‘We’re not in a great place right now’: Telstra creative head says Australian adland is falling behind on the global stage
A lack of “great creative work” has caused Australia’s advertising industry to fall behind other countries, according to Telstra’s head of creative excellence.
Speaking on the Mumbrellacast recorded at MSIX in Sydney this week, Anna Jackson said today’s fraught environment, shaped by complex social dynamics and economic challenges, has limited creativity.
“We’re not in a great place right now,” Jackson told host Neil Griffiths
“And I’m not saying that [from] my own point of view, if I was to look at empirical data from Cannes Lions, we’ve slipped back quite a few spots in just the last year alone and that speaks to us not having enough great creative work that’s competing on the global stage.
“We are really living in a fraught environment right now in terms of social context, what’s happening economically. It’s a time when, I believe, that there’s this kind of epidemic of wanting to lean into what’s known and trusted in terms of what’s been done before and it will work – uncertainty breeds certainty.”
Anna Jackson speaking at MSIX in Sydney on Wednesday
Jackson believes that for Australia’s advertising industry to truly stand out, it creatives need to embrace risk.
“Doing things that haven’t been done before requires a level of uncertainty and being comfortable with discomfort. I’d encourage everyone to embrace that level of discomfort,” she said.
Earlier this year, Telstra took a bold step by releasing ‘Is This a Pointless Ad?’, a commercial targeted exclusively at its own customers.
“That was a really lateral interpretation of a singular premise which was, for this month only, we’re going to reward our customers only. And it’s a lovely lateral interpretation of that,” she explained.
“So if you’re not a customer, the ad’s pointless. It was just, kind of ,refreshingly, disarmingly upfront. And we could have wrapped that up in such a dry way. The important thing is that any sort of brief that’s on the table – if I was to be so crude – you can make it straight or great.
“Sometimes work needs to be shipped out because it is just a straight message – that’s fine. But really, you should try and find the creative opportunity in everything. Even if, in that example, it was ultimately a retail campaign.
“But that really, that speaks to our ethos of trying to make everything right and ultimately do work that gets noticed.”
Listen to the full episode here.
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Advertising in Australia is not brave.
The simple reason is, it doesn’t have to be.
There is very little competition – every category is almost a duopoly.
Australians are not brave or laid back – they are conservative, risk adverse, and terrified of doing the wrong thing.
The advertising we get is a reflection of what we are.
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You lost me at ” ..look at empirical data from Cannes Lions,..”
Everyone knows Cannes is a variety metric.
Creative is not the end goal.
Effectiveness is the end goal.
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Can you make, what I’m sure, is smart point without trying to just sound smart? I read it three times and don’t understand what you’re saying.
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The smartest person in the room [as per usual]
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Spot on. Not only shortage of creative ideas but a plague of obscure, boring and sometimes plain dumb ads everywhere. We’ve lost our mojo (pun intended)
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Don’t Shoot the messenger. Perhaps a factor contributing to a lack of increased business, is poor customer service, pricing, increased competition, which enables to companies to provide shareholder return.
Large companies rely on “external stimulation” to keep the market moving rather than look at their own basic offers.
” Is this a pointless ad? ” I don’t know as I didn’t see it, however, If this along with, what I believe, the rather confusing ads they ran during the Olympic broadcasts are a sign of the latest Telstra marketing. Their rationale has lost me.
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You’re 100% correct, the cognitive dissonance between our perceived values and personality as a nation and what they actually are is staggering.
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What I was trying to say was some companies believe that more marketing can be the panacea of all ills. My philosophy is that the business model has to reflect a value proposition to which marketing can be applied
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