Episode 174 - Virgin Media O2 Daisy Ad Reviewed by Citizen / Mekanism, Flyon Inc and PepsiCo
What if there was a way to keep phone scammers busy... while also annoying them?
Virgin Media O2 have come up with Daisy, the benevolent AI granny that's simply... disarming for phone scammers. The brand is flipping the narrative (no longer are they the reason people get scam calls, but the solution to them) with some very powerful creative in our first episode of Advertisers Watching Ads this year.
Tune in to see what the clip's reception was and get some more marketing tips from our guests Crystalyn Stuart-Loayza (Chief Digital Officer, Citizen / Mekanism), Alvin Ooi (Digital Marketing Director, Flyon Inc) and Rob Pothier (Head of Marketing, Portfolio Campaigns, PepsiCo).
Thanks to Contagious for sourcing the ad!
Episode 174 - Virgin Media O2 Daisy Ad Reviewed by Citizen / Mekanism, Flyon Inc and PepsiCo
Transcript
This is automatically generated, so it’s not 100% accurate.
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. This is a weekly show where brands discuss other brands’ ads.
My name is Tom. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, and we'd like to say thanks to our partners, Contagious, who helped spread the word of the show and provide the ads every week. But before we get to this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
Crystalyn Stuart-Loayza 0:48
Hello, I'm Crystalyn Stuart-Loayza. I'm the Chief Digital Officer for Mekanism and Citizen, and I'm based out of New York, New York.
Alvin Ooi 0:55
My name is Alvin Ooi. I'm the Digital Marketing Director at Flyon Agency. I’m based in Los Angeles.
Rob Pothier 1:01
Hi, I'm Rob Pothier. I’m the Head of Marketing for Portfolio Campaigns at PepsiCo UK and Ireland, and I'm based in London.
Tom Ollerton 1:07
Brilliant. Okay. I've got an incredibly high expectation of this panel's performance based on those creds. So let's see this week's creative.
Five is very amazing, one is not very amazing. So, one, two, three...
I think that might put Virgin Media O2 at the top of the charts. So I remember when I first got into the industry, there was this concept of branded utility where brands were constantly trying to provide a service as marketing, whether it was like an iPhone apps, were very much a new thing at the time. Brands have seemed to have moved away from that. Obviously, there's notable things like Nike+ for example, but you see less and less of it as a thing. And what I see this as a really brilliant example of a brand providing a service as marketing. Rob, I'm keen to know what was your take on this when you first saw it?
Rob Pothier 3:36
Let's say the brief is we have a problem. We are often thought of as part of the issue on why people get scam calls. How do we flip the narrative on that? You can go in a lot of really expected directions in terms of, we help block X number of calls, and let's create a spot about our benefits. The way they flip this on its head, the way they offered something real and tangible and showed them fighting back while integrating it into a kind of AI solution. I just think it's genius.
Alvin Ooi 4:04
This is very timely and relevant because AI is in our everyday live these days, and the way the commercials showcase this AI product is very attention grabbing. As you know, our attention span is really, really short. I think they actually hit the spot and started doing really, really well, grabbing our attention and sit through the whole commercial.
Crystalyn Stuart-Loayza 4:26
I kind of assessed this in like three categories: the product, the way that they seem to have launched, sort of the wider effort, and then the mechanics or the tactical elements of it. And I thought that the product itself is such an interesting and probably very good investment for a brand that is largely attached to the day to day way we communicate. And this seems like it's right in their wheelhouse in providing something that has a real purpose to it and a real value to the community, which makes it very altruistic. I think product wise, the development of this and the innovation and the way they positioned this as a solution that is for everyone was really, really smart and very effective. They personified both the influencer who they used to kind of help tell the story. But I think what was also genius was personifying Daisy, sort of their AI granny, I think giving a face and a voice and a backstory and a way to really put a front end to this issue that's very difficult and complex, was so genius. And it also opens up for so many legs for them to run this campaign in a way that both builds public awareness.
