I was recently invited to Krakow to take part in an artists book exhibition called “Some books are to be tasted”. There were books from around the world on display. From books that could take pictures to architecture books reconstructed into mini cityscapes. It was a fascinating show with some incredible work – see link below.
My contribution was a book based on ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland. ‘Open Book’ is 3,550 blank pages each representing a person who lost their lives in the 35 year conflict. The years are represented by red ribbons and it’s bound in white linen. It was quite poignant to have it shown in a city which has known terrible conflict.
This week sees the launch of our new campaign for 3. We’re very excited about it. As a company, 3 have always had something different about them. From giving away free ‘Skype’ on their mobiles to coming up with innovative products such as ‘Best of Both’. In other words they have always sought out ways to allow their customers do things that were not possible with other networks. Our campaign theme is based on this very thought. In these three introductory commercials we see customers, who have just joined 3, first discover new and unexplained magical powers. To see how each new product will give you a different power… watch this space and… 3 your mind.
At McCann, we’re still really interested in the ‘Over 50’s’ market and our recent PULSE Research got a strong reaction from our clients and general interest levels are high. I think the €6.6 billion declared income amongst the over 65’s figure has got everyone thinking, particularly if this audience isn’t currently on your radar.
McCanns had a great night last night at the ICAD awards. We picked up three Bells in total. Congratulations to Jonny Cullan & Rory Hamilton who picked up a Silver in the ambient section for a lovely idea they did last year for Smiles Dental Clinic.
The same duo also picked up a bronze for their brilliant Heineken Cup ‘Field of Dreams’ commercial from 2009.
And congrats too to Ray Swan and Emma Sharkey who picked up a bronze in the special effects section for their powerful CervicalCheck ‘Changes’ commercial.
This is a nifty little initiative from Paul Dervan – if you are professional and experienced marketer. with a few hours on your hands, you might like to support his efforts.
Well done to RTÉ and Animo on their new Retail Therapy TV programme with Fergal Quinn of both Superquinn and Senator fame. Fergal tells us ‘’Don’t open a shop, unless you like to smile’’ in this latest reality TV programme on Tuesday nights. Fergal also knows very well the critical importance of branding and marketing in business. What we like most is his simple, back to basics marketing approach.
He has taken a no-hope shop in Finglas and given it a new lease of life, a florist in the Liberties, where the shop didn’t even have the name above the door and a newsagent and deli business in Cobh called BMC that had really lost its way. The entry of the German grocery discounters into Cobh made the owner of this shop, Denis Murphy panic so much, he piled his windows with cheap nappies. What he didn’t realise was that the discounters weren’t his competition in the first place.
If you have missed this, three episodes are available to view on another nifty initiative, RTÉ Player. It is the most popular programme on RTÉ this week after Prime Time. I am not a bit surprised.
We packed almost 60 people into the Sky Suite at the Radisson Hotel in Golden Lane yesterday morning. We kicked the session off, with free Durex condoms (thank you SSL) for everyone. Not your usual morning conversation, but the over 50’s are a growing consumer market. More singles, separated and divorced around, who are active on the dating scene.
The Irish Times have 49% of their readers in 50+ category. Don’t think that the over 60+ run around looking for ads about how to hang onto their dentures. This lot are optimistic, travelling lots, taking up new hobbies, with busier social diaries than Glenda Gilson and with 6.6 billion in declared income. They have more time and in certain categories, like Health Insurance and Banking, they long for our attention. They are a target audience we just can’t ignore.
Leo Moore, our Strategic Planning Director took us through a 50 minute ride of fascinating insights that really demonstrate the size and scale of the opportunity. 80% of the wealth in the UK is held by 50+ consumers.
Above: Clare Duignan, RTÉ Radio Centre, Geraldine O’Leary, RTÉ.
