Poignant Facebook campaign positions Portal as a connector of generations

The campaign promotes the functionality of Portal to connect families.

The power to connect families has been the focus of Facebook’s video calling device “Portal” since the early days of the pandemic in 2020. It’s one of the many tech platforms that has been helping people overcome the enforced physical restrictions experienced the world over.

That focus continues in AMV BBDO’s integrated campaign to promote Facebook’s new devices “Portal Go” and “Portal+” as it highlights the anticipation and preparation that one grandfather puts into getting ready to make a Portal call to his granddaughter.

The central idea was developed around the insight that approximately 2 million grandparents only see their grandchildren once a year in the U.K.

The TV and social films were directed by Joanna Nordahl and have been edited into 15-, 30- and 60-second formats. Alongside TV, the campaign will also feature digital, social and OOH activity with media planning and buying by Mindshare. Other elements of the strategy will cover ecommerce, digital and social media advertising with hyper-local activity planned in the south of England with a pop-up digital out-of-home placement featuring messages of love from grandchildren.

“As we prepare to launch our newest video-calling devices, Portal Go and Portal+, this campaign shines a light on how important the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren really is,” Aaron Hoffman, director of international marketing at Facebook Reality Labs, said in a statement. “There are incredible mental and physical benefits the bond between these two generations can unlock when they’re able to connect more often.”

Another campaign element that will run across Facebook’s own channels will be a collection of short films developed by VMLY&R which aim to highlight the importance of sharing experiences with grandparents. These will run through both paid activity and within community feeds. A partnership with commercial broadcaster ITV in early October also saw the two companies co-produce content that displayed how some of the channel’s onscreen talent celebrated Grandparents Day with their families, using Portal to communicate.