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Advertising that is rooted in truth

There is an opportunity for Ireland, as the largest native English-speaking country in the EU, to position itself as a European hub for advertising excellence, says dentsu’s Dave Winterlich

Although Ireland boasts a rich creative history, our performance on the global advertising stage has traditionally been underwhelming, until recently. Photograph: Craig Robinson
Dave Winterlich
Fri Jun 30 2023 - 05:00

In this week’s edition of Inside Marketing, I had the honour of talking to Paul Hughes on the subject of creativity. I have covered creativity before, but this was different. Hughes, an intriguing individual, has made a successful transition from the world of advertising to becoming an accomplished artist. His latest work, Bastard Blue, debuted at Volta Art Fair in New York in May 2023. Hughes has an unusual backstory: he played League of Ireland football for UCD, and while he was always an artist, he simultaneously built a successful career in advertising. Hughes was a co-founder of Rothco, a revered Dublin-based creative agency which was sold to Accenture in 2018 and later rebranded as Droga5 in 2022.

Typically, I reference a particular podcast within an article, but this week I’ve opted for a different approach. Our conversation left me invigorated, I was inspired by Hughes’s journey, along with Rothco’s tale of confidence, ambition and ultimately, international success. His story of successful artist and adman underscored the similarities between these two realms. Rothco were trailblazers in many ways. In 2018, their JFK Unsilenced project earned them the distinction of being the first Irish agency to clinch a grand prix, the pinnacle of recognition, at the Cannes Lions International Festival, the advertising industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony. Subsequently, in 2021, they bagged their second grand prix for their Saylists campaign, a collaboration with Warner Music and Apple, which aimed to assist children with speech sound disorders. No other Irish agency has won a grand prix at Cannes.

Dave Winterlich: 'Historically, Ireland was never regarded as a powerhouse of business excellence, possibly due to the shadow cast by our closest neighbour.'

Although Ireland boasts a rich creative history, our performance on the global advertising stage has traditionally been underwhelming. It’s not that we haven’t made our presence felt at the world’s largest advertising awards event – Chemistry, another Dublin-based agency that sadly ceased operations in January 2020, was the first Irish agency to win gold at the esteemed Cannes ceremony in 2006. However, success proved fleeting, and Irish agencies didn’t secure another gold until Rothco in 2018. While the Irish have produced 11 Nobel laureates in literature, won 29 Grammy awards and numerous film accolades, our prowess in commercial creativity seemed to be missing.

There’s a saying that the most effective advertising is rooted in truth. So, what is Ireland’s truth?

This incongruity led me to ponder why our innate creative abilities didn’t translate seamlessly into the realm of commercial creativity. Perhaps the answer, just like our creativity, lies in our genes. Historically, Ireland was never regarded as a powerhouse of business excellence, possibly due to the shadow cast by our closest neighbour. London is perceived as a global hub for business and finance. This proximity, combined with our tumultuous shared history, may have cultivated an inferiority complex regarding our business confidence. While modesty is a commendable trait, it is often misconstrued as weakness in the boardroom.

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I began to reflect on the concept of “brand Ireland”. There’s a saying that the most effective advertising is rooted in truth. So, what is Ireland’s truth? If a creative agency was tasked with promoting “Ireland”, they would undoubtedly highlight our rich creative heritage as a USP (unique selling point). We would brand ourselves globally as a nation of intelligent, creative individuals. The Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI), the representative body for the advertising industry, is doing precisely that with their Ireland, Where Creative is Native campaign. However, this is not a positioning chosen by Government.

John Fanning, former managing director and chairman of McConnell’s Advertising and author of The Importance of Being Branded: An Irish Perspective, is one of the most respected figures in Irish advertising. His 2022 book The Mandarin, The Musician and the Mage, while not directly about advertising, delves into the concept of brand Ireland. Fanning discusses how the post-independence economic freedom we fought so hard for came with some harsh realities. Once financial support from the UK ceased, we found ourselves economically adrift, struggling to navigate treacherous waters. Governments did an admirable job of attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and making us a more self-reliant nation. The IDA was established, and several semi-State bodies were formed, which provided some financial stability. Throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, our growth strategy centred on cultivating business and financial enterprise. The IFSC, arguably the most visible symbol of this policy, was inaugurated in 1987, although its origins date back to the 1970s.

Fast forward nearly 40 years and we witness another rebrand, Technology Ireland. If the best advertising lies in the truth, promoting Ireland as a technology haven seems akin to repackaging TK Lemonade as a health drink. While it’s not entirely false – drinking it is somewhat healthier than not drinking at all – it doesn’t hold much substance. A rebrand built on opportunism, buoyed by tax incentives, but with little substance, is the political equivalent of a buy-one-get-one-free end-of-aisle display. True, IBM and Apple have longstanding presences here, but that was under the banner of manufacturing, not technology. Today, Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google), LinkedIn, Twitter, Amazon, PayPal, and Airbnb all maintain their EMEA headquarters in Ireland. Although it remains to be seen for how long we can continue to woo these companies with tax breaks while concurrently imposing hefty fines for data breaches, the fact remains that they have significantly improved the infrastructure they inherited.

By offering tax incentives to agencies that manage global business from Ireland, we could attract FDI in commercial creativity, leading to more commercials being shot in Ireland

While I support tax incentives to stimulate FDI, it seems more prudent to target the right sectors. Today, Irish agencies vie against the world’s best. Groundbreaking companies such as Chemistry and Rothco inspired other agencies to believe in their potential. Prior to Rothco’s success in 2018, Irish agencies won a total of three awards during Cannes’ 64-year history – possibly because, for most years, we did not enter. In the years since 2018, Irish agencies have picked up 19 awards. Dublin-based agencies Publicis and Boys+Girls have joined Chemistry and Rothco as illustrious winners. Irish agencies are pitching for global business, being acquired by global corporations, and finally demonstrating that we can rival London in the art of advertising. There is an opportunity for Ireland, as the largest native English-speaking country in the EU, to position itself as a European hub for advertising excellence.

At a recent industry event, a colleague (who prefers to remain anonymous due to the informal nature of our chat) raised the idea of tax incentives for the advertising sector. His insight was that while introducing new legislation is challenging, amending existing policies is relatively straightforward. So, instead of broaching this as a new agenda item, why not simply extend the current creative industry tax breaks to encompass commercial creativity? Extend the artists’ exemption to commercial art, extend film production section 481 tax credit to include “commercial film” production, and so on.

By offering tax incentives to agencies that manage global business from Ireland, we could attract FDI in commercial creativity, leading to more commercials being shot in Ireland. Tax incentives have proven effective in promoting investment in areas where we lacked “natural” fluency, but when used to support an industry where we have an inherent capability, such as bloodstock, it truly thrives. Creativity is in our DNA, so why not bolster commercial creativity as a policy for FDI? At the very least, we would be capitalising on our core strengths, and “brand Ireland” advertising would be rooted in some semblance of truth.

Inside Marketing, hosted by dentsu’s chief strategy officer Dave Winterlich, will return on September 1st

To hear more from this episode of the Inside Marketing podcast go to irishtimes.com/tags/insidemarketing-advertisingfeature/

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