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.
The most important question facing any student sitting their Leaving Cert. next year is; what next? It’s probably the single biggest and first major decision that anyone of that age has had to make. The range of options could seem dizzying. Our client, UCD, is acutely aware of this. As Ireland’s premier third level institution, UCD are always looking at new ways to talk to its audiences. In this age of splintered and disparate media consumption the main challenge is how to truly engage with your average 16-18 year old. We need to talk with them in a dialect finely tuned to their critical ears.
The challenge was set: reaching our audience in the most relevant channels, in the most credible way.
With this brief in mind, UCD took the step this year of inviting their students tell their own story of UCD. In September 2009, twenty diverse UCD students were recruited to the UCD Video Squad. They were chosen from a group of over 100 applicants. We supplied them with camcorders and conducted production workshops with them. We asked them to create and produce short videos about their experience at UCD and we briefed them on covering both academic and non academic pursuits.
This content is live, and will be continually updated on UCD Life.
This bespoke website was designed by McConnellsintegrated where a mixture of Video Squad videos and other UCD videos will let its audience see what UCD is really like. Content produced by the people who know it best – its students.
We could talk about the videos, how they were produced and who the stars of our squad are but you’re better off having a look for yourself. Better yet, send the link onto someone you know doing the Leaving Cert. next year.
Big thanks to Colm Doyle, Jennifer Hord, Saibh Hooper, Andrew Moran and of course our clients Eilis O’Brien and Claire Percy in UCD.
100 human ice figures were lined up on the steps of the Department of Environment in Dublin on Monday to mark the beginning of the Copenhagen talks. Each figure was carved with the Oxfam Ireland logo.
Metro Coverage of Oxfams Climate Change Street Event
The reason for the stunt is to acknowledge that Oxfam Ireland are looking for 10,000 people to add their names to their “Climate change destroys lives. Let’s face it” campaign. 100 ice figures (one for every 100 people who join the campaign to call for fair and safe global climate deal at the global climate talks that commenced yesterday in Copenhagen) highlight the human impact of climate change and demonstrate that the Irish public expect the Government to play its part in ensuring that a fair and safe global climate deal is agreed in Copenhagen.
Oxfam Ireland Climate Change Street Event
The photo call received great coverage for our client, Oxfam Ireland, in the Irish Examiner, Daily Mirror, Metro and Herald AM.
With thanks to Dillon McKenna, Katherine Sheils and Ciara Buckley
We have until Friday to get 10,000 names signed up to our petition. Only 1000 names to go; if you have not already, please sign up today:
I have a very interesting perspective on McConnellsintegrated. Up to 2008 I was Managing Director of the agency and had various roles over the previous 27 years. Although most of my time now is spent as a Post Graduate research student in Trinity College, I still have strong ties with the agency and still spend over 10% of my time working for McConnellsintegrated.
My weekly visits to the agency allow me to see how the business is changing but also to observe that good creativity is still at the heart of what we do regardless of what technology is used to deliver it. And there are parallels to the work I am doing in college.
My area of research is opera, often seen by many as elitist, expensive and “not for me” (as the researchers would say!). Opera is using technology to break down the barriers to trial and engage with a younger audience. A great example is work that the Metropolitan Opera in New York is doing work with 12 Irish locations. At the moment one of which is our own span new Wexford Opera House.
Last month I attended the final night of this year’s (successful) Wexford Opera Festival. The opera by Donizetti was greatly appreciated by the capacity crowd who loved the Bel Canto singing and the melodic orchestration.
Exactly 5 days and 1 hour later I was back in the Opera House again. I was sitting in exactly the same seat and once again the house was full. This time I wasn’t watching singers on the stage with an orchestra in the pit! I was watching a High Definition (HD) simultaneous broadcast of Puccini’s “Turandot” live from the Met (Nov 7th). The 1 o’clock matinee performance from New York that day was being broadcast live at 6pm in Wexford.
