Target McConnells Takes Home Gold and Silver at ICAD Awards

Target McConnells has added three ICAD awards to its ever-growing list of accolades for the An Post GPO Witness History campaign. The groundbreaking campaign won Gold for Creative Innovation and Silver for Integrated Campaign and Experience/Activation Campaign. 

These wins are just the latest for a campaign that has attracted a myriad of media and industry attention, as well as awards for innovation and creativity. The campaign resulted in a completely sold out exhibition, generating over 11.5 million earned media impressions (with no media spend) and a 75% video completion rate. 

So how did they do it?

Witness History turned back time to tell the story of the 1916 Rising from the unique perspective of local heritage postboxes that stood in silent witness to the dramatic events of the time – and ever since. In the run up to the centenary of the Rising, 10 postboxes in Dublin were painted British royal red. Without any media spend, coverage of the red postboxes dominated online, broadcast and print media in March 2016, in an incredibly noisy and crowded media landscape. 

These postboxes featured a FREETEXT number so the public could receive a video link on their smartphone. The videos detailed events that took place at the exact spot in which they’re standing. Viewers could also book for the GPO Witness History Visitor Centre. 

Target McConnells Managing Director, Abi Moran, said: “The challenge for us was to drive awareness and footfall to the exhibition in an incredibly noisy and crowded media landscape. And to do it without any media spend. Our solution was to do something dramatic, something that was sure to capture public attention. So, we painted our national postboxes back to red, as they would have been under British rule. Irish citizens were predictably enraged. Their reaction was visceral. We then needed to take this national rage and flip it, to engage the public. We combined smartphone technology, innovative video techniques, and the help of the country’s leading historians to give these amazing events the audience they deserve. The result was an easy-to-use experience that turned red postboxes into windows to history.”