The £4 million (€5 million) advertising campaign for the euro changeover is nearing its conclusion, with two major bursts left before the February 9th deadline.
Devised by Adept Creative Services, the campaign established its easygoing tone early on with the slogan "The change is in your pocket" and use of accessible Irish celebrities, including footballer Paul McGrath, actor Mick Lally and newsreader Ann Doyle.
While Adept will not reveal the fees paid to the stars, Mr Denis Goodbody, creative director at the agency, says it was well below what would normally be paid for a celebrity endorsement. All were paid the same rate.
"Gabriel Byrne was the only person we approached who declined to feature in one of the advertisements," Mr Goodbody says. "We had heard that he was a Gaeilgeoir and we had hoped he would do one of the Irish [as Gaeilge] advertisements, but he wouldn't."
The euro message has been put across in diverse ways from the start of the campaign. The general information celebrity television advertisements were supported in recent months by simple press and television advertisements spelling out the euro value of pounds. In between, there were specific, short campaigns, such as the radio campaign in November asking people to pass on their euro knowledge to a friend.
The tone of the advertisements has been important from the start. Financial subjects are notoriously difficult to advertise as there is a big switch-off factor. In addition, there is a natural reluctance for people to take on board something as momentous as a currency changeover until the new money is actually in their hands.
"We were conscious not to appear to be bullying as we know that Irish people have a huge resistance to that sort of approach," said Mr Goodbody, adding that the Spanish campaign with the brusque copy line "If you don't know the price in euros, you don't know the price" would have alienated more people than it informed.
"The advertisements for 30th and 31st [of December] aren't big celebratory things; it's not like the Millennium or something," said Mr Goodbody. "At that stage, what we're trying to communicate in a straightforward manner is that we have finally reached the start of the process," he added.
Mr Philip Hammill, chairman of the Euro Changeover Board, said: "We were concerned in the advertising not to make things more complicated than they need be. It was a very structured communication approach. So, for example, since every household in the State got the changeover booklet, we have been referring to it in the advertising messages. It's been a process of building on a simple message."
There will be new changeover advertisements in the first week of January. After that, client and agency will meet to assess how the first week of the euro has gone and to decide whether any new advertisements will be required before the final push, just before February 9th, when the pound ceases to be legal tender.
The agency and client have let themselves loose a little on the TV advertisements, scheduled for transmission in the week before February 9th. "They're funny and relaxed," said Mr Goodbody. "At that stage, we feel that everyone will have been using euros more and more as the pound trickles out of circulation, so really that's when we can have a little fun."
bharrison@irish-times.ie
RT╔ has appointed Euro RSCG to rebrand the RT╔ Guide. The push behind the title will begin after April, according to Ms Muirne Laffan, general manager, Commercial Enterprise Limited (CEL), the RT╔ division responsible for the magazine. Until now, advertising for the magazine has been made in-house with £500,000 (€635,000) being spent on media. The same media spend is anticipated for the new push behind the title but, by moving it to an outside agency, CEL will clearly be incurring agency fees.
The RT╔ Guide has survived well given the growth of competition in the television listings market. The last ABC circulation audit showed a slip of 20,000 to 145,000 but the Guide is still, according to the latest JNRR/Lansdowne research, well ahead of any other consumer title.
Irish advertisers spent €1.5 million (£1.18 million) on internet advertising in the third quarter, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau of Ireland (IAB Ireland). This is the first definitive survey of money being spent on the Net by advertisers in Ireland and the figures will be sobering for the industry.
Twenty-nine sites were surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which asked them to report actual revenue rather than calculations based on rate cards. Those surveyed included Ireland.com, Examiner.ie, RTE.ie and Yahoo. IAB Ireland is putting a brave face on the figures saying that they are comparable to cinema advertising. However, that revenue is divided among a handful of cinema groups and not an ever-expanding number of advertising-hungry websites.
The gulf between European and American attitudes to alcohol advertising widened even further this week with the broadcast by NBC of a Smirnoff advertisement.
Until now, network broadcasters have abided by an agreement not to advertise spirits, although beer and wine advertising is allowed. NBC will run the advertisements during prime time slots between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.