Anne Connolly, Director, Ageing Well Network, opened the proceedings and said that “Making Ireland the best place in the world to grow old in” is on the government agenda. For more information on the presentation, contact Leo.Moore@mccann.com
There is no doubt about it, the world of advertising and communication is more pressurized than ever before. For both our clients and for their agencies. At our 50+ research in January, those reaching their later years spoke of their relief at getting ‘out of the rat race’ and were glad to be exiting the formal working environment. We did an analysis of our time recently, to see how our agency time is utilized by clients and how we work internally. The words ‘Thinking Smarter. Acting Smarter’ became very potent.
McCann Erickson have a global philosophy in ‘truth well told’ – finding the truth about a brand and telling that truth in an engaging, relevant and creative way. Makes sense. We also say ‘no is not in our vocabulary, unless it needs to be’. I fundamentally both agree and support both philosophies.
But I believe even more in Thinking Smarter and Acting Smarter. Peter Davies, when he ran McCann Erickson Dublin, said “fast, cheap, good, pick two’’. What is the basis for getting to brilliant creative ideas that build business, in a world where everything seems to be needed yesterday.
We must work together with clients to get a brilliant brief. It all starts here. A great brief, that both client and agency agree is an excellent start point for the work.
It must have a clear and measurable objectives.
A brief that is built collaboratively with creative, strategic, media, client and account handling involvement. We must be brave and confident and take ownership to ensure the brief is the very best it can be.
A linear briefing and idea generation process does not work. It must be collaborative from the outset.
Evaluating the work against what the brief is designed to achieve and having powerful rationale and clarity about why it is right.
Monitor very closely how and why it is working. Results are critical.
Always acknowledge and celebrate success.
Think about it. Think Smarter. Act Smarter. And you will definitely win, in one of the most challenging business environments we have ever faced.
Above: Orlaith Blaney with Brian Cowen and speakers at the conference.
We shared initial findings of its PULSE research on insights into the 50+ market last week at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. There were over 300 attendees at the conference opened by An Taoiseach, Brian Cowen.
A number of international speakers, including David Bloom from Harvard and Dick Stroud from 20plus30, debated and discussed the major business opportunities in targeting this growing demographic. Brian Moore of B&Q presented on the companies age neutral hiring policy and how this has impacted on the success and growth of the B&Q business in Ireland. The amount of declared income amongst 65+ in Ireland is 6.6 billion and was a fact repeated during the day by the attendees. Psychologist, Dr Maureen Gaffney called on the Conference attendees to abandon the term retirement as it evoked a passive existence.
We presented initial findings from our PULSE Research project, ‘Over 50’s – Over the hill, or overjoyed?’ which was carried out by Leo Moore, Strategic Planning Director and Shane Doyle, Strategic Planner. We will be formally presenting these findings on 24th March at the Radisson Hotel, further details here.
Attendees at the conference included Carolyn Odgers, Strategy Director at Chemistry, with Mark Doyle of Eircom, John Boyle of Ulster Bank, Padraig Burns of QMP Publicis, Gerard O’Neill from Amarach and Stephen Vard of Design Agency, Vard Associates and a range of people from the public sector.
The recent 4-part investigation by the BBC called ‘The Virtual Revolution’ which was aired recently, has raised some questions on how the world wide web is changing our society, how we value our friendships and even how our brains process information. Two species of user have emerged based on the length of time they take to process information on web pages, the ‘Foxes’ and the ‘Hedgehogs’.
The ‘Hedgehogs’ are displaying a new way of thinking by association, leaping wildly from one subject to another in the space of a click – So which are you? An online experiment is looking to find out how we are changing, and if it’s for the better. Why not be a part and find out which type of user you are by visiting bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution
The clip below explains the test and how the younger generation are embracing the web in a way many find devolutionary.
In 2010 it’s good to be over 50. That’s the overwhelming view of this hugely important but largely overlooked consumer market. The Pulse team at McCann Erickson have carried out an in-depth study of the over 50’s exploring their attitudes to a range of subjects including their outlook, social life, experience of technology, financial services, health and family.
