decades ago in another continent, someone else animated animals.
Even despite all the old advertising heads who need to get some stuff off their chest
Uhh, you wot, mate?
Interesting. After 5 days on Youtube the “best, most effective, highest recall, ads for Telstra, ever, in the history of Telstra ads” has 773 views vs after 18 days, an EOFY ad from the telco that’s gone missing in action has 88K views. Am I missing something?
@And …. You’re making my point for me. Violently agreeing with me although suggest you might be being a little defensive from one of the other telcos. But the point you’re missing, is that despite competitors being MIA, this new work will be heralded as the best ever made for Telstra.
Standout work
Beautifully written and animated. Deserves a lot of recognition.
Firstly, thank you for a level of sanctimony and pious nonsense rarely seen in this place.
If I know anything about “other CMO’s”, it’s that most of them are absolutely NOT “asking how they too can get work that’s this simple, this entertaining and this memorable.”
They are asking how they can dilute the work to make it as research friendly, and as bland as possible, so that they can prevent their arses being kicked by anyone higher up than them, and losing their jobs if it either doesn’t work, or raises even the slightest whiff of controversy.
Not sure what fantasy world you’re working in, but I wish I was there with you.
Saw ’em ‘in the wild’ during Origin last night.
Non-adland punters started with ‘Hey, here’s another one’, then all shut up and listened.
Hats off. Mildly envious.
It’s nice, but not as good as the famous campaign it’s copying.
We all like it, we’d all love it if it was original.
Well said.
Yeah you’re missing everything. The EOFY campaign would be pushing PAID traffic to YouTube and the so called “views” are pre-rolls ads. A huge waste of budget. Do you really think people would find an EOFY campaign more interesting than this?
@And … there’s zero point in having this conversation. You just want an argument. Enjoy.
‘The result is an undeniably Australian series of spots’
……. But yet animated in the UK… Why?
They weren’t animated in the UK.
I wish I made these. Partly because I think they’re brilliant, but mostly because I wish I was Mark Carbone.
if these 15seconders were people in dusty outback areas, on their phones, with a standard voice over, it wouldn’t get this sort of response on campaign brief.
tells ya something, right?
This is basically a ripoff of Creature Comforts and Fantastic Mr Fox. Sad
All the comments about how good the craft is, yet none of the craftspeople or artists are credited here. Shameful.
Straight copy. Not good.
130 comments on Australian blog.
Zero in Asia.
You didn’t need me to do that.
This is NOT like Creature Comforts. That campaign animated claymation characters over real recordings of real people. Their comments did not have a pre-conceived sales message. Their charm came from not being’addy’ These spot are scripted voice-overs voiced by actors, delivering a uniform sales message. I can’t believe all the ad people praising this work could be so easily duped, let alone dazzled by this work. But then again, given the mediocrity of most work produced by the current ad industry, perhaps I can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gch9d3iGESE
Own goal from BMEOF!!
This shouldn’t even be a debate. Advertising is full of work that is copied from other advertising, but this blog isn’t where we celebrate it. As a creative community we all know the rules, celebrate the break through original work. No need to hate on the unoriginal stuff, enjoy it even, just don’t go into raptures about it. And absolutely don’t vote for it if you are judging awards.
As a creative what an amazing experience and cool project to work on.
As a brand I’m not sure how this does much “brand building” – lately it feels like Telstra is trying to be a cool kid (undecided on what hairstyle to have or outfit to wear).
So many yelling on here that it doesn’t matter that the work isn’t original because ‘punters won’t know that this campaign was done 30 years ago’. What a deeply concerning point of view to harbour. Clients pay us lots of money for original thinking. If we just recycled work from decades ago then what is the value we bring? A sportswear client could just pluck out an old Nike ad and make that with their message? Take a long hard look at the precedent you are complicit in creating with that kind of thinking. It is a disaster that it this has been created for something has high profile as Telstra.
Visuals are different and type of humor is different. There are felted puppets not claymation. You are a bitter man. Creativity is to observe, mix, try, well… I guess you don’t catch that idea. Anyway, even if it is similar to CC in a way, think about rock and roll… there are hundreds of thousands bands and they all actually play one song if we follow your way of thinking.
Serious questions,
There is no doubt BMEOF would have referenced Creature Comforts, so when do references become the actual execution? And, is it okay in the commercial world to do that when all we talk about is creative originality?
So many people like this campaign but most that do don’t know Creature Comforts. Those that do know it reference the campaign as the Creature Comfort Telstra work.
Yes, it’s brave work for Telstra, but is it more brave to mirrors?
I’ve never seen so many comments before, probably from the same person, calling for this work not to be awarded. It’s only been running for 5 days. How desperate of you.
A lot of back slapping on this. The aura of BMEOF and Smart & C0 somehow makes this campaign seem genius, like they can’t do wrong.
