All Ireland Battle of the Brands #3 Vodafone
Talking BallsThis week in our occasional series we take a look at Vodafone, longstanding supporters of the GAA through the All Stars scheme and previous sponsors of the Clare hurlers amongst others.
Interest in Vodafone’s sponsorship of the All Ireland Football Championship has been fuelled by their use of Paul Galvin and Paddy Russell in their television advertising. Serendipity or what that they should choose as personalities in their advertisement the two men that are protagonists in the biggest controversy of the summer so far.
After a period of will they/won’t they following the over-publicised spat between the Kerryman and the referee, Vodafone went ahead and aired the ad, which after all the controversy was in truth a bit of a damp squib with only a fleeting appearance by Galvin and Russell.
A further talking point was generated by the use of Rudyard Kipling’s poem If as the main copy platform in the advertisement. Not so much the sentiment of the poem, with which few could argue, but the personality that was Kipling himself. For the uninitiated this wasn’t some master baker that made a few exceedingly good cakes.
No, our Kipling was a dyed in the wool British imperialist who, strongly sympathised with the anti-Home rule sentiments of Irish unionists and had little grá for Irish nationalism. What he would have thought of the GAA we will never know. As recently as last week Irish Times writer Frank McNally compared Sean Boylan articulating Kipling’s words in a GAA themed ad to Mahatma Gandhi managing the Taliban football team.
Talking Balls reckons that the package of images and words that Vodafone chose was either deliberately done to challenge people’s thinking or was an attempt to produce a memorable ad. Either way, and the former is unlikely, it has achieved the latter objective. Fair play to Vodafone - so far their support of all things GAA gets the thumbs up from Talking Balls - especially the All Star signed shirt they provided a year or two ago for a fundraiser.
If you haven’t seen the ad, make up your own mind and ‘Make the Most of Now!’
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
It’s a bit try-hard, don’t you think? I think they were trying to re-enact the epicity (it’s a word!) of that Guinness ad a few years ago - with the hurler taking the penalty, against the monsters.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:05 pm
No way boy them ads by vodafone 4 da gaa r unreal. Sean Boylan sum man. Those ads r inspiring 4 da ordinary club player
July 24th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Maybe you are right that they are using imagary that is a bit conflicting to make us stop and think. Its a little ridiculous all the same to use Ciaran Whelan as an ambassador for fair play. Francie Bellew would have been a better choice.