Telstra is Australian’s biggest advertiser, with this ad running during the busiest time of year. Christmas commercials from big brands transcend from regular advertising to beloved film entertainment.

Christmas provided a unique opportunity for Telstra. Too often Australian’s get so caught up big festivities that there’s little opportunity for more intimate moments of meaningful connection. 

So, whilst the rest of Australia’s big brands amped up the extroverted opulence of big Christmas bashes, Telstra saw the opportunity to celebrate a more intimate moment of connection between those who matter most.  

Christmas also coincides with Summer Holidays, meaning parents are constantly looking for activities to entertain bored kids.

Average Australian households have two or more smartphones, and young children are often given them as a distraction, and as such are very familiar with using them. This, combined with covid lockdowns meaning Aussie kids were not allowed to leave home, has created a generation of children who are smartphone savvy, but unfamiliar with how to find and use the free public telephone network, which exists largely for their safety.

In the TVC viewers follow Dasher the reindeer who journeys through the stunning landscape with rolling hills and bouncing kangaroos before she finds herself lost in suburban Australia.  Dasher is led to the home of Cassie, a little girl who realises the reindeer is lost and sets out to help her find her way home to Santa via the help of her local Telstra payphone.

Despite being Australia’s best network, Telstra wanted to show Australians that it was committed to not only to functionally connect Australians but to facilitate richer, meaningful connections too.

Telstra maintains a network of over 15,000 free public phone booths. One of their main purposes is for emergency calls, with over 200,000 placed from them each year.

Younger Australians, who have grown-up with smartphones do not know how to find and use these public phones.

Brief:

Drive brand love with Australians by putting a new spin on a Christmas ritual by providing children a new way to contact the North Pole. By educating young Aussies about Telstra's Payphone Network by replicating the magical experience featured in the "Hello Christmas" film through responsive AI technology.

Objectives:

Educate young Aussies about Telstra’s Payphone Network by activating their Christmas Campaign, to create an emotional connection between young Australians and our national carrier.

The objective was to facilitate meaningful connections with Telstra & educate young Aussies about their Payphone Network at Christmas

It worked. 

589,680 direct, one-to-one calls placed to Telstra’s AI Santa over the campaign period (representing 1/3rd of Aussies aged 5 to 9)  

Average conversation time of over two minutes, demonstrating an immersive, interactive, realistic emotional experience.  

Total combined time spent speaking to Telstra’s AI Santa: 12,000 hours (over a year in total)  

A campaign film viewed over 1.3 million times on YouTube over the campaign period.  

A large proportion of younger Australians were educated on how to find, make calls, and communicate using the Telstra public phone network should they ever need to.  

Over 1,000 earned media placements over the campaign period.  

Millions of social media impressions as many parents shared video or photos of their kids using these phones.