O2 celebrates Nothing collaboration with coded artwork and NFT campaign

O2 has launched an integrated campaign, to celebrate its exclusive partnership with handset maker, Nothing. The campaign celebrates the fact that tech can be more than simply functional – it can also be art. It will run for the next two weeks.

O2 has collaborated with creative designer and coder, Anderion De Castro, who has created four exclusive art pieces which hero beautiful coded designs which, if cracked, will reveal a mystery message. The bespoke coded artwork has been created incorporating the O2 logo within the design. The new campaign celebrates the availability of the Nothing Phone (1) handset – the name of the device is Phone (1) – on O2.

The artwork will appear in high footfall locations in London, Birmingham, and Manchester. The media strategy and planning approach was devised by Havas Media UK, with O2’s agency of record, VCCP London, also heavily involved in the campaign.

O2 is also entering the NFT (non-fungible tokens) space for the first time, as the bespoke, decodable, virtual art also doubles as an NFT, which will be made available to the first people who are successful at cracking hidden codes in the artwork. The Phone (1) NFT will be viewable on Nothing’s NFT gallery. 

The campaign will also feature in Digital Out of Home (DOOH) and across social channels including Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and across YouTube, Twitch, and games such as, Paladins, SMITE and Rogue Company. The creative asset has been designed like the distinctive Nothing (1) Glyph which will flash like a 3,2,1 countdown. The artwork will take the shape of the design and then begin its animated loop. Activating in Roblox too, O2 has created a network of  more than 150 games, where in-game DOOH billboards will push the partnership.

“We’re passionate about delivering only the most exciting and innovative offerings, and our purpose is to reimagine connectivity,” said Simon Valcarel, Marketing Director at Virgin Media O2. “We’re incredibly proud to be able to share this disruptive new campaign with our tech-obsessed O2 customers, by focusing on what connectivity enables and what it means to people. We’ve created unique code-infused digital artwork, that’s doubling up as an NFT, and projected it across the UK’s biggest cities in an attention grabbing, creative campaign that’s been purposefully built to catch the eye, steal the nation’s curiosity and drive intrigue through longer dwelling disruptive media channels.”