The WARC Podcast The Effective CMO: Telstra's Brent Smart
Sep 11, 2025
Brent Smart, the Chief Marketing Officer at Telstra, discusses the company's journey in brand evolution. He emphasizes the importance of creativity in driving commercial impact and shares how Telstra differentiates itself through unique craft and brand distinctiveness. Brent also talks about the success of the 'Wherever We Go' campaign on TikTok, the strategic shift in marketing spend towards a balanced approach, and the integration of AI in enhancing customer experiences. His agency background influences his innovative perspectives on branding and marketing effectiveness.
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Episode notes
Use Out-Of-Home For Unskippable Reach
- Invest in out-of-home for brand reach because it's hard to block and noticed by people out and about.
- Secure premium sites long-term and simplify visuals to make brand codes work harder.
Isolate Channels To Measure Incrementality
- Run isolated tests by turning channels off in some markets to measure true incrementality.
- Use market-level experiments to inform future channel allocation.
Bring Teams In Early And Build Pride
- Share early, raw work to build internal excitement and solicited feedback rather than protecting reveals.
- Get frontline staff excited about creative to improve customer experience through pride and enthusiasm.