Shark wins have Publicis basking in glow

ADVERTISING AGENCY Publicis Dublin – corporate slogan: “prosper through creativity” – is basking in the glow of recognition after it cleaned up earlier this month at the Kinsale Shark advertising awards.

While other major Irish agencies were either conspicuous by their absence on the lengthy honour roll or could count their wins on one hand, Publicis’s awards included golds for its work on FBD, Meteor, TG4 and Done Deal (the Husband for Sale ad).

Perhaps having three creative directors (Carol Lambert, Ronan Nulty and Ger Roe) on its board helps.

“It’s an anomaly for the industry,” says the agency’s managing director Padraig Burns. “I don’t know of any other company that has more than two.”

With most companies cutting advertising budgets, or standing still at best, winning new clients is the only way to grow business, says Burns.

Indeed, in a room in Publicis’s new office on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, the letters JDIFF (the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival) are scrawled repeatedly on the wipe-clean walls – evidence of the agency’s pitch this week for the Jameson account, which has been held in recent years by Cawley Nea TBWA.

Publicis is next turning its attention to fruit smoothies, with the Innocent Drinks account also coming up for grabs.

“They sent us over some socks with the message, ‘Keep your toes warm’, and invited us to pitch,” says Burns.

“From whiskey to smoothies... Even in a recession, this is a great business to be in.”