O2 to interrupt Google and easyjet spots in special ITV ad break takeover

Telecoms brand O2 has bought a special ad break during ITV1’s Saturday-night primetime show Saturday Night Takeaway in which its brand mascot Bubl will surprise viewers by interrupting ads for Google and easyJet Holidays.

Bubl will surprise viewers by jumping out of bespoke ITV1 introductions in the breaks. O2 has also agreed deals with easyJet and Google to plan and buy bespoke ads in which Bubl will burst through spots for easyJet holidays and Google Pixel during the same ad break.

The ads were created by VCCP London and planned and bought by O2’s media agency MG OMD. O2’s latest “Switch Up” campaign aims to promote how easy it is for customers to say yes to new and exciting technology whenever it suits them, meaning they don’t have to stick with the same phone until the end of their contract.

Because the brand message is about giving consumers “freedom and choice”, the media planning and creative is meant to convey disruption by having the O2 brand mascot insert itself into a media owner’s standard ad inventory and other brands’ advertising.

The media strategy echoes the 2018 Super Bowl activity by US Procter & Gamble brand Tide, which “hijacked” ad breaks by portraying brand spokesman David Harbour as spontaneously featuring in multiple spots.

To complement the creative and emulate the disruptive nature oof the campaign, MG OMD has planned high-exposure OOH sites that use the visuals of Bubl bursting out of gallery paintings, drum sets and birthday cakes. O2 will also use social posts, linear radio and digital audio to “disrupt users while they are listening”.

The campaign’s 40-second hero film (above) was directed by Dave Laden, and features a woman and Bubl trying out the O2 Switch Up offering in different humorous scenarios.

Simon Groves, director for brand and marketing at Virgin Media O2 said: “At a time of so much uncertainty, we want to make it easier for people to get their hands on the latest and most popular phones whenever it suits them, and continue to breakdown the barriers of rigid phone contracts, giving customers the freedom to decide what they want, when they want it.”

The campaign launches today and will run until 11 May.