Your Phone Can Wait, Life Can't

Ugly Partners with OPPO on a Year-End Campaign Encouraging People to Put Their Phones Down.

Holidays are a time for connection, but let’s face it: the dinner table and dance floor are often competing with the ever-distracting social feed. This year, Shanghai-based creative agency Ugly teamed up with OPPO APAC to launch a holiday campaign that cuts through the noise and reminds everyone to truly be present for the moments that matter most.

Research highlights how the fear of missing out (FOMO) and the constant urge to stay connected make it difficult for people to put down their phones during celebrations. Whether it’s scrolling through holiday updates, staying on top of group chats, or catching livestream sales, digital habits often take precedence over real-life connections.

The campaign’s centerpiece is a short film that cleverly personifies social media feeds as living characters, each representing a distraction pulling people away from meaningful holiday moments. It delivers a powerful and timely message: silence these distractions and ‘Enjoy the Present’ during this special time of year.

Directed by Morvasu, a renowned Thai indie singer-songwriter and director, the film creatively showcases the variety of content that dominates screens during the holidays. From a K-Pop music video and a fitness trainer to livestream salespeople, ASMR channels, life-hack influencers, and friends’ feeds from a ski trip, each “feed” is humorously portrayed as a distraction to be turned off.

Launching across multiple Southeast Asian markets, the campaign encourages audiences to prioritize what truly matters this holiday season: the people right beside them.