Energia

Another look at a campaign by Irish agency Boys and Girls today as part of our small retrospective.  This print campaign for Energia was accompanied by a series of radio ads that focused on Energia being the country's largest electricity supplier to Irish SME's. Energia were faced with an issue, despite having a large business consumer base, they were largely unknown by the general public. Competing against established names like Bord Gáis and ESB, this campaign aimed to put Energia's name into the public conscious and build brand awareness.

The ads juxtaposed two business environments together in a humorous fashion, highlighting the wide range of companies in Energia's client base. These print ads were the beginning of a massive campaign, involving television ads and the sponsorship of Pat Kenny's infamous move to Newstalk FM. 

Powers "It's Ours"

Today I'd like to continue a short look at the work of Irish advertising agency Boys and Girls. This outdoor and print advertisement for Power's Whiskey won them a bronze award in the Outdoor category of this year's Kinsale Sharks International Creative Festival. Authenticity and craft were the keywords in this campaign, and intrinsic to Power's brand identity as a whole. The company wished to promote their strong sense Irish heritage and tradition.

In the ad, landscape photos of Ireland are rendered on to images of Power's whiskey in glasses. In the words of the agency themselves; "The Burren was photographed to provide the basis for the Hot Powers execution. Ladies View in Killarney was shot showcasing a changing Irish landscape. A Barley field in Louth captured a key ingredient in the Whiskey and Ballintoy Harbour in Armagh provided a memory of a great weekend." The images are beautiful, and truly reflect the brand image. I think this work is a great example of a simple creative premise executed to perfection, creating an advert that appeals to multiple generations. 

Folláin 2013 Print Ad

Boys and Girls created this beautiful print ad for Irish jam producers Folláin in May of this year. The campaign's simple design harkens to the simple manufacturing of the product, resulting in a pleasing brand symmetry. Paper manipulator Yulia Brodskaya, who has created work for The Guardian, Cadburys and Ford, designed the image.

It's great to see emerging Irish companies chose emerging Irish creative agencies to partner with. Boys and Girls work is refreshing and something I am beginning to be able to identify at sight. I'll have a look at a few more of their successful campaigns in the coming days. 

Carlsberg "Nightclubs"

I'll end this review of the Carlsberg "Don't Do" campaign with this last ad, which shows what Carlsberg would do if in charge of nightclubs. As stated before, the campaign was incredibly successful. While I have only showcased ads created primarily for the Irish market by OwensDDB, many other agencies (in particular Saatchi&Saatchi) produced similar ads worldwide. Many of the Irish ads were also shown to international audiences.

Upon the campaigns completion, Carlsberg faced many challenges with creating a campaign that easily encompassed the brand values and viewpoint as concisely as this series. By 2005, Heineken had become the market leader and Carlsberg was forced to rethink their strategy to ensure consumers remembered why they loved Carlsberg. However this stall in Carlsberg's growth cannot diminish the success and popularity of this brilliant campaign. 

Carlsberg "Flatmates"

Continuing on with our look at some of Carlsberg's "Don't Do" campaign, Flatmates remains a top audience favourite. Carlsberg is a brand that has a playful image and this ad really reinforced the target markets opinion that it was a likeable brand. The total campaign saw a steady rise in sales for the company, and entered into the pantheon of great Irish advertising. Also worth noting is the copy line, "Carlsberg, probably the best larger in the world", is still widely remembered and universally believed as a catchphrase.

OwensDDB's market research showed that consumers valued the brands integrity and lack of pretension. Many of the ad's also prominently featured football, a key interest in the target demographic and tied to Carlsberg's corporate sponsoring of Irish football. The cleverness, insight and imagination this campaign portrayed makes it clear why it is still so widely remembered and has become a key distinguishing feature for the brand. 

Carlsberg "Dreams"

Going back to a slightly older ad in this post, with Carlsberg's 2002 "Dreams", one of the featured ads in the outstanding "Don't Do" campaign. Ireland qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 2002, and the national hysteria surrounding the event had began to rise. Carlsberg capitalised on this, providing a humorous ad that hankers back to the country's infamous Italia '90 success. Jason McAteer, an Irish football player, is a great use of celebrity cameo and really ties the ad together. Another great shot is taken outside a chipvan, a subtle reference to "The Van", a film fondly remembered by the Irish public.

Even still, OwensDBB, the agency which created the campaign, receive feedback from focus groups that Carlsberg should reinstate it's "Don't Do" campaign. I aim to cover a few more of this series in the coming weeks, as an example of some truly engaging best practice. 

Eircom MusicHub

Today I wanted to look at an Irish ad that captured attention of the national audience. Chemistry, an Irish creative agency, were behind this concept, which was a current Facebook craze. This is a good example of taking a creative vision from a trend, while still creating an ad that is both timeless and accessible to people who have never seen the original inspiration.

Emmet Wright, Chemistry's creative director had this to say about the brief and execution; “At the time, music-streaming was a new concept and Eircom needed to hit high numbers, and our brief was to look at how best to introduce this service. We developed a concept that would work, not just with early-adopters of technology, but would also educate and motivate the late majority”.

The advertisement was pivotal in Eircom securing their annual subscriber target within five months. It was also a coup for Chemistry who won numerous awards, with the campaign remaining their most successful to date.