Meet the Next Gen Builder: Brent Smart, Chief Marketing Officer at Telstra

What does it take to really transform a brand—especially one with a lot of history? In this episode of the Next Gen Builders podcast, Francois Ajenstat discusses just that with Brent Smart, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Australian telecommunications (telco) brand, Telstra.

As CMO, Brent orchestrated a bold brand transformation—and it was more than just a facelift. Throughout the process, Brent learned a valuable lesson that all companies need to remember: Brand transformation doesn’t come from a playbook. It comes from gut instinct and bold storytelling. In other words, it’s about creating something real.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

Start with the real world, not with a slide deck

Brent opens the conversation with a simple truth: Marketers spend too much time in artificial environments trying to simulate real-world reactions. To paraphrase, “You can never be sure what’s going to happen until you actually do it.” For him, it’s better to learn from live experiments than research decks.

Most brand transformations involve endless pretesting (which can lead to endless delays), but Brent believes in launching, observing, and iterating in-market. His takeaway? Analysis paralysis is the enemy of creative progress. Move fast, test in real time, and learn from what real people actually do—not what they say in a focus group.

When it comes to creative pitches, Brent has strong preferences: fewer slides, more soul. He doesn’t want to see 20 minutes of setup—just show the idea. Reading a script? That’s a no-go. Instead, share why you love an idea, what problem it solves, and what makes it uniquely right.

From trading muscle to brand muscle

When Brent joined Telstra, those preferences weren’t exactly playing out. He was in a highly disciplined, metrics-obsessed organization focused on short-term wins. With 80% of its marketing budget devoted to retail and performance marketing, the brand was strong on the “trading” muscle (e.g., retail activity, performance marketing, and channels)—but less so on long-term brand building.

Brent’s first move was to shift internal thinking: Brand isn’t fluff—it’s a future-facing investment. “Brand builds future demand,” he explains, especially among customers who aren’t even in the market yet. The goal wasn’t just awareness (Telstra already has 100% brand awareness in the Australian market); it was about shaping perception, emotion, and trust. That required rebalancing both the budget and the mindset.

Data alone doesn’t build empathy

Telstra had reams of brand data—awareness scores, consideration rates, image attributes—but none of it sparked true emotional understanding. So Brent took a different route: an ethnographic study where small groups of customers were asked to draw what Telstra meant to them.

The results were sobering. Customers drew the Monopoly mascot, cash registers, and white men in suits—symbols of greed, detachment, and corporate coldness. One particularly striking sketch showed a large stick figure towering over a smaller one with the word “bully” written underneath.

These visceral images did what spreadsheets couldn’t—they forced the company to confront how people really felt. That emotional truth became the foundation for a new brand vision.

Clarity of voice > Generic personality

Brand guidelines often list vague traits like “innovative,” “optimistic,” or “trustworthy”—not exactly a capital-V “Vision.” And Brent argues that those words are a given. The real challenge is crafting a brand voice that’s unmistakable—like Apple’s minimalist confidence or Liquid Death’s outlandish irreverence.

Brent believes that too many brands sound the same, and that inspired him to find a voice nobody else had. For Telstra, it meant finding a tone that felt radically different—not just from other telcos, but from every other big brand in Australia. In doing so, it found a tone that was confident and (due to the sketch results) likable. The new standard became: If you put today’s creative work next to Telstra’s old campaigns, it should feel like a completely different company. And that doesn’t come overnight.

Turning conviction into action

Building a brand takes time—something corporate cultures don’t always have the patience for. Brent’s answer? Conviction first, then validation. Here’s how he proved it:

• First, Telstra launched a test in the city of Adelaide, shifting the brand-to-trade budget from 20/80 to 50/50.
• Then, it ran the experiment for six months to give brand efforts time to stick.
• Finally, it reviewed the results: a 14% lift in key metrics compared to the national average.

Brent’s test was clear: Brand doesn’t just build long-term equity—it can boost short-term results. But it takes patience. As Brent puts it, “It’s not going to show in the first quarter—you’ve gotta wait. But it’s important to understand the commercial value that brand can bring beyond just the quarter we’re in.”

How to teach “taste”

Can creative instincts be taught? Brent says yes. He developed a “creative dial,” a 1–10 scoring system that evaluates creative quality after campaign launches. It’s used every quarter—no exceptions—and provides retrospective feedback loops for teams to learn what works and why.

The goal isn’t perfection; it’s progress. After implementing the dial, Telstra’s average creative score rose from 3.8 to over 5.0. “Ten out of ten is like the best work in the world,” Brent clarifies, “[so] to get a five is really good and we’re happy with that.” The dial is more than just a metric—it builds creative confidence, helping Telstra’s marketers align on what “great” really looks like.

Tune in to Brent’s story

If Telstra’s creative dial teaches anything, it’s that strong brands don’t come out of generic playbooks, and they don’t stop evolving even after a rebrand. Brent would be the first person to tell you that Telstra’s brand journey is far from complete. But as it continues to mature, he’ll stand by great ideas with confidence and belief—the same advice he gives to marketers everywhere. Check out the full episode to hear more tips and get energized about all things brand.