Tourism NI's spot revealed an epic family day out began two days earlier on the sofa

Challenge the perception that Northern Ireland isn't a holiday to-do, and show how epic and how effortless a trip there can be — while avoiding tourism clichés.

Show a real family having epic fun at Northern Ireland attractions, then cut to 'Only two days earlier…' — the same family bored on the sofa. Epic is one small step away

A fast-cut TVC with a real family of five at Marble Arch Caves and Let's Go Hydro, set to Northern Ireland's own The Japanese Popstars with 'Let Go'; forced-perspective images of landmarks carried the same idea in print and OOH. Ran across TV, social, digital, radio and print.

No quantified results in the source; it was the first major campaign since BBDO won the business, bringing the new Embrace a Giant Spirit brand to life across every channel at once.

For too many people, Northern Ireland wasn't at the top of the holiday to-do list despite everything it offers. Tourism Northern Ireland launched its new 'Embrace a Giant Spirit' brand at the start of 2020, and its newly won agency BBDO Dublin built the first major campaign on a precise behavioural insight: the gap between a boring weekend and an epic one is a decision, not a distance.

The TVC, written and art directed by Ben Clifford and Kirk Bannon and produced in-house, follows a real family of five having a whale of a time at attractions as varied as Marble Arch Caves and Let's Go Hydro — fast cuts surging on 'Let Go' by the North's house pioneers The Japanese Popstars. Then the pace slows and a card reads 'Only two days earlier…': the same family slumped at home, dad asking 'Have they anything on next week?'

Outdoor and print pushed the same thought through forced-perspective images of iconic landmarks, and account director Katie Cunningham spelled out the strategy: skip the usual tourism tropes and show a real family having epic fun only an hour or so up the road. The campaign ran across social, digital, radio, print, OOH and TVC, with more segment-targeted activity planned behind it.

The twist structure makes inertia the villain — the audience recognises the sofa scene as their own weekend, not a tourist brochure's promise.

Casting a real family and shooting real attractions keeps the 'how effortless' claim honest: no staged glamour, just an hour up the road.

Using The Japanese Popstars folds local pride into the soundtrack, quietly proving the 'epic' claim with Northern Irish craft.

The idea scales across channels: forced-perspective OOH compresses 'close and epic' into a single image.

The obstacle to a nearby destination is inertia, not distance — dramatise the tiny step from sofa to adventure instead of listing sights.

The campaign went live in September 2020 as BBDO Dublin's first major work for Tourism NI, with further activity targeting the organisation's other segments announced; the source reports no performance results.