Tourism Ireland Ad Wants to Entice Visitors For Spooky Season

While St. Patrick’s Day brings many tourists to Ireland in springtime, Tourism Ireland aims to boost visits later in the year with a campaign venturing into unexpected territory: spooky season.

The ad, created by agency Publicis London, uncovers Halloween’s Celtic origins. The tourism body and agency worked with academics to trace the festival’s ancient history and bring it to life through evocative storytelling.

“If the world can flock to Rio for Carnival or Munich for Oktoberfest, why not come to Ireland for Halloween?” Publicis London chief creative officer Noel Bunting explained in a statement.

“Home of Halloween” tells the story of how the Gaelic festival of Samhain was first celebrated to mark the transition between the harvest season and winter, when the boundaries between worlds were believed to blur. Celts would don intimidating costumes and light bonfires to ward away frightening spirits.

Director Leonn Ward shot the ad on 16mm film to show off the island’s landscape and give it a sense of history. The ad begins in black and white, with shots of people in traditional costumes dancing, before transitioning to color in the modern day, when a couple puts on Halloween masks to watch a fireworks show.

The commercial will run across TV, cinema, and social media, supported by shorter films and stills shot on 35mm.

Tourism Ireland’s website encourages visitors to come for the Derry Halloween festival, the largest celebration of its type in Europe, and the Bram Stoker Festival in Dublin.

“Halloween is one of the world’s favorite festivals, but not everyone knows that it originated here in Celtic culture around 2,000 years ago,” Tourism Ireland chief executive Alice Mansergh said in a statement. “We’ve worked with academics and experts to trace the story back and then bring it to life through scenery, storytelling, and culture, with modern-day appeal given the fabulous festivals there are to enjoy across the island.”

A man sits and watches another man jump into the water in Oslo.

CREDITS

Advertising agency: Publicis London
CCO: Noel Bunting
Creative directors: Rhys Hughes, Barret Helander and Steve Paskin
Designer: Skah Manchip
Strategy director: Adam Mcglashan
Senior strategist: Dalonie Graham
Strategist: Rosie Mahoney
Group business director: Josh Norris
Senior account director: Luke Perry
Account director: Guergana Stoytcheva
Account executive: Lucy Wood
Agency producer: Donna Baker
Media buying agency: OMD
Production company: TinyArk
Director: Leonn Ward
Dditor: Rob Hegarty
Producer: Donna Baker & Sid Daffran
Post-production company: No8
Photographer: Rich Gilligan

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Tourism Ireland Ad Wants to Entice Visitors For Spooky Season

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