As people who seem to hold creativity at high level, it’s very surprising to see they find this acceptable.
Problem with work like this, is that other marketers and non-creative CEO and CMO’s who think they are creative, hold this work up on pedestal not knowing, or caring, that it’s heavily influenced by other work.
I’m jelly, this is unreal
Clients don’t pay us a lot of money for original thinking.
They pay us a lot of money to make them a lot more money.
In a nutshell, this is why the majority of the advertising industry is so far removed from the reality of their job.
Sorry to point it out to you, but you are not making art.
You are making work to make clients sell lots of stuff to make huge amounts of money, which in turn makes the owners richer or the shareholders happy.
If you want to be paid for original thinking, then become a content creator, or an artist, or a comedian, or start your own business and slog your guts out for next to nothing for years until people pay you for your original thinking.
If the world wanted original thinking all the time, then their would only be one brand of jeans, one brand of coffee, one brand of… you get the drift.
Do your job well. Then go home and create something original for yourself.
Simple.
Couldn’t make it past that first sentence without just getting really, really sad. No comment on the Bear work, just a comment on this comment. This perspective is so, so, so flawed, in so many ways, it is difficult to know where to begin. May you never be charged with a marketing department, least of all a creative agency department. To conflate the idea of product and marketing as the same thing with your jeans analogy is quite possibly the most mind-boggling take on this whole blog.
Not sure BMEOF would agree with what you’re saying.
Quite possibly one of the dumbest theories ever – boring wallpaper sells more.
Only adland worries about original.
Clientland only worries about being successful.
Cracker. Great to see an investment in craft
To me, a key question with this campaign is what does it do for the Telstra brand? You look at, say, the Aldi work and the agency has clearly developed an attitude and a tone that transcends each individual campaign. Each piece further develops and evolves the Aldi brand. This work, however engaging the writing or beautiful the craft, doesn’t build a coherence around Telstra. Given all the tentacles that make up Telstra, maybe that is a mission impossible. Maybe when you are as massive and as dominant as Telstra, it doesn’t really matter much, either. For me, though, it’s a failing.
Worldstar. Worldstar. Worldstar. Worldstar. Worldstar. Worldstar. Worldstar. Worldstar. Worldstar.
Not going to comment on the work, just the people that always show up in the comments with stuff like:
– “Can’t wait to hear what country Boomers think of this campaign as they watch pixelated on their 4G Android phones. And I’m sure they’re all fans of Creature Comforts and Wes Anderson!”
– “I did have the thought that the target audience doesn’t have the same appreciation for the odd. They’re talking to country folk and footy fans. I’m not entirely sure it will land”.
– “Work created to resonate with this industry, but doubtful going to have much impact or be noticed by the average mass Australian”
– “time to get out of adland and meet some actual australians”
Great irony that the people who love to pretend they know what ‘real Aussies from the country’ are like always love to make the assumption that they’re uneducated bogan hicks with no sense of humour who couldn’t possibly understand or appreciate the high art being churned out of Surry Hills. Real Average Country Folk™ only like dumb shit their atrophied brains can easily process. Best not scare them with anything weird.
If there’s one thing the comments here always confirm: Our industry is full of small, cowardly, bitter people. It’s very disheartening at times.
Truth is, most of the negative comments are written by a few scared or disgruntled ad people reposting the same criticism under different pseudonyms. This work will be celebrated by the wider ad community both here and abroad. And rightly so. Well done Bear and Telstra team. This is standout work.
I’m betting the poms will remember creature comforts.
These ads are absolutely shite.
Saw these in the wild… sure they may be quirky, but what message are we taking away from these? More barely comprehensible work from this agency that won’t have any ROI.
These are the best ads on TV/Vod/YouTube whatever.
Nothing else comes close.
I was intrigued by Jeff low and bear eats fire riding eagle backwards but then I saw puppets. Thought ok I’ll give puppets ago for you Jeff. Got 3sec in and my reaction was as expected ‘for f%*{+s sake puppets, really?!’. Didn’t watch.
Dear @facts, I’m truly jealous of the small bubble of exposure and naivety you seem to be in. I’d be happy in that bubble too. I also love your positivity but come on man, these are not the best ads on YouTube at all.
They are nice,but are not original.
So let’s not kid ourselves.
Now move on.
Always been a vocal fan of this agency’s work,so feel quite let down.Although I’d be less disappointed if they didn’t laud it and so flagrantly self congratulate themselves in that press release.
Still look forward to what they do next.
Where exactly are BMEOF lauding it and self-congratulating themselves in the press release?
For all the people who think these are a copy to the creature comforts work, you are only half right. They are also a dead set rip off of fantastic Mr Fox.
To all the negative comments produce something better.
‘We’ve all forgotten how to be original’-
Peter Jackson.
