Brand advertising jumps back in

Brand adverting is back – that’s the whispered (almost in disbelief, as it has been so long) rumble in adland with the new Irish Life campaign the most showy example. The insurance and pension company has put €1 million behind a television, outdoor, radio, digital and print campaign to promote, not individual products, but “the master brand”.

The We know Irish life we are Irish Life campaign was developed by DDFH&B with creative from Gavin O'Sullivan and Peter Snodden; the director for TV was Brian Durnin and producer was Paul Holmes. Red Rage Film produced. The campaign is being rolled out throughout October with different elements revealed each week.

The creative is based around the brief that, after 75 years, Irish Life knows Irish people, with all our quirks, best. It kicked off with a TV treatment based on research that showed we as a nation are happiest from age 60 (lots of cheery seniors having a good time doing daring things including jump into the sea) and a very funny radio ad (even after multiple listens; it’s a big- spend campaign). The creative is based on research into things that are quintessentially Irish, and so the first radio ad is based on finding that one in five of us bring Irish sausages with us when we travel abroad.

Other quirky facts featured in the campaign include that almost half of us still clap when the aircraft lands and that 60 per cent of us named our baby before they were born.

The agency came up with 75 such statistics and the public will be asked to rate favourite Irish facts and stats on the “Irishnessometer” scale.

“Our new campaign shines a spotlight on our quirks and idiosyncrasies as a nation – we want to look at what makes us Irish in a warm and engaging way,” said Brendan McEvoy, Irish Life marketing director.

The digital strategy behind the campaign includes home-page takeovers and ad-sync technology, which will target people who are dual screening – watching TV and looking at an iPad or iPhone at the same time.