Joanna Rea, Oxfam Ireland Campaigns Coordinator and Richard Delevan, Deputy MD of McConnells
A busy week for people here in McConnells.
But it ended on a high note last Friday. We were delighted to receive six APMC awards for recent work, including a Silver for Best Use of Social Media for Bus Éireann, a Silver for Best Use of Digital Media for ESB Customer Supply, and for the Oxfam IrelandLet’s Face It climate change campaign, a silver in Digital Media, Gold for Cause-related marketing, Gold for Best Creative Execution and the APMC Grand Prix.
A big congratulations and thank you to all our clients, and in particular Oxfam, whom we were delighted to have the chance to work with on such an important issue.
left to right - Lucy Ryan, Saibh Hooper, Ciara Buckley, Katherine Shiels, Monika Crowley, Richard Delevan, Audrey Farrelly, Jane Devitt, Jody Ronalson, Jen Hord, Dillon McKenna, Ivan Hammond
And to the many people, including our friends from other agencies who were so generous and kind in their congratulations on Friday: Thanks. People remember these things.
Love them or hate them, X Factor sensations John and Edward Grimes dropped the spiky fringe for a new advertising campaign for our fast food client Abrakebabra.
Our TV ad campaign for the kebab chain is to promote a new Mexican range of food items. John Walsh our Creative Director & Sinead Kennedy, senior copywriter came up with the hair raising idea to launch the new range.
And they said they “loved every minute” of their time spent making their very first TV commercial with McConnellsintegrated, which is due to hit our screens later this month. “It was like being in a movie or something. It was really cool as we’ve never done anything like that before and it was such good fun,” John told one of the journalists hanging outside the shoot trying to get pictures of them.
Once word of our shoot got out on Twitter, there was no stopping the throngs of fans who headed to the fast food outlet in the hope of catching a glimpse of their young heroes. Some youngsters had queued from as early as 6am yesterday in a bid to get an autograph. This really did make it a shoot like we’ve never done before. Luckily all this was pre-empted and security and crowd barriers had been organised in advance. Even some of the Jedward-mad fans had managed to persuade someone in the neighbouring house to let them scale their back garden wall to get nearer to the twins. It made for an interesting day with the fans non-stop cheering every time someone opened the back door. When they emerged from filming, hey spent several minutes meeting with their fans who had patiently waited for them, posing for pictures with their iPhones and even signing their shoes.
The lads were brilliant fun to work with, very professional and very sweet, not to mention highly entertaining. I feel very privileged to have worked with them and I wish them all the best in their careers. For those of you who hate them, all I can say is you’d change your mind if you ever met them. And as for Abrakebabra, bring on the new range of Mexican food. Very tasty indeed.
Fog wall technology is a highly innovative way to promote a brand and McConnellsintegrated utilised it to promote the launch of the new BMW 5 Series. The core premise was to project a moving image – in this case the new BMW 5 Series TV ad – onto a wall of steam or fog to passers-by. The use of this technology is a first in Ireland and the use of this new technology in a prime retail space to promote a brand is a first in Europe.
Originating from an idea that Brendan O’Reilly in McConnellsintegrated’s creative studio suggested, and in tandem with Scully Media our event partner, we secured a vacant shop unit on Grafton Street for 10 days.
The pop-up venue was BMW branded, with all the website references and key features from the press execution represented through decals on the windows. The Fog Wall was installed and the TVC footage was projected onto the Fog Wall. The visuals were combined with the soundtrack from the ad and directed through a sound wall attached to the glass keeping the sound level ambient; ensuring only those within a few metres of the store would hear it, avoiding any noise pollution issues.
At night the strongly lit projection and ambient music made the store a real jewel in the crown of Grafton Street, reflecting both the blue chip brand’s qualities and clearly promoting the message that BMW are truly innovators.
‘The aim of developing a pop-up unit to support the launch campaign was to both create talkability and utilise a relatively new media which would allow the public experience the core advertising proposition outside of the usual media remit’ says Jane Devitt of McConnellsintegrated. Now that’s entertainment!
The event build took place on Sunday 14th March, attracting a lot of interest and ran from Monday 15th March to Wednesday 24th March. With St. Patrick’s day on the 17th March, footfall would have far exceeded the standard 20,200 passers-by per hour that Grafton Street would normally enjoy.
Sheena McKeon, (Marketing Manager) and Michael Nugent, (Sales Director) of BMW wholeheartedly put their support behind the idea. Their trust and vision assisted in making it a stand out experiential activation and an overall success.
