Roman Kemp Stars In Vodafone TV's Debut Campaign

Vodafone has launched ‘Welcome to Smarter TV’, a new campaign created by Leo UK and starring British TV broadcaster Roman Kemp. The campaign turns a familiar night-in moment into a cinematic spectacle, bringing the brand’s entertainment hub Vodafone TV to life.

Launched in October in the UK, Vodafone TV brings together all the TV customers love – from Netflix, and HBO Max, Freely (the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 and more), an additional 150+ streamed live channels, 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio plus over 300 games, music and a huge range of content apps – together in one place. Offering customers an intuitive interface that makes entertainment effortless on Vodafone TV from just £17 per month.

At the heart of the campaign is a 30-second hero film starring Roman, who is preparing for the ultimate night in. There’s just one thing standing between him and settling down - the living room light is still on. Rather than getting up to turn it off, Roman takes matters into his own hands, launching a slipper through the air at the switch in an outrageously over-the-top, slow-motion shot worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster.

One perfectly aimed throw later, the lights go down, the room transforms and the entertainment begins. A high-energy montage showcases the breadth of content available through Vodafone TV, bringing the sheer scale of choice to life.

The hero film has tailored versions for HBO Max and Netflix, featuring fan favourites from each service, as well as 20-second and 6-second YouTube cutdowns. 

The campaign also comes to life through a series of OOH executions, including the London Cromination activation and digital and static OOH across the nation. Across London, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Cardiff, wrapped Vodafone TV buses will interact with digital OOH screens along their routes. Just as a TV remote lets viewers switch channels, location trackers on the buses will trigger a two-minute ‘channel change’ as they pass, featuring one of four creative executions before the screens return to their standard rotation. 

Across both digital and static formats, oversized hands holding the Vodafone TV remote are reimagined as characters including a knight, astronaut and alien, bringing to life the different worlds of entertainment available through Vodafone TV

The fully integrated campaign began rolling out from 4 November and will run until 3 January 2027 across cinema, linear TV, BVOD, YouTube, social, radio, OOH and display. The hero will initially launch across Radio, Cinema, BVOD and YouTube, with OOH following on 9 November, and TV in December. Media planning and buying was handled by Carat.

Maria Koutsoudakis, Chief Brand Officer, VodafoneThree, said: “For us, smarter technology isn’t about adding more features. It’s about making the experience simpler and giving people more for their money. Entertainment has become increasingly fragmented, with more subscriptions, platforms and places to look, so with Vodafone TV we saw an opportunity to bring it all together in one place, making it easier to find and enjoy great entertainment at a price that represents real value.

“That’s what ‘Welcome to Smarter TV’ is all about: technology working harder in the background, so people can spend less time searching, switching and managing subscriptions, and more time enjoying what they love. Roman brings that idea to life brilliantly, turning one of the most familiar moments at home into something unexpectedly cinematic.”

Andy Long, Chief Creative Officer at Leo UK, said: “We wanted to take something as ordinary as settling down to watch TV and give it the Hollywood treatment. The slipper throw is a familiar moment that gets completely out of hand, but that’s the fun of it. It’s a simple, human insight brought to life in a way that feels unmistakably bigger than life.”

VodafoneThree is investing £11bn to build the UK’s best network to expand 5G coverage, reduce not‑spots and improve digital infrastructure to bring faster, more reliable connectivity across the UK.

Credits:

Client: Vodafone

Vodafone team: Maria Koutsoudakis, Jo Wedlock, Lana Carty, Della Moorhouse  

Advertising Agency: Leo UK

CCO: Andy Long

Creative Directors: Ben Brazier and Johnny Ruthven

Copywriters and Art Directors: Tate Lampi, Maia Johnston, Matthew Baillie and Rabia Majid

Production Company: Mindseye

Director: Eros V

Media agency: Carat

Social Production: Publicis Production

Designers: Jo Miller Crow, Kat Loosemore, Rinaki Petrohilos, Charlie Crosthwaite, Gurcan Ergur, Carmen Perez Jimenz, Bey Redding-O'brien, Jacson Mitchell, Matt Slater 

Planners: Scarlett Spence & Katie Mulligan 

Business Lead: Marie-Louise Robinson 

Account Team: Sophie Keattch, Jack Masters, Felicity Anniss, Ottilie Whitbread 

Agency Producer: Verity Elvin & Georgia Morris 

Senior Agency Producer: Georgia Morris 

Exec Producer: Charlie Phillips, Hughie Phillips 

Shoot Producer: Giordi Caputo 

DoP: Miguel Carmenes 

Edit House: Stitch 

Editor: Flaura Atkinson 

Post-production: Harbor 

VFX supervisor: Kieran Baxter 

Senior Producer: Dan Love 

Audio Post-production: Harbor 

Sound Design & Mix: Tom Keats 

Audio Producer: Phoebe Baltazar