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. 

Peperami "It's a Bit of an Animal" and "Nibblers"

Quick post today on Unilever's Peperami. Lowe and Partners worked with the Peperami brand for 16 years, creating the character of "The Animal" and a series of zany advertisements. Another feature of these ads was the strong strapline that closed each segment.

In 2009 the brand took a bold move, moving away from traditional agency Lowe, and inviting creatives on Idea Bounty to conceptualise a new campaign for the brand, offering a prize of £10,000. This unorthodox move generated publicity for the brand. Personally, I prefer Lowe's work to that of the crowdsourced effort. It's sharper, funnier and fresh, even looking back at it ten years later. I've included an example of both here today so you can decide which method you prefer more. 

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. 

American Apparel

Today I wanted to look at a company who creates all advertising in house, American Apparel. The company is known for their sexually suggestive advertising, ranging from the scintillating to the purely tasteless. It is a testament to their creative viewpoint that I struggled to find three ads that were suitable to display here. The company has designed and printed their own campaigns since it was established in 1989. Most of the work contains women, who the company feel encompasses a natural beauty. Champions of the brand have applauded the lack of airbrushing displayed in the ads.

Yet detractors comment on the gratuitous use of flesh, sexual settings and overall misogynistic tone prevalent in the print campaigns.  The company has battled with regulators in multiple countries over provocative pieces, and often had to withdraw campaigns due to complaints and industry standards. The company's CEO, the infamous Dov Charney, has had several sexual harassment lawsuits brought against him. Some of these lawsuits were even raised by models featured in print campaigns.

In 2008, The Guardian awarded AA with the title of "Label of the Year". I think it would be fair to say that the company peaked during this period. Recent sales have been low, and consumer backlash to the increasingly explicit advertisements has begun to stir. What once was viewed as a provocative and exciting way to market a brand is now seen as stale and tacky. It will be interesting to see if that company attempts to move in a different direction with their branding if sales continue to fall.