The ABC’s Gruen performed strongly last night, and though it wasn’t troubling esteemed shows such as Nine’s Tipping Point, it did pose an interesting question: is Telstra’s ‘Wherever We Go’ ad actually, annoying?
Host Wil Anderson said the ad had been served over 200 million times and might be among the most annoying ads currently in rotation. Gruen had a total TV reach of 1.066 million, an average audience of 682,000 and a BVOD average of 33,000.
It’s a far cry from the near-universal praise it has received in the advertising community. Not least from us at B&T.
Anderson then cut to a succession of TikToks showing people either imitating or raging at the ad.
Todd Sampson said the ad has been served too frequently to Aussies, causing it to become annoying, rather than the ad being inherently jarring. Unlike the ‘Go Compare’ man from the UK.
Dee Madigan, ECD and founder of Campaign Edge, added that she was “tired” of brands “wanting to be your friend”.
“There’s no we,” she said, pointing to the ‘Wherever we go’ tagline.
Russel Howcroft said the ad was from the British school of advertising. Following the arrival of commercial TV into British living rooms, they felt like an “uninvited guest” after the ad-free BBC. In order to sate the audience, they needed to entertain with beautifully crafted long films.
In Australia, Howcroft said, punters aren’t into “longform, beautifully crafted, 60-second films which are whimsical and a bit silly”.
BMF’s Christina Aventi said, however, that she “really liked it”. As do we, for the record.
“Telco-bashing in Australia is a bit of a sport and it’s not hard to incite that. I’m glad that they’ve gone there because otherwise we just get mind-numbingly boring stuff.”
We’ll let you make up your own mind. Or you could hear from Telstra CMO Brent Smart himself on the ad direction as part of B&T’s CMO Power List.
Over on the commercial broadcasters, Tipping Point on Nine recorded a reach of 1.67 million, an average audience of 900,000 and a BVOD average of 81,000.
Home and Away on Seven recorded a reach of 1.41 million, an average of 890,000 and a BVOD average of 144,000.
Channel 10’s top-rating show was Masterchef with a reach of 1.09 million, an average of 596,000 and a BVOD average of 56,000.