Tom Ollerton 5:30
Was there any part of this where you thought like, “Ah, they missed something here.” Or this is how I would have built on it if you were leading the project?
Rob Pothier 5:35
I think the creative is so powerful, and what I remember is Daisy as the character. I remember the technology and the solution. But how many of the individuals who heard about this campaign are going to know absolutely that it was O2? I think that's an area that I may want to push on.
Tom Ollerton 5:52
How about you, Alvin? What would you like to have seen done differently?
Alvin Ooi 5:54
Yeah, I, I agree with Rob that I think the, the brand exposure could be a little bit better too, but I also think if they can maybe add a little bit more like industry numbers, like, you know, the results. Put some numbers behind this. It will help.
Tom Ollerton 6:09
And Crystalyn, what's your take on where this came from? Do you think this was suggested by a creative? Or do you think they developed this technology and then the story was built around it? What's your take on that?
Crystalyn Stuart-Loayza 6:20
I'm unclear myself if this came out of a product innovation team as like kind of a lab effort to solve a problem and then they package it up, or if it was more of a PR led idea. It feels like because of what Rob suggested, that it's not overly branded, that it might have been more of a PR centred idea, something that was designed to sit closer to a give back or a purpose driven campaign. I also noticed that as a part of this, it seems like they're really trying to use this as a way for multiple audiences to build trust for Virgin Media and for O2 in particular.
Tom Ollerton 6:49
Rob, I'd like to get your thoughts on how much time and energy you thought they spent on the public's perception of AI. Yes, to us more tech confident folk, brilliant, cool. This is a fantastically creative idea, but there is the, you know, the narrative around AI... It’s black and white, right? There's two sides to it. Curious about how the general AI narrative amongst the public has fed into this execution. I know you don't know what they thought. Curious to know your take.
Rob Pothier 7:16
Yeah, I think it's a great question, and it also branches into what I found is a really interesting way of thinking about targeting and talent in the spot, in terms of ages. The target for many of the scammers tend to be older individuals. I think, therefore the brilliance of Daisy being a bit older, but I loved two things they did. Number one, that they also had Amy Hart as the spokesperson, former Love Islander, Gen Z, helped stretch the relevance of the campaign. I think a lot of people seen this would think, you know, I'd never fall for something like that. I think Amy's role in that helped balance and say, it's a mass problem. You know, it's a problem across all generations. It isn't just in one. Number two, I love that they use Daisy's character to flip the script. The person you may feel is most vulnerable is therefore the one solving the problem and reeling them in, and so the way they managed targeting between Daisy and Amy as the host, I thought was really powerful. Yeah, just love that they went the extra yard to say, “Hey, we can bring in a technology that scares a lot of people. We can show the benefits of it in real time.” And in doing that from a brand perspective, build an asset that is totally ownable, that we can manage this over time. So I think there are a couple of elements in terms of the benefits of AI, the role of Daisy, and then pulling and Amy that I think were really smart.
Crystalyn Stuart-Loayza 7:19
I think there's like a heroism that sort of attached to positioning Daisy as kind of the solution to this challenge, which was really smart, and in doing so, it also makes this like, good AI. So it sort of classifies this as a heroic effort. Look how cool she is. She's already the coolest, the coolest granny. Really smart.
Alvin Ooi 8:54
Yeah, I want to say that they did put the personality on to the generative AI character, which is very important. And also, you know, we always think that, you know, we always know that AI agent’s going to help us make our life better, you know, complete our tasks faster. But this is kind of like a very creative spin, right? And also help us, address the all the pain points that we have, like, you know, getting all the spam calls and everything. Now we have an AI agent that actually help us take care of it.
Tom Ollerton 9:28
Would you sign this off on its current execution? Thumbs up or down? One, two, three... Brilliant. Guys, thank you so much, and we'll see you all next week.
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