Mark Shanley: ‘Nobody wants to see your ad, so it better be bloody good’

“I’m a firm believer that nobody wants to see your ad, so it better be bloody good,” says Mark Shanley.

The Dubliner, a graduate of the Institute of Advertising, Design and Technology in Dún Laoghaire, and Technological University Dublin, is creative director at top UK agency Adam & Eve DDB. Prior to that he worked with Wieden+Kennedy as creative director on Nike, developing brilliant campaigns such as Nothing Beats a Londoner. If you haven’t seen it, look it up on YouTube – you’re in for a treat.

Shanley has worked with global brands throughout his career, including Adidas, King Games and Smirnoff. As a guest lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London and the IAPI/TUD Creative Thinking Bootcamp, his industry insights are in huge demand.

But it all started with a pack of markers.

“I got into advertising because I wanted to draw cartoons,” he says. “My dad worked in advertising and so, to give mum a bit of a lie-in on Saturday mornings he’d take me to the studio with him and I’d play with the coloured pens and Letrasets while he worked. It was an absolute playground.”

Advertising is still a source of joy to Shanley. “Ideas appeal to me, and of course there’s that bit of ego too – it’s nice to see your work appear. I still get excited when I see it.”

He worked with DDFH&B in Dublin, before leaving in 2013 with friend and creative partner Paddy Treacy – “like buddy cops” – for London. “We wanted to make the best work in the world and at the time that meant London, New York or Amsterdam,” he says. “I’m delighted to say that’s not the case now.”

Irish excellence

Shanley knows this first-hand because last summer he and his wife spent three months back home so that their three-year-old son could enjoy time with his grandparents.

Almost immediately he signed up to do pro bono work for a creative collective working on a campaign for the Special Olympics. “I fully expected to stay in Dublin,” he says. But when his current employer made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, he moved back to London.

To be fair, Adam & Eve DDB is the agency that makes the iconic John Lewis Christmas ad, and what creative’s inner child wouldn’t want to work on that?

Shanley is aware that his career trajectory flies in the face of something he is evangelical about: that Ireland has, over the past decade, successfully established itself as a centre of excellence for the international commercial creative industry.

“The industry has undergone a seismic shift,” he says. “When I left there were only one or two agencies doing exciting work, now there are loads.”

And the industry is world-class. Irish agency Rothco recently became the first ever creative agency to win two Cannes Lions Grand Prix awards for Creative Data. “You wouldn’t have dreamed of that happening here 10 years ago,” he says, “but the place is bursting with creativity now.”

Ireland, of course, has a long and storied history when it comes to creativity, and is renowned for its artists and poets. Shanley couldn’t care less.

“When people think of creativity in Ireland, you always hear of Joyce and Yeats. Well, to me that’s beyond irrelevant. Sure, they are all marvellous people, but they are not available to write scripts, are they?” he laughs.

“What we do have available to us in Ireland are amazing filmmakers like Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, makers of Extra Ordinary, one of the funniest Irish films ever, and Dave Tynan of Dublin Oldschool – amazing people who will also make a commercial for you.”

Telling a tale

According to Shanley, storytelling is something that comes naturally in Ireland, which is great news for advertisers.

“Storytelling has become something of a cliche of the industry, but that really is what it’s about. You are giving people a free sample that shows how a brand will make you feel.”

The collegiality of the industry here supports this. “The Irish way of working is highly collaborative, and work gets better when you collaborate. Culturally we are a very open people. It’s never ‘sit down and I’ll tell you a story’, it’s ‘here, what do you think of this?’”

When Shanley left Ireland nearly a decade ago, all the talk in the ad industry was of the great work coming out of New Zealand. “Now the great work is coming out of Ireland,” he says, “and it’s based on real ideas, game-changing ideas that use technology to solve real problems.”

For example, Rothco’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning work fuses algorithms with music to develop tools that help children overcome speech impediments. It had previously found a way to help colour-blind rugby fans identify their team.

And now that Ireland is also the EU’s only English-speaking country, companies are taking note. International brands such as Allianz, Nissan, Lidl, Diageo and Toyota are all creating world-beating communications using Irish creative and media agencies.

“Some of the best ideas can be tiny social things,” Shanley says. “Nike’s Colin Kaepernick initiative was a simple tweet using a stock photo and a caption, yet it was widely regarded as the best work that year.

"It's not big budgets you need to make great work. It's creative people."
______________________________________________________

'Ireland: Where Creative Is Native': IAPI initiative promoting Ireland as a centre of excellence for the commercial creativity industry
Ireland is a country where being creative is second nature; world-renowned for its writers, artists, poets, musicians and all-round change-makers. These talents spill into the commercial creative world of advertising, design and communications.

IAPI believe that the time has never been more opportune for the sector to grow its international reach. For brand owners looking to launch into the European market, Ireland is a viable and agile alternative, aside from being the only English-speaking country left in the EU.

No longer do brand marketers seek creative expertise abroad as they know they can work with the global best right here. Domestic and international brands such as An Post, AIB, Vodafone, SuperValu, Allianz, Nissan, Lidl, Jameson, Diageo and Toyota are creating world-beating communications using Irish creative and media agencies.

Discover IAPI's Creative Is Native initiative at www.creativeisnative.com

Supported by The Irish Times