The Australian telecommunications company Telstra used generative AI to allow children to place free calls to Santa during the Christmas season.
With 99.6 percent coverage, Telstra provides seamless telecommunications for millions across Australia. But in 2023, Telstra was in danger of falling short of its annual sales target if it didn't do something significant to connect with Australians and drive brand love, and therefore sales.
Telstra aimed to utilize Christmas, a key promotional period for the telecommunications category. To do this, the brand needed a strategy that would elevate it above the promotional chaos of Christmastime and its competitors.
With increased competitive pressure, Telstra couldn't achieve its objectives with the same promotion-only campaign it had adopted previously. A new, integrated approach was required to address the sales and brand challenges.
"Free Calls to Santa," a Telstra campaign originating in 2021, encouraged children to call from one of Telstra's 14,000 payphones nationwide to hear a pre-recorded message from Santa. Evolving Free Calls to Santa and integrating it as Telstra's branded act would not only generate sales but save a timeless Christmas tradition, as national news outlets reported Santa shortages in Australian malls.
Advances in generative AI meant that Free Calls to Santa could evolve beyond a recorded message and become a personalized experience that everyone could connect with.
Telstra's biggest challenge was to increase consumer consideration in a time when Australian households were experiencing promotional fatigue and a cost-of-living crisis that was absorbing consumer attention. Those most effected by financial strain were Australian families, who were 25 percent more worried about interest rates than the average Australian. To distract themselves, 83 percent said they would find solace in holiday traditions — as the nostalgia for the Christmas season evoked positive emotions.
Telstra's Free Calls to Santa experience would save a beloved Christmas tradition and drive the emotional connection that was needed to deliver on campaign objectives.
The updated campaign, "Hello Christmas," worked to drive connection across three layers of activity:
Channels were planned at a portfolio level to maximize reach and impact, aligning with contextually relevant Christmas environments and leveraging key broadcast channels (large format outdoor and TV) to ensure a strong reach for the brand story. Demand-driving retail channels (retail OOH, radio, and social) delivered impact and reach further down the funnel.
Telstra, along with agency partner OMD Create, promoted Hello Christmas with an omnichannel awareness campaign using owned (retail, social, and payphones), earned (TV, digital, and print), and paid (TV, OOH, cinema, digital video, social, influencers, and sponsorships) tactics to promote the free experience. Launched with a "switch on" moment for media, Telstra invited key publishers and broadcasters to witness the brand providing children a direct connection to Santa.
To maintain momentum across the six-week campaign, Telstra's sports ambassadors and family influencers showed their social followers how to participate in Telstra's Santa experience.
As a first to market partnership with Google, Telstra payphones were made discoverable in Google Maps, making them easy to find. To ensure a positive experience, AI Santa and brand-safe filters were optimized throughout the campaign to actively refine and improve the experience by monitoring real-time transcripts of calls.
Utilizing generative AI, Telstra's AI Santa could not only connect with Australian children simultaneously, but he could also hold tailored one-on-one calls through the payphones. By learning the children's names and responding to their questions and answers, Telstra's AI Santa enabled children to feel heard.
To create Santa's AI voice, 500-plus lines of audio were recorded, guaranteeing he could say any word. Voice testing, coding pitch, and speed nuances were conducted before launch to create a believable, and jolly, "Aussie" Santa who could have magical (brand-safe) conversations. Surveys were conducted to understand what Australian children thought of Santa and what they would like to talk to him about. These insights were then used to inform Santa's behavior. The Google Ethics filter, which ensures a level of responsibility and empathy, was overlayed to ensure a brand-safe experience.
Once these elements were built, there was daily testing and refinement of the experience until confidence levels met the 95 percent Telstra AI Forum's threshold before it went live.
With the wider media campaign focused on broad-reaching tactics, Hello Santa enabled Telstra to cost-efficiently drive a one-to-one connection on a mass scale.
By the end of the campaign, 55 percent of Australian households were aware of the campaign. Additionally, 589,000 Australian children called Santa, 400 percent year-over-year increase.
Australians started re-connecting with Telstra. As a result of the campaign:
While consumer electronic spending was 40 percent down year-over-year, Telstra achieved 119 percent of its post-paid sales, bringing sales back on track. Additionally, children loved chatting with AI Santa, with an average call duration of two minutes, resulting in a staggering 2.2 years' worth of personalized festive conversations.
The Hello Christmas campaign was voted one of the best Christmas campaigns locally and abroad, with the highest scores for enjoyment and excellence compared to other Australian Christmas ads.
