TELUS and independent agency Rethink joined forces to rethink how Canadians choose their home internet — and ended up delivering TELUS’ best-performing high-speed internet quarter in company history.
In this Canadians Create episode, host Qasim Virjee sits down with Rethink executive creative director and partner Leia Rogers, head of strategy Elyse Sanders, and Rob Daintree, director of marketing communications at TELUS, to unpack the “High Stakes” platform — winner of Gold in Local Market Success at the Effies.
The conversation explores how a shifting competitive landscape in Western Canada pushed TELUS to move beyond traditional claims-based “fastest internet” messaging and instead dramatize what happens when “good enough” cable internet fails you in truly make-or-break moments — from summer camp registration to critical job interviews.
The team shares how they balanced TELUS’ beloved critter-led, friendly brand world with sharper, comparative live-action storytelling, then scaled the idea across a full-funnel campaign with contextual out-of-home, social, and broadcast. They also dig into the business impact: major lifts in perception that fiber is superior to cable, an 8% increase in order volume, and a 47% decrease in cost of acquisition — proving that emotionally resonant creative can be a true performance driver.