Curtain call of Turandot on 03/11/09, NY Metropolitan Opera, photo by Jeffrey Keefer, used with permission
Turandot is an extravagant opera set in ancient China. Most people are familiar with the Pavarotti air “Nessum Dorma” (None Shall Sleep)from the World Cup. The Met does opera, arguably, better than anybody else and this production was by Franco Zeffirelli, the legendary Director, with a pedigree in film and experience in opera that goes back to working with Maria Callas in the 1950s. The crowd settled in and watched what was more than a movie. They were enjoying the same music and singing at the same time as their counterparts in the Opera House in New York. Was it as good as sitting in the actual theatre? The definitive answer to this is no… BUT it’s an excellent alternative and infinitely better than watching Jedward on the X Factor at home on TV!
And that experience will happen 9 times in the 09/10 season of the Met where these operas will be simultaneously broadcast to 12 locations in Ireland and thousands of locations globally.
People come to these performances because of the quality of the operas being put on so creativity is still important. The technology, while not exactly the same as sitting in the actual opera house, does allow the audience to see a live show for €25 and it is easier to go to the HD broadcast than fly the Atlantic 9 times – so it works. It hopefully introduces opera to a new audience and has a helpful style of presentation (famous singers introduce and describe the production). I would describe it as the equivalent to watching a soccer match live on screen versus being at the match.
Of course technology is a central part of communications today and all advertising campaigns launched have a Digital component. I was particularly proud of the work done by McConnellsintegrated recently for the Industrial Development Authority of Ireland. This work has been showcased globally and is work that often Irish consumers know less about than our international counterparts. However, this work is excellent because at the heart of the concept is a great creative idea. Without this creative from Tim and Laurence the campaign would have had foundations of sand. Clearly this isn’t the case and you can see the campaign for yourself IDA Press Campaign.
And if you can try to get along to see one of the Met live telecasts I would be really interested in your comments. You can get me virtually, here! or at McConnellsintegrated.
Mary Robinson: Keynote speaker at Oxfam's Climate Change Event in Trinity College
‘The stakes could not be higher’
These were the words used by Tony McMullen, chairman of Oxfam Ireland, to describe the situation the world faces in relation to climate change and the importance of world leaders reaching a fair, safe and meaningful deal in Copenhagen this December, where the next UN Climate Change Conference is taking place. Tony was speaking in Trinity College at an event organised by Oxfam Ireland and the Trinity International Development Initiative. The event was attended by Katherine Sheils, Ciara Buckley and Lucy Ryan of McConnellsintegrated.
The effects of climate change will be felt by everyone, but the real injustice is that the effects are being felt first and hardest by people in the developing world, those least responsible for generating carbon emissions.
In Ireland in recent weeks we have seen the destruction that heavy rainfall and flooding has done to some local communities and businesses. Keynote speaker Mary Robinson commented that ‘it is devastating to see people trying to cope’ but added that ‘we’re going to have to develop new coping mechanisms’. Mary also said that ‘climate change is fundamentally a human rights issue’ and relayed some of the stories she has heard while travelling through Africa where livelihoods have been utterly devastated due to the effects of climate change, plunging people into desperate circumstances:
Ciara Buckley and Katherine Shiels of McConnellsintegrated
Constance from Uganda said “there are no seasons anymore, its drought, flooding, drought, flooding”
Woman in Malawi “Things are so bad women are selling themselves. But I can’t sell myself as I’m HIV positive”
Woman cotton farmer “Flooding and drought are devastating cotton production”
Mary finished with a message of hope, stating that ‘we can make a difference if all of us who care enough take up the cause’.
Too much focus in the past has been placed on the science of climate change, the human dimension was lost. Oxfam Irelands Lets Face It Campaign focuses on highlighting the human cost of climate change.
Oxfam Ireland are collecting as many names as possible before next weeks UN Climate Change Talks in Copenhagen to show the Irish government that Irish people want a fair and safe deal for everyone.
Well we’re all very excited about our new TV commercial – first airing last night – for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
It confronts the same issue as every other ad you’ll see for a charity this Christmas.
Namely, how to demonstrate the connection between the donor that you’re hoping to recruit and the people that their donation will go to help. Which is a challenge – mainly because the donor and the recipient are not likely to meet. There’s a necessary distance between them.
But what if that distance were made to disappear, courtesy of the old ‘here’s-me holding-up-the-Tower-of-Pisa’ trick? Every tourist knows it: stand in front of an object – the Tower of Pisa, for instance – and hold out your hand. At a certain distance, it can look like your hand’s actually stopping the building from falling over.
