Boost Mobile and WiredCo. have partnered with Nine to take its ‘Works Its Arse Off’ brand platform into Australian dating show, with a major Love Island Australia sponsorship spanning TV, social, in-show integrations, and digital-out-of-home (DOOH).
Developed by WiredCo, this partnership builds on Boost Mobile’s strategy of putting the brand inside cultural moments that command significant attention from Australians.
For Boost Mobile, working your arse off doesn’t always mean running across Australia like Nedd Brockmann, pulling a double shift or getting a ’97 ute with 700,000 kilometres on the clock through another rego.
Sometimes it means grafting, flirting, coupling-up, recoupling, surviving a Bombshell and flexing every social skill you have to make sure you’re still standing around the firepit next time.
Alongside 15 and 30-second linear TV and BVOD placements with updated creative, Boost Mobile will become part of the Love Island format itself. Throughout the series, Islanders will use Boost-branded mobile phones as their connection to life inside the Villa. The phones play a central role in the show, delivering the messages that can change everything; new challenges, recouplings, Bombshell arrivals and, occasionally, a massive surprise that no one sees coming.
New creative has also been developed to accompany the ‘Works Its Arse Off’ ads. Already featuring hard-working things like Nedd Brokmann’s podiatrist and his nipple tape, a new ‘U Up?’-themed scene has been added to celebrate the hardest working text that also sits effortlessly in the Love Island mix.
Boost Mobile head of marketing Fiona Ruxton said the partnership presented an opportunity to take the brand platform somewhere unexpected while remaining true to the strategy behind it.
“We’ve been challenging ourselves with WiredCo. to find opportunities where we can do much more than simply put an ad around content. Love Island gives us the opportunity to become part of the entertainment itself, from the phones at the centre of the format to some of its biggest moments and then extend those conversations into social and OOH,” said Ruxton.
Boost will also own one of Love Island Australia’s most anticipated and talked-about moments, Heart Strips A Beat, with the brand integrated directly into the challenge.
The partnership extends beyond the broadcast through a five-part Boost-sponsored social content series hosted by former Islander Ross, who will put the contestants through a series of Villa challenges designed to find out just how hard they’re prepared to work their arses off. The series will run across Love Island Australia’s social channels throughout the season.
A large format DOOH activation schedule is also lined up that responds to trending moments in the show, which is an entertainment first for QMS and Nine.
WiredCo. general manager, Sam Nunura, said the partnership continues the agency and Boost’s strategy of integrating media and creative much earlier in the planning process.
“We’ve been pretty relentless with each other about making sure the media works as hard as the creative. If we’re investing in a property like Love Island, we don’t want Boost sitting in an ad break politely waiting for the program to come back on,” said Nunura.
“The interesting thing about Love Island is that the television show is really only part of the experience. The moment something happens in the Villa, people immediately start talking about it, clips move through social, memes appear and suddenly the conversation is everywhere. That behaviour is exactly what we want to tap into.”
Director of Nine’s Powered, Lisa Day said: “What Boost Mobile and WiredCo. have created with us, is the ultimate blueprint for how brands can command full-scale attention in culture today.
“Seamlessly combining broadcast integration with social extensions and reactive out-of-home. We’re moving audiences from the big screen in their home to their screen in their hands and then straight to the screens on their commute. It’s a true sofa-to-street execution that embeds Boost directly into the cultural conversation across every touchpoint.”
The Love Island Australia partnership marks the latest evolution of ‘Works Its Arse Off’, launched by Boost Mobile and WiredCo. in October 2025 as a long-term brand platform designed to take the challenger telco to new audiences while reinforcing the lengths Boost goes to deliver for its customers.