Working with SCA Hygiene’s UK agencies, McConnellsintegrated has been handling the brand migration of Charmin toilet tissue to its new name ‘Cushelle’ in the Irish Market. The campaign is driving home the ‘same great product, brand new name’ message across multiple platforms including TV, Outdoor, Print, Digital, Promotional and Below the Line marketing, as well as via a targeted PR campaign. In addition, check out the new website www.cushelle.com which contains a money off coupon, information on the brand, as well as acting as an anchor for promotional activity.
As part of the brand migration, it was decided to include a full Aircoach wrap and bus backs to the outdoor activity in order to achieve strong consistent visual impact covering thousands of commuters in the capital. The large graphics showcase the new name and brand icon of the Cushelle Koala as well as the look and feel of the packaging, all of which are important elements of ensuring continuing brand recognition, establishing the new name and acting as a sales driver.
Many thanks to the Creative Team and our client Morgane Salin.
Mischievous trolls, ugly ogres, evil hobgoblins, dour dwarves, wicked witches, big, bad wolves and fire breathing, albeit despondent, dragons. (I must admit I’ve always had a soft spot for dragons. They seemed so sad and put upon. I think it harks back to my childhood memory of one of the saddest songs ever sung, ‘Puff The Magic Dragon’.)
These larger than life creatures were more real to us than some of our actually real family and friends. Even vying with our imaginary friends for their share of our attention. They inhabited our storybooks, lived in full colour illustrations and came to life on a regular basis – predictably, of course, at night.
As characters, they were imbued with all sorts of nasty attributes. They were mean. And sneaky. They didn’t walk, they crept. Silence and stealth were their modus operandi and even the larger limbed amongst them seemed to have the ability to melt effortlessly in to the darkness.
There were occasions when we could hear them advancing. We could feel the ground groaning beneath the massive, thumping feet, thundering hooves or firmly planted paws. The hot, stinking breath on the back of our necks, raising every last, tiny hair. The misshapen silhouettes standing out in the otherworldly landscapes.
These were the realer than real monsters that lurked nearby, always waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Imagining them to be everywhere they weren’t, we became accustomed to uncovering one or other of them in all sorts of unexpected places.
And, strangely, they’re reluctant to leave us. Despite our best efforts to shake them. So, if you think you may be imagining things lately, seeing big monsters and hearing little voices, don’t be surprised. They’re all around us, after all.
Sinéad Kennedy is a senior copywriter with McConnellsintegrated
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When Ballygowan came to us with their master plan to bring pink to the attention of the nation, we were intrigued. It’s not often that you’re gifted the opportunity to work side by side with one of Ireland’s most famous and well loved brands, while at the same time, helping to boost awareness (as well as the coffers) of a great Irish charity. This is, of course, where the pink comes in. Because Ballygowan is now sporting a pink bottle to help the Marie Keating Foundation.
Established by Ronan Keating, after the death of his mother from breast cancer, the Marie Keating Foundation works tirelessly to raise funds for breast cancer awareness. The simple premise is that knowledge is power. The more we know about it, the more we can do about it.
Ballygowan’s own brand attributes of health and well being make the pure, Irish still water the perfect partner for this fund raising effort. It’s about coming together to achieve something great. That, being in it together, means we can make a difference. Be part of it is a gentle, rallying call that will hopefully see scores of people taking up the Ballygowan Pink bottle in response to a unique invitation.
So we’re here to remind you on TV and Radio (thanks to Ronan for lending his voice and his support), in consumer and trade press, on outdoor posters and on bus shelter wraps, that with every Ballygowan Pink bottle you buy, you’re helping the Marie Keating Foundation to raise funds for breast cancer awareness. You’re doing more than simply quenching your thirst. You’re making a difference. Come on, do you need a better reason?
Congrats to the creative team, Sinéad Kennedy and Sally O’Sullivan, as well as to Siobhan McNickle, Fiona O’Sullivan, Stuart Fogarty, Laurence Keogh and, of course, to our clients, Leonie Doyle and Sian Price.
For more information, and to get involved, check out these links -
Every single 250ml innocent smoothie contains two full portions of your recommended five a day. Considering how difficult it is to actually consume five portions of fruit and vegetables every single day, this is some feat. Therefore, our brief was to communicate innocent’s health credentials in a way that really engaged with people. The last thing we wanted was to sound like we were ordering people to be healthier, or to sound smug, self-satisfied or preachy. That’s not very innocent, after all. We wanted our audience to choose to spend time playing with the brand, and we took that very literally.
Late one night in a coding frenzy completely unrelated to fruit, one of our digital ninjas, space invaders fan Colm Doyle had an idea: what if the sky was suddenly filled with falling fruit and bottles of innocent smoothies? Catch them in your picnic basket you’d score points. You’d score one point for an apple or a banana, two for a bottle of innocent (See…two a day?). Catch the falling junk food and you’d lose points.
