Australia Post pens open letter to the country in ‘Dear Australia’ campaign
Australia Post has opened a national letterbox, inviting Australians to post letters documenting their experience of lockdown, with the intention of creating an historical archive from this period.
The campaign, created by The Monkeys, has launched with a film showing Australians how isolation has brought them together through the eyes of a postman.
Selected letters sent to the mail box will be shared on the Dear Australia website, and some eligible letters will be archived at the The National Archives of Australia in Canberra.
Australia Post chief marketing officer, Amber Collins, said the experience of lockdown should be documented for future generations to see.
“We wanted to do something for all Australians, so that they’d have the opportunity to commemorate and reflect on their journey during an extraordinary time,” she said.
Paul McMillan, chief executive officer at The Monkeys, added: “The letters could be a message of hope, stories of community, a poem, song or an artwork by your daughter that the country needs to see.”
Letters to can be sent to:
Dear Australia
Locked Bag
Australia 9999
The campaign film was produced by Finch and goes to air this week. It will run across TV, social media and radio.
Credits
Client: Australia Post
Chief Marketing Officer: Amber Collins
Head of Marketing, Retail and Advertising: Corrina Brazel
Marketing Manager, Community and Consumer: Allison Leech
Agency: The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive
Chief Executive Officer: Paul McMillan
Chief Creative Officer: Ant Keogh
Head of Planning: Michael Derepas
Art Director: Joe Sibley
Writer: Hugh Gurney
National Head of Production: Romanca Mundrea
Head of Content Management: Jaimee Kerr
Content Director: James Wilkinson
Content Manager: Allan Carlow
Production Company: FINCH
Director: Kyra Bartley
Executive Producer: Corey Esse
Producer: Claire Thompson
DOP: Katie Milwright
Post Production: Atticus
Music: Electric Dreams
Sound: Paul Le Couteur @ Squeak E Clean Studios
Wouldn’t it be easier if people could send an email instead
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So many things wrong with this.
1) The address isn’t postage paid so you’re asking customers to pay their own way
2) Australia Post is pretty vocal about their statistics saying letters are in decline because of consumer’s behaviour to adopt digital channels. So you’re asking them to write a letter?
3) There’s zero return for customers. They get nothing out of it other than the, hopefully, intrinsic feel good factor for doing it.
4) I can say without a shadow of a doubt they’ll get inundated with complaints about Australia Post’s service rather than stories of COVID.
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I think it’s a great initiative. I’m sure there will be lots of Australians wanting to share their Coronavirus social distancing stories. I will be one of them.
Take care Karen Coulson
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Hhmmm,
What a miss-read of the current situation many Australians are feeling and experiencing right now. I know there may be some virtue in “reflection”. However for the CMO to state program is, “an opportunity to commemorate and reflect on their journey”, when that reflection may very well be; 1) Loss of job, 2) Stood down, 3) No income for 8 weeks, 4) Frozen mortgage payments 5) many more….. That CMO and The Monkey’s have totally miss-read the current sentiment of the community – eight weeks into the shut down.
All it shows is a wealthy business, paying Ray Martin a fortune to voice the ad, and a total disconnect with the audience. There will be much back slapping – with the Agency and the Client – but get real people.
Poor work and poor form.
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As a TV watcher, when I saw this ad on Wednesday night, I actually thought, ‘aw, that’s cute; good fit for Aus Post’. It’s not going to move me to any action, but I didn’t feel any of the negative angles being commented above.
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Perhaps Australia Post might like to comment on how bulk mail lodged with Aussie Post is taking five weeks to travel from Sydney to West Australia? It usually takes them two weeks, while private trucking companies distribute magazines to WA from NSW within the week.
The lowest cost price to send a magazine by post from Australia to the Uk is $20 and the timeframe is three months.
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Hhmmm,
“As a TV watcher…..and a close associate of The Monkey’s or Australia Post” – very transparent commentary in an attempt to balance the ledger. Enjoy the conversation.
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Dear Australia- not only freaky, also obsequius. It’s paradoxical that you can buy everything at A. Post except a letter writing pad! A. Post needs to get its strategy and its s.h.i.t together. You can’t write good ads before you write good strategy. The creative is not relevant before the strategy is. Most agencies are not very good at strategy and rely creatives to make up short falls in thinking they’re not equipped to.
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What a fantastic idea, the pleasure of letter writing has been lots in today’s world. The pandemic has grounded all of us and for once we have been silenced. In this moment we have all experience a range of emotions and perhaps reflection on what is important to us. Recording this moment in time is absolutely marvelous. I would love to be part of it. Thank you
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What a great idea! Everyone’s experience of isolation is so different it will be amazing for the children that are babies now or haven’t been born yet to be able to learn about how it was for us. For me, mostly positive actually! But I’ll pop it in the letter for you to read later 🙂 and, I don’t mind buying a stamp to contribute to a bit of history 🙂
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