It’s by a similar trick of perspective that this ad works, courtesy of brilliant direction by LA-based, Irish-American Oscar nominee Steph Green (at Rocket productions).
As you’d expect of an ex-assistant to Spike Jonze (the Being John Malkovich director), Steph herself is a veteran of this sort of cinematic playfulness. Having worked with an actual real live bear before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zvqf3sF0b4), direction of the largely non-professional cast* caused her no problems – in fact she’d already endeared herself to producers Dave Murphy and Emma Ellis and ourselves by shooting a demo of the ad on her i-phone!
Like Steph’s film New Boy – the one that sent her up the red carpet at the Oscars – the SVP commercial builds that all-important emotional with the audience in a sensitive and positive sort of way. Just as importantly, we reckon, it doesn’t do what 90% of charity advertising tends to – which is bang the viewer over the head with misery-inducing scenes of over-dramatized hardship.
As it happens, the work of the SVP was something that Steph already had an interest in. The director spoke eloquently on the subject of social responsibility in a recent interview: “The Oscar nomination brings just what you’d hope,” she said. “It opens doors to lots of meetings, of course. But also seeing how intensely the film could affect people changed my notions of socially conscious filmmaking. It’s easy to become too focused on yourself, on what you want to say, and to focus less on how your films are actually affecting the audience. But it’s a really powerful and important thing to be able to make groups of people think and feel something. There’s a responsibility there whether you want to admit it or not.”
In times like these, the wider community is in dire need of effective advertising
for the SVP. So thanks to clients Kieran Murphy, Liz Roche and Robbie McFarlane for trusting us to do our best to help. And here’s hoping this ad works as hard as it’s meant to.
Laurence Keogh, Paul Barrass, Deborah Brannelly, Ivan Hammond
*Although the commercial features seven cast members, one of them was not actually present on set. Can you guess which one?
Well we’re all very excited about and proud of our new TV commercial — first airing last night — for the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
It confronts the same issue as every other ad you’ll see for a charity this Christmas.
Namely, how to demonstrate the connection between the donor that you’re hoping to recruit and the people that their donation will go to help. Which is a challenge – mainly because the donor and the recipient are not likely to meet. There’s a necessary distance between them.
But what if that distance were made to disappear, courtesy of the old ‘here’s-me holding-up-the-Tower-of-Pisa’ trick? Every tourist knows it: stand in front of an object – the Tower of Pisa, for instance – and hold out your hand. At a certain distance, it can look like your hand’s actually stopping the building from falling over.
It’s by a similar trick of perspective that this ad works, courtesy of brilliant direction by LA-based, Irish-American Oscar nominee Steph Green (at Rocket Productions).
As you’d expect of an ex-assistant to Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich), Steph herself is a veteran of this sort of cinematic art. Having worked with an actual real live bear before, direction of the largely non-professional cast* caused her no problems – in fact she’d already endeared herself to producers Dave Murphy and Emma Ellis and ourselves by shooting a demo of the ad on her iPhone!
Like Steph’s film New Boy – the one that sent her up the red carpet at the Oscars – the SVP commercial builds that all-important emotional connection with the audience in a sensitive and positive sort of way. Just as importantly, we reckon, it doesn’t do what 90% of charity advertising tends to – which is bang the viewer over the head with misery-inducing scenes of over-dramatized hardship. With little room left, in the post-traumatic stress, for hope.
As it happens, the work of the SVP was something that Steph already had an interest in. The director spoke eloquently on the subject of social responsibility in a recent interview: “The Oscar nomination brings just what you’d hope,” she said. “It opens doors to lots of meetings, of course. But also seeing how intensely the film could affect people changed my notions of socially conscious filmmaking. It’s easy to become too focused on yourself, on what you want to say, and to focus less on how your films are actually affecting the audience. But it’s a really powerful and important thing to be able to make groups of people think and feel something. There’s a responsibility there whether you want to admit it or not.”
In times like these, the wider community is in dire need of effective communications for the SVP. To remind us as consumers that we can make a difference in the lives of people around us. So thanks to clients Kieran Murphy, Liz Roche and Robbie McFarlane for trusting us to do our best to help. And here’s hoping this ad works as hard as it’s meant to.
with thanks to Paul Barrass, Deborah Brannelly and Ivan Hammond
And a special thanks to the good people at ESB Customer Supply, whose support helped SVP to get this appeal on the air at a time when it’s most needed.