Brendan, Ali and Helen down in Fruit Towers really liked the idea and so here it is. An online campaign, where you can play away to your heart’s content. We’ve also designed and built a facebook application through which you can publish your score and challenge your friends to play.
Unsurprisingly, Colm’s is the highest score so far. See how you fare at the innocent smoothies Facebook page
Well done to the agency team: Colm Doyle (tech. developer, the one with the idea), Andrew Moran (tech. manager), Lucy Ryan (account manager), Elaine Kinsella (flash developer), Greg McLoughlin (words) and Tim Mudie (pictures).
And of course thanks to our clients in Fruit Towers, Dublin.
Are you an experienced digital planner/buyer looking to take the next step in your career? To develop digital strategy for some of the world’s best brands, right here in Ireland? The kind of person whose first thought seeing Foursquare (after becoming mayor of your office) was how you could make it work for a client? Then you might be the person we’re looking for.
Not long ago, Graeme Beere decided to come to the rescue and buy the master franchise for Ireland of the O’Briens sandwich chain.
As part of the rescue plan, TV chef and author Rachel Allen was ingeniously signed up on board to add filling to the O’Briens brand.
Rachel acting as creative consultant agreed to create her own ‘Signature Sandwiches’. As you can image to have someone of Rachel’s calibre come on board not only brings heightened profile but instils renewed confidence in the O’Briens future, for both the public and for the franchisees.
As our creatives got to work they knew that Rachel Allen at O’Brien’s was a unique proposition. Her image is glamorous, warm and approachable and her name is intrinsically linked with premium quality. As such, the creative concept made full use of her personality, as well as her relaxed, calm style on camera.
Promoting Rachel single mindedly as the exciting new venture at O’Brien’s was undoubtedly an opportunity not to be missed.
Using a 30 second TV commercial, along with three separate 10 second executions, we created an air of anticipation around Rachel’s Signature Sandwiches and, at the same time, invoked all of the freshness and quality cues we wanted to impart to viewers. Rachel herself could not have been nicer on the day. Friendly and warm and didn’t mind signing a book or two for me!
Confident our national campaign will help fill some hunger I’ll leave you with Rachel’s own words – ”The food choices we make are more important now than ever, both for ourselves and those around us. If you are on the go and need a sandwich, shouldn’t it be an Irish one made in front of you and at a fair price? I’m delighted to help make that sandwich even tastier.”
This Christmas being what it is, I have been finding joy in the smaller (and cheaper) delights. I’ve been baking.
On Sunday I was up to my elbows in Guinness-steeped currants and dates, making mounds of mince pies for my friends in the office. However, on presentation to my colleagues in our broadcast and creative departments, I didn’t quite get the gratitude I expected.
“Yeurch. I don’t like mince pies,” Michael Cullen told me.
“What do you want then?”
“My granny used to make these little things that were exactly like mince pies but they had coconut and jam in.”
I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about so I set about doing a bit of research. Sure enough, I found a recipe – Manchester Tarts. They were nothing like mince pies but Mick was right; they did have coconut and jam in.
Being from the North West of England I have come across my fair share of Manchester Tarts and they are historically easy to knock up.
So I made a batch and brought them in alongside my mince pies. Once Kevin Murray got a sniff of them, word got round. And it turns out that Michael Cullen isn’t quite as unique as you’d think – the Manchester Tarts disappeared much more quickly than the mince pies.
And so, in the spirit of festive giving, here is my recipe for Mick’s Alternative Mince Pies. I tend to think it’s nicer to have several small tarts but this recipe will work to make one big tart should that be your preference. And any leftover pastry will freeze.
Merry Christmas all.
For the pastry:
225g butter
50g caster sugar
2 eggs
350g plain flour
For the pastry, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until just mixed. Break in a whole egg and a yolk.
Beat together for just under 1 min – it will look a bit like scrambled egg.
Now work in the flour with a wooden spoon, a third at a time, then finish gathering it together with your hands.
Gently work the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film, and chill for 45 mins.
For the filling:
3 eggs
225ml pint double cream
50g caster sugar
90g desiccated coconut
75g jam
∏ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Warm the cream with the vanilla extract to just below boiling.
Mix the eggs, sugar and coconut together, then pour the cream onto the sugar mix and stir.
Put to one side.
Grease a flan case/baking tray with butter. Roll out your pastry on a floured surface. If making small tarts cut out rounds in the pastry and line each hole in the baking sheet, if making one tart line the flan case with the pastry.
Put a small blob of jam into each case and pour the coconut mixture on top.
Bake in the oven until golden brown (around 15 mins for individual tartlets and 25mins for large tart.)
This Christmas being what it is, I have been finding joy in the smaller (and cheaper) delights. I’ve been baking.