In our content series by The Irish Times, some of Ireland's top Creatives and rising stars gave us an inside look into branding and advertising in Ireland, and how IAPI helps promote their latest innovative campaigns.
This IAPI initiative promotes Ireland as a Centre of Excellence for the commercial creativity industry.
Ireland is a country where being creative is second nature; world-renowned for its writers, artists, poets, musicians and all-round change-makers. These talents spill into the commercial creative world of advertising, design and communications.
IAPI believe that the time has never been more opportune for the sector to grow its international reach. For brand owners looking to launch into the European market, Ireland is now a viable and agile alternative, aside from being the only English-speaking country left in the EU.
No longer do brand marketers seek creative expertise abroad – they know they can work with the global best right here in Ireland. Domestic and International brands such as An Post, AIB, Vodafone, SuperValu, Allianz, Nissan, Lidl, Jameson, Diageo and Toyota are creating world-beating communications using Irish creative and media agencies.
Click below to read each article.
Ireland’s top creatives reveal what it takes to get an ad from concept to execution with a behind-the-scenes look at three new campaigns.
From Little Wood's 2021 Christmas advert, to the BelongTo #ComeIn initiative, to the Women's Aid campaign, whether for brands or for society, good advertising can effect change.
“There is no place to hide with the Effies and you can’t come up with a good campaign through luck,” says Devaney. “The juries want to see the strategy behind it and they want to see the outcomes. It’s about delivering results. I wanted to be part of that.”
“With creatives it’s not a ‘them and us’ situation. It’s about working together to create something magical. I think Irish people work in a collaborative, informal, and hugely supportive way. We are much more about building people up than about critiquing people down,” she says.
“As a marketer, being a small player means you have to work harder. You don’t have the investment of an ABI (Anheuser-Busch InBev) or a Molson Coors, so you’ve got to be more creative, quicker, smarter and more agile. You’ve got to drive the innovation agenda,” he says.
“If you look at the companies I’ve worked with, whether it is Mars or Lego or M&S, all are brands that have been around for a very long time. They do this by positioning themselves for the consumers of tomorrow, not just today,” says Fiona Dawson. “That’s precisely what brands need to do coming out of this pandemic."
Ireland’s importance as an international advertising hub is growing. That’s thanks to a number of factors, including being the location of choice for the world’s top tech companies, and the EU’s only English-speaking country.
But the real reason for the success of the industry here runs deeper. It’s because Ireland is a country where creativity comes to shine.
Here, we meet three of the top industry professionals who came to Ireland to build their careers.
“This annual event supports IAPI’s fervent belief in the value of long-term brand building for the bottom line of organisations. More importantly, our members’ and our client marketers’ understanding of brand goes way beyond customer communications as it permeates every aspect of an organisation, including staff culture, customer services, operations and so forth, up to the boardroom”, says Charley Stoney, CEO, IAPI.
“This is why engaging with the boardroom on this subject is so crucial, not just for our industry sector but for the very survival of Irish businesses and brands as we emerge from the pandemic.”
“When people think of creativity in Ireland, you always hear of Joyce and Yeats. Well, to me that’s beyond irrelevant. Sure, they are all marvellous people, but they are not available to write scripts, are they?” he laughs.
“What we do have available to us in Ireland are amazing filmmakers like Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, makers of Extra Ordinary, one of the funniest Irish films ever, and Dave Tynan of Dublin Oldschool – amazing people who will also make a commercial for you.”
From copywriters to art directors and more, Ireland’s advertising sector is booming. This is thanks to a stellar combination of newfound confidence on the world stage, our innate storytelling ability and Irish agencies producing fresh, innovative and award-winning work.
The industry is now filled with talented young graduates as well as international talent, who have moved here to be a part of this burgeoning scene.
Please click here to read the new Irish Times C=N articles in 2022.
