Beyond the Brief: Inside Bear Meets Eagle On Fire’s sci-fi scam saga with Steve Buscemi for Telstra

Fresh off four mentions in Campaign Brief’s Creative Circle this month, Telstra’s latest campaign is turning heads. What do you get when you mix intergalactic villains, Kubrick-scale world-building and Steve Buscemi swearing in Zalunian? In this Beyond the Brief, Bear Meets Eagle On Fire’s Ian Williamson and Paul Gregson take us inside the making of a sci-fi spoof that flips cybercrime into comedy, while reminding Australians Telstra blocks millions of threats every day.

Can you walk us through the original brief from Telstra? What were the key objectives and challenges?

Ian Williamson: Cyber-crime is on the rise in Australia – with Aussies losing $5,200 per minute to scammers, and close to $3 billion a year. Our brief was to point out that Telstra blocks millions of cyber threats every day, positioning them as a secure network Australians can trust.

How did the idea to use an intergalactic villain like Steve Buscemi’s character come about?

Paul Gregson: The idea is pretty simple really, at the heart of every film is a simple product demonstration. Someone tries a scam, and Telstra blocks it. We just had some fun with who the character doing the scamming might be.

IW: We had the idea of a central villain from the outset. It’s a classic movie staple that audiences are familiar with, but more in the vein of Austin Powers and Spaceballs than James Bond.

We didn’t have anyone particular in mind to play him when writing the scripts. Once we went into production, that’s when we drew up a shortlist of who we thought it would be great to have, and right at the top of that list was Buscemi. Luckily for us the stars aligned and he agreed to do it.

What drew you to director Randy Krallman for this campaign? What made him the right fit creatively?

PG: Randy is funny. You know it when you talk to him. You see it in his work. The Starburst Berries & Cream work is an all time favourite of mine (and for a lot of people in the industry I would imagine). What made Randy a great choice is that he’s also a great filmmaker. The whole process of building the world, and making sure it had that grand, cinematic feel was a great experience.

How did Buscemi’s unique style influence the tone and execution of the campaign?

IW: The tone was silly from the outset, we had pretty tight scripts. But we knew from experience that an actor like Steve Buscemi is going to want to add his own touches to what’s written on the page, so we went into the shoot open to him playing with the dialogue and rounding out his character. Plus Randy was great at workshopping the scripts with him.

PG: The thing about Steve is he’s a great actor, we thought if our villain was part Donnie, part Nucky Thompson, part Mr Pink, and part Randall Boggs we couldn’t go far wrong. His anger when he was rattling off the Zalunian swear words we made up in one of our social films was a particular highlight of mine.

What were the biggest challenges in using humour to talk about cybercrime and scams?

IW: The clients were onboard with using humour from the moment we first presented the idea, but it wasn’t part of the brief. The watch out would be making fun of the victims or the consequences of cyber crime, so we were careful to steer clear of that. In our spots the scammers are their own worst enemy.

Did you draw inspiration from any classic comedy styles or references when crafting the tone of this campaign?

IW: We heavily referenced classic sci-fi villains, from Flash Gordon to Dr Who with their rubbery faced alien baddies. As for the humour, it’s kind of like a typical workplace scenario with a mean boss and idiotic employees that we’re all familiar with a bit of Galaxy Quest thrown in.

Humour aside, how do you think this campaign will create lasting awareness and conversation around the issue of cybersecurity in a way that other brands haven’t?

IW: I’m not sure scaremongering works when you’re trying to reach an audience about something they don’t fully understand. Hopefully people will find this campaign a bit more engaging than your typical safety message.

Can you share some details about the craft and production techniques that helped bring the sci-fi, comedic world of the campaign to life?

PG: We liked the idea of creating a cinematic, Kubrick like world, and populating it with idiots. The grandeur and scale of the world, even creating the singing ‘Zalunians’ builds the sense of anticipation and expectation, which only adds to the comedy when ultimately the bubble bursts.

Telstra’s campaigns consistently raise the bar on craft – how do you keep pushing creative and technical boundaries while maintaining brand consistency?

IW: You’re only ever as good as the last thing you made, so we’re always pushing ourselves to make something new and different to before. And I think that’s part of what Wherever We Go stands for, to keep improving.

PG: We have a platform thought that anchors everything we do, the fun is trying to bring that to life in new and interesting ways.

Aliens, Donkeys, Puppets – the stories change, but there’s a consistency in the storytelling and craft, we’d like to think that’s the unique fingerprint we’re creating. It’s less about a rigid formula and more about a cohesive world that’s constantly playful and imaginative, always paid off with the ‘wherever we go’ idea.

Check out the behind the scene’s film of Telstra’s ‘Blocking Villians’ below:

Creative Agency: Bear Meets Eagle On Fire
Partner Agency: +61
Media Agency: OMD Australia

Client: Telstra
Chief Marketing Officer: Brent Smart
Head of Brand and Marketing Communications: Alita McMenamin
Head of Creative Excellence: Anna Jackson
Senior Marketing Specialist: Rebecca Tearle
Media & Marketing Operations Lead: Paula Marreiros
Senior Media Specialist: Robbie Aoukar

Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Randy Krallman
Co-Founder / CEO: Patrick Milling Smith
Co-Founder / President: Patrick Carmody
Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman
Producer: Gustav Geldenhuys
Director of Photography: Kaname Onoyama
Production Designer: Jiri Matura
Costume Designer: Terezie Dvorakova
Model Maker: Martin Pec
SFX Makeup: Josef Rarach

Edit: ARC
Editor: Peter Sciberras
Executive Producer, Edit: Daniel Bradford-Fry
Assistant Editor: Liam James
Post Production: Blockhead

Sound House: Rumble Studios
Lead Sound Designer: Tone Aston
Composer: Jeremy Richmond
Sound EP: Michael Gie