"Wizard"

8 April 2025

30s

You're a wizard, Ted.

Ever wondered what cats think of their owners, especially those with smartphones and a compulsion to take cursed pictures? Then get a load of this terrific ad for Tesco Mobile that boasts memorable puppetry and a script shot through with dry humour. If cats ever learn to talk, we hope and pray they sound like the ones featured here on an Irish street corner.

The lead cat sounds like he’s lost the will to live all nine lives when he says: “So, she holds the rectangle up to me, then she looks at the rectangle, then she holds the rectangle up to me, and then she looks at the rectangle…" The other cats have similar experiences, but they all have it easy compared to Ted. Yes, ladies and gentlemen—it's time to talk about Ted.

Whatever dignity this cat had is long gone; now he's dressed like a wizard ("Nice hat" "Don't—just don't"). The defeated vocal performance, the deadpan look on Ted's face, the subtle twitches and movements of the puppets... we could spend all day in the company of these confounded cats.

Whether viewers use their rectangles to take cat pictures or not, the brand reckons they deserve the same coverage and reliability of the so-called bigger networks. The fact this is conveyed with talking cats at their wits' end is, ahem, wizard.

Ireland

Mobile Phone Networks