You’ll make up your mind whether the Telstra work is original, or not; as you torture yourselves over that, think about this…..
If you were a client, what would you prefer…..
A) an original idea that delivers 10% sales increase, or
B) an idea copied from elsewhere that delivers 100% sales increase?
And whilst you’re at it – ask yourself how many business ideas your clients have created that are genuinely original, and how many that’ve helped make them successful, were simply copied from ideas created elsewhere?
The same Peter Jackson who remade Bakshi’s 1978 Lord of the Rings film and 1933’s King Kong which was itself remade in 1976? What a rip-off merchant!
Because I was fortunate enough,from a very young age, to work in agencies run by genuine,original thinkers.
Believe me, it’s far more rewarding,for both the creatives and inevitably,the clients.
Quote by Pablo Picasso: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.”
So, if ‘copying and stealing’ is good enough for Picasso, it’s good enough for me.
Just make sure you acknowledge the original.
Then people will applaud your honesty, won’t call you a ‘thief’ and will acknowledge your ‘smarts’.
And your clients will think you’re a ‘great advertising artist’ if it works!
We all love originality.
We all admire it when it raises the bar.
But, advertising is not about originality, it’s about commercials outcomes.
If it’s done through original work – all the better.
But if success is the result of ‘copying and stealing’ existing ideas, then that’s good too.
Just curious.
Where did you source the sales results you use as example?
The figures are made up.
But the question is real.
BTW, if your were a client, would you care
where an idea came from as long as it worked?
Good grief, quoting Peter Jackson to have a dig at a series of 15 second commercials. Why not drag up the ghost of Orson Welles or Kubrick while you’re at it. We’re making ads, not art.
They can be ads and still be art.
Looking forward to these lofty standards being applied to all the copycat ‘Strailya!’ campaigns we’ll be subjected to during the Olympics
The one thing about these that truly knew, is that an agency that built its reputation on original thinking, has this time put that aside. No one expected them to be ok with copying a famous campaign.
Telstra dollars makes you put your creative integrity to one side.
Work so good everyone trying to say it’s bad makes me hehe
Oops, your agenda is showing.
are the single most entitled and inspirational office in town right now.
Ho search Creature Comforts (1990, UK) and tell me this idea was done 30+ years ago …
The work is not bad, just a copy and not original.
You are all drinking too much cool aid. These adds are shit and actually make me want to stop being a telstra customer. I get the artistic component… but really. Just horrible.
I was having dinner at my patents, talking about the Olympics. While the ads were on they mentioned the “most pathetic” ads for Telstra that they did not understand whatsoever. So I came along to find it and see if it was that bad.
I don’t know what the agency folk above have been smoking but I don’t see what the hype is at all. These are crappy spots that do sweet FA in terms of commercial benefit to the brand. The fact that 2 customers made a point of calling it out as such a bad advertising example and a massive fail which is strangely overhyped.
What the actual f*** is going on here??
Too many agency people who worked on this have posted all the glowing comments that’s what.
Go out and ask real people what they think and their eyes will glaze over, this is ridiculously bad advertising from our leading Telco. There is nothing thought provoking or interesting about the communications whatsoever and most people in the actual demographic will not get it at all.
This is a creative craft idea for the sake of it.
I understand quirky for arts sake but not so much for product marketing.
I watched several of the ads and I did not get the feeling of reliability and scale of Telstra network.
The only feeling I got from watching the ads “Hey look, someone is trying to do a commercial as if he is Wes Anderson.”
Please stop these ads. They are weird. Uninspiring. Just stop.
Terrible terrible adverts. Pointless and annoying
I am a true blue Ridgy Dige Aussie. Telstra advertising is one of the best I have ever seen. It is truly so Australia, I am glad we have Jorge lost I identity as a big Island nation. Thankyou to the media team and all who have bariamstormed and produced am excellent product. I am a long tine Telstra customer as well. Thankyou to all. M
Common Telstra. This has to be the most annoying adverts. Ready to cancel my Telstra account. Its an insult to your viewers intelligence
The “ridgy dige Aussie” thanking a media team is a perfect example of the agency pretending to understand who middle Australia is.
Dumb. Each one leaves me confused as to whether it is supposed to make me laugh (none do) and most importantly what it’s trying to say about the brand it’s promoting. Honestly, I think Telstra’s usual story telling would have worked better. Could not be more surprised Telstra went with this.. very strange.
The characters look good. But the actual scripts are incredibly weak. Definitely let down by the writing
I’m just a viewer not in the ‘industry’. I LOVE these ads, for their humour, matching species to message, great scripting and voice casting. Well done. Only wish there was more.
This ad makes no sense no real people even the animal ad with the snowman and putting the carrot in the wrong spot is very rude this ad was never meant for kids.
Love these feel good happy ads, well done. These ads are better than Telstra’s service.