A new campaign by telecom network Optus aims to explain the benefits of 5G to Australians with playful visual metaphors illustrating what it's like to not have it. 

For example: one ad features five grannies, with one moving extremely slowly across the room on a mobility scooter. One of her friends then says, "Well, at least 5G is fast." Other ads feature five guitarists demonstrating the "plug and play" benefits of 5G, five game characters finding themselves together in a living room, sitcom-style, and five geniuses on a panel show competing to explain what "latency" is.

The ads were created by Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, the creative studio founded by Micah Walker, the former Fallon London partner and more recently Wieden & Kennedy Portland creative director, and Josh Mullens, former executive producer of Revolver/Will O’Rourke. They secured the talents of Andreas Nilsson ("Epic Split") to direct. 

The aim of the campaign is to explain to Australians how 5G works without baffling them with technology or presenting them with a vision of an intangible future. “People don’t want something they don’t understand,” says Optus head of marketing Melissa Hopkins. “This is just the start of an ongoing conversation that we will continue to have with Australia over the coming years, as Optus 5G continues to roll out.”