Should Advertising be Informative or Entertaining?

The Marketing Society of Ireland’s Future Council returns on Wednesday 14 April 2021 at 5:45pm with its Spring event: Should advertising be informative or entertaining? The evening event will take place remotely and is open to a limited number of attendees.

The Future Council provides thought leadership and networking opportunities through events and talks specifically created for marketing practitioners in the first five years of their careers. The Spring event will take the form of an interactive discussion on Zoom, with an opportunity for guests to debate the merits of branded entertainment, providing a platform for young marketers to network virtually while developing their own views on this emerging topic. Both sides of the debate will be presented for guests to consider and attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions during a Q&A session.

The event will feature speaker Aoife Murphy, Executive Strategy Director and board member at creative agency, Boys+Girls. With over 12 years’ experience in Ireland and overseas, she has directed work for clients like Kellogg’s, MARS, Cadbury, Diageo, Samsung and Fitbit. Her belief in the strength of an integrated approach has resulted in several effectiveness awards including ADFX and Effies.

Speaking ahead of the event, Aoife Murphy, Executive Strategy Director and board member at Boys+Girls said: “The role of advertising is to bring attention to your product or service in order to make it more desirable, enact a response and / or promote sales. But should that be achieved in a way that's informative or entertaining? Is advertising more successful when it speaks to the right, creative brain or the logical, left brain? Which method is more effective at getting your audience's attention and, more importantly, influencing their behaviour?”

Jay Reid, Strategy Director at Core and Chair of the Future Council said: “While advertising has been entertaining audiences for many decades, branded entertainment as a concept has come to the fore again in recent months. We’re looking forward to a lively debate and to giving guests the opportunity to share their thoughts and insights on the topic.”