McDonnells +Curry Sauce
REINVENTING AN IRISH STAPLE
What we did
- Film
- Digital + Social
- Out of home
McDonnells Curry Sauce
Curry Sauce is an Irish institution – just look at the rabid hordes queueing for curry chips after a night out. And as said rabid hoards know, only one sauce will satisfy their ravenous cravings: McDonnells Curry Sauce.
McDonnells had been an essential part of the Irish diet for decades. But cheaper sauces were threatening to rob its crown.
Enter Conor
Every good food campaign needs an ambassador, and for us, that can only be one person: Conor! Playing off typical farm-to-fork ads, Conor doesn’t know the first thing about farming or food provenance. What he does know about is how to make chicken or chips taste great: lathering them in delicious McDonnells Curry Sauce.
As well as skewering one of Ireland’s most well-known food campaigns, the film also sparked a fierce national debate over the correct way to say curry chips (or should that be chips curry?).
McDonnells
"oooohhh"
The Further Travels of Conor
To launch McDonnells’ range of authentic curry sauces, we took Conor to the home of curry. Shot on location, we captured the colours, the flavours, and the heat of India. But that didn’t faze Conor – despite the temperature his by-now iconic gilet stayed on to the bitter end.
Further travels of Conor
"INDIA!"
Conor’s New Appointment
For our next campaign, we decided to make our beloved food ambassador… a real ambassador. We parodied the beloved Ferrero Rocher ad that for a generation of Irish people represented the height of taste and sophistication. Because while McDonnells Curry Chips might not be haute cuisine, it’s a quintessentially Irish dish (while still obviously being Indian).
Ambassador’s Dinner Party
“Eat it for dinner”
A Real Cult Favourite
It’s no secret that McDonnells Curry Sauce arouses fanatical devotion among its many followers. What is a secret though is the sheer scale of its underground following. So for this campaign we lifted the lid on a real cult favourite, while also enlisting the help of Oscar-winning designer Annie Atkins to create the “Chippus Currius” sigil.
The Secret to Fulfillment
“Chippus Currius”
Cooking up DELICIOUS RESULTS
Not only did our campaigns give to the world a truly unforgettable character, it also cemented the product’s position as Ireland’s favourite curry sauce. McDonnells Curry Sauce saw a 21% increase in market share, and a 14% increase in sales, not to mention picking up gold in the ADFX Effectiveness award – not too shabby!