Ad Nauseam: Craig Doyle, everyone’s favourite re-brand man

Will someone please explain to me what it is about Craig Doyle that makes people want to fall over themselves to give him lots of money for chat shows and advertising campaigns? I mean I think I know what it is. He’s nice, and safe, and squeaky clean. He’s the type of guy your Granny would want you to bring home. Then again, even your Granny might get slightly worried once she saw the perfectly ironed crease in his jeans.

Obviously Craig has got it - whatever ‘it’ is. He’s a trusted face, a man who can guide us through the stormy waters of change. Iarnród Éireann used him in their campaign a few years back to show off their jazzy new fleet. That was back in the good old days when the public coffers were so full of cash semi-state bodies could afford to brag about themselves on telly.

More recently Craig has become the face of cable company UPC. Fair play to him for taking on the job. It’s a toughie. I have never come across a company as reviled as NTL (UPCs subsidiary and where the vast majority of their subscriptions come from). I know 5 individuals (in no way connected to each other) who have all had horrific customer service experiences with the company and regularly regale all and sundry with their stories. One particular incident involves a complaint letter written by my friend to NTL which was so hilarious and liberally peppered with four letter words that she ended up sending it on to her mates for a laugh and it went viral. Unfortunately I can’t find it but there’s another rather humorous example here from an NTL UK customer. They have been rated as the second worst company in the UK for dealing with customer complaints by consultancy firm TMI and by all accounts that sentiment would be shared by their Irish customers.

In addition to this negative public image is the customer confusion over the company itself. There have been so many mergers and takeovers as to make your head spin and their advertising has served only to reinforce the confusion, rather than clarify anything. From the mid noughties, after a merger with Chorus they began using the name Chorus NTL and then later on in the decade changed to Chorus NTL: a UPC Company. It was enough to make you want to shout “just re-brand already!”

And now, finally it has happened and it falls to Craig Doyle to convince us that UPC are the reliable, customer-focussed company we should trust with all our home phone, broadband and TV requirements. He’s been everywhere this past two months - UPC have apparently spent €3 million on the campaign, mostly on TV and outdoor advertising.

Craig, he's holding a polaroid camera 'cause he's looking good, I think.

As is the order of the day in a re-branding campaign it’s all about getting the new brand name, logo and product benefit into public consciousness. UPC have chosen some sort of artichoke thingie as their logo and the brand name comes in lower case in a nice roundy font. I liked it when they put the artichoke-y things on the top of the LUAS columns at Stephen’s Green (and perhaps elsewhere, I only saw them there - apologies to non-green-liners and everyone outside of Dublin). It made me stop and think “oh, those are the UPC artichoke-y things, cool”.

Here’s my slapdash interpretation of what they are trying to say with the re-design:

• Artichoke: Growth (as in we’re a new company, not that bad-publicity riddled beast that was NTL); Positivity (flowery / vegetable-y things are good and positive and natural); Specialness (artichokes aren’t your normal common-or-garden vegetable, UPC aren’t your normal common-or-garden cable company).
• Colour: Cyan blue blending into dark purple. Cyan represents the modern, digital age but the but purple humanises and makes it warmer.
• Font: Lower case, rounded typography makes the brand feel approachable and modern.

So there’s a whole load of stuff going on there and lots of stuff UPC want to say about their brand. My question is, does Craig Doyle fit the bill if you want to get across concepts like growth, positivity, modernity and approachability? Or is he just a “safe pair of hands” when you’re spending €3m on a re-brand?

Craig's not always Mr Nice Guy - look, he can get excited about football like the rest of us. Photo courtesy of Joe Langan (thanks Joe!)