Optus has pulled the plug on a high-profile advertising campaign designed to restore consumer trust after last week’s outage left hundreds unable to call Triple Zero – an incident linked to four deaths.

The campaign, developed by Accenture-owned agency Droga5, was set to be Optus’s first major creative push since winning the account in June.

It aimed to rebrand the telco and re-engage customers in the wake of a series of high-profile failures, including the 2023 national blackout and the 2022 cyber breach.

Sources told The Australian the campaign was scheduled to launch next week but is now shelved indefinitely as Optus focuses on the fallout from the outage.

The campaign was part of a broader marketing overhaul under chief corporate affairs and marketing officer Felicity Ross, supported by head of marketing Cam Luby and senior director Lauren Dawber.

It was intended to help Optus battle Telstra and Vodafone for market share and strengthen the brand after a year without major marketing activity.

But trust in Optus is at a low point. According to the Roy Morgan Trust Index, Optus is now Australia’s fourth-most distrusted brand and the least trusted telco.

Optus is also facing intense government scrutiny, with Communications Minister Anika Wells summoning Singtel’s CEO to Canberra this week over the incident.

The telco is also reeling from a record $100 million Federal Court penalty for unconscionable conduct after selling unaffordable phone contracts to vulnerable Australians.