Bronze
Music & Sound
Use of Licensed Music
| Entrant: | Level Two Music, Melbourne |
| Brand: | Telstra |
| Title: | "This Is Footy Country" |
| Corporate Name of Client: | Telstra Group Limited |
| Client Company: | Telstra, Sydney |
| Chief Marketing Officer: | Brent Smart |
| Client Head of Brand Marketing: | Alita McMenamin |
| Client Senior Brand Specialist: | Jon Hollett |
| Client Principle Media Sponsorships, Awards & Experiential: | Genelle Sharples |
| Client Senior Media Specialist: | Robert Aoukar |
| Client Senior Sponsorship Specialists: | Esther Chand/Dominique Barlow/Lauren Plumridge |
| Client Head of Creative Excellence: | Anna Jackson |
| Media Company: | OMD, Melbourne |
| Agency: | The Monkeys, Part of Accenture Song, Sydney |
| Agency The Monkeys Group CEO & Accenture Song ANZ President: | Mark Green |
| Global Chief Creative Officer: | Scott Nowell |
| Chief Creative Officers: | Ant Keogh/Tara Ford |
| Creative Directors: | Sam Dickson/Cameron Bell |
| Senior Copywriter: | Jake Ausburn |
| Copywriter: | Seamus McAlary |
| Senior Art Director: | Alex Polglase |
| Art Director: | Emmalie Narathipakorn |
| Agency Print Producer: | Candy Carter |
| Agency Head of Production: | Penny Brown |
| Agency Design Lead, ANZ Accenture Song: | Fabio Buresti |
| Agency Chief Client Officer: | Belinda Drew |
| Agency Business Strategy Director: | Ben De Castella |
| Agency Chief Strategy Officer: | Hugh Munro |
| Agency Group Business Director: | Amanda Porritt |
| Agency Senior Business Director: | Samar Karim |
| Agency Business Manager: | Kevin Diep |
| Production Company: | Exit Films, Melbourne |
| Production Managing Director: | Declan Cahill |
| Director: | Mark Molloy |
| 1st AD: | Jeremy Fitzgerald |
| 2nd AD: | Hannah De Jorge |
| Executive Producer: | Leah Churchill Brown |
| Producer: | Mark Foster |
| Head of Production: | Jacquie Riley |
| Line Producer: | Rachel Argall |
| Director of Photography: | Jeremy Rouse |
| Production Designer: | Steven Jones Evans |
| Production Assistant: | Millie Lombardo |
| Gaffer: | Ruru Reedy |
| Grip: | Mick Leslie |
| Best Boy: | Massimo Luongo |
| Storyboard: | Maria Pena |
| Post-Production Company: | The Editors, Melbourne |
| Executive Post-Producer: | Nicoletta Rousianos |
| Post-Producer: | Adrian Konarski |
| Editors: | Jack Hutchings/Grace O’Connell |
| Post-Production Companies Online: | Eugene Richards/Stuart Cadzow/Heather Galvin |
| Colorist: | Ben Eagleton |
| Music Supervision Company: | Level Two Music, Melbourne |
| Music Supervisors: | Marcus Brooke-Smith/Mel Pantz/Hugh Owens/Karl Richter |
| Music Composers: | Jaakko Sakari Salovaara/Ville Virtanen |
| Music Performed By: | Whisky Shivers |
| Song Title: | Sandstorm |
| Casting Company: | Citizen Jane, Sydney |
| Photographer: | Cory White |
Description:
An unexpected banjo and fiddle cover of Darude's Sandstorm seemed like the only (il)logical answer to not only fulfill this creative conundrum but to also best engage the audience with the spot's narrative.
To most of the world football = soccer, but confusingly in Australia we use ‘footy’ to refer instead to AFL (Australian rules football, the dominant code in the states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia) and NRL (rugby league, the dominant code in New South Wales and Queensland).
Telstra is Australia’s largest telecommunications network, covering a million square KM more of the country than any other network, mainly in regional and rural areas. And while the vast majority of Australians live in metropolitan and coastal areas, culturally, country Australia holds a special place in the nation’s heart.
It is the spiritual home of the Australian spirit and character – one of tenacity, optimism, humour, and hard work. It’s also where the authentic ‘heart’ of football is, in grassroots clubs where the community rallies together whether it’s on the pitch, supporting from the sidelines or volunteering at the club canteen.
And country footy is also the lifeblood of the game nationally. While just 28% Australians live in regional and remote areas, 50% Dally M Winners (NRL player of the season) and 60% Brownlow Medal Winners (AFL player of the season) are from the country.
In choosing to eschew footage of star players and base our football story in its rural heartland, we were tapping into something deeper and more relatable to Australian audiences: the belief we approach sport in the same way we approach life – show. up, give it everything, help each other out.