Aaron Poole, marketing executive, PML Group with this week’s Out \ Look on Out of Home
If there’s one thing Paddy Power knows how to do, it’s commit to the bit.
The Paddy Power Comedy Festival returns to Dublin this week, bringing belly laughs to Iveagh Gardens and Whelan’s… and a whole lot of visual mischief to the streets in the build-up. With a headline sponsorship to shout about, the brand rolled out its annual Out of Home campaign as mad and showstopping as its sense of humour.
The punchline came in person with a surprise takeover of the Tram Café Clonmel Street, just beside the Iveagh Gardens venue. In the days before the festival, the café was transformed inside and out with full Paddy Power branding – including takeaway cups that read “The beans aren’t the only things getting roasted.” Comedians including Danny O’Brien, Owen Colgan and Martin Angolo stepped behind the counter, trading coffees and tickets for jokes. The public were challenged to make the comics laugh, with the winning gags earning free entry to the festival.
A banner was erected at the location this week to complement the Tram Café activation and bring more visibility in the lead up to the festival, playing into the context of the Harcourt Street-adjacent venue. The OOH campaign was planned by Zenith and Source out of home, with Tram Café elements also planned with JOE.ie and Core Sponsorship to drive IRL to URL.
“The Tram Café has provided the perfect stage to stir up some comedy buzz ahead of the Paddy Power Comedy Festival,” said Amanda Weir, Senior Media Manager at Paddy Power. “Thanks to our partners at Source out of home and Zenith, it delivered a standout OOH moment in the heart of Dublin. We also had the opportunity to brew up some laughs on social media with our partners at JOE, and give people a taste of the fun before the main event.”
Chris Murphy, Client Director at Zenith, added: “The Paddy Power Comedy Festival is such an iconic campaign each year, and one in which our clients in PP challenge us to bring fresh thought and innovation to the table. Through our Paddy Power x Tram Café partnership, we were able to land a perfect blend of branding and content with a truly collaborative effort involving numerous media and activation partners. We wanted to bring the fun of the Comedy Fest to the streets – and this media-first activation allowed us to surprise and delight both customers and passers-by with free coffees, opportunities to win tickets, and lots of laughs.”
“Comedy is a cornerstone of the JOE brand, which makes us a natural partner for amplifying this campaign and the Paddy Power Comedy Festival as a whole,” says Lee Roberts, Sales Team Lead at JOE Media Group. “With a roster of in-house comedic talent that consistently resonates with our audience across both editorial and branded content, the Paddy Power X JOE partnership promises to deliver engaging, authentic content that truly connects.”
The stunts didn’t stop there. Back for its annual run, the Paddy’s Pants LUAS column at St. Stephen’s Green glows in neon green by night, while a fully vinyl-wrapped LUAS tram takes the campaign on tour across the city, filled with artist highlights and contextual jokes.
Over the recent All Ireland weekend, contextual messaging displayed across station galleries egging on inbound attendees to the big game.
The wider campaign elements provided the setup, with large format billboards, bus shelters, and Supersides dishing out one-liners like “Nothing funnier than a lad from Mayo trying to explain crypto” and “More class acts than a Leaving Cert oral.” Large format roadside and digital 6s at roadside and transport locations drive the messaging closer to the festival venues complete with contextual messaging to capture attention and drive interest with a dash of humour.
With OOH, the best idea paired with the right format wins attention. And attention is no laughing matter. Our Special Effects research shows that 84% of people find special builds more noticeable than standard posters, while three in four agree they make a brand feel exciting.
Spry Finance Makes OOH Debut embracing Ageing
A lot of campaigns talk about challenging stereotypes. This one just went ahead and did it.
Spry Finance made its Out of Home debut this cycle with The Joy of Ageing, a sharp, human campaign that puts older people at the centre without once feeling patronising. Marking Spry’s first foray into Out of Home, it’s the latest evolution of the brand’s platform “Because Life Never Gets Old”, brought to life by creative and media partner Javelin.
The message champions the idea that getting older isn’t something to apologise for but rather something to embrace. Across roadside, retail, and transport environments, the campaign lets simplicity do the heavy lifting. Big fonts and encouraging messaging features including “The best thing about getting older is being older” and “Happier, wiser, funnier, stronger, lovelier, wilder. In other words, older.”
“It was incredibly important that this campaign reflect the real lives of our customers – not through stereotypes or outdated portrayals, but with honesty, warmth, and energy,” said Ailish McGlew, Head of Marketing and Communications at Spry Finance.
As Javelin’s Avril Murphy put it, “It’s not just storytelling – it’s
Cadbury celebrates Dairy Milk with Tasteful Campaign
Cadbury has launched a new global campaign for one of the world’s most recognisable chocolate bars, celebrating the unmistakable taste experience of Dairy Milk.
Putting the product front and centre, the minimalist creative from VCCP’s Girl&Bear leaves little to the imagination by focusing entirely sensory appeal. With the tagline “Slow Melting. Smooth Coating. Long Lasting,” the campaign translates the sensory delight of chocolate into a single, elegant visual idea.
That message quite literally melts into view on JCDecaux’s Golden Square in Aungier Street, where a larger-than-life Dairy Milk segment, complete with glossy, textured finish, appears to ooze gently beyond its frame. It’s a premium visual execution that captures the brand’s signature smoothness in a way that feels both premium and attention-grabbing.
Planned by PML and Spark Foundry, the wider campaign plays out across Golden Squares, 96 Sheets, and Bus Shelter 6 Sheets. Each format leans into the same singular visual focus of the melting square. While high-impact formats like projections and 3D builds continue to deliver standout results, this campaign reinforces a core truth in OOH that sometimes the most powerful ideas are the simplest. Our research shows that among the most consistently effective design elements, 69% of respondents cited strong visuals, while 67% pointed to clean, simple layouts. These findings align with our Creative Elements study, which found that product clarity, contrast, and copy restraint were key drivers of recall and consideration.
