Steve Buscemi fronts new Telstra campaign
Off the back of its Cannes Grand Prix win, Telstra has seemingly splashed out the big bucks for a new campaign starring Hollywood actor Steve Buscemi.
Buscemi fronts the new piece of work as an “evil intergalactic emperor” who is intent on taking over Australia through elaborate hi-tech scams. The campaign addresses the rise of cybercrime in the country, with Aussies losing thousands of dollars every minute to scammers, according to data quoted by the telco in a media release.
It positions Telstra as a protector, showcasing how the telco helps to block millions of threats and shelter its customers from dodgy cyber activity. Ultimately, Buscemi and his “Zalunians” are bested by Telstra’s network.
The campaign was created by Telstra’s bespoke agency +61, and directed by Randy Krallman.
Managing director of +61, Blake Crosbie, said in order to capture people’s attention, the agency knew it needed to approach the serious topic with lightheartedness.
“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,” he said in the release. “Sometimes making light of a topic is the best way to get people to pay attention to it.”
Micah Walker, chief creative officer at Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, the lead agency behind +61, said that making comedic work “isn’t always fun”, but “this genuinely was”.
Telstra’s head of brand and marketing communications, Alita McMenamin, echoed Crosbie’s point about escaping category norms.
“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.”
The campaign comes following Telstra’s wins at Cannes Lions in June, where the “Better on a Better Network” campaign took home the Film Craft Grand Prix. Overall, Telstra brought home eight Lions.
It positioned the telco as the largest and most reliable in the country. It featured 26 stop-motion films — each of which focused on a specific location in Australia and the unique characters who live there.
To bring the series to life, Bear Meets Eagle on Fire (with support from Telstra’s bespoke agency +61) partnered with Revolver’s director Jeff Low. Low brought on animation director Tobias Fouracre, whose experience on Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and Fantastic Mr. Fox brought the unique production to life.
Meanwhile, Telstra’s “Wherever We Go” is among the most memorable ads in market, according to two independent research agencies.
It placed second on TRA’s list of favourite ads from the past 12 months, and first on Cubery’s most unforgettable ads rank for Q2 2025. Cubery’s ranking, however, also declared it the most hated ad, with 49% of survey respondents agreeing.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
+61
Alita McMenamin
Bear Meets Eagle on Fire
Blake Crosbie
Campaign
Cybersecurity
Micah Walker
Steve Buscemi
Telstra
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