Makes a grown man cry to remember this ad at a time when we used to ring Holland and the whole family would sit around the table with the phone in the middle of it. The tension was immense. Ring ring! "Met Ivo!" Then the tears would fall. Screams! Laughter! The joy! Little things like that meant so much. It was a different time.
My dad was a hard man emotionally, grew up in the depression and WW2. In the 50 or so years I shared with him before he died, I can only remember seeing him cry a few times. One was when this ad came on for the first time.
My Zia visited us in 1980 for what seemed like years, but was probably only months... I remember watching her walk through the doors into the international gate at Tullamarine airport. She turned and waved goodbye several times. She was crying, we all were as we waved goodbye. This beautiful commercial captures the heartache so many of us experienced so accurately. 😢
This wonderful campaign was created at George Patterson Advertising, Sydney. The writer was John Kingsmill, who is also heard reading the tag line. John died at the age of 92. He was one of the true gentlemen of advertising and I had the pleasure of working with him at Coudrey. Before he entered advertising he acted in the original stage play "Rusty Bugles".
That's very interesting and thanks for the info. What is also interesting for me personally is that I just decided out of the blue to look for this magnificent ad to view just now after almost a year and I find your comment made only 9 hours prior and the last one before that being three months ago!! I live it when coincidences happen.
James, despite Skype and other free online voice apps, this is still an incredibly powerful advertisement. It taps into the psyche of a generation of post-war migrants (like my parents) in a way no other commercial has. Thank you for telling us about the writer. I'm keen to know how he knew what would would touch migrant communities so emotionally. Was it market research or focus groups, or did he have friends in such situations?
I remember watching this commercial as a child and I'd get a bit teary. Whenever my mother spoke over the phone to her family in Greece she'd me overcome with emotion.
I can recall reading somewhere, probably ad news or b&t, that over 300k international calls were suddenly made in Syd & Melb within hours on the Sunday night of this ad going to air! Talk about effectiveness! If that is true and I think it would be pretty accurate. Amazing ads, truly amazing. I remember seeing them in 1979 when I was at boarding school and they made me feel homesick!!!!
OMG this ad....I could never forget it..I was around 7 or 8 at the time...It was such a big deal to receive or make an overseas call back then and all the family would gather around just like this one. The world is a much smaller place now with internet , skype and mobile phones
Upon repeated viewings I still can't believe this was produced in 1977. It still looks airable today production values wise if not for the changes in communication technologies. Australia can be very creatively brilliant at times. This was a home grown masterpiece. I used to take it for granted seeing it aired regularly for many years of my childhood but I fully appreciate it's beauty and genius now after many years absence.
These commercials were always shown on Sunday nights. At the time, rates were cheaper for long distance phone calls. I can see why this campaign was so successful. The ad does a good job of stirring the emotions.
Ha, it's funny how the oddest things stick in your mind when you're a child. I was only 5 when this commercial was aired, but I still remember that man's pronunciation of Australia - "Oz-tra-LEE-a!"
Massively relevant advertising campaign given the significant immigrant population of Australia at the time - I think its like 50% of Australias population have an ancestor who was either a 10 Pounder or an immigrant from any of the other countries i.e. Italy, Greece, Germany etc
We weren't even migrants so I didn't have the feeling attached to it, but God I remember this so well. I even recited the catchphrase "Go home on the telephone" as it was playing.
Luckily for us we didn't have any overseas relatives. My Gran can out here in the 1920s from England and everyone else was born here. Even the country and interstate calls were expensive. So you had to queue up people in the family and talk really fast and get through the lineup. And the cost was always a huge factor in how long you spoke to them.
There was another one with a teary old woman in it… before this one I think. Means something now not so much then I was just a kid and didn’t understand it as I had mum and dad with me then.
Yeah, its a mystery as to why the Greek economy has never really flourished ... Oh wait.. Germany, love what you did with the place while holidaying there between April 1941 and October 1944, cheers for that.
Развлечения
Makes a grown man cry to remember this ad at a time when we used to ring Holland and the whole family would sit around the table with the phone in the middle of it. The tension was immense. Ring ring! "Met Ivo!" Then the tears would fall. Screams! Laughter! The joy! Little things like that meant so much. It was a different time.
My dad was a hard man emotionally, grew up in the depression and WW2. In the 50 or so years I shared with him before he died, I can only remember seeing him cry a few times. One was when this ad came on for the first time.
That's my Aunt singing on the ad...Julie McKenna (she was Julie Cooper at the time)
My Zia visited us in 1980 for what seemed like years, but was probably only months... I remember watching her walk through the doors into the international gate at Tullamarine airport. She turned and waved goodbye several times. She was crying, we all were as we waved goodbye. This beautiful commercial captures the heartache so many of us experienced so accurately. 😢
This advert always made me so sad as a child.
Look how far we have come since then, families are now only a video call away.
This was one of the most successful ads in Australia for quite a while
That's why I remember it so well.
This wonderful campaign was created at George Patterson Advertising, Sydney. The writer was John Kingsmill, who is also heard reading the tag line. John died at the age of 92. He was one of the true gentlemen of advertising and I had the pleasure of working with him at Coudrey. Before he entered advertising he acted in the original stage play "Rusty Bugles".
That's very interesting and thanks for the info.
What is also interesting for me personally is that I just decided out of the blue to look for this magnificent ad to view just now after almost a year and I find your comment made only 9 hours prior and the last one before that being three months ago!!
I live it when coincidences happen.
James, despite Skype and other free online voice apps, this is still an incredibly powerful advertisement. It taps into the psyche of a generation of post-war migrants (like my parents) in a way no other commercial has. Thank you for telling us about the writer. I'm keen to know how he knew what would would touch migrant communities so emotionally. Was it market research or focus groups, or did he have friends in such situations?
