What the Telstra Whistle Ad Tells Us About Monoculture

The permission to slow down as a collective is unpredictable but cathartic when it happens.

Aug 05, 2025

In a highly fragmented, chaotic and fast paced information age, people appreciate moments that bring the monoculture together. We see this during political moments, sporting events and natural disasters. The permission to slow down, discuss and experience something as a collective is unpredictable but cathartic when it happens.

Research has shown that shared attention intensifies emotional connection and memory (The Conversation, 2024) and simple collective experiences can trigger a psychological lift known as “positivity resonance” (Psychology Today, 2023).

The Telstra “Wherever we go” aka whistle ad campaign was initially trolled on TikTok for being annoying, repetitive and ‘played at the wrong times’ ie. during the ad breaks when people’s teams were losing. This sparked people to make their own videos trolling the ad. Instead of retreating, Telstra leaned in. They owned it and slowly, the perception shifted.

Telstra’s CMO Brent Smart put it simply, after the brand remixed the original cartoon ad by inserting a series of fan-made TikTok clips and airing it to 5.6M people during the State of Origin III decider game:

“We've had a bunch of people make TikTok videos doing the walk and whistle from our ad, some positive, some negative, but all of them taking the time to engage with our brand and play with our brand. And we love that, so we decided to celebrate it on the biggest stage we could.” (LBB, 2025)

Come July 2025, 10 months after launching the campaign during the 2024 NRL & AFL Grand Finals - creators, sporting stars and politicians have all taken part (see below).

Through social proof and Australian humour, Telstra have taken the trolling in stride and turned it into something positive. What started as backlash has become genuine affection. The mix of TikTok virality, goodwill and timing has helped the brand land in culture, creating emotional equity that will sustain long after the ads end.

The goal of creative marketers is for their work to transcend just awareness and to become memorable and relevant to their target audience. Better yet, galvanising audiences to have fun and connect with each other is priceless. The Telstra whistling ad has done this for Australians over the last few months and the positive impact this has on Telstra as a brand is impressive.

"If you want to change how people feel about your brand, change how your brand feels" Brent Smart, CMO of Telstra

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