Kerry Mahony, a 22-year old copywriting intern with TBWA\Dublin in one of the winners of an international creative competition organised by the Great Reset, an initiative by the Purpose Disruptors.
Over 200 creative ideas were submitted from over 30 different agencies as well as numerous freelancers. Entrants came from a number of countries including Ireland, the UK, Holland and the USA.
Mahony, who recently completed an MSc in Advertising in TU Dublin, created a winning radio ad called Message To Mum which will go into production and be broadcast at a later stage.
“I’ve always cared a lot about the environment and sustainability,” says Mahony. “However, it’s easy to feel like a small fish in a big pond, and like your actions don’t make a difference. So when I saw The Great Reset brief, I loved the concept behind it, and thought it was a way I could use my skills for the greater good. It felt like a competition with a difference – not about awards, but about the planet,” she says.
Her radio ad personifies Mother Earth as an actual mother, leaving a voicemail for her child, she says. “I wrote the script while at my mum’s house in lockdown. I was thinking about how COVID has affected lots of people’s familial relationships. Some people moved back in with their parents, working from home from their teenage bedrooms, while others socially distanced and went months without seeing theirs. I thought that personifying Mother Earth as an actual mother would be a lovely way to tap into the COVID zeitgeist, and hopefully tug on people’s heartstrings,” she adds.
She hopes that the campaign will spark some serious conversation within the advertising industry about “our personal responsibility with regards to climate change… This can extend as far as looking at whether the clients we work with align to our personal morals, or trying to respond to briefs in a way that does not contribute unnecessarily to waste.”
The work goes live now in UK media, and a similar Irish-specific initiative is in the works for early 2021. The Great Reset Ireland team, with individuals from THINKHOUSE, Group M, Mindshare, Folk Wunderman Thompson, Havas, Behaviours and Attitudes, McCann Dublin, RTÉ and others have already pledged to be involved, as more continue to sign up. The Irish creative brief will be developed collaboratively with individuals across the creative and communications industry in Ireland, through a workshop which will be held on November 6th. The creative brief will launch on November 27th, with submission responses due in January 2021.
