Conor Marron
Conor Marron | Advertising
Hello there. My name is Conor “with one N” Marron. I first got into advertising when I was 16 years old and won “Best Innovation” at the 2013 National Dairy Councils: Milk It Advertising Awards. Which is probably the most suitable way a Monaghan man can get into advertising. Since then I’ve gone on to get my bachelor’s in Multimedia from DCU, my masters in creative advertising from TU Dublin and my first real bite into the industry as an art direction intern in TBWA Dublin. With a background in production, animation and emerging technology I’m always looking for new and innovative ways to push the big idea out into the world. There might be a bit of an issue in not understanding how much things cost, but hey, I’m here to learn.
Project 1 | Bord na Mona
Bord na Mona has stepped up to provide Ireland with the renewable energy it needs to become carbon neutral by 2030. However, consumers still associate the brand with peat fires and harmful effects on the environment. So Bord na Mona has moved away from peat production and are instead focusing on renewable energy such as wind turbines. For this brief, we were tasked with creating a television advert that educates the consumer on Bord na Mona’s move to renewable energy and highlight the benefits of this change.
Working off the insight that “Everyone wants to be seen as doing their part for the environment, but with so many brands out there fighting to be seen as eco-friendly, it becomes overwhelming.” And that People just want things to be simple and effortless. My solution was to promote Bord na Mona as “the Natural Choice” and create a light hearted, comedic, short film that focuses on the problems fire can cause.
Ireland’s hate crimes have gone up in the past 10 years. However, we have no legislations put in place to convict those who carry out hate crimes. Most Irish people can’t imagine being hated as they’ve been led to believe that: “Everyone Loves the Irish”
For this brief we were asked to turn this idea on its head and create an insight into a world where everyone hates the Irish. As a bit of a History buff, this reminded me of an Oscar Wilde quote: “The problem is that the English can’t remember history, while the Irish can’t forget it.”
It wasn’t so long ago that we were the hated nation, with newspaper outlets such as the Daily Mail consistently referring to us as “a land based on the pig and the potato”.
For my answer to the brief, I aimed to push this hatred of our nation back into the spotlight and ask people “have we forgotten what it’s like?” not by making the Irish believe they could be hated, but by reminding them that they once were. Highlighting the hypocrisy of Irish people committing hate crimes.
Project 3 | Irish Heart Foundation
Lockdowns and working from home have led to an increase in sedentary lifestyle. Causing damage to cardiovascular health. With this brief, we were asked to create a campaign that encourages people to get up from their desk and move occasionally.
Working from the sight that “Employees working from home are afraid of being seen as lazy or unproductive while out of the office, therefore spend more time at their desks, waiting for important emails or calls to come through, and so have less time for living active lifestyles.” I decided to focus my campaign on giving employees permission to get up and move from their desk by incorporating company wide competitions and by introducing social competition to exercise in a time where social connections are strained.
The resulting campaign “Move It or Lose It” is spread out across multiple touch-points including:
A gamified exercise app using GPS and Google maps technology.
A corporate competition designed to promote corporate social responsibility and give employees permission to get up and move from their work stations.
A custom smart-watch clock face which tracks inactive minutes and reminds the user to “Move It or Lose It.”
And an interactive social media advert which uses smart-phones built in accelerometer technology to show the benefits of increased movement on your cardiovascular health.
Ireland’s population is disrupted with bias towards the east coast and urban areas such as Dublin, Galway, Cork etc.
This leads to a substantial percentage of the population spread out across a larger percentage of land.
People living in rural parts of the country and therefore more likely to experience phases of loneliness and isolation. With suicide statistics showing rural counties such as Cavan, Monaghan and Clare having the highest rates of suicide.
In the past, Samaritans have been known to use activation advertising to promote their message of “Wherever you are, we’re there”. Unfortunately, these activations are usually released in urban areas of high footfall, such as Dublin. Making it hard to raise awareness of the service in the areas most in need. With this project, we want to create an activation that can be executed all over the country, raising awareness of high suicide rates in rural areas while also letting those in need know that no matter how isolated they may feel, the Samaritans are there to connect.
