Viettel 5G: Uncle Badass

The playWhat they did

What most think~~Most Tet ads (Tet is the Lunar New Year, Vietnam's big family holiday) say one thing: come home.~~

What this play showedViettel said: can't come home? Fine. Reach out instead.

A Tet film for Viettel 5G. An uncle from northern Vietnam can't get his scattered family home for the holiday, so he hits the road to see them, and calls them along the way. On the trip he plays games with middle-schoolers, climbs Vietnam's highest mountain by accident and rides part of it in outfits borrowed from drag performers.

The tapeWhy it worked

1
Flip the belief
The tape
Tet is supposed to be about going home. This film says if they can't come home, you go to them, or you pick up the phone.
Why it works
You don't fight a tradition. You hand people a new way to keep it, and they feel allowed.
Steal it
Name the thing your customers feel guilty about missing, and show them a new way to do it.
2
Make 'em feel seen
The tape
Tattoo parlours and drag culture, worlds Tet ads almost never show. Then gamers and floating market vendors.
Why it works
Families are scattered now. Show the family people really have, not the postcard one, and they lean in.
Steal it
Put a real customer in your next post. The one who doesn't look like your stock photo.

Look at who did it. Vietnam's biggest telecom, a brand people call traditional, put an unhinged uncle and drag performers in its holiday ad. No hedging.

FinalThe score

No views, sales or awards published in the sources. One says it quickly caught on with people on social media, but gives no numbers. I won't guess them.

Your shiftYour rink

A family restaurant. Before a big family holiday (Tet in Vietnam, Thanksgiving or Christmas in North America), make one short film: you drive across town dropping holiday meals at the doors of regulars who can't get home this year, and help each one video-call their family from the doorstep. AI writes the script and the shot list. You film yourself and a few regulars (with their OK) on a green screen in one afternoon; AI builds the streets and the doorsteps. This week's first step: message your regulars on WhatsApp (or Zalo in Vietnam) and ask who's stuck in town for the holiday.

Coach LyCoach's Take

2nd line: AI plus you AI writes it, builds every stop and cuts the trailers. Real people still need a camera: film them on a green screen in one afternoon and let AI put them on the road.

The No-Agency Playbook

Coach's call: 2nd line: AI plus you

Viettel sent one uncle on a road trip to his scattered family for one Tet film (Tet is the Lunar New Year). I'd keep the heart and shrink the map: one holiday ride across your own town (Tet in Vietnam, Thanksgiving or Christmas in North America), with your shop quietly keeping the family connected. AI writes it, storyboards it, builds the streets and cuts it. You film your real people on a green screen in one afternoon, and approve every cut.
Coach Ly

CHoliday Road Desk LWScript RWStoryboard FCrew LDCutting Room RDMedia GScoreboard

You on the bench: the owner, or your one-person marketing team. You make the calls.

AI runs it
AI drafts, you approve
You or a freelancer

C
Captain · orchestratorHoliday Road Desk
AI drafts, you approve
Holds the story, the shot list and the release plan, and lines up every script, cut and post for you to approve.
Your call: You approve the story, the cast and the release dates.
- Gives Claude tools, subagents and memory to run multi-step work
- Visual AI agent workflows that you can host on your own servers
LW
Left wing · agent 1Script
AI drafts, you approve
Writes a short holiday road-trip story in episodes, set in your town, with your product in the background, not the spotlight.
Your call: You pick the story and the real people in it.
- Careful long-form reasoning and writing that keeps brand context in Projects
RW
Right wing · agent 2Storyboard
AI runs it
Turns each scene into frames and a phone-friendly shot list, and builds the backgrounds: the road, the streets and the doorsteps.
- Many leading video and image models plus ready-made ad presets
- Brand kits and templates let non-designers make on-brand assets quickly
F
Forward · agent 3Crew
You or a freelancer
Films the owner and the regulars on a green screen in one afternoon, following the shot list.
Your call: You film it (a phone on a tripod is enough with good light), or rent a green-screen room. This is the part AI cannot do.
- Quick short-form editing with auto captions, templates and AI generation
LD
Left D · agent 4Cutting Room
AI drafts, you approve
Cuts the episodes and short trailers, keys the green-screen takes onto the AI-built scenes, and adds captions, a voiceover and a holiday song.
Your call: You approve the song and every cut before it goes out.
- Image and video generation, an upscaler, and AI music and voice in one creative suite
- Quick short-form editing with auto captions, templates and AI generation
- Natural-sounding voiceover in many languages, Vietnamese included
RD
Right D · agent 5Media
AI drafts, you approve
Releases the episodes in the weeks before the holiday and pushes the best one to people near your shop.
Your call: You set a daily cap the agent cannot go over.
- API messaging at scale for alerts, promotions, support and in-chat shopping
- AI sets audience, placements and budget across Facebook and Instagram
- Automates TikTok targeting, bidding and budget, now including search ads
- Reaches Vietnamese customers in Zalo chat with messages, content and chatbots
G
Goalie · agent 6Scoreboard
AI runs it
Tracks views, shares and shop visits for each episode and says which one to push harder.
Your call: Read it Monday with your coffee.
- Free web and app analytics with machine-learning forecasts of behaviour
- Shareable drag-and-drop dashboards over Google and BigQuery data

SourcesRead more

Facts checked on 2026-10-15. The film and articles belong to their owners.

Viettel 5G Uncle Badass

Flip the belief

Make 'em feel seen