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.
Here are the remaining three TV commercials in the Heineken Cup series. As you can see ‘the skip pass’ is a variation of ‘the intercept’. I particularly like his weak celebration at the end.
‘The scrum’ celebrates that moment of success that all smallish people like myself experience when successfully retrieving a pint from a packed bar.
Finally ‘the knock on’ - it looks simple - but this took four hours to shoot. You’d be surprised how beer refuses to spill the way you want it to! We got there in the end. I hope you like them. To see the previous two commercials, click here.
There aren’t many things that can compete with the Heineken Cup for sheer drama and excitement. Except perhaps the drama of getting your pints of precious Heineken from A to B - in a packed pub of people, watching the game - without spilling a drop. That comes pretty close.
Here are the first two of five commercials we’ve just created which focus on this and other similar dramas that happen in the pub while watching the Heineken Cup. We’ll show you the other three as soon as they go on air.
‘Up & Under’.
‘Intercept’.
A big thank you goes to Brian O’Malley and Paul Holmes of Red Rage Productions who directed and produced them. And to our Heineken clients Aileen Donoghue and Aisling O’Brien for their invaluable contributions throughout. We hope you like them.
We’ve also just produced an outdoor campaign which focuses on the drama and excitement of the tournament itself. They were shot by Kevin Griffin and were retouched by Taylor James.
Now all we want is a Leinster v Munster Heineken Cup final in Paris in May. Fingers crossed.
The “Man Inside The Jacket” campaign has been running for the last number of weeks featuring the autobiography of Ireland’s top potato, Mr. Tayto. The concept was created by McCann Erickson and the book itself was written by double Z and designed by Four5One led by Marketing Director Rita Kirwan and has made it into bookstores around the country, as well as the Irish Times bestseller list.
The above-the-line campaign consists of outdoor, cinema and TV that promotes both the book and the Tayto brand. The outdoor work captures the spirit of the brands playful personality, while the TV and cinema uses the rich baritones of Hal Douglas to great effect in creating a spoof Hollywood trailer about the biography.
We are big fans of the book and campaign and are really proud of the ads. Well done Rita. What next on the horizon for Mr. Tayto? A movie perhaps? You just never know.
Check out our new stings for 3’s sponsorship of Xpose. These stylish spots were inspired by pin ups of the 1950’s and the favourite pastime of women everywhere… gossiping!
We think they’re fun and fresh, and create a strong link between the show and the fact that with 99.5% population coverage, you can gossip anywhere with 3.
The illustrations were done by Syd Brak of Folio, and the graphics and animation were done by our neighbours Piranha Bar.
Cheerios® Childline Breakfast Together Week (CCBTW) takes place on Monday October 5th – Sunday October 11th when thousands of people around the country will host and attend breakfasts to raise much needed funds for the Irish children’s charity Childline. David Carter from Nestlé Cereals talks about the many ways we can all get involved this year and make CCBTW 2009 the most successful year ever.
A fantastic new TV and radio campaign has just launched for our newest client, 3 Mobile. The product is Best of Both 45 (BOB) and our idea is inspired by old skool arcade games using the ‘Bill’ character to explain the fantastic pre –pay/post pay product combinations on offer. Best of Both 45 is a capped bill pay package that allows you to top up like pre-pay whenever you want. The 30” animated TV advert was developed with animators D.A.D.D.Y who brought our idea of an old skool video-game vibe to life.
The animation brought the key messages (unlimited free texts, 300 free minutes to any network, top-up like pre-pay) to life through the world of video-game language. The classic video-game SFX were developed with Mutiny. There will also be a digital campaign to support this creative.
We also developed 3’s new neumonic end-frame for this advert which will appear on all broadcast formats from now on. This was developed with Piranha Bar.
This week sees the airing of our first campaign for Bord Bia, an account which we were absolutely delighted to be awarded last month after a tendering process which began in May of this year. The campaign is designed to make consumers more aware of the care and attention that goes into the products that bear the Quality Mark at different stages in production. The quality assurance scheme is all about ensuring that the process framers, growers and food processors go through reaches the highest standard.
The ad looks at the people who adhere to this process to see what it means to them, and ultimately what the benefit is the consumer. Quality assurance means peace of mind and in the current environment of recessionary woes and worry, what could be more important?
Check out our new Heineken spot ‘Gigolo’ which was filmed in Argentina. As the agency producer I get to see lots of scripts. Not all of them get made. When I read the script initially, I loved the description of the improvised rooftop bar where a bunch of friends are hanging out - I thought I could literally see myself there.
It’s the second spot in a campaign we produced featuring the bottle as our main character. I loved this notion from the beginning. It’s kinda cool seeing what you’ve worked on for months and months come to life at last. So much time was spent researching soundtracks and negotiating with music companies for rights, it was a relief when everything was finally signed off and we got to go shoot the scripts.
At the time we filmed the spot, it was so important to get the sync right with the lyrics, so that the timing was perfect throughout. This meant listening to that track over and over on set during filming. It’s a great track, well… for the first 1,000 listens anyway!
Aengus King, our Powerade client, talks about our current campaign:
If there is one thing that makes time move quickly it is working on a Never Give Up Powerade campaign. The structure of the campaign means we are always either planning a campaign, recruiting or interviewing candidates for it, or filming them for the next TV ad. This year we are following two lads and a girl as they train to complete a marathon in the Alps at altitude. That’s 26 miles at altitude… the first ten miles are uphill… the race is scheduled to take up to 10 hours to complete… jaysus!
This week sees the release of our new Heineken Music work. As part of the ongoing “Live every last drop” campaign, it once again focuses on the interesting life of a Heineken Bottle, but this time in a musical context.
There were a couple of maxims’ bandied about the Advertising Industry as we entered this recession, but the bandwagon that everyone seems to be jumping on (especially in England) - is that heritage brands do well in a downturn.
Hovis were the first out of the traps across the water with their Epic spot about a young boy’s trip home through history.
Was RTÉ’s decision to appoint Ryan Tubridy as presenter of its flagship programme entirely surprising? Tubridy has proven a safe pair of hands in the ratings stakes during his tenure at Tubridy Tonight. This is, afterall, the same route Pat Kenny took almost 10 years ago albeit with a different objective.
Kennys primary task was quite unforgiving: to replace the irreplaceable. His critics have been harsh but the numbers don’t lie. If Kenny is to be judged on this criterion then the ship is steady, if a little bit rusty.
Tubridy’s objective, according to his news interview on the 11th May, is to “bring a 21st Century twist” to the oldest running TV chatshow of all time. However, he hastened to add that he was “not going to tinker with the format too much”.
Which is it going to be Ryan?
Providing the Late Late with a 21st Century makeover is no mean feat. It’s a gradual process. Bending barriers rather than breaking them (just ask Tommy Tiernan’s lynch mob).
With RTÉ currently nearly €70 million shy of advertising revenue targets, a lot is riding on this decision. Even if RTÉ do hit the right tone with the “new” Late Late Show, they’ve surely left a void in their Saturday night schedule. Given that viewing figures for Tubridy Tonight are only 10% below that of the Late Late show and that RTÉ are in the red, it will be interesting to see if Tubridy Tonight will be replaced at all, never mind who could fill Tubridy’s shoes.
Maybe 21st century twists are better suited to Saturday nights.
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’. 
