Katy Perry’s pre-game entertainment almost stole the big dance before it even began, and Telstra’s colours were all over it.
Industry legend Russel Howcroft reckons her outfit and the set design had Telstra’s stamp all over it, and B&T reckons he might be right.
On the AdMission podcast with Howcroft and Good One Creative’s Freddie Young, the pair went through their highlights of Seven’s coverage of the AFL grand final, which had an average audience of 4.02 million.
“If you’re Seven you’re still going to get 4 million people watching your show, and advertisers are still going to be satisfied. Free to air TV is still an incredibly efficient way to get across your message across… and to get to the top of the funnel,” Howcroft said.
“Part of the job of being a good marketer is to make the top of the funnel as wide as you can because that means the bottom is going to be wider. TV has always been a brilliant top of the funnel medium.”
The Shannon Noll-fronted Seven promo ad “What About Free” (see below) kicked the first goal for the broadcaster, even with demos outside of Nollsie’s sweet spot of 40-70 year old women.
Howcroft and Young also purred over AAMI’s “missing match ball” spot just ahead of the game.
The biggest winner: Telstra
Young observed that Telstra had a much more obvious presence that AFL sponsor Toyota at the AFL Grand Final.
“If you were to ask many people who sponsored the grand final, a lot of people would have said “I think it was Telstra,” he said.
Howcroft reckons that’s “great for the AFL because they can get a fight going…one of the things you must do in the Australian marketplace as an advertising agency is start a fight, especially with our duopolies”.
And then there was Telstra’s presence in Katy Perry’s pre-entertainment – where dancers were in orange and Katy Perry’s top was blue.
Young asked, “do you think that was intentional? Howcroft responded: “1,000 per cent. I don’t think so, I know so.”
When B&T put this claim to Telstra CMO Brent Smart, his response was forthright: “We sponsor it. It’s the Telstra pre-game entertainment”.
Young said the AFL grand final feels like an Australian version of the Super Bowl, a point that Howcroft agreed with.
“Gee whiz,” Howcroft quipped. “Telstra they are making a significant cultural impact. “They are doing their advertising with intent. I think that what’s going on here is actually a small ‘d’ deliberate attempt to improve the playing field for all advertisers.
“One of the reasons why I like what they’ve done with the animated spot, which launches wherever we go, it’s probably 12 months work. They’ve done it with intent: beautiful storytelling, brilliantly created, the right soundtrack. As an advertising person you have to say hats off.”
