‘It’s playtime,’ says Virgin Media, as it distances brand from ‘grind’ of being online

Virgin Media Ireland has launched a “heavyweight” advertising campaign with a new tagline – “It’s Playtime” – to distance its services from the daily pressures of being connected to the internet 24/7.

The telecoms company is hoping to remind consumers that its broadband and mobile telecoms services can “unleash their play”, rather than helping to trap them in constant work mode.

The campaign was created for the Liberty Global-owned company by advertising agency Publicis Dublin, with a 40-second television advertisement directed by Chris Balmond and produced by Irish commercials production company Antidote Films.

The TV ad depicts toy figurines with serious job titles such as data analyst, city planner and financial adviser breaking free of their packaging to hit the dance floor, bungee jump, do BMX ramp stunts or plunge into a Love Island-branded foot-spa. It is soundtracked by the Cameo song Word Up.

In an age of social media and deepfake, broadcasting bans prior to polling day should go

---

Mistakes drawing up forms can come back to haunt you

---

‘I lost €1,000 in cash on the way to the bank to lodge it. Someone in Dún Laoghaire had a big win that day’

---

Domestic violence is a workplace issue

---

Virgin said the toys “represent all of us who have become trapped in the everyday grind” and the idea was to show how they – and we – can “break free from boredom” and find more joy in modern life.

The campaign, which was planned by the agency OMD, will also appear on digital, social, radio and out-of-home channels in three bursts throughout 2023.

“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,” said Ger Roe, board creative director at Publicis Dublin.

Irish jewellery designer Chupi: 'The divorce ring is a whole new category'

Listen | 39:04

The campaign was developed following extensive research that suggested “the serious side of life” was getting in the way of people’s desire to play, said Paul Higgins, Virgin’s vice-president of commercial.

The company saw an “enormous uptick” in residential data usage during the surge in working-from-home practices at the outset of the pandemic – a shift that blurred the lines between work and leisure time for many – but this was far from all work, no play.

The proliferation in video-on-demand streaming services and the rising popularity of online gaming activity has also driven higher network demand in recent years – a trend that has further swelled consumer expectations of the level of connectivity they receive.

“We know there is a generation of people who want this thing to just work,” said Mr Higgins, adding that there “no medals” for providing a blip-free service.

Virgin’s bid to highlight the fun dimension of being connected comes in the wake of its network deal last year with ESB-Vodafone joint venture Siro.

The agreement means that Virgin, which already had a market reach of 1 million premises through its own network, can potentially extend its footprint by up to 450,000 additional premises.