McConnellsintegrated art director Dillon McKenna holds the Best Interactive Marketing Campaign Golden Spider.
An extraordinary rugby season that got extraordinary support from an extraordinary campaign that went through the line. Signatures taken in O2 shops around Ireland as well as online became the building blocks for ultra-high-resolution images that lived in outdoor and POS media as well as on a fully interactive website that allowed users to find where their names appeared inside the image. Some 80,000 fans signed up to make a difference with the Irish squad.
The idea was taken to its ultimate conclusion when the names of fans who signed up became part of the numbers that appeared on the back of the players’ jerseys in the matches that saw Ireland clinch the Grand Slam.
At last night’s Golden Spider Awards, O2’s Be the Difference campaign took home a Grand Slam of its own by winning the Best Interactive Marketing Campaign of 2009.
Art Director Dillon McKenna was on hand at the Burlington Hotel for last night’s ceremony, where O2 graciously shared credit with Dillon for his idea and with Brando for part of its execution.
Congrats to Dillon and the McConnells team who worked on the project, O2’s marketing team and Brando for a truly integrated effort that maximised the campaign’s impact with consumers above the line, online, in PR, in shops — and on the pitch. Click on the picture below and enjoy the video from O2 telling the story of the campaign.
In the quarter finals of Italia 90 another goal of infamy broke the Irish nation’s hearts.
Albeit a legitimate one.
In 39th minute of our match against Italy in Rome Salvatore Schillaci aka Toto scored the only goal of the match that knocked us out of the 1990 World Cup.
It was the end of a dream for the whole of Ireland.
10 years later Mcconnells was producing a series of ads for Smithwicks beer. The commercials were apart of a campaign that were to be shot in The Gravediggers pub in Glaswegian.
One script was based on the faithful Italia 90 goal.
During discussions prior to shooting between the creative team (Gerry Kennedy, Margaret Healion & Dave Murphy) & the director KJ Walsh the script was amended to include the real life Toto
The client agreed. The agent was contacted. A fee was agreed and toto flew in from Sicily to film the commercial.
The commercial was first broadcast in June 2000 & proved to be a great success with the public. It also went on to win many creative awards.
Ironically after scoring the famous goal in 1990 many people called their dogs Toto.
I wonder when walking in the park somewhere soon will we hear dogs owners calling out -come here ‘Thierry’
Thierry Henry’s “goal” was enough to make grown men cry and grown women try to add Thierry Henry to their list of people to kill in Mafia Wars on facebook, where within 10 minutes you could get some insight into the building rage about the “Hand of Frog”. [More about the Facebook effect next week - ed]
In the quarter finals of Italia 90 another goal of infamy broke the Irish nation’s hearts. Albeit a legitimate one.
In 39th minute of our match against Italy in Rome Salvatore Schillaci aka Toto scored the only goal of the match that knocked us out of the 1990 World Cup.
It was the end of a dream for the whole of Ireland.
10 years later McConnells was producing a series of ads for Smithwick’s ale. The commercials were part of a campaign that were to be shot in The Gravedigger’s pub in Glasnevin.
One script was based on the faithful Italia 90 goal. During discussions prior to shooting between the creative team (Gerry Kennedy, Margaret Healion & Dave Murphy) & the director KJ Walsh, the script was amended to include the real life Toto.
The client agreed. The agent was contacted. A fee was agreed and Toto flew in from Sicily to film the commercial.
The award-winning commercial was first broadcast in June 2000 & proved to be a great success with the public.
Ironically after scoring the famous goal in 1990 many people called their dogs Toto.
This time, the ISPCA may want to take dogs called Theirry into protective custody. Have a look:
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’.)
I have a very interesting perspective on McConnellsintegrated. Up to 2008 I was Managing Director of the agency and had various roles over the previous 27 years. Although most of my time now is spent as a Post Graduate research student in Trinity College, I still have strong ties with the agency and still spend over 10% of my time working for McConnellsintegrated.
Thierry Henry’s “goal” was enough to make grown men cry and grown women try to add Thierry Henry to their list of people to kill in Mafia Wars on facebook, where within 10 minutes you could get some insight into the building rage about the “Hand of Frog”. [More about the Facebook effect next week - ed]