Virgin Media Gamepad: Operation Level Up

How do you drive footfall when everyone else is targeting the same audience?

Virgin Media wanted to increase visits to its gaming venue at The O2, the Virgin Media Gamepad. Previous campaigns had focused on attracting gamers, but with every gaming brand competing for the same audience, it was becoming increasingly difficult to stand out.

The opportunity wasn’t to shout louder, it was to speak to the people everyone else was overlooking.

The Challenge

Virgin Media needed to increase awareness and footfall for the Virgin Media Gamepad.

While previous campaigns targeted dedicated gamers, the strategy wasn’t generating the cut-through needed to drive visits. To achieve stronger results, the campaign needed to engage a wider gaming audience and reposition the venue as somewhere anyone could enjoy.

What We Did

Using insights from The State of Play Report, we identified an untapped opportunity: casual and mobile gamers make up the majority of the UK’s gaming population, yet they were largely ignored by competitor campaigns.

We developed Operation Level Up – a creator-led social strategy designed to inspire everyday gamers to take their gaming experience beyond their phones and visit the Virgin Media Gamepad.

Working with a diverse range of creator pairs, we produced 17 pieces of organic content across Instagram Reels, TikTok and Stories. Rather than focusing on gaming expertise, creators shared authentic experiences exploring the venue together, making the content feel fun, accessible and relatable.

To maximise impact, the strongest-performing assets were amplified through paid media, ensuring optimal reach and frequency across our target audiences.

Results

• 17 creator-led assets across Instagram Reels, TikTok and Stories.
• 203% of guaranteed engagements delivered.
• 178% of guaranteed link clicks delivered.
• 241% of guaranteed impressions delivered.

By combining audience insight with creator-led storytelling, We successfully reached an overlooked gaming audience, proving that the smartest social strategies aren’t always about finding new audiences; sometimes they’re about recognising the value of the ones everyone else has missed.

Why It Worked

The campaign succeeded because it challenged assumptions about who gaming campaigns should target.

Instead of competing for the attention of hardcore gamers, we focused on the much larger audience of casual players who already enjoyed gaming but had never considered visiting a dedicated gaming venue.

Authentic creator content made the experience feel welcoming and accessible, while paid social ensured the campaign reached the right audiences at scale.

The result was a social-first strategy that generated stronger engagement, increased interest and drove more people through the doors of the Virgin Media Gamepad.