London, 23rd August 2024 – Virgin Media O2 has unveiled the latest chapter in its celebrated ‘To Better and Beyond’ campaign, introducing a new star—‘Walrus Whizzer.’ The campaign, developed by creative agency VCCP, is the third installment in the telecom giant’s animal-themed series, following the success of 2023’s ‘Goat Glider’ and 2022’s ‘Highland Rider.’
‘Walrus Whizzer’ continues the tradition of blending humor with cutting-edge technology to highlight the unstoppable feeling that Virgin Media’s award-winning broadband provides. The 60-second hero film, which airs tonight during ITV1’s Coronation Street, follows the adventures of a digitally animated walrus who climbs out of icy waters, commandeers a speedboat, and sails off into the horizon to the smooth sounds of Billy Ocean’s ‘Suddenly.’
The campaign showcases the superior speed and reliability of Virgin Media’s broadband, recently recognised by GWS as offering the ‘Best Broadband Experience.’ Simon Valcarcel, Marketing Director at Virgin Media O2, remarked, “This latest campaign celebrates the smooth, fast, and reliable broadband experience that our customers enjoy every day. The recognition from GWS only confirms what our customers already know—they are truly unstoppable with us.”
Bringing this ambitious vision to life involved collaboration between VCCP’s global content creation studio, Girl&Bear, and award-winning Swedish director Andreas Nilsson, with production by Biscuit Filmworks. The intricate CG animation of the walrus was handled by the BAFTA-winning Untold Studios, who used a complex combination of 3D modeling, animation, and realistic lighting effects to seamlessly integrate the animated walrus into the live-action scenes.
David Masterman, Deputy Executive Creative Director at VCCP, added, “With our previous campaigns, we brought to life the unstoppable nature of Virgin Media broadband on land and in the air. Now, it was time to take to the high seas—and what better character to do that with than a walrus? They have a lot of personality.”
Running through to 27th October, the ‘Walrus Whizzer’ campaign will be featured across a wide array of platforms, including cinema, TV, video-on-demand, online, out-of-home, social media, and radio, with media planning and buying managed by MG OMD.
As Virgin Media O2 continues to push the boundaries of creative advertising, ‘Walrus Whizzer’ is set to captivate audiences with its blend of humour, high-tech wizardry, and a message that smooth and reliable broadband is key to an unstoppable digital experience.
