Verve|Showrunner’sWhere Is Mr Tayto?” campaign has won gold at the Digital Media Awards for Best Strategy. An impressive debut at the awards show for the agency, just off the back of five wins at the Kinsale Sharks, where they matched the highest number of awards for an Irish campaign.

Where Is Mr Tayto?” was the agency’s response to Tayto’s call for new ways to connect their mascot with Gen-Z. Building on the insight “People want what they can’t have”, the campaign was an attention-grabbing, PR mystery on social media where the crisp mascot disappeared for weeks from packaging, socials, and his regular crisp duties. Social engagement on Tayto’s channels skyrocketed, as they used the absence of the mascot to promote the mascot. The narrative was boosted by murder-mystery style collaborations with TikTok influencers, faux news segments, and a media partnership with Joe.ie.

Mr Tayto was finally given back to the audience on socials, as he revealed he was off on a much needed holiday. He then began documenting the in-person travels of his entire, unprecedentedly-large, intercontinental bucket list adventure. This Travel Tok stream of content engaged fans with competitions, polls, as well as meet & greets in different cities, banking on his audience’s relief that, although he was away, he wasn’t going anywhere.

The campaign was created by Verve|Showrunner, the Creative Production House within Verve, headed up by Sam Moorhead, Mikey Fleming and Jane Gray. Content for the campaign was produced with Kinsale’s Lost Studios, a film production company founded in 2020 by Cian Hamilton and Nic Cargin. And all influencer content was shot by Gerard Walsh, famous for Darren & Joe’s Free Gaff.

To see the entire stream of content of “Where Is Mr Tayto?”, visit the detailed microsite whereismrtayto.ie, or Tayto’s TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Sam Moorhead, Creative Partner in Verve|Showrunner “Creative Strategy is a big part of what we do, so it’s brilliant for the agency to pick up a gold award in this hugely competitive category. This campaign in particular is a great example of the kind of creative - and creative strategy - we’re capable of achieving, so it’s brilliant to have it recognised at this level.