In a first, Dulux Weathershield paints a picture of Irish life through animation
Dulux Weathershield, synonymous with the Irish weather and the coloured homes dotted across the Irish countryside, is kicking off a marketing campaign designed to illustrate how an Irish family home transforms across the seasons, the weather and a family’s lifetime.
In a first, advertising agency Boys and Girls has collaborated with Paper Panther Productions to create an ATL campaign using stop motion animation featuring hand crafted puppets and a handmade set for Irish screens using Weathershield paint as its main creative tool. The €300K spend includes advertising, social and public relations activity with the Murphy family appearing on our screens from 14 March to include 40 and 20 second animated ads appearing on RTE 1 and 2, Virgin, Sky as well as across Channel 4, E4, M4 and Film 4.
Set in the Dulux heartland of Cork, the ad focuses on the lives of Hugh, Fiona and daughter Rose Murphy along with their Dulux dog, Digby, who move into their new country house. As the months and years go by, the exterior of their home transforms to reflect the surrounding and ever changing Irish landscape, transforming a blank canvas into a beautiful colour story, i.e. in Spring grass springs up in Weathershield ‘Woodland Pearl 3’. Summertime arrives in the form of the house being transformed using a warm shade called ‘Brittas Sand’.
The campaign, encompassing TV, social & online activity, aims to shift home owner’s way of thinking about the exterior of their house. According to Niamh Coffey of Dulux Weathershield, “Up to now, the Irish consumer has been focused on maintenance and protecting their homes exterior, rather than using colour to transform the outside into something more beautiful, aesthetically pleasing and something to be proud of. We want customers and consumers to understand and believe in Beauty Worth Protecting when it comes to their homes.”
Combining the best of Irish talent, stop motion animation, 2d techniques, paint and handcrafted characters and sets is perfect for Dulux. Every last detail from laying the foundations of a family home to the neighbouring hills and seas, has been guarded and handled with care to ensure viewers instantly connect with what enfolds in front of their eyes, recognising a familiar Irish setting.
The world of the house changes, patterns form, landscapes evolve, according, to Niamh Coffey of Dulux Weathershield, “What is so special about this animated ad is that the changes in the weather and the landscape are all depicted by the artists using Weathershield colour meaning paint is an intrinsic part of the animation process. This presented Paper Panther with a unique challenge to use the product actually being advertised to illustrate the impact of colour and protection in an Irish setting.”
Chris Upton of Boys and Girls adds, “We’ve been working with Dulux on this new strategic positioning for a couple of years. This is the perfect time and opportunity to shift consumer’s ways of thinking about their lives and their homes. Many people take pride on the interior of their homes, searching for inspiration from experts and peers in order to be proud of the home they’ve created but why not do the same on the outside? Dulux are the experts in exterior paint and the experts in colour and they are the ones who can give people the confidence to try something new and different and ensure people understand beauty is worth protecting.”
Dulux has developed a clever and useful online colour selector tool to help Irish people work different colour schemes for the outside of their homes, which they can save down and bring to their nearest store. www.weathershield.ie
Credits:
Dulux:
Head of Marketing, Ireland: Judith Byrne
Senior Brand Manager: Ruth Potter/ Niamh Coffey
B&G:
Executive Creative Director: Rory Hamilton
Creative Director: Laurence O’Byrne
Art Director: Rebecca McNally
Copywriter: Georgia Murphy
Agency Producer: Keeva Bolger
Business Director: Chris Upton
Senior Account Manager: Alicia Coyle
Head of Strategy: Margaret Gilsenan
Digital Strategist: Aoife Murphy
Finished Artist/Retoucher: Trevor Nolan
Digital Designer: Leandro Costa
Head of Digital : Shane Casey
Digital Producer: Tom O’Reilly
Designer: Cian Booth
Production Company: Whirligig
Director: Carol Freeman/Paper Panther
Executive Producer: Dave Quinn
Producer: Aoife Fitzgerald
Animators: Jason Watts, Eimhinn McNamara
Painter: Kaitlyn Rooke and Ciara Noam
VFX/Post-Production: Windmill Lane
VFX/Post Creative Director: John Kennedy
Graphics: Chris Mcloughlin, Richard Merrigan & Manus Goan
Colourist: Matt Branton
Editor: Lee Hickey
Sound Studio: No.4
Sound Engineer: Mick Creedon
Sound Designer: Dominic Lawrence & Andy Kirwan
Music: Mining Music (www.miningmusic.com)
