Christmas trees popping up in unusual places around Ireland, snowmen going to great lengths to buy gloves for his snow-gal, and the festive (and extremely stylish) journey of a woman headed home… yes, the holiday ads of 2012 are well underway, and we at Dialogue have already chosen our favourites. But besides the Spar, John Lewis and Debenhams TV spots of 2012, many people find themselves feeling nostalgic over Christmas ads from years past.

Everyone knows that the Guinness ads are just as iconic as the beer itself; snow lightly falling on St. James’s Gate as we witness beautiful scenes throughout Ireland on a silent, snowy Christmas Eve. Or who could forget the playful snow-filled scenes of O2’s 2011 ad that truly and literally illustrate the lightness felt by all when surrounded by close friends and family? The scenes from ESB’s touching ad from the 1980’s feature a young man’s homecoming whilst his ‘mammy’ happily prepares the many comforts of home; an emotional scene that conjures a lump in the throat of any person who has ever left home and simply longs for the chance to return. And finally, the classic Kelloggs Cornflakes ad will forever deserve a mention as Santa’s smallest sweetheart shares a bowl of cereal with the big man in red.

But, whether you fancy the ads where cityscapes take on the illusion of oversized pints of Ireland’s favourite stout or catching the hand of the one you love while making snow angels, it is hard not to smile when you catch a glimpse of your favourite holiday ad.

Happy Christmas from everyone here at The Dialogue Network.

Spar

John Lewis

Debenhams

Guinness

O2

ESB

Kelloggs

We were delighted when our very own Conor Byrne was asked to submit a few words into IMJ talking about Ireland’s Digital Future in their recent Digital Issue. For what its worth – here’s what Conor said:

“Ireland has no digital future. Or at least its future isn’t one that should be expressed in these terms. We need to redefine our view of digital and stop thinking single-mindedly about it. Instead we need to think about what we want to do and let the digital technology get us there. Lofty and idealistic? Maybe, but as long as we continue to differentiate we stop allowing ourselves to break free from what has confined us to date.

Organizations in all industries have fallen victim to complacency, politics, in-fighting, analysis-paralysis, risk-aversion, and bureaucracy that stops them doing this. It happened to HMV, who were ideally placed to allow the technology to take them places that would have seen them thrive, they didn’t and they suffered. Argos are struggling to get their heads around it and they too are suffering. Meanwhile the likes of Teléfonica are embracing it and are almost attacking their own business model with the launch of the VoIP service TU Me. Digital is at the core for businesses like these, it’s so close to the core the lines are blurred between online and offline to the extent that its now non-line.

This is what we have done at Dialogue, we opened our doors to a new breed of ‘digital natives’ and gave them the freedom to introduce their digital DNA into the agency. For them digital is just an extension of themselves, for example, they embrace beta launches, where they test, simplify, test and simplify some more – and yes all of this is in the public domain. This allows us be a lot more agile, with campaigns almost having a start-up mentality. Without this approach most of us are doomed to clumsily translate conventional ideas into a digital format. This is bringing us to really interesting places where data, it’s not sexy I know, but it allows us to create work with our clients that delivers hyper-relevant content to people. Content that adds value to their lives, makes lives more interesting, easier, faster, smarter, more connected (or maybe less connected), more enjoyable. We have to stop allowing the digital tail wag the dog and instead look to see how we can use it to enhance experiences.

Digital needs to touch everything we do, when we get to that point then there is no need for a digital strategy, it is truly embedded and there is just a strategy. This is Ireland’s (digital) future.”

Gary and myself were in London a few weeks ago, disappointingly for our wives, it wasn’t to shop for their Christmas presents. We were invited over to hear Douglas Holt speak about his book Cultural Strategy. Both Gary and myself had read the book so were really keen to hear the man himself. In the book Doug explains how “historical changes in society create demand for innovative new ideologies that upend the category’s cultural orthodoxy, driving new growth”.

Cultural strategy is a new innovation framework that provides a systematic approach that reveals new market opportunities created by historical change and guides how to craft brands that leverage these opportunities.
His list of clients is impressive, Coke, Microsoft, Jack Daniels, Mastercard, Ben & Jerrys and now Telefonica Digital.

Check out his website here, with some great case studies
Want more, buy the book here (well worth the read)