On Strategy Showcase

Host: Fergus O’Carroll
Episode: On the Spot: Travel & Telco (the two Ts of summer)
Date: August 17, 2025

Episode Overview

This “On the Spot” roundtable (August edition) explores how two essential summer categories—Telco and Tourism—are approaching marketing and brand strategy. Featuring a lively discussion between seasoned strategists and marketing leaders, the group dissects why distinctiveness, local relevance, and challenger thinking matter more than ever, especially as traditional advertising tropes start to lose their power. The panel spans brands and agencies from McDonald's to MullenLowe to System1 to Tracksuit. They compare the creative evolution in mature categories (like Telco in the US and Australia) with the shifting tone of destination marketing in Iceland and Oslo. The episode includes insights on emotional branding, the pitfalls of short-termism, the challenge of creative risk in big organizations, and what really breaks through to audiences today.

Guests

• Fergus O’Carroll (Host)
• Caleb Smith: Global Communication Strategy Director, McDonald's (Wieden+Kennedy NY)
• Rachel Staats: Global Strategy Director, MullenLowe London (Dirt Is Good for Persil/Unilever)
• Vanessa Chin: SVP Marketing, System1
• Matt Herbert: Co-founder, Tracksuit

Key Topics & Discussion Points

Telco: Distinctiveness vs. Defensive Marketing

The Telstra Model (Australia)

• Distinctiveness as Growth Lever: Brent Smart (Telstra CMO) believes “If you want people to feel differently about your brand, make the brand feel different.” (05:28, A quoting Smart)
• Regionalization & Local Resonance: Telstra’s “Better on a Better Network” campaign uses hyper-local creative tailored to diverse Australian communities (11:11–11:41), offering regional relevance with national scale.
• Brand Behavior Beyond Necessity: Despite market dominance, Telstra pro-actively represents far-flung communities—not out of necessity, but to reinforce national connection and inclusivity (12:51, C).

US Telco: Defensive, Functional, Ubiquitous

• Category Parity: Major US telcos (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) seem locked into similar messages around trust, reliability, and connection, often delivered via functional claims and celebrity shortcuts (08:00–10:41, C; 20:59, C).
• Risk Aversion: Differentiation is often avoided over fears of alienating their massive base. Stability and incremental growth are prioritized over bold moves (09:34, A; 12:30, B).
• Short-Termism vs. Brand Building: US telco giants focus on performance marketing and econometric models, to the detriment of lasting emotional connections (10:08–12:51, B).

US Campaigns & Creative Assessment

• AT&T: Attempting an emotional pivot with “Connection Means Something.” Still feels commoditized due to scale and sameness (19:13–19:56, B).
• T-Mobile: Noted for emotionally intense, celebrity-driven campaigns (e.g., Zach Braff at the Super Bowl), but sometimes lacks authentic brand love (20:04–20:59, D).
• Verizon & Beyoncé: Critique for using top-tier talent in predictably surface-level ways. "It was the most like expected. You could have typed into chat GPT how should we use Beyonce..." (24:49, C).

Brand Metrics & Effectiveness

• Telstra’s Impact: While traditional measures (awareness, preference, usage) are stable, perceptions of trust and reliability are significantly improving due to the new campaign (17:34, E).
• System1 Results: Telstra’s creative scores below average (around 1.5/5), partly due to humor and branding speed issues—but with consistency, the distinctiveness should pay off (14:25–16:18, D).
• US Device Brands: Apple and Samsung are the real emotional winners in the category; carriers fail to inspire deep emotional loyalty (20:59, D).

Tourism: From Aspirational to Authentic & Playful

The Shift in Tone

• Moving Away from Perfection: There’s a recognizable change from glossy, idealized “aspirational” tourism messaging to more self-aware, playful, and personality-driven campaigns (29:27, A).
• Relevance of Social Media: Today, people discover destinations via authentic, user-generated content, pressuring tourism brands to break from traditional tropes.

Iceland: Enhanced Actual Reality

• Playful Parody: Iceland’s campaigns mock virtual travel (parodying Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse video) and position Iceland as real, tactile, and humorous (30:07–31:31, A).
• Distinct Emotional Mix: System1 notes a rare blend of “sensory pleasure,” “uplifted,” and “amused”—resulting in breakout positive reactions, despite some fluency challenges (31:31, D).
• Memorable Brand Actions:
  • Scream Therapy: During COVID, visitors could phone in and have their recorded screams played out into Iceland’s wilderness—turning communal stress into shared experience and earned media (33:13–33:54, B/A).
  • Outhorse Your Email: Wild horses “write” your out-of-office reply, reinforcing work-life balance and the brand’s offbeat charm (34:20–35:54, A).
• Strategic Depth: The humor is not just for laughs—there’s a deeper critique of technology and a consistent point of view about valuing real experiences (36:55–38:06, C).

