Brand & Design - Persuasion Republic

The Burren

admin — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:27:51 +0000

Services: Brand & Design

overview

We were thrilled to win the commission for this high-profile, international-status, identity and messaging project – a true labour of love. The task was to design and develop a fully-integrated visual identity, byline and set of communications materials. The visual and verbal solution had to resonate with very diverse audiences and stakeholders while negotiating a highly-sensitive line between conservation, history and livelihood.

Challenge

Given the Burren’s elite and unique status in Ireland and internationally – and given the vast array of stakeholders and vested interests involved in this famous destination, the task was a sensitive and stimulating one. It involved charting and executing a multi-phased process with particular emphasis on implementing meaningful consultation with, and winning buy-in from, many stakeholders while working closely with a very engaged executive and steering group. The Geopark’s audiences included residents and visitors, tourism/sustainable tourism organisations and providers, political and civil society organsiations, business and enterprise, arts and craft bodies and providers, public bodies, media and national and international peers.

At the time, the Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark had successfully negotiated the first phase of its existence which was about launching the organisation, and raising awareness of its mandate and focus. The high-profile designation as a UNESCO Global Geopark and its tighter alignment with Clare County Council, pointed to a significant shift in its journey and a strengthening of the organisational equity it needed to achieve its key goals.

The Burren is such a high-profile and unique destination, it has many stakeholders across different state of society all who feel a passionate and different kind of ownership. The brand and messaging had to be very cognisant of this. Our task was about ensuring the brand and messaging brought authentic meaning and evoked pride and ownership in its multi-layered mission, and cleared a coherent messaging pathway so it could continue to implement its ambitious programme of work. It had to work for the organisation’s multilayered and nuanced functions.This also had to be achieved while sensitively building support locally and engaging in key strategic partnerships.

The Solution

We created a brave, striking, modern and innovative modular brand system. It included a series of logomarks with custom letterforms which reference natural stone shapes. The system comes with a set of icons which represent ‘People, Place, Learning and Livelihood’. The task also involved developing key, persuasive messaging form online and print that would work for different audience segments. We also designed and wrote core publications and a set of brand guidelines to ensure consistency across future sets of materials.

The brand and messaging have been hugely successful and have garnered popularity and loyalty. The organisation has a coherent and attractive suite of materials including local signage system – and unified messaging across all of its outputs. The entity has evolved and consolidated itself in the region and is now a respected and accepted key local, national and international player in the sustainable tourism/local economic sustainability/conservation/education sectors.

For more information contact

Denise Judge

Head of Design

Charlie O’Neill

Creative Director

The post The Burren first appeared on Persuasion Republic.

BREAST CANCER KNOW MORE Awareness campaign for Breast Cancer Ireland

Denise — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 15:22:10 +0000

Breast Cancer Ireland

Services: Advocacy & Awareness, Brand & Design, Digital, Video & Audio Content Creation

Background and brief

Breast Cancer Ireland commissioned Persuasion Republic to develop a landmark campaign to raise awareness about breast cancer and to educate people on knowing the signs and symptoms of this awful disease.

Our task involved developing the campaign brand and core messaging, and to produce assets for the above and below the line applications including photography, 6 videos, advertising content, outdoor and digital. The campaign was also supported by strong PR and public affairs activities.

The campaign was targeted at women of all ages and their influencers, as well as men (yes, men can also get breast cancer).

Strategy

We knew right away that this unique campaign execution required a very sensitive strategic and creative approach. So a number of key self-imposed guidelines shaped our approach. It had to be a survivor-led campaign. This was about their courage and commitment to share something extraordinarily intimate and traumatic – all for the greater good. That meant our creative egos had to be put back in their cages.

Therefore our core task became to reflect their bravery and sensitivity and their demand to be seen and heard. Given the modest scale of the campaign, it had to punch above its weight. We also had to ensure that the core brand and message of the campaign had cut-through – and that people would understand and heed their message to learn the symptoms and take action by checking themselves regularly.

Creative challenge and approach

When you’re making public health awareness messages like breast cancer awareness, there are no higher stakes than life or death. The survivors had lived through, and survived, that thin line. So, the campaign was loaded with sensitivity.
Given the very exposing central visuals of the campaign, even a slightly misjudged tone or message would undermine the amazing action of the survivors.

The challenge visually – photography, design and video – was to avoid falling into several traps such as making it too medicalised, or too sexualised, or too sensational. Instead we needed to craft powerful imagery and design that was at once aesthetic but crucially, also authentic and true. That reflected the courage, dignity and honesty of the ambassadors.

The campaign’s messaging needed to sensitively broadcast these amazing people’s stories through compelling and first-hand copywriting and storytelling.

The campaign

The final campaign mirrored the provocative brief. Through a series of moving videos, five brave women and one man were filmed and photographed showing the dramatic surgical impacts and scars which resulted from their treatment.

In a series of beautifully-shot black and white portrait films, they shared their stories with immense honesty, humour and courage. Their striking and inspiring images were repeated across a wide range of digital and OOH applications.

Outcome

The trust that our wonderful client BCI placed in our ability to deliver effective and memorable advocacy, enabled us to build the most powerful and successful campaign possible. And the media coverage – national and local – has been extensive, hugely supportive and has amplified the key messages.

The evidence tells us time and time again that with health awareness, when key audiences are properly reminded and they’re shown the high stakes, they take action. But when people are reminded by the most authentic and articulate and emotive story tellers possible – survivors – and when they literally visually and verbally front up – the message is supercharged. It’s utterly convincing. It simply can’t be unseen, unheard, unfelt.

BCI has commissioned pre and post research in order to benchmark the success of the campaign. The results have been remarkable. For example: 36% of 18–54-year-old women are now checking their breasts on a regular basis – represents a 14% increase versus the pre- campaign figure. The population of 18-54s in Ireland is 1.3million, that equates to an increase of 182,000 women checking their breasts on a regular basis versus the pre-campaign number.

The reaction of the participant

But perhaps one of the most important outcomes is the pride and profound sense of ownership that the participants feel towards the campaign.

In this campaign these survivors achieved something wondrous – they repurposed their experiences and scars to become weapons of mass instruction. They are already survivors. Now they are lifesavers. And we’re delighted to have been asked to tell their stories and elevate their life-saving messaging.

If you like know more about how we can help you bring your advocacy or awareness work to life please contact us.

We are here to help.

For more information contact

John Sutton

Director and Head of Strategy

Charlie O’Neill

Creative Director

The post BREAST CANCER KNOW MORE Awareness campaign for Breast Cancer Ireland first appeared on Persuasion Republic.

Denise Judge

admin — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 12:58:21 +0000