Optus rebrand

Optus
Bringing character to a behemoth

With only two big players in the Australia telco space, when the opportunity came to rebrand one, it was all hands on deck.

Optus had given themselves the goal to becoming the most loved telecommunications service provider for Australians. This aspiration was to filter into all parts of their business: coincide with the introduction of a whole series of improvements and innovations to its products, network and billing. A radical shift in customer service and staff behaviour. It was no longer about what Optus wanted to sell but what the customer needed and wanted.

In order to win back their customers’, Optus had to go back their roots as the people’s champion. Go back to what that made them open their doors back in the day. The telco that said ‘yes’ when others only knew how to say ‘no’.

The project scope was immense: brand identity and strategy, tone of voice, brand guideline development, collateral, packaging and editorial design, advertising roll-out, copywriting, environmental design including print and digital re-skin of retail stores…. phew.

To ensure this rollout was a success, the visual toolkit needed to be the clear reflection of the new strategy yet vibrant and robust to stretch across the emmense number of visual applications.

Visual toolkit
Logo, colour palette were reinvented and invigorated. Their signature yellow brightened, their palette extended to encompass a vibrant teal, much more reflective of their optimism and future.

Tone of Voice
Upbeat, witty, cheeky. Relaxed and straightforward. No more jargon. No technobabble. Just a clear voice, echoing your mates cheering you o, jeering you on. Your supporter, your partner in crime, your wingman. Always there, helping out, listening out, looking out. And always looking on the bright side.

Typography
Optus’ newly found voice needed just the right typeface to express the personality packed brand – something human, upbeat and differentiated. So no off-the-shelf type would do. So, three, yes, you read that correctly, three bespoke typefaces were created with typographer, Mathieu Réguer.

Character
What’s a wingman strategy without the wingman? Enter Ollie, born on Day 1 of brainstorming, to visually symbolise the ‘wingman’ in the Optus vision. Working from a few initial studios sketches, he was brought into full yellow glory by Melbourne illustrator, Marco Palmieri.

Photography
Shot by Tim Jones, we visually putting the customers front and centre. A modern graphic style capturing natural unposed moments.

It was a huge huge project completed in record time.