Belong celebrates inclusivity in first brand work by Howatson + Company
Telstra’s low-cost, carbon neutral telco, Belong has launched its first work with Howatson + Company since moving its creative and strategy in June.
‘It Feels Good to Belong’ puts a spin on Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’, celebrating inclusiveness through a range of different shaped and sized rocks in the Snowy Mountains.
The brand said that this new fully-integrated platform looks to champion the ‘joyful, inclusive world of data and the internet’, and will extend across the Belong business, including brand communications, product, sim card packaging, website, UI/UX, staff collateral and more.
Belong CEO, Jana Kotatko, said: “We are incredibly proud of our new ‘It Feels Good to Belong’ platform and brand work. Belong is a brand that is all about joy and inclusiveness and bringing people together, we couldn’t be prouder of how that is represented in this work and are thrilled to see it out in the world.”
The new platform was launched last night with a 60 second television spot during the premiere of Channel Ten’s The Masked Singer, also running a partnership between the show and brand. This is part of a ‘disruptively distinctive’ media strategy, ran by Howatson + Company, with implementation and buying in partnership with OMD.
Belong’s previous brand platforms was its ‘together we’re different’ campaign in 2019 with Clemenger BBDO, which handled the creative work for Belong until this year.
This is Belong’s first creative work since its Carbon Thumbprint campaign in 2020, with Deloitte Digital.
Belong said that the spot, directed by Revolver’s Steve Rogers, is based on the phenomenon of pareidolia, “a very human ability to see faces in inanimate objects, proving that connection is all around us if we just look hard enough”.
Howatson + Company executive creative director, Gavin Chimes, said: “Belonging feels great, so why be serious? ‘It Feels Good to Belong’ allows us to celebrate the joy of togetherness while fully embracing the random wonder and whimsy of the internet – which is at the heart of what Belong offers.”
Belong said that true to its values, the production of the campaign was approached in an inclusive and low impact way, with Monaro-Ngarigo people, local to the Snowy mountains being engaged to ensure the “storyline, lyrics and land were respectfully considered, with the production being 100% carbon offset”.
In addition, the brand has also released a series of product films which showcase Belong’s carbon neutral offering. These will be supported through digital and out-of-home channels.
The telco was Howatson + Company’s second confirmed client for the agency formed by former CHE Proximity duo Chris Howatson and Ant White, after they launched this year under the name Howatson + White. White left the agency last month, with it later rebranding under the current name.
Allianz was named as the agency’s foundation client, with its first work released in May.
Credits
Creative: Howatson+Company
Media strategy: Howatson+Company
Media implementation and buying: OMD
Client: Belong
CEO, Jana Kotatko
Head of Brand, Comms & Culture, Kelly Schulz
Head of Product, Aaliah Eggins-Bryson
Brand + Creative Lead, Leanne Boyd
Brand Specialist, Clare Taylor
Marketing Chapter Lead, Nathan Cole
Product Owner – Trading & Propositions, Loretta Bell
Senior Marketing Specialist, Adelaide L’Estrange
Marketing – Trading & Propositions, Josh Bailey
Production: Revolver
Belong Brand Credits
Production Company: Revolver
Director: Steve Rogers
Managing Director/Co-Owner: Michael Ritchie
Executive Producer/Partner/ Producer: Pip Smart
Cinematographer: Sam Chiplin
Production Design: Steven Jones-Evans
Editor: Alexandre De Franceschi
VFX & Post Production: Blackbird VFX
Music Supervisor: Trailer Media
Music & Sound: Sonar
Belong Product & OOH Credits
Post Production: Heckler
Director: Julian Wolkenstein
Executive Producer: Carlos Zalapa
Producer: Maddison Costello
VFX Supervisor: Jamie Watson
Head of 3D: Tom Corbett
Design Director: Gina Wagstaffe
3D Team: Freddie Jiang, Phillip Wang, Gabor Prucsi, Boris Fomin, Dom Femia, Jack Scrase, Tim Jarick, Gareth Chang
Compositor: Nitin Amin
Animator: Kate Knott
I/O Team: Dan Page, Maud Chapuis
Music & Sound: Heckler Sound
Composer: Johnny Green
Sound Designer: Dave Robertson
Voice Over Artist: Lee Perry
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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