This year sees RTÉ celebrating 60 years of television. And while much has changed in Irish life since 1962, what’s never changed is RTÉ’s distinct role in reflecting the voices of Ireland whoever, and wherever they may be.That’s the idea behind the latest campaign for RTÉ by TBWA\Dublin. The approach we took wasn’t to celebrate our national broadcaster’s many achievements - instead, we chose to celebrate and shine a light on that thing that makes RTÉ so unique and special - its audience.

Because for the past 60 years, RTÉ has been a stage for us all. It has facilitated our conversations; and reflected the reality of the many lives lived on our island. And it’s this thought that led us to our campaign line: The life of a nation. Lived by you. In collaboration with Laura Beatty and John Kilkenny of RTÉ; Director, Ross Killeen and Producer, Keith Bradley of Motherland; the team at TBWA\Dublin worked with the RTÉ archive team to mine their treasure trove of provocative, humourous and reflective moments to create this ad.

Laura Beatty, Head of Brand, Marketing & Consumer Communications at RTÉ says: “It was a pleasure to work with the team in TBWA and Motherland on this project. What a privilege it is to lean into the rich source of the RTÉ Archive to both tell the story of our nation and the role RTÉ has played in reflecting it over the last 60 years on television. The team did an amazing job bringing this to life in a unique and compelling way.”

“This campaign marking 60 years of RTÉ television, examines the role RTÉ has played in shaping culture in Ireland and more importantly reflecting it. It was really enjoyable and rewarding collaborating with the team at TBWA\Dublin and Motherland. While the campaign references 60 years, it's hard not to overestimate the time and effort that they put into getting it completed,” says John Kilkenny, RTÉ.

“This campaign was an incredibly collaborative experience between ourselves, our clients at RTÉ and the team at Motherland. Sifting through 1000s of clips from the RTÉ Archives, we looked over the past 60 years of a changing Ireland. It’s outstanding to see how far we’ve come in a relatively short space of time - through the People’s resilient nature, their grá for life - and for laughs. And in all that time, RTÉ has been there platforming these wonderful (and often wonderfully whacky) moments that make our nation and its people so special. And that’s what we set out to show, the audience’s colourful life over the past 60 years, captured by RTÉ,” Leona Smyth, Art Director, TBWA