The holiday campaign narrates the story of the Australian glider, risking life and tail, for an ambitious surprise for its partner for Christmas. At the end, his efforts paid off—for a pair of bassinets for its expectant partner.

The film then reverses 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.

For Optus, the festive season is the perfect time to raise much needed funds for their cause as the population of sugar gliders, Krefft’s gliders, and savanna gliders are declining.

Threatened by bushfires, and with limited public awareness of their plight, Optus has partnered with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) to raise in excess of $50,000.

Optus says proceeds will help the AWC deliver fire management across 100,000 hectares of natural habitat, remove feral herbivores to help create safe refuges for the gliders, and support the AWC’s scientific monitoring program to ensure key threats to their survival are controlled.

“Most Aussies know about wombats, koalas, and quokkas—but there is little knowledge of this flying marsupial. The discovery that the sugar glider is not one, but three species, raises the alarm that there may be far fewer than previously thought and that the population may have declined by as much as 35% over the last 30 years,” Australian Wildlife Conservancy CEO Tim Allard points out.

“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. The funds will help us protect these threatened animals now and into the future,” Allard says.

The Optus Christmas campaign launched on Sunday, 14 November 2021, and was shown on television spots, social content, and OOH, connecting everyday Australians to the plight of the animal.

This campaign is the latest iteration of the It Starts With Yes platform which Optus debuted last year.

Previous campaigns have included a partnership with The Leukaemia Foundation to share the inspiring real-life story of Kara and Nikita, and The Amazing Race, which shared a collaboration between children that harnessed the power of yes.

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 15 November 2021.