Ziggo is leaning into a familiar truth of football culture: fandom is loud, communal, and way more fun when a brand can show up with a character people actually remember. Mascots work when they feel like part of the ritual, not a bolt-on logo with a punchline.
In a new campaign, Ziggo partnered with Not Just Any and agency Brothers & Sisters to introduce a new Octopus character, produced using AI techniques from concept through final delivery. The company shared the update in an official announcement.
Table of contents
Jump to each section:
- What the Ziggo Octopus campaign includes
- How the AI production pipeline shaped the character
- Why “AI-made” still hinged on human performance craft
- What this means for AI-powered commercial production
What the Ziggo Octopus campaign includes
The centerpiece is a 20-second TV spot built around football fandom, with fast visual comedy and Ziggo’s orange palette. The Octopus is positioned as an “ultimate multitasker,” designed to be expressive enough to carry repeated appearances.
The campaign also extends beyond the hero film into digital out-of-home and print, using those formats to establish the character quickly across multiple places audiences might notice it.
A key detail is intent: the Octopus is framed as long-term brand IP, not a one-off gag. That is a different ambition than a seasonal mascot, because it implies continuity, recognisability, and the expectation that the character can evolve with future creative.
How the AI production pipeline shaped the character
Not Just Any describes an AI-powered pipeline spanning audience research, character design, and generative production. The practical claim is not just speed, but the ability to move from concept to broadcast-quality delivery using a different workflow than traditional commercial production.
In the areas where animation teams often spend heavy time, like complex rigging and technical animation steps, AI is positioned as a way to streamline labor-intensive parts of the process. That potentially changes how quickly a team can iterate on character design and motion tests before committing to final shots.
For brand teams, the larger strategic angle here is that AI is being used to make character development feel more like an iterative product process: test, refine, and lock in details, instead of betting early on a single “final” version.
Why “AI-made” still hinged on human performance craft
The campaign puts unusual emphasis on what makes a character feel “real”: the nuance of movement, the animation performance, and the skin detail. Not Just Any’s leadership explicitly frames AI as removing technical friction rather than replacing creative decision-making.
That distinction matters because audiences do not judge a character based on the toolchain. They judge it on vibe: does it feel expressive, consistent, and emotionally legible in a few seconds?
If Ziggo wants this Octopus to become durable IP, the bar is not “good for AI.” The bar is whether the character can hold attention, become recognisable quickly, and still feel like it belongs inside the brand’s world the next time it shows up.
What this means for AI-powered commercial production
AI production is starting to look less like a novelty category and more like an alternative way to get to broadcast-quality creative, especially when teams treat it as a workflow shift rather than a style choice.
- Long-term characters are becoming easier to prototypeIf teams can iterate faster on design and motion, more brands can experiment with character-driven assets without committing to a long traditional production cycle upfront.
- “AI-made” is becoming a production story, not a viewer storyThe audience experience is still “a polished ad.” The differentiator is internal: speed, iteration, and the ability to explore more creative paths before locking the final.
- Brand IP benefits when craft is treated as non-negotiableThe campaign’s focus on animation nuance is a reminder that IP is built through consistency and performance detail, not just recognisable shapes and colors.
- Multi-format rollout helps a new character feel real fasterPairing a hero film with OOH and print can compress the time it takes for a character to register as “part of the brand,” not just an isolated ad moment.
- AI workflows may change who can make “big” creativeIf AI reduces some technical bottlenecks, smaller teams may be able to deliver ambitious work that previously required larger production pipelines, as long as creative direction stays strong.
The bigger cultural signal is that brands still want mascots because they give people something to latch onto and talk about, especially around shared rituals like football fandom. AI does not change that motivation.
What it changes is the path to getting there. When production becomes more iterative, brand characters can be developed more like living assets, refined over time, and built for reuse across channels. That is likely where AI’s most practical impact will show up: not replacing the idea of brand storytelling, but accelerating how quickly brands can build worlds that feel consistent.
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