Keeping IT Human
Telstra
From faceless giant to human partner
With network advantage gone, we repositioned Telstra as a human‑powered tech partner for small business. By celebrating staff who solve problems face‑to‑face, we rebuilt trust and relevance against slicker tech rivals.
Background
Telstra, Australia’s largest telco, once dominated through superior network coverage. However, with the government’s National Broadband Network rollout, all telco providers would now be reselling the same network. To replace lost margins, Telstra needed to shift from telco to ‘tech‑co’, offering small business services like marketing, web design, and cyber security.
Challenge
Our audience of ‘rock-solid old school’ small businesses saw Telstra as a faceless corporate giant, out of touch with their needs. Newer, nimbler tech brands were winning trust and relevance, leaving Telstra struggling to connect with the customers it needed to grow.
Strategy
Interviews with store managers revealed Telstra’s real strength: people. Unlike newfangled tech rivals built on data, automation and algorithms, working as hard as they can to take people out of the system, Telstra’s staff solved problems face‑to‑face. Across Australia while bank branches and post offices shut Telstra stores, and its staff, remained a staple on high streets ready to help businesses navigate the rapidly changing digital landscape.
We reframed Telstra’s difference, success came not despite people, but because of them.
Solution
We celebrated the humans behind Telstra’s tech. Campaign stories showed staff helping a country-town small businesses staple, the local Chinese restaurant, get connected online. Telstra became the human‑powered IT partner small businesses could trust.
Results
Telstra’s best performing SMB campaign in over 2 decades
