O2 highlights data poverty this Christmas

O2 is raising awareness of the National Databank, an initiative it launched in 2021 with the digital inclusion charity Good Things Foundation, this Christmas to draw attention to data poverty in the UK.

The seasonal ad, developed by VCCP, highlights the databank, which provides free O2 mobile data, texts, and calls to people in need. According to Ofcom, around two million households in the UK experience data poverty, limiting their ability to access essential online services, from booking appointments and completing homework to staying connected with loved ones.

Ofcom estimates there are currently around two million households living in data poverty, where people are unable to get online and carry out everyday tasks - from booking appointments to doing homework and crucially, staying in touch with loved ones.

Simon Valcarcel, MD at Virgin Media O2, said: “With around two million households now experiencing data poverty, we wanted to use our platform this festive season to share the realities of not having data in an honest and relatable way while raising awareness of the support available via the National Databank. Through this campaign, we hope to encourage people across the country to spread the word that those in need can get free O2 mobile data from their nearest O2 store.”

The new integrated campaign is led by an emotive 60” film, airing tonight during Big Brother on ITV1, which depicts real-world scenarios of people in data poverty, highlighting the difficulties of life without mobile data, which has become essential to everyday life. The scenes portrayed are inspired by real people’s stories and include a young man working in a kitchen who struggles to complete his studies due to a lack of data, a father and daughter who are unable to stream something to watch while they’re on a coach journey and a woman outside a laundrette struggling to stay in touch with loved ones.

To demonstrate how O2 supports people in need via the National Databank, the film shows snowflakes made of SIM cards gently falling from the sky into the hands of those disconnected, showing how they can get online with free O2 data.

David Masterman, deputy ECD at VCCP, added: “It’s easy to take for granted, but data is an essential utility. It’s necessary to book doctor’s appointments, for kids to do homework, and so many of our day-to-day activities - we wanted to bring this to life in this campaign by telling those stories and pointing people in the right direction to get support from O2.”

To highlight the stories of those experiencing data poverty, VCCP's global content creation studio, Girl&Bear, worked with award-winning director Stefanie Soho and Smuggler, with The Mill working on VFX. This helped to deliver the message in a simple, honest and moving way - illustrating both the necessity of data and the feeling people get when help is at hand. The film is set to the song ‘Snowfall’ by Ingrid Michaelson.

In addition, the campaign landing page has been cleverly designed and built as a zero-rated webpage which is exempt from any data charges so it’s accessible to those experiencing data poverty. Through this webpage, those in need can find their nearest O2 store to access free mobile data. This was built by VCCP’s digital experience agency Bernadette, with the clear audience need at its heart.

This is the third time that O2 has spotlighted the National Databank in its ATL Christmas campaign, previously the focal point in Bubl Army and Snowgran.

The campaign launches today across Cinema, TV, VOD, Online, OOH, Social, Radio and Retail, and will run until the 31st of December. Media planning and buying have been led by MG OMD.

Credits

Campaign Title: Snowing SIMs

Client: O2

Director of Brand & Marketing: Rachel Swift

Marketing Director: Simon Valcarcel

Head of Advertising and Campaigns: Richard Bown

Senior Campaign Managers: Kate Allen-Perry & Ella Hassall

PR & Social: Olivia McKee, Jemma Johns, Simon Feldman & Rachael Courtney

Sustainability: Simon Davis, Josephine Parmee & Jade Baker

Advertising Agency: VCCP

Deputy Executive Creative Director: David Masterman

Associate Creative Directors: Ben McCarthy & Seb Housden

Business Director: Alexandra Gluck

Senior Account Director: Ollie Humphries

Account Director: Jos Kirby

Account Manager: Lily Hubbard

Planning Director: Lotte Jones

Agency TV Producer: David Vass

Production Assistant: Oona Webster Jones

Broadcast Affairs Manager: Katie Singer

Agency Creative Producer: Yusuf Mountstephen

Production Studio: Girl&Bear

Design: Adam Edwards

Artwork: Nick Normann

Studio Manager: James Perry

Resource Coordinator: Yas Moridi

Post Producer: Olivia Hards & Finlay Macaulay

Production Company: Smuggler

Director: Stefanie Soho

Managing Director: Fergus Brown

Managing Director & EP: Lucy Kelly

Producer: Barty Dearden

DOP: Rina Yang

Production Designer: James Hatt

Stylist: Buki Odeniran

Edit House: Cabin Edit

Editors: Emma Backman & Craig Griffiths

Producer: Elin Tiberg & Amber Clayton

Post-Production: The Mill

Creative Director: Anthony Bloor

Senior Producer: Kathryn Wigginton

2D Lead: Dan Lorenzini

3D Lead: Laurent Giaume

2D: Jane Williams, Vipin Tripathi, Gopi Veeran, Stevenson G, Jegathesan Thangappan & Akhil A S

3D FX: Thanos Topouzis

3D Animation: Rachel Ward

3D Lighting: Damien Figueiredo, Garima Yadav

DMP: Swarup Panigrahi, Premanand Shivanand Naik & Shounak Chandrashekhar Padhye

BLR Project Lead: Venkata Mannepalli

BLR Senior Producer: Vikram Salvi

BLR Production Coordinator: Dominic Chintada

Colour: Untold Studios

Colourist: Julien Alary

Producers: Ellie Joseph & Eli Sandal

Audio Post-Production: Factory

Sound Engineer & CCO: Anthony Moore

Senior Audio Producer: Beth Massey

Music: Siren

Company Director & Music Supervisor: Sian Rogers

Associate Music Supervisor: Alice Benton

Digital Experience Agency: Bernadette

Project Manager: Nayef (Nay) Hassan

Creative Director/Head of 3D & Motion: Jon Bancroft

Senior Designer: Martin Pavlica

Principal UX Designer: Chris Hobbs

UX Engineer: Qianqian Zhou

Senior Designer: Andy Potts

Senior Copywriter: Alexander Skeith

Media Buying Agency: Manning Gottlieb OMD

Business Director: Will Maclure

Account Director: Anneka Williams

Account Manager: Mikhail Vallance

Digital Account Manager: Miranda Roberts