Oslo: The Anti-Tourism Tourism Ad

• Mockumentary Style: “Is it even a city?” spot employs deadpan, dry humor and reverse psychology, poking fun at Oslo’s understated charm—painting flaws as virtues (40:40–41:29, A).
• Confident Specificity: The writing’s high craft draws on a “quiet confidence” and is captivating despite (or because of) its offbeat style (41:29–42:08, C).
• Performance: System1 found the work “modest,” dividing opinion due to its dry humor but achieving average engagement (42:42, D).
• Reality & Relevance: The campaign’s authenticity allows viewers (especially from big cities) to see themselves in Oslo’s relaxed appeal (43:21–44:13, B/E).

Category Dynamics

• Tourism Ads Generally Perform Well: Visual beauty helps the category average around 3/5 stars, but only truly creative storytelling or distinctive humor break out (38:06–39:19, D).
• Other Examples: Best Western’s “real family life” vignettes, and Ireland’s emotionally resonant “people stories,” are called out as strong performers.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Differentiation in Telco
  “If you want people to feel differently about your brand, make the brand feel different.”
  —Brent Smart via Fergus (05:28)
• On Humor and Distinctiveness
  “When you’re using something that’s this distinctive, give it a minute and allow your audience to instantly recognize this as it’s yours.”
  —Vanessa (15:41)
• On the State of US Telco Ads
  “It all just feels like we’re saying the same thing in a different font, basically.”
  —Rachel (22:45)
• On the Oslo Ad’s Appeal
  “This spot probably wouldn’t be for everyone. Just like Oslo isn’t for everyone. There’s a certain level of comfort… It is so specific.”
  —Rachel (41:29)
• On Brand Actions
  “During COVID, you could scream into the Icelandic wilderness. That’s the kind of stuff that sticks to your brain.”
  —Caleb (32:29)
• On Creative Risk
  “You need to have exec level buy-in…not many businesses are willing to even take that risk.”
  —Matt (44:13)

Recommendations & Takeaways

On Telco

• Mature categories become risk-averse and struggle to move beyond functional, parity-driven messaging.
• Distinctiveness and regional relevance (Telstra) can rebuild trust and preference, even when hard metrics remain flat.
• Celebrity isn’t a shortcut for emotional resonance—it’s how the celebrity is used that counts.
• Challenger brands have a creative opportunity to pick away at the majors by being bold and culturally tuned.

On Tourism

• Personality-driven, self-aware, and playful work is breaking through (“enhanced actual reality,” mockumentary style).
• Consistency and a strong cultural point of view are necessary for quirky campaigns to cut through.
• Storytelling that feels honest, not picture-perfect, builds stronger emotional connections.
• Successful brands “outrun” perfection by amplifying reality and local truth.

Critical Timestamps

• 05:28: Brent Smart’s philosophy on brand distinctiveness
• 11:11-11:41: Telstra’s hyper-localized campaign explained
• 14:25–16:18: System1’s analysis and “give it a minute” on distinctive work
• 17:34, 20:04, 22:45: Metrics and celebrity strategies in US telco
• 24:49: Rachel's critique of Verizon's use of Beyoncé
• 31:31: Emotional effectiveness of Iceland campaign (System1)
• 32:29, 33:13, 34:20: Iceland’s “scream therapy” and “outhorse your email”
• 40:40-41:29: Oslo’s mockumentary campaign
• 42:42: System1’s mixed but “average” read on Oslo
• 44:13: On creative risk, exec buy-in, and long-term thinking
• 48:43–50:27: Closing thoughts: emotional connection, culture, and slow-burn impact

Closing Thoughts

All panelists agree: creativity, truth, and cultural relevance remain crucial for brands seeking emotional connection and cut-through, especially in categories where inertia leads to sameness and short-term tactics. Whether it’s telco giants needing to rediscover emotional depth, or destination brands leaning into playful, authentic storytelling, the ultimate challenge is to make people feel something real.

Final word:
“Is it true and is it interesting?”
—Caleb (50:28)

Next up:
Keep an eye out for the next “On the Spot,” and explore the On Strategy Showcase archive for deep dives into the campaigns discussed.