We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
DUBLIN HAS UNVEILED a new logo and slogan as part of a €1 million campaign to bring tourists to the city.
“Dublin: A Breath Of Fresh Air” is the catchphrase for the new campaign, funded by Fáilte Ireland and other bodies.
The campaign follows months of discussion into the Grow Dublin Tourism Alliance (GDTA) strategic plan.
The plan says that Dublin is “underperforming against its potential” in terms of tourism.
Awareness of Dublin and what it offers the visitor is not well-known in our main potential markets; tourism to Dublin has declined since its peak in 2007; and most significantly, Dublin has slipped behind its main city competitors in Europe.
The ads will be used in the UK, France and Germany to “communicate Dublin’s unique position as a vibrant capital city bursting with a variety of surprising experiences and a destination where city living thrives side by side with the natural outdoors”.
Of the €1 million committed to the first phase of the marketing campaign, Fáilte Ireland is providing €450,000 towards the fund, the four local authorities in Dublin city and county are contributing €300,000, Dublin hotels are providing €150,000 and the balance is being provided by other private sector operators, including: Brown Thomas, the Guinness Storehouse, and Dublin’s pubs and restaurants.
Those behind the plan say that it is being used to move Dublin away from it’s “party city” image to a more rounded experience. It will also emphasise Dublin’s openness and ease of movement as a county and a city.
It is designed to move the perception of Dublin from a weak and one dimensional image to that of a city pulsing with life, from its ever evolving culture and curiosity to its vibrant people – emphasising that the city breathes life into those who visit.
The GDTA plan envisaged a growth in total visits to Dublin to 6.2 million a year by 2020. During 2014 and 2015, tourism growth has been at approximately 12% per annum due mainly to recovering economic conditions and, for now, favourable currency rates.
It is now estimated that that target will be hit if a 6.5% rate is maintained annually between 2016 and 2020.
What do you think of the logo?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
“a breath of pollution and encounter some druggies” At least make it the truth…
A million notes for that??
Spelled wrong, should be
DOB-lin, DOB-land
Sure that’s every City ffs.
If the city was tough on crime and we didn’t shaft every tourist that stepped foot in it, there would be no need to have a campaign to sell it, it would sell itself.
Smell the puke in the Temple Bar area… terrible logo – well suited to maybe a Surf School.
‘Doesn’t smell as much of silage as other places I could mention; smells quite a lot like roasting hops at certain times of the week when the wind is blowing up from Guinness’s”
Pollution? This isn’t the 70′s. Dublin rocks, if you can’t find a good time in Dublin there’s something seriously wrong with you. Or your afraid. Terrible thing to live in fear.
It looks like branding for a new range of butter products.
Spend a million on cleaning up the zombies from the streets, move the free drug clinics out of the centre and fine all the pubs and hotels who rip off customers at every chance they get
Always a moaner.
I’ve been to at least a hundred cities and Dublin is right up there with the best. Is it because of it’s amazing restaurants, numerous festivals, acres of green and blue space, best in the world pubs, cinema, theatre, literature, history, free museums, free art galleries, brilliant buskers, and so much more? That, but mainly its the people. Open and friendly, great fun, warm to strangers, there’s not a night I go out that I don’t randomly chat with someone I’ve never met before. Tourists love us for it. I love my city, a super place to work and live. If you don’t see that you’re not doing it right, you need to experience it more, rather than the usual knocking it.
It’s a great city but hotels are running a cartel and robbing tourists blind.
They pinched the ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ from Coillte
John Smith, I am originally from Dublin and love the place apart from the vastly overpriced pubs, restaurants, the O’Connell St Zombies and that awful spike thingy like a huge syringe.
Its quaint and traditional, and thus suits Dublin.
1950s Dublin called, they want their ugly old-fashioned logo back!