A brilliantly simply but wonderfully emotive campaign - still is one of the best ever seen in Australian media
It shows you the power of music in advertising. Remember this Ad as a child all this time ago.
I remember watching this commercial as a child and I'd get a bit teary. Whenever my mother spoke over the phone to her family in Greece she'd me overcome with emotion.
I can recall reading somewhere, probably ad news or b&t, that over 300k international calls were suddenly made in Syd & Melb within hours on the Sunday night of this ad going to air! Talk about effectiveness! If that is true and I think it would be pretty accurate. Amazing ads, truly amazing. I remember seeing them in 1979 when I was at boarding school and they made me feel homesick!!!!
The exchange trunks would all be engaged
This ad totally made me cry as a child...
OMG this ad....I could never forget it..I was around 7 or 8 at the time...It was such a big deal to receive or make an overseas call back then and all the family would gather around just like this one. The world is a much smaller place now with internet , skype and mobile phones
Julie McKenna is the singer...I believe
I remember my mum (and other mums) crying everytime this ad came on tv....and it reminded mine of rellies back in the UK.
these ads made me cry as a child :-)
Upon repeated viewings I still can't believe this was produced in 1977. It still looks airable today production values wise if not for the changes in communication technologies.
Australia can be very creatively brilliant at times. This was a home grown masterpiece. I used to take it for granted seeing it aired regularly for many years of my childhood but I fully appreciate it's beauty and genius now after many years absence.
These commercials were always shown on Sunday nights. At the time, rates were cheaper for long distance phone calls.
I can see why this campaign was so successful. The ad does a good job of stirring the emotions.
Yes, no-one ever rang long distance at any other time of the week.
It won a gold lion/medal at Cannes that year! Fantastic advertising
Great memories of really well made ads. I am an Aussie in London for a long time so these ads are almost a reverse of my life. Thanks for uploading
Ha, it's funny how the oddest things stick in your mind when you're a child. I was only 5 when this commercial was aired, but I still remember that man's pronunciation of Australia - "Oz-tra-LEE-a!"
Massively relevant advertising campaign given the significant immigrant population of Australia at the time - I think its like 50% of Australias population have an ancestor who was either a 10 Pounder or an immigrant from any of the other countries i.e. Italy, Greece, Germany etc
Such a well made advertisement, every element of this is very very creative... 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍, sort of blowing their noses with the handkerchief 😆😆😆
Love that bit too
Anyhow if there is one song (The way we were from Babs) and one ad that makes me bawl like a freaking kid whose lollies were stolen this is it!
We weren't even migrants so I didn't have the feeling attached to it, but God I remember this so well. I even recited the catchphrase "Go home on the telephone" as it was playing.
great ad. OTC always had very classy ads
Superb.
Wow I remembered this AD after all these years.
I remember when l was little girl in the 80’s my mum used to call my great Aunty in Kent in uk and she told me what England was like
International calls used to be hideously expensive. I remember it cost $2 a minute in the late 70s, which is about $10 in today's money.
And now we can not only talk to other people in other country's(for free) we can SEE them as well!!! Thanks skype!!
Luckily for us we didn't have any overseas relatives. My Gran can out here in the 1920s from England and everyone else was born here. Even the country and interstate calls were expensive. So you had to queue up people in the family and talk really fast and get through the lineup. And the cost was always a huge factor in how long you spoke to them.
An excellent commercial!! I love it
ill never 4get this ad
Who needs all that now..
Just walking down our streets makes you feel your at an international terminal
From the days when TV commercials had the ability to evoke.
Haven’t seen this ad for decades ! Surprisingly just as poignant today as it was then .
Sadly those elderly Greek people would no longer be alive 😥
Dying in the Melbourne and Sydney nursing homes now,so sad!
You’ll be dead too one day
There was another one with a teary old woman in it… before this one I think. Means something now not so much then I was just a kid and didn’t understand it as I had mum and dad with me then.
That was the one I was looking for when I came across this version, glad someone else remembers too, wonderful ad that made me teary as a kid lol
Reminded me of talking to relos in Greece. Irony is i now live in Greece.
Really, I bet you wish you were back here in Az-tra-lia 😎
OTC, Overseas Telecommunication Commission. Was absorbed into Telecom, then Telstra.
yep a great government owned commission turned into privatised shitshow,again.
@aussie1972 Same here...! it gave me a sense of what me parents went through..great ad :)
Thanks Kim Beazley
Ads were so much nicer back then
This one's for Chris, Grace, Lauren, Michael, Mitch & Nat!
Yeah, its a mystery as to why the Greek economy has never really flourished ... Oh wait.. Germany, love what you did with the place while holidaying there between April 1941 and October 1944, cheers for that.
The ones that wanted to work no matter what came here
How lucky the Aussies were and they didn’t even realise it at the time!
Does anyone have the version featuring aimed at the Dutch Australians?
Always made my mum homesick...
has anyone got any more of these otc ads??...from memory, I think there were 4 of them
I was looking for another one as well.
The other one was ringing up England
Found another one today...yay!!
sniff! sniff!
what nationality is les murray?
who does he call from other countries, when he phones home, through otc
Was it Monahan Dayman Adams ? And their Sydney office ?
Hungary - and it's Laszlo Urge to be correct.
Anyone remember what local and STD calls cost between 1978 and 1981? Cost of STD between Melbourne and Geelong would be helpful.
Very very dear. that is what I remember. Telecom used to be a money sucking machine and nothing has changed.
👣🤗❣️👍
Is that Streisand singing?
No, a local Aussie singer. I like it that way.
Aussie singer Colleen Hewitt.
@shorn70