National Lottery operator Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) has appointed WPP agency Folk VML to its creative account after seeing presentations from Boys+Girls and production house Oliver. Regarded as one of the country’s most sought-after pieces of creative advertising business, the account was put out to pitch by PLI’s owner, La Française des Jeux (FDJ), which operates the State lottery in France.
The National Lottery’s interim marketing director Maebh Gleeson, and Anne Mulcahy (pictured below) – whose appointed was formally announced last week – were both involved in the process. Mulcahy has extensive marketing experience, having held senior roles at Diageo, Vodafone, and, more recently, Bank of Ireland – the latter two companies being Folk clients.
Mulcahy has also developed close ties with WPP-owned Grey in London.
Marketing.ie learned that the Lottery creative pitches were referred by Mulcahy to research agency Ipsos B&A to conduct assessments on the relevancy and effectiveness of the presentations. Mulcahy has worked with B&A on a host of marketing studies in her previous roles.
Pt78 acted as pitch doctor. Launched in 2017, Pt78 also works for AIB, Circle K, Energia, Fáilte Ireland, FBD, Laya Healthcare, Musgrave and Sky. Services include media audit, pitch consultancy, marketing effectiveness audit and strategic planning. The company is owned and managed by founding partners Vivien McKechnie, Amy Mitchell and Sarah Probert.
Folk VML also recently added Eirgrid and the Irish Music Rights Organisation. IMRO will work with Folk’s WPP partner, Mindshare on the media buying and planning. The body plans to roll out a campaign focused on highlighting the role music plays in business and enhancing IMRO’s reputation.
