The Broadband Angelus

The Background

Why does the Six One news start at 18:01? The Angelus is a ritual embedded in Irish life—commanding pause and attention before one of the most-watched programmes. Could we create our own Angelus in the broadband space? Yes, we could. Through strategic repetition and precise targeting, we turned a simple idea into a powerful sales driver, delivering a 20% increase in sales.

This campaign won the Grand Prix and the award for Best Tactical Use of TV at the 2025 TAMI Awards

The Challenge

National Broadband Ireland (NBI) is rolling out the National Broadband Plan, bringing high-speed internet to homes nationwide—think of them as the ESB of broadband. However, as a wholesaler of broadband, NBI faced a unique challenge: the end user didn’t know who they were. Unlike retail providers, they don’t sell directly to consumers, meaning the messaging had to work harder to break through consumer confusion and make NBI a recognizable name. But for a brand with just 1% share of voice in a category flooded with advertising, Zenith faced a challenge: breaking through the noise to bring high-speed internet to homes nationwide.
The mission? To elevate brand awareness among eligible customers who hadn’t yet made the switch to fibre, shifting them from buffering frustration to seamless connectivity.
Beyond this, Zenith had to convince stakeholders to shift from short-term digital tactics to a bold TV buy—placing most of their budget (70%) into a single 08:59 spot: the Broadband Angelus. With limited budgets but an appetite for innovation, Zenith set out to create something distinctive—something that didn’t just fit within the category but redefined how broadband advertising could be done.

The Strategy

The Telcos category is a battlefield, with over €30M in annual advertising spend, plus sponsorships that make it impossible to quantify just how loud the competition is. While NBI doesn’t directly compete with these brands, they were drowning in the same broadband sea. Consumers are exposed to a staggering 3,500 ads per week—and in that chaos, NBI Share of Voice (SOV) dropped from 2% to 1% between 2022 and 2023. The message wasn’t just getting lost—it was invisible.

Despite launching the National Broadband Plan, awareness was still low. People didn’t know who NBI were, what they offered, or if they even mattered. It was time to change the game. Traditionally, NBI ran regionalised media campaigns using short form digital formats, but 2024 marked a turning point. For the first time, they had the opportunity to speak to a national audience. Zenith could have followed the familiar playbook, but instead, they challenged the brief, the client, and even themselves to push for something smarter, sharper, and more effective.
Working with Core Research and Core Data, Zenith went straight to the source: the audience. The findings were unignorable: They didn’t care about broadband ads. They hated jargon—gigabytes, fibre speeds, technical lingo. They wanted straight-talking, entertaining messaging. They wanted us to let them know when NBI was in their area, and they gave us licence to shout about progress.

Armed with that knowledge, Zenith had to find the right channel for our message which needed duration. Low-attention and low dwell time ads on social and display weren’t working for the complex message. Zenith couldn’t land a message if they were using channels people only pay fleeting attention to so TV emerged as the only option. Taking learnings from Karen Nelson Fields’ research, Zenith knew that Linear TV dominates attention, capturing the largest share across all platforms (67% v 7% on Meta). This was a powerful insight for Zenith to share in the boardroom. Thinkbox Media Mix Modelling study showed that simply optimizing the existing mix would yield only minor gains—whereas adding TV created a multiplier effect. It was clear: NBI didn’t need to spend our way out of the problem—they needed to repeat their way out of it. And needed to do so in a way that would be utterly unforgettable.

Enter Fionnuala Fibre O’Farrell Flynn:

Knowing that emotion drives impact, particularly in high-attention media like TV, Zenith partnered with Core Creative and CMS to create something entirely different.
Fionnuala Fibre O’Farrell Flynn—a puppet news anchor with a mission to make broadband make sense. No jargon. No nonsense. Just straight-talking, clever storytelling with a wink and a punchline. A puppet was an unexpected but perfect choice—it unlocked nostalgia, humor, and memorability, making our message stick. While the broadband giants were spending millions shouting about speeds and specs, NBI cut through the noise with personality

