Author

By Amy Houston, Senior Reporter

April 24, 2023 | 3 min read

These aren’t typical dolls though, each miniature represents a different type of career.

Virgin Media is leaning into the fun side of life with this fast-paced 60-second ad that sees a bunch of toys come to life. In ‘It’s Playtime,’ viewers see the various characters spring to life from their packaging and begin to bust a move on the colorful dancefloor as the 90s hit tune Word Up plays in the background.

Amid the animated dolls, there’s the financial advisor model, an IT technician and a fun-size call entre operator, who break free from the everyday grind of life.

Powered by AI

Explore frequently asked questions

Niamh O’Driscoll, head of brand and marketing at Virgin Media, said: “We’re launching our playtime platform at an exciting time for the business as we expand our footprint of services nationwide. The campaign is a culmination of over 12 months of research, development and ideation with the Publicis team and we’re delighted to launch it in an integrated through-the-line campaign.”

The creative push for the telecoms brand is the work of ad agency Publicis Dublin and will run in Ireland. Produced with Antidote with post-production by Freefolk, the spot was directed by Chris Balmond, who has worked on campaigns for the likes of KFC and Disney+.

Ger Roe, board creative director at Publicis, added: “ We know that being connected 24/7 can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a release so we wanted to turn our phones and TVs back from tools into toys. Playtime looks different for everyone and with this campaign, we had a lot of fun showing the benefit of being a Virgin Media customer and what that means for the little and big things in your life.”

Virgin Media is no stranger to unique character-led advertising; last year, the brand introduced a motorbike-riding Highland cow to promote its wifi services.

Interested in creative campaigns? Check out our Ad of the Day and the Best Ads of the Week sections.

Creative Creative Works Animation

More from Creative

View all