Our work for Failte Ireland

Happy St. Patrick's Day

12 March 2009

We have just updated the St. Patrick’s Day pocketbook guide for Failte Ireland which we originally created for them in 2008. It now features an even greater list of St. Patrick’s Day parades and related cultural activities taking place around the whole island of Ireland. This pocket book is bursting to the seams with details of what's on and where. Happy St. Patrick's Day from all in BFK!

Shamrocks and shillelaghs

20 February 2008

We designed this pocketbook guide for Failte Ireland which features a list of St Patrick's Day parades and related cultural activities happening in Ireland. Primarily designed for overseas markets, this is a fast find guide to what's on, where, and, most importantly, who to contact for further information. We wanted to depart from the traditional interpretation of St Patrick's Day, so absolutely no leprechauns and pints of Guinness allowed. The objective is to convey a fun, carnival atmosphere, giving people a flavour of what they can expect when they visit Ireland. Photography of past parades is used for maximum impact, while a quirky, contemporary illustration style is interspersed throughout. Each page is devoted to a region of Ireland and what is happening there, with a brief synopsis of what you can expect.

Fáilte Ireland trade communications system

08 May 2005

We designed the corporate identity for Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority when the organisation was first established by the merger of Bord Fáilte and CERT in 2003. In 2005 we were again engaged by Fáilte Ireland to devise a solution to a business-to-business communications issue. The organisation needed to strengthen the communication and trade understanding of its role as a development authority that works in partnership with the broad tourism sector, as distinct from the role of the former Bord Fáilte which had a more promotional remit.
The project involved an audit of Fáilte Ireland's existing trade communications and an evaluation of a wide range of communications issues and objectives. We recommended a solution that allowed Fáilte Ireland to be more forthright, direct and authoritative while also appearing friendly, approachable and working in partnership with the tourism sector. Our solution included the established a more upbeat and direct communications style incorporating a newly designed literature system, a new campaign mark to be used as a campaign tool on trade material over a defined time scale. We devised a new photographic style, created implementation guidelines and ran training seminars for in-house users of the system and for the designer panel that will implement it.

 

Fáilte Ireland corporate identity

12 July 2004

We have created the corporate identity for Fáilte Ireland: the new National Tourism Development Authority. Fáilte Ireland has been formed by the merger of Bord Fáilte and Cert. The role of this new authority will be to support and help the industry to meet the challenges facing the tourism market, to sustain or increase the level of activity in the sector and to support the industry in its efforts to be more competitive and more profitable.

The symbol is formed from three curved symmetrical three-dimensional shapes interlocking to form a sphere. Their interior negative shapes create the silhouette of a shamrock. These three shapes represent the concepts of people, pace and place: the organisation's agreed attributes of Irish tourism.

We worked with Shaun Quinn, the CEO-designate, to develop this new identity. Our brief was to develop a distinctly corporate identity that would stand apart within a sector dominated by marketing-led brand identities. This is an identity for a top-level, strategy-setting Authority. It is not analogous to the myriad national, regional and local tourism product identities within this space. Therefore, the visual aesthetic of this mark is intentionally sophisticated and professional.

Gillian Bowler Chairman of Failte Ireland being photographed at the organisation's launch in the National Gallery, with Minister for Tourism John O'Donoghue and Failte Ireland CEO Shaun Quinn in the background.

This identity benefits Fáilte Ireland by giving the authority a strong platform on which to build their communications to various stakeholder audiences. It also serves as a rallying point for the two distinct organisations during their merger.

We are now working with Fáilte Ireland to develop comprehensive identity implementation usage guidelines and a literature framework system that will meet all of their ongoing design requirements.