Tag: Optus

Australia – With populations of Sugar Gliders, Krefft’s Glider, and Savanna Glider declining, Australian telco firm Optus has partnered with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) to launch a new campaign, aimed at raising funds for the cause.

In the new film, which is titled ‘Tis the season of yes’, Optus follows an Australian glider, risking life and ‘tail’, for an ambitious surprise for its expectant glider partner for Christmas, going all out to create a pair of bassinets. The film then reverted back to the moment of ‘yes’ that inspired these ambitious events – pinpointing the moment where the glider decided to turn optimism into action by starting a family of his own.

The campaign aims to raise an excess of AU$50,000 to help AWC deliver fire management across 100,000 hectares of natural habitat, remove feral herbivores to help create safe refuges for the gliders, and support its scientific monitoring program to ensure key threats to their survival are controlled.

Mel Hopkins, Optus’ vice president of marketing, noted that they want to play a part in affecting real change for the future of Australia.

“We’ve been part of Australia’s social fabric for 30 years, so it was important that a native species was front and center of our campaign. We are encouraging Australians to fall in love with these wonderful creatures and join us in saving them in the most generous time of year – now that’s optimism in action,” said Hopkins.

Optus said that the campaign is the latest iteration of its acclaimed ‘It Starts With Yes’ platform, which the telco debuted last year.

Tim Allard, Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s CEO, shared that most Aussies know about wombats, koalas, and quokkas – but there is little knowledge of this flying marsupial. 

“AWC is taking practical and effective action like fire management and feral animal control to address the key threats to the glider’s survival and restore their populations. This partnership with Optus will help teach Australians about the incredible diversity our country holds, and the funds will help us protect these threatened animals now and into the future,” said Allard.

The campaign has been available last 14 November 2021, with television spots, social content, and OOH.

Sydney, Australia – SME marketing company Metigy in Australia has recently concluded its funding round, which the startup will use in expanding its services globally.

The funding, closing at USD 20M, will be initially used to expand its business to the United States and Southeast Asia, specifically in Singapore. Furthermore, the funding will also aid in growing the company’s product and engineering teams in Australia.

We’ve had fantastic growth so far but it’s just the beginning — there’s a massive opportunity to help the nearly 30 million small businesses in the U.S. and 150 million businesses across South East Asia. According to Google, 97% of SEAsian SMEs have no ad tech or martech solutions and also lack the supply of talent to meet that demand. Innovative technology developed with the SME in mind is the only way to solve this problem

David Fairfull (pictured left), CEO and co-founder at Metigy

He also added,“We created Metigy to make digital marketing an effective tool for all types of businesses, not just those with massive marketing budgets. Half of all small businesses fail within the first two years, and marketing — or a lack of effective marketing — is always one of the key reasons. We want to improve those odds and give them a fighting chance.”

The startup is working closely with Google and telecommunications company Optus, and has created strategic partnerships with companies such as Singapore’s SingTel, who co-sell Metigy’s tools to add value to their own business customer relationships.

Speaking about the funding round, Darien Jagger, lead investor at Cygnet Capital, states that Metigy’s fast expansion pushed the venture capital to invest in the startup.

“Cygnet was an early-stage investor in Metigy and after seeing their impressive growth, it absolutely made sense to lead this current raise. Completing the raise 100% oversubscribed in this market with an all Australian investor group is a testament to the solid business the team has built. Strategically, this also places Metigy firmly on the path to remaining Australian based,” Jagger stated.