Was about to say the same. Looks like 40s/50s American signage
I don’t think it’s that bad actually. Retro stuff holds up even better, than the better modern stuff. And remember, this is to attract people of that generation in the first place so it makes sense. I quite like it, as it pretty much nails what they had intended.
Not sure about the coloured version but the flat white text in the video thumbnail actually looks pretty good.
Ya…its got that american diner look. All its missing is a picture of a waitress going round in roller-skates.
Love the prison Tattoos above the “i” & “n”
Tramp stamps
Magoo That’s to represent the water protesters.
Isn’t that the social welfare logo?
Right…. it’s best to let people think you’re an idiot, than confirming it by your own comment.
R the seagulls on the logo to warn people ?
They should of swapped the seagulls for a few syringes…
Very 1950′s holiday destination feel to the design. Money for old rope.
I’m informed they are not seagulls, but are swifts.
Remember the “Players cigarettes” ads on the wall of your local shop? It’s a very familiar font alright, I suppose there’s no harm in a bit of free nostalgia.
Wait a minute, how much?!
Or could they be Swallows?
Or Housemartins?
What ever happened to the housemartins
They became caravan salesmen.
*slow clap*
They joined the caravan of love.
Fatboy slim was in the housemartins
What is the point if they don’t clean up the streets. junkie’s hanging around, beggars aggressively looking for money. O’Connell Street and areas off Grafton Street are a disgrace. Sort that out first. Dublin is a fab city but needs a bit of work
People don’t come to Dublin for fresh air……
They do when they come from cities like London and Frankfurt!
Are we really spending a million euro on a bloody logo and ad campaign when there are people dying from cold and exposure on our streets? The local authorities should be diverting that 300k to homeless provision. The hotels could use that 150k to open up some rooms for homeless and the pubs and restaurants could donate their 100k to providing meals for those who have nothing.
They cant each section of our councils whether they need or want get a cut of our taxis,
If they don’t spent they might not get, but the system has many flaws.
Google your local area most of the spending can be found online, it make you sick the amount of money that is wasted.
Sometimes I want to follow these people around for a day screaming at everything they do.
Are you just sitting there drinking a store bought coffee while homeless people are dying on the street…?
Do you really just buy ANOTHER throw away top from Primark while refugees are dying…?
Did you just pick up a holiday brochure on your way home from work… Don’t you know there are people on trollies?!?!
You’re meeting for Friday drinks after work… Don’t you know children went to school hungry this morning!?!?
Do you know how much money tourism brings into the country… And how much VAT is collected from it… And how many jobs and businesses it keeps going, and how much it would cost to have all those people on the dole instead of working in hotels/restaurants/venues?
@drew ideally everyone should be wearing sack cloth and ashes and beating themselves with an wooden rod with metal spikes.
Go back to China Drew and don’t come back..
Steve, if you really need to have someone explain why spending money on promoting the city is a good idea I am genuinely worried for you
Less of the metal spikes Gabby……
I suppose the Liffey doesn’t smell as bad as it used to in fairness.
What a waste of a Million quid.
Dublin is a great city and I love the place, but that logo/tagline looks and sounds like something Paschal & Friends conjured up on his bedroom floor surrounded by his YFG colouring books.
Nice logo but the slogan is a lie, I was in town this morning and the place is a shït hole, between junkies and rubbish I’d advise people to stay away………
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out so…
Dublin has its charms, but fresh air isn’t one of them. The constant traffic including diesel-belching buses and ubiquitous idling taxis mean the air is far from fresh.
Derek…blame DCC for that. Not a clue about traffic management, emissions etc
If you want fresh air, then like in the video.. get out from the city centre and head to the seaside, the mountains, the parks…
Hope dos aren’t dem bleedin’ killer seaguls on dat logo….!
ah jaysis i hope ur rite lol
‘Rapeh’
Wtf does that mean?
It’s how dubs pronounce the word rapid which was a big thing in the early 90′s spawned from the era of the commitments
Free a nipper! Roih!