To maximize a modest budget, they needed a media moment—something that would embed NBI into the fabric of the nation. Zenith decided to run an NBI ad at the same time, several times a week, much like the Angelus or the weather forecast—predictable, familiar, and consistent. With that in mind, they opted for 20:59 as the last spot before the Nine News on RTÉ, mirroring the way the Angelus leads into the Six One. This placement was invaluable. The Nine News is a high-rating, trusted source, finishing 15th on TV’s top 50 programming in 2024. By introducing the news, NBI could reach up to half a million viewers per episode. Targeting the nation when they were in the mindset to receive information. But with budget constraints, NBI couldn’t afford to be on TV every night. So to maximize impact, Zenith placed ads strategically based on predicted news events—coinciding with major cultural and sporting moments like the Olympics, US presidential debates, and Eurovision, which delivered our biggest spot.

AV was integrated with other marketing activity to maximize audience reach, leveraging key cultural moments—most notably, the National Ploughing Championships, a prime opportunity to connect with rural communities. Fionnuala Fibre made a live appearance, drawing attention and engagement. With monthly performance tracking, Zenith continuously refined our approach. The strong engagement seen from search and social activations post-TV airtime reinforced the value of an integrated AV strategy. Zenith’s ability to analyse results and adjust placement ensured NBI maintained momentum throughout the campaign, delivering sustained effectiveness without increasing spend.

The Results

NBI were live from May to September 2024 with a modest investment comparable to the bigger spenders in the Telcos category. TV was the lead channel on the plan, accounting for 70% of investment, yet our spend in the medium (c.€400k) was comparable to what Sky or Vodafone might spend in a fortnight.
Despite only running in the bespoke Angelus spot, half of all adults in Ireland saw the TV spot at least once. Importantly, the recall ration was strong. Even with comparatively low investment, research was able to show that one in five people remember seeing the ad. This strong recall ration has been driven by the repetition strategy – being on at the same time, in the same spot.
During the months of the TV campaign, the digital campaign had a 90% increase in clickthrough rates on social media and a 55% increase in clickthrough rates on paid search. Encouragingly, the peak time for conversions on search was between 9pm-10pm, i.e. directly after the ad aired on TV. This is something that was not seen before the campaign launched in May.
Sales figures from the client demonstrate that the campaign has been hugely effective at inspiring action amongst our audience. When NBI launched in May orders rose +30% MoM and by the end of the year there was a 26% increase in sale

With the challenge faced, Zenith knew growing brand awareness was significantly important. The client set a target of 14-17% for spontaneous awareness and 50%-60% for prompted awareness. Through brand tracking throughout the year, the team can see these targets were exceeded. Spontaneous awareness grew to 20% nationally and the move away from geotargeted media campaigns did not have a negative impact on those within the intervention areas as spontaneous awareness there grew +4pp to 34%. At the same time, prompted awareness far exceeded the 50% target by finishing 2024 at a very healthy 63%.

“In an industry where bigger budgets often dominate, we needed to think smarter, not spend bigger. Zenith didn’t just meet that challenge; they shattered expectations. They truly
understand our business, our role in the National Broadband Plan, our stakeholders, and the complexities we face. Rather than simply responding to our brief, they challenged it—pushing us to consider an approach we never would have imagined.
The result was a radically different media and creative solution that transformed how we communicate. Fionnuala became more than just a fluent device—she gave our brand a distinctive identity, simplified a complex message, and drove deeper engagement than ever before. Backed by research and strategic modelling, the decision to introduce a fluent device and leverage a prime TV spot was bold, calculated, and ultimately game-changing for us.
This campaign wasn’t just well-executed—it was fearless, original, and perfectly timed. It reinvigorated our organisation, strengthened stakeholder confidence, and ultimately proved that when media strategy and creativity align, the results speak for themselves..”

Damien Dineen, Head of Brand, Marketing and PR,National Broadband Ireland

Credits

Brand:

National Broadband Ireland

Media Agency:

Zenith, Part of Core

Award:

TAMI Awards Winner of Grand Prix and Best Tactical Use of TV at the 2025 TAMI Awards