Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows black-and-white and colour footage of historic postal delivery methods, both real and re-created, and contemporary colour footage of electronic transmissions conducted by Australia Post staff in smart corporate uniforms. Images of postal machinery and busy postal workers accompanied by an upbeat corporate jingle enliven the advertisement, which ends with the Australia Post slogan ‘we deliver’ superimposed on the screen.

Educational value points

• A montage of film footage and a jingle are combined in this advertisement to convince viewers that the newly corporatised Australia Post is a friendly and reliable business that has implemented efficient processes as part of its modern and increasingly commercial profile. Value for money and dependable service are key themes that Australia Post promoted as it evolved from a public service organisation to a high-profile corporate business.

• This clip illustrates Australian television advertising techniques of the late 1980s, when creative approaches to message delivery incorporated high production values. The fast-paced montage of archival, period and contemporary footage includes a sequence of historic iconic images that depict traditional methods of postal delivery in Australia, which may have persuaded viewers by arousing emotional and nationalistic associations.

• The soundtrack in this advertisement, which brands Australia Post as the nation’s most important postal service, is a catchy jingle that matches in pace the editor’s rapid cuts and provides continuity despite the number of images shown. The tune fills the soundtrack yet, as with a silent movie, it is easy to imagine what the actors might be mouthing. The words of the song say it all: ‘We’ve kept you posted all those years’.

• The jingle, which reminds Australians that ‘Since the early days we’ve been there for you with a hundred ways of getting through’, is a persuasive technique designed to encourage Australians to keep Australia Post as their main provider of postal and courier delivery services.

• The advertisement concludes with the slogan ‘we deliver’, a play on words that has special significance given its use in management and business to stress efficiency, promptness and reliability.

• Advertising aims to attract customers, and loyalty, not just service, is a key motif in this clip. The images emphasise Australia Post’s business efficiency as well as its ongoing personalised, loyal service to customers. As organisations restructure and modernise in changing corporate environments, their promotional messages often stress continuity, providing comfort and security for customers.

• Australia Post’s transition to a fully commercial enterprise is depicted cinematically as the footage changes from black-and-white images of mail deliveries from an earlier era to colour scenes re-creating typical historical scenarios and then to scenes depicting contemporary postal service activities. The cumulative effect produced by the layering of scenes in this montage may be to evoke an appeal reminiscent of past calls for national unity and loyalty.

• The advertisement promotes the qualities of efficient service and customer loyalty that Australia Post offered as it entered a competitive marketplace. From the first one-person post office in Sydney in 1809, the organisation continued to grow and adapt to changes in communications technology and in 1989 it became a Government Business Enterprise.