How Iris Won The Olympic Mascot Account

Iris Nation is a creative agency founded in 1999 in London.  It has since grown into one of the world's largest independent integrated agency groups with several international offices.

Last month, Iris won a D&AD in the packaging category for its work with Heineken, which repackaged the bottles so that their designs stick out under UV light - taking the traditional star of the packaging and reinventing it as something new and exciting.  It's an incredibly smart campaign and does a fantastic job of rebranding a stodgy Dutch beer into a glamorous nightlife brand - a well-deserved pencil for their efforts.

A quick google search for Iris doesn't yield as many results as some other agencies, but it's clear that they've done some very clever, exceptional work.  This piece for Quitline (number 3) is very, very smart, but you would have to imagine that the outreach would be relatively small for such a project.

This spot for VW is another very clever idea - but I do wonder if this isn't the sort of footage many car fans would have grown quite accustomed to seeing on Top Gear.  Certainly I would say it isn't quite as original as some of Iris' other works.

In terms of originality, Wenlock and Mandeville, the official sponsors of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, are a brilliant example.  They're controversial, (the Marina Hyde article I linked to a couple of days ago shows that despite the two year bedding-in period for them, they are still not really accepted), but in terms of genuinely disruptive and unique mascots I think they're great, certainly attesting to the spirit of creativity and originality that makes London such a fantastic city.

Personally I applaud the committee's decision as brave.  Iris are an exciting agency, capable of genuinely creative branding and advertising solutions.  They're certainly an agency which I will be keeping tabs on.

I mentioned the D and ADs briefly in this blog, but I'll be doing a more full go-over of the winners from this year in tomorrow's blog.  Until then, check out some of these fantastic adverts from across the world.  Not all of them are amazing, but there are a few in there that will make you find yourself saying "well that is just very, very good".

33 Clever and Creative Billboard Ads
26 Brilliant Minimalist Print Ads

Until tomorrow