Leo Moore will present these insights and their implications for brands at an informal breakfast briefing in the Sky Suite at the Radisson Hotel on Wednesday 24th March from 7.30am - 9.00am. As places are limited, please confirm your acceptance by calling Bairbre Kelly on 01-676 6366 or by email at bairbre.kelly@europe.mccann.com
We attended the Lollipop Day launch in St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre today, there was a great atmosphere as Lollipop songs were sang by a local school choir and the Lollipop Wall was signed. RTÉ’s Brian Ormond was there to help get everyone in the mood. You can check it out here:
It looks like the recession is having a significant impact on the press readers of Ireland. The latest readership data (JNRS) for 2009 has been released, and it indicates that there has been a significant increase in readership for the broadsheets, and a reduction for the tabloids. In the daily market The Irish Times and Irish Independent have seen double digit increases in readership, with The Star, The Sun and Evening Herald all suffering losses.
From a Sunday perspective the Sunday Independent has experienced a 10% increase, while the Sunday World has seen a 12% loss. Other big winners from a Sunday perspective are the Sunday Times (+23%) and the Sunday Business Post (+26%).
This readership data contrasts somewhat to the latest circulation (sales) figures for the titles. What this suggests is that due to the prevailing economic conditions the Irish consumer is actually buying less newspapers overall, but each newspaper is attracting more readers as the paper is passed around the home or amongst work colleagues. In addition it appears that we’re becoming more selective with our reading habits, with a greater focus on the affairs of the economy, rather than affairs per se.
This is a great idea for a music video. It’s cheap and will get you countless more fans and industry attention. Take a simple shoot of your band striking various poses and actions, then ask your fans, and whoever else, to replace each frame with a shot of themselves in the same pose, essentially creating a seamless stop frame animation of fans from around the world.
Unfortunately Dutch outfit C-Mon & Kypskia already thought of it, so switch on your web cam, copy the given pose and shoot. 12,161 participants and counting. See if you can spot me on the video: oneframeoffame.com
“The devil’s in the details” has a number of different meanings. But all of them boil down to just one thing - that it’s often the smallest details which make it stand out from the rest. A fact I was really delighted to see with all the entries into our recent McCann Erickson ‘Bake Off’ 2010.
Boy oh boy did they rise to the task, it was like walking into sweet smelling, calorie-laden, good old fashioned ‘Cake Shoppe’. Our Judges Ciara and Stephen from Easy Food magazine had 14 entries to choose from and had a mighty task in hand – but they too rose to the challenge. I certainly would not have fancied being in their shoes, well, maybe the tasting part!
So without further delay, I hereby give you our winner - Shane Doyle and his superb healthy ‘part of your 5-a-day’ Carrot Cake.
Shane was closely followed by Ciara Gallogly, and her first ever baking attempt, ‘Mini Victoria Sponge with homemade strawberry preserve and fresh cream filling’.
Shane’s blow-by-blow account of the baking process for his winning cake.
The runner-up entries.
Special mentions were awarded to Matt, a veteran of the Bake Off’’s, with his Almond & Walnut Valentine Cake, and also to Ray who caused great debate with the judges with his amazing selection of Breads, also beautifully presented I might add. One final prize was awarded to another ‘newbie’ for sheer creativity, Dave’s brilliant ‘Burger & Chips Cake’.
We then took donations from anyone who wanted to sample all the goodies, with €100 raised in aid of The Rape Crisis Centre.
Everyone who took part made a fantastic effort, with many home trial runs before the day, and all were beautifully presented to our judges. Thanks to all who took part and of course to Easy Food Magazine for their fantastic support.
I was recently invited to Krakow to take part in an artists book exhibition called “Some books are to be tasted”. There were books from around the world on display. From books that could take pictures to architecture books reconstructed into mini cityscapes. It was a fascinating show with some incredible work – see link below.
Well done to RTÉ and Animo on their new 