Bopter, are you a culchie?
Dublin is a great city in fairness whether you encounter drug addicts and seagulls every day or not.
However I’m not sure if we need these €1 million ad campaigns to prove it but I’m willing to give Failte Ireland the benefit of the doubt – they did an unreal job with the Wild Atlantic Way. Some small towns in Donegal for example have really felt the benefit.
Fresh air me hoop
It looks like a logo you’d put on the outside of a can of air freshener.
“Just one spray and you can’t smell the Liffey at low tide”.
All visitors should buy one.
I like it! Most people would think of Dublin as just being a city – not about the Dublin mountains, seaside etc.
At least it doesn’t say “A breath of fresh EIR” :)
“Ease of movement as a county and a city” the designers never drove around the city..did they?
The designers have never used Dublin Bus either, by the sounds of it
It’s as if they tried,and I mean,really tried,to make a horrible logo and succeeded. A talented graphic designer,of which we have many,could have created a great logo for a fraction of the price,this looks like a primary school project competition winner,and that’s being harsh on primary school kids merely for emphasis! Happy Friday everyone!!!!!
If the graphic designer was gay, Llyod would be along to defend it tooth and nail ;)
breath of fresh air before enda and co put a tax on it
Very original, Eugene.
Can Ireland do anything right?
The self-deprecating negativity that plagues this nation doesn’t help.
It looks like a logo for a rundown seaside town that once thrived in the 70s.
Fresh air? Not with all the diesel pollution
I was wondering how quickly someone would ask why we are spending a million quid on a logo or mention junkies/druggies.
not long.
broken records of stupid.
No ones mentioned ‘rip off Ireland’ or posted that temple bar receipt yet…
Yeah, just ignore the dirt and the junkies, pretend you don`t see them when you get of the LUAS, and they come up to you like they do to me every day, they are sure to go away then.
Very Cadbury’s Fry from 100 years ago…
You couldn’t get any safer than that, whoever approved that design needs to be taken out and horsewhipped. Bloody awful.
Swifts are summer visitors. Very brief visitors if you compare them to the swallow (who arrive earlier and stay longer).
One group of Swifts lives somewhere in Dublin 8. They always give me cheer when I first notice them each year.
Fantastic video and some great images of the many positive sides to our amazing city!
This will show so much of our fine city that even Dubliners themselves may not have seen…
We really are so lucky to have everything all within easy reach by bicycle, walking, Dart, Luas, bus and car..
so after million quid, you think they would get colors of Dublin right on the logo.the Dublin colors are blue and white, and where is the coddel
Rather than wasting money on an insipid ad campaign, why don`t the spend the money on cleaning the place up, €1m for what??
“A breath of fresh air”?!? I am Dublin born and bred and I haven’t a clue what these people are shiting on about. If it was “This is Dublin – get over yourselves and jump right in” or something of that nature I could understand it. Who has been paid HOW MUCH for this brilliant idea?
I personally think the video ad is beautiful and I like the new logo. It kinda leaves out a lot of important info, though, like how you’ll have to battle your way around beggars and junkies on the streets, constantly be on guard for thieves around town, put up with the random weird smells around the city centre, and pay a fortune on public transport to actually even get to those attractions outside the city that they’re advertising (zip-lining, mountain walking, etc.) Nice video all the same.
The Letters are a great idea, they should have left them at each location but made them permanent. they would get plenty of people tagging themselves in photos on Social media and help build awareness of visiting Dublin
Yes, just like other cities, Amsterdam have their city name in a permanent 3D statue type thing.. Would have been better than the Spike anyways!
Integra-Ted the spike is a disgrace, what ejiit thought it was a good idea?
Fresh Air, and Dublin, in the same sentence?? someone is having a laugh!
where the streets have no shame
It looks like a logo you’d see on a loaf of bread.
Almost as silly as the new eircom logo, what’s it with air that these marketing gurus have such a facination with. No doubt this new logo cost an arm and leg to produce?
