Telstra tasked us with creating an underground campaign targeting young Australians who viewed Telstra as a ‘boring Dad’s brand that didn’t offer value’. The challenge: to reconnect and start a new conversation with them and be seen as culturally relevant for the first time.The target audience was 18-24 year olds, who crave constant connection andembrace changing subcultures. Their mobile phone is their social oxygen. Telstra had to drastically change the way it engaged with young people. We focused on shifting brand behaviour by looking to see how Telstra could spontaneously “Change the Moment” for these chameleons. We did it by ‘culture mashing’ – finding two seemingly unrelated parts of culture and connecting them to provide entertainment and talkability.Telstra’s very own media platform launched with customised Cabbie-Oke cabs which turned the worst part of the night (the expensive cab ride) into the best part of their night. It created a chance for friends to sing on a customised Xbox Lips game for a free ride. Their performances were then shared via social media. Originally intended for four weeks, the Cabbie-Oke campaign was extended by another month due to its popularity.

We created a media of our own by custom designing fully ‘pimped-out’ Cabbie-Oke cabs. Partnering with youth brands, Universal Music Australia, the fleet launched in February 2010, cruising nightlife locations in Sydney and Melbourne.

Kitted with the latest Microsoft X-box technology and a customised version of the ‘Lips’ karaoke game, passengers choose their favourite tune for a free ride. Cameras captured their performances - the content edited and uploaded onto branded YouTube channel and microsite within 24 hours. Each weekend, the five best performers won an Xbox 360, while voters got the chance to win a smart phone.We designed the campaign around the customer experience and getting word of mouth impact. Pre-launch, “influentials” were invited to unpublicised, private launch events in underground venues and extensive ongoing social media monitoring enabled us to fix issues identified by youth, ensuring Cabbie-Oke was always the best part of their night.

Due to its popularity, the Cabbie-Oke campaign, originally intended for four weeks, was extended by another month. After four weeks of activity, results include:•1000+ singers•75,206 Cabbie-Oke.com.au page views•35,815 consumers visited site•36,056 YouTube.com/Cabbie-Oke views•8,436 consumers sharing the video•20,039 .mobi page views•17,180 views Cabbie-Oke viral videoThe highly targeted PR campaign successfully seeded positive key messages for Telstra and Cabbie-Oke. With a circulation over 3 million and counting, the Cabbie-Oke story has begun with a ground swell of online talk and street level coverage. Exposure in these outlets led to interest from larger media outlets resulting in opportunities with The Today Show and Nova radio.