In 2011, a time when every consumer purchase was coming under scrutiny, BMW faced the challenge of demonstrating that the brand was relevant to the Irish consumer in terms of value for money, environmental responsibility and support for the Irish economy. A decision was made to develop an Irish brand television ad which would interpret BMW’s international ‘joy’ concept in a distinctively Irish way. With the support of Chemistry, a brand campaign was developed centred on the ad, which was filmed entirely in Ireland, a first for BMW and a rare occurrence in the Irish car market. The campaign led to BMW achieving its highest ever segment share in 2011 and a major sales uplift.

Goodfellas pizza had been in decline in Ireland for a number of years, and consumers viewed the brand as old fashioned. With the assistance of colleagues at Irish International, the marketing team unlocked a new brand idea, ‘the spirit of an Italian Pizzeria’, and developed a brand campaign aimed at getting consumers to start noticing Goodfellas again. A pop-up pizzeria was opened on Grafton Street, and a digital campaign was launched on Facebook enabling consumers to design their own pizza and have it delivered. New packaging livery and a new ad campaign delivered very strong results on engagement and resonance. Called ‘the Italian way’, it went back to the roots of the brand, and delivered a double digit sales uplift.

The Murphy’s stout brand team worked with colleagues at Real Events to develop a long-term brand campaign to tackle the key issues behind loss of brand equity and sales. The ‘Little Big Nights Out’ concept was aimed at creating free unique experiences in music, comedy, cinema and food. This highly localised campaign was rooted in Cork culture and it leveraged celebrities, musicians and artists that had a foothold in the city’s lifestyle. PR and digital combined to attract consumers to the campaign website and this generated a large database. The campaign centred on the principles of rewards, repeated tasting and role models, and it generated substantial goodwill and engagement. The brand’s market share was increased.

RTÉ’s four FM services had been positioned as discrete brands competing primarily within their own unique competitive sets. However, it was recognised that the brands, when aligned, offered a compelling and unique customer experience, and the marketing team set out to capitalise on this potential. A brand campaign was developed to run through 2011 with the dual objectives of realising individual goals for each service, and also driving cross-attributions between services, building the sense of a family of brands. The campaign used TV, radio, print and online, delivered through the line. This drove exceptional lifts on individual brand metrics, while also delivering strong audience gains and rising brand metrics.