Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) has unveiled a new national brand campaign for LiSTNR, rolling out a bold creative platform designed to sharpen differentiation in Australia’s increasingly crowded digital audio market and fuel its next phase of growth.
Launching today, the fully integrated campaign introduces “What Aussie ears want to hear”, positioning LiSTNR as a deeply local, audience-first audio brand – and turning the intimate act of listening into a playful, high-impact creative device.
The campaign will run across TV, cinema, digital, social, out-of-home, radio and digital audio, with national reach across free-to-air, BVOD, subscription TV, cinemas, YouTube, TikTok, Meta, Hit, Triple M and LiSTNR’s own platform.
Created by AMOK Creative, the campaign brings LiSTNR’s personality to life through a series of visually arresting “singing ears” – personified representations of Australians’ diverse listening tastes.
From RnB-loving commuters to footy-obsessed remote workers, the creative visualises how different Australians connect with audio across moods, moments and environments, celebrating the deeply personal nature of listening.
The films were produced using a blend of practical and visual effects, with oversized silicone ears built and puppeteered in rhythm with the music, before being seamlessly integrated into the final scenes. Production partners included Hooves and Electric Sheep Music, with additional assets developed in-house at SCA.
Cutting through the clutter
SCA Head of Marketing Naomi Gorringe said the campaign was designed to break through in a market saturated with advertising messages.
“In a media landscape flush with advertising messages, this campaign is designed to grab people’s attention and entertain them,” Gorringe said.
“By turning the intimate act of listening into something visible, unexpected and unmistakably LiSTNR, we’re showing how deeply we understand our audience and their tastes. Marketers now know ‘the extraordinary cost of dull’, so we set out to create something far from it – it’s bold, memorable, and entirely ownable, exactly the kind of creativity that positions LiSTNR as Australia’s leading audio brand.”
AMOK Creative’s Creative Director, Michael Dawson, said standing out was critical, given the presence of global competitors in the category.
“Given there are some global players in this category, standing out was non-negotiable. We set out to create a campaign that was bold, memorable, ownable…and a little bit weird. We found some very willing production partners in Hooves and Electric Sheep, and had a lot of fun bringing the concept to life.”
Stephen Haddad
A growth play for LiSTNR’s next phase
SCA Chief Operating Officer Stephen Haddad framed the campaign as a strategic growth lever for LiSTNR, as the platform expands its podcast slate and invests further in product innovation.
“LiSTNR is Australia’s leading audio brand because we truly understand what Australians love to listen to. Built on the scale and diversity of our audience, LiSTNR brings together over 800 podcasts alongside live sport, music and news to soundtrack every mood, moment and interest,” Haddad said.
“This year marks an exciting new phase of growth for LiSTNR, as we continue to expand our podcast offering and invest in innovation that makes listening more personal, intuitive and impactful. This campaign brings that to life, celebrating the deeply personal relationship audiences have with audio.”
The campaign launches in bursts from today and will continue running across the remainder of the financial year and beyond – underscoring SCA’s ambition to cement LiSTNR’s leadership in a market increasingly defined by platform competition, audience fragmentation and premium brand expectations.