The wonderfully wild world of Telstra advertising has opened a new playground. This time, Bear Meets Eagle on Fire has dreamed up a thwarted cyber-crime emperor to highlight the telco’s security systems. Aussies are losing thousands of dollars every minute to scammers. Telstra’s latest campaign focuses on how it helps protect Australians from nefarious cyber activity, by blocking millions of threats every day.
The campaign films star hugely popular US actor, Steve Buscemi, as an evil intergalactic emperor intent on taking over Australia through elaborate hi-tech scams. Despite their best efforts, the Zalunians are constantly foiled by Telstra’s mighty network. Directed by Smuggler’s Randy Krallman, the campaign consists of several individual narratives in long and short formats, which will roll out across TV, digital, social, cinema and in Telstra stores.
Alita McMenamin, Telstra head of brand and marketing communications, stated, “This is essentially a product demo, a very entertaining one, that differentiates our network not just on size, but also on safety. Created with the exceptional level of craft we always enjoy from Micah and team.”
“Sounds weird to say, but making comedy work isn’t always fun. This genuinely was. Massive thanks to Randy, Steve and all the folks who worked so hard to make something so smart, so silly,’’ added Micah Walker, chief creative officer of BMEOF.
Blake Crosbie, managing director of +61 added, “The security of a network, and all that happens on it, has serious implications, but doubling down on ‘serious’ too easily follows the tropes of the category. Sometimes making light of a topic is the best way to get people to pay attention to it.”
Credits:
Client: Telstra
Chief Marketing Officer: Brent Smart
Head of Brand and Sponsorship: Alita McMenamin
Head of Creative Excellence: Anna Jackson
Senior Marketing Specialist: Rebecca Tearle
Media & Marketing Operations Lead: Paula Marreiros
Senior Media Specialist: Robbie Aoukar
Creative Agency: Bear Meets Eagle On Fire
Partner Agency: +61
Media Agency: OMD Australia
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Randy Krallman
Co-Founder & CEO: Patrick Milling Smith
Co-Founder & President: Patrick Carmody
Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman
Producer: Gustav Geldenhuys
Director of Photography: Kaname Onoyama
Production Designer: Jiri Matura
Costume
Designer: Terezie Dvorakova
Model Maker: Martin Pec
SFX Makeup: Josef Rarach
Edit: ARC
Editor: Peter Sciberras
Executive Producer, Edit: Daniel Bradford-Fry
Assistant Editor: Liam James
Post Production: Blockhead
Sound House: Rumble Studios
Lead Sound Designer: Tone Aston
Composer: Jeremy Richmond
Sound Executive Producer: Michael Gie
