The Irish advertising industry has united to launch its first national large-scale alternative Black Friday campaign challenging high-consumption culture.
Called “Less Buying, More Being”, it promotes a vision of well-being focused on connection, encouraging citizens to embrace experiences that support connection to self, to others and to nature.
The creative campaign was developed through the ‘Good Life 2030 Ireland’ project by over 40 professionals across 10 of Ireland’s leading marketing, advertising and media agencies.
Agencies that took part in the initiative include Bonfire, Core, Droga5, Folk VML, Havas, Publicis Dublin, The Public House, Thinkhouse, TBWA/Bolt and Verve/Showrunner.
Media support for the national campaign, led by GroupM, is provided by Pearl & Dean, Mediahuis, Global, Talon, News Ireland, Irish Times, Urban Media, Bauer Media Audio Ireland as well as several other publishers.
The campaign was inspired by research that revealed citizen visions of a ‘good life’ for 2030 and a strong desire for the advertising industry to promote sustainable, healthy lifestyles.
The campaign has been launched in print, TV, cinema, radio, outdoor and online to coincide with COP29 this week as well as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It is anticipated that the campaign will reach 3.5m people.
The campaign’s messages—displayed in both Irish and English—include: “Less buying, more being,” “Less shopping sprees, more native trees,” and “Less fast pace, more open space.”
The campaign tagline is signed off with the unifying call “Let’s advertise a better life.”
Project lead, Laura Costello, Head of Sustainability & Planet Services at Thinkhouse and Ireland Lead for Purpose Disruptors says: “This work is a compelling invitation to connect with each other and nature – which is what citizens say they actually want. The campaign signifies a timely step forward for the advertising industry in embracing its responsibility to work together and generate climate and nature communications at scale.
“The creation process highlighted some of the major tensions in people’s work day to day. It also revealed a shared longing to use our skills as architects of desire in better ways. There’s a growing understanding that we need to move beyond harmful consumerism-driving narratives and help imagine a sustainable future that feels irresistible. A heartfelt thank you to the people, landscapes and birds who made the project possible,” Costello adds.
Gary Boylan, creative director, Havas Dublin, adds: “The creation of this campaign was an industry first, seeing agencies normally in competition with each other collaborating with a united aim. Finding yourself in a room with brand new creative partners, not to mention the time pressure to come up with the goods, was an exciting challenge. It was a really enjoyable experience, and I think the fresh approach shows in the work. We’ve created a moment of calm on the noisiest day of the year, Black Friday. And, coming from the people who are primarily responsible for creating that noise (the advertising industry), I think it’s even more surprising.”
The Good Life 2030 Ireland project, funded by the Government of Ireland via Creative Ireland as part of the Creative Climate Action Fund, is created by Purpose Disruptors and Thinkhouse.
According to Tania Banotti, director, Creative Ireland: “Creative Ireland is delighted to support Good Life 2030 Ireland as part of the Creative Climate Action fund. The advertising industry faces significant challenges about how as an industry they, and their work for clients, respond to the climate and nature crisis. It’s commendable they wish to be a force for change. This is a first step, lending their creative talents and media weight to the message to reduce our consumption and highlighting the positive future we will enjoy if we make changes now.
Credits:
Leandro Arouca
Kathrin Baumbach
Gary Boylan
Darren Bracken
Emma Kate Butler
David Byrne
Matthieu Chardon
Steve Clifford
David Coffey
Laura Costello
Johnny Cullen
Seamus Duffy
Emily Ermstrang
Will Farrell
Ciaran Fogerty
Caitriona Finnegan
Mikey Fleming
Naoise Kettle
Rudy Godfrey
Colin Hart
Isabel Harvey
Emmet Heneghan
Colette Henry
Seán Hynes
Ceri Jones
Roisin Jordan
Carolynne Kelly
Tony Kiernan
Shane Kenna
Jane McDaid
Lisa Merrick-Lawless
Sam Moorhead
Derwin Myers
Orla Neiland
Emma O’Doherty
Clare O’Reilly
Meghan O’Shaughnessy
Seán Ronayne
Kerrie Patten
Ivona Poljak
Ger Roe
Paula Roldán
Mark Sosiak
Clara Traynor
Laura Wall