You couldn’t name a more culturally iconic Belfast venue than the Ulster Hall. Since 1862, it’s been a mainstay in the music and cultural scene in Northern Ireland, hosting everyone from the Rolling Stones to Led Zeppelin. 

We collaborated with the Ulster Hall and its sister venue, the Waterfront Hall, on their 2025 Christmas Campaign. Across out-of-home advertising, digital and paid placements, and even on-site print and digital executions, the organisation has completely trusted us to do something new, exciting, and unexpected for their audiences. 

In a full and total rejection of the advertising campaigns of old, we went right back to the drawing board. We’re dealing with a legacy venue, so what can we learn from the old stories of gigs gone by? How does it relate to Christmas? And how can we make buying a voucher feel like anything but a cop-out? 

When you go to a gig, you don’t remember the cost. You don’t remember the refreshments. You remember the night – it’s a precious thought that you’ll always hold dear. We have our own gig memories – Kaia won’t forget seeing Olivia Dean in an intimate gig in Birmingham, Gregg won’t stop going on about his crowdsurfing at Turnstile last month, and Craig is still shaking from his bass fix at Dizzee Rascal in the Telegraph.

That’s how we came up with the campaign idea – “Remember when”. It’s the easiest way to push the idea that you’re not selling people tickets, you’re selling an experience. The best bit? It’s an experience you get to share with your loved ones.

We designed and built the campaign around a totally modular system (our favourite). It meant that we were making something iconic and recognisable, that wouldn’t only work in one medium. From an Instagram advert to an Adshel on a bus shelter, assets work at every shape and scale to make sure that whilst each act and event had its own space, it belonged to a wider group of events. For us, building equity at every stage of each event is just as important as having something that looks nice.

Alongside the events and advertising, we designed and printed brand new gift vouchers for the venues – they were modular too. You’d write a message on the space provided, and the recipient got to tear their own ticket on the perforated edge. Just like the old stubs, you had something to leave behind and remember the gig (and the message), without having to sacrifice the physical ticket to the depths of your Apple Wallet.

The campaign was a massive hit with the internal team and their audiences alike – as were the activations on-site with gift vouchers, photobooths, and more.

Because nothing says a successful campaign quite like a list of sold-out shows.