It is now estimated that that target will be hit if a 6.5% rate is maintained annually between 2016 and 2020.
Two significant figures in the above.
Spit it out Frank..
Frankie for the love of God would you take your stupid number with you when they take you back into the secure ward please?
wHAR FRESH AIR LOL.
Hard to get fresh air over the smell of diesel fumes and vomit.
Be selling it in a can next lol.
It’s called Devil’s Bit
And the smell of pee in Temple bar is? lol.
It’s no Cork
Derek , Step outside of the city, there’s plenty of Fresh air in Howth, Dun Laoighre, killiney, dalkey, malahide, Rush, skerries , the mountains etc , many of these feature in the video.
Did you watch it?
We could be forgiven for believing this is a joke to see how much all these Dublin haters actually hate Dublin…it’s hilarious reading some comments here.
The must stupid people in this country, and I’ve always said it, are Dubliners themselves. They take these constant anti Dublin rants and never stand up for their city.
Well Dublin haters… Dublin has 60% of economic activity in this backward little state.
If you don’t like it..stop moaning and do something about it.
Idiots..
@Michael Fehily. I have long since given up arguing with these ginks. They outnumber us in our own city – the Government and Civil Service is composed of them, and they are the vast majority in our Universities – yet still they are ungrateful. How can we win?
You’re basing your entire point on online comments? And online comments on TheJournal.ie of all places? That’s far more idiotic. Or have you spoken in person to the actual population of Dublin? Ye know, the 99.99% of the population of Dublin who *don’t* actually leave online comments on clickbait websites.
I like it, much better than I was expecting considering we tend to balls these things up quite often.
The air in Dublin is actually very clean, granted the city could do with a scrub but pollution is low.
I’m all for criticism but credit where credit is due.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/dublin-tops-air-quality-index-map-243502.html
I like it! A lot.
… Until you go into a pub and are blinded with Guinness farts…
Ken Pepper, if you cant handle the farts stay away from the pubs, they will rip you off anyway
Where’s the burning castles??
I think the campaign shows a huge lack of imagination. Surely there’s much more to do in Dublin than breathe. Also the burning castles is the coat of arms of Dublin and so it’s Dublin’s first logo. That should have been incorporated somewhere. It’s on the Dublin GAA jersey and it’s the Dublin City Council logo (although no flames on the City Council logo but maybe the light’s gone out over there).
This would actually work very well for the Chinese (and Asian) market. The fresh air slogan is something which would 100% hit home with the Chinese. My friends from China always commented on how fresh the air was compared to say Beijing. And most definitely I missed Dublin’s fresh air while in Beijing too.
More like a logo for a new air freshener
Dublin-why would you to live there or visit?
@ Gerard. Nobody is asking you to – and there are many of us who are happy to live in Dublin – hence the massive success of ‘decentralization’ in the Civil Service ;-) what a laff.
Dublin: Where everybody knows your naaame,
And their always glad you caaame….
“Anywhere outside Dublin. Have an actual breath of fresh air!”
Get rid of the walking dead junkies 1km around the spire . That would be a good start
The music is awful! A more upbeat tune would have been better the music sounds like a very big truck sounding its horn, going backward, ea, ea ea ea. One a good note, i quite like the Logo!
It’s missing the syringe.
I thought it could have have had a picture of a couple of needles and the caption could have read “a right shower of pr1cks”
Muck
Oh……………….I thought it was a new odour from Febreze.
So are we importing fresh air, and from where? how much is it gonna cost the taxpayer!?
Shit@!
What is wrong with giving the rest of the country one million, Dublin has got the lot since this excuse of a Goverment come to power, we could give my county a rebranding if the shower in the ivy tower give a flying F–k about out side of Dublin.
what do Bagatelle make of the caption with it?
Paul Liam Reilly said the Liffey still stinks like hell,
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say