Emotive has taken a genuinely social-first approach in its latest integrated campaign with Optus, in collaboration with TikTok – positioning the brand as an industry challenger.
Featuring three quirky, memorable characters — from an eshay upgrade fairy to a charming fox puppet and an amped-up nanna —this campaign breaks away from typical product ads. The launch includes three 30-second spots across postpaid, prepaid, and home internet, each bringing the characters to life in unique ways.
Building on this momentum, Optus is extending the campaign to social platforms with unique, platform-specific creative in collaboration with TikTok.
Emotive has taken a truly social-first approach in executing the social extensions of this campaign. Avoiding the typical cut-downs that often underperform on social media, the agency focused on capturing user attention and boosting character affinity by creating content that naturally blends into users’ feeds.
Ahead of the launch of the social series, B&T chatted with Emotive’s Head of Fame, Ashleigh Bruton and CEO Simon Joyce on the subtle art of creating social content that looks and feels like it belongs there.
Bruton pointed out the necessity of adapting production and post-production techniques to make the ads appear as if they were self-made by users.
“We’ve made the key characters look like they’re filming themselves…with text that appears as native platform fonts and ambient sound that doesn’t feel overly polished”.
This approach goes beyond simply “fitting in”; it creates an immersive experience that resonates with audiences who are both consumers and creators on social platforms like TikTok.
Emotive’s team secured an additional shoot day dedicated exclusively to capturing authentic, platform-specific content for social media.
“The additional shoot day allowed us to be a lot more flexible…to prioritise what was going to succeed on the platform and do it in a cost effective manner. So often in social media, variety is the new frequency and we created 39 assets all with a specific role for each through the funnel,” Bruton explained.
She highlighted that, while a shadow social crew worked alongside the team at Scoundrel during the three TVC shoots to capture additional content, a dedicated social day allowed the team to fully focus on enhancing entertainment value for social feeds rather than playing second fiddle to traditional video assets. This dual approach enabled Emotive to optimise each piece for its intended platform, giving TV ads a polished feel while maintaining a casual, native look for social media content.
Central to this campaign was the creative collaboration between Emotive and TikTok’s own creative team. “Their team was really beneficial in elevating some of our initial thinking…to really build that cultural relevance on the platform” Bruton explained.
This partnership enabled Emotive to tap into popular content styles on TikTok, like self-care routines, affirmations and “day in the life” routines, which align with consistent platform behaviours rather than transient trends.
The collaboration helped mould the Optus characters into “influencers in their own right,” an approach that builds affinity with the Optus brand while delivering key product messaging and creating a cumulative effect through integration.
Joyce highlighted the necessity of considering social media as the lead channel for some audiences where traditional media channels are increasingly seen as secondary. He explained that often so much time, effort and funding goes into the traditional and hero assets that the social creative isn’t prioritised.
“At Emotive, we have a diverse range of creatives—some more traditional, others non-traditional, but all driven by bold ideas,” Joyce explained. “In this case it was about casting a dedicated team to tackle the entertainment stream of social assets, while another team focuses on traditional formats.” Equally important, he noted, is having a client who understands the exponential ROI from investing in additional production time for true social first assets, something Optus has fully embraced.
Joyce also noted a significant shift: we are starting to see brands lead their campaigns with social media, then adapting successful social content into traditional campaigns — a complete reversal from the ways of the past.
The shift towards true social first campaigns isn’t just a trend—it’s a call to brands to approach platforms with authenticity and agility. Emotive’s work with Optus exemplifies how forward-thinking brands can create impactful social-first content that feels at home in users’ feeds, working seamlessly alongside traditional assets.
CREDITS
Client: Optus
Head of Consumer Marketing: Cam Luby
Director, Product & Channel Marketing: Akshay Sardana
Senior Brand Manager: Prue Cope
Creative: Emotive
CEO: Simon Joyce
CSO & Managing Partner: Michael Hogg
Group Creative Director: Darren Wright
Creative Directors: Kat Topp and Paul Sharp
Client Service Director: Andrea Dalton Doran
Account Director: Aoife Lehane & Vikesh Mistry
Head of Fame: Ashleigh Bruton
Strategy Director: Gerad Petherbridge
Head of Production: Hayley-Ritz Pelling
Lead Producer: Sophia Del
Senior Producer: Rosie Parker
Designers: Dan Mortensen & Eunice Nie
Senior Producer (social): Savannah Anseline
Creatives (social): Lucy Karsai and Al Hill
Editor (social): Sam Gadsden
Dispatch Manager: Rebecca Love Williams
Production: Scoundrel
Director: Ariel Martin
Executive Producer: Adrian Shapiro
Producer: Helen Morahan
Production Manager: Jo Black
1st AD: Jeremy Fitzgerald
DOP: Danny Ruhlmann
Grip: Ian McAlpine
Gaffer: Matt Hoile
Production Designer: Michael Icano
Costume Designer: Matt Stegh
Hair and Makeup: Briar Wilkins
Casting: Citizen Jane
Stills Photographer: Ingvar Kenne
Post Production: ARC EDIT
Post Producer: Kani Saib
Senior Editor: Phoebe Taylor (Postpaid & Home)
Senior Editor: Drew Thompson ASE (Prepaid)
Colourist: Billy Wychgel
Online: Viv Baker and Stu Bedford
VFX: The Machine Room
Sound: Rumble Studios
Executive Producer: Michael Gie
Producer: Irene Kakopieros
Sound Designer: Daniel William
Music: Resonance
