Irish Empathy in Action: Concern Worldwide Confronts Global Poverty

Concern Worldwide is an Irish charity, but until now, it hasn’t shouted about its roots or been explicit about how Ireland’s own history connects with the very issues the charity aims to tackle.  And it was facing  a new challenge: with so many crises emerging around the world, Concern Worldwide was losing donations to the bigger global charities like Unicef and the Red Cross. So, it needed to find a new way to reconnect with the people of Ireland.

In its latest campaign, created in partnership with Droga5 Dublin, part of Accenture Song, the connection is made direct by highlighting the parallels between Ireland’s past and the current global poverty crises.

Gaby Murphy, director of development at Concern Worldwide, reveals the insight at the heart of why now felt like the right time to make the connection. “We invested time in the discovery phase with Droga5 for this campaign. The team carried out research and convened focus groups. One of the key insights was that Irish people prefer to support Irish charities,” she says. The issue was that in the case of Concern, “there were low levels of awareness that we were an Irish charity, so this felt like a key area to focus on for the campaign.”

Carina Caye, Droga5 Dublin’s creative director, adds that “the insight became a powerful creative springboard” to communicating that “Concern’s identity as an Irish charity is central to it, reflecting the extraordinary pride in how a small nation like Ireland can make a big impact on the global stage.”

While the campaign was “designed specifically for the Irish market and grounded in insights deeply connected to Ireland’s history and culture,” Carina says, “the broader platform idea, ‘It’s Our Concern’, was crafted with a profound understanding of the organisation’s identity and mission.” The goal was to create more than a singular campaign but a versatile creative platform, giving Concern the potential to expand and adapt this vision across its global markets.

Shared histories

From a consumer perspective, Carina reflects, “the Irish people have an innate desire to help, which is rooted in our own history. Ireland has faced famine, foreign occupation, and conflict, and this unique cultural journey has fostered a deep empathy for those enduring similar hardships today.”

“That empathy feels especially resonant now,” she continues, highlighting the unique moment Ireland is experiencing today, which Carina calls a “cultural renaissance” encompassing “the revival of the Irish language, a renewed celebration of history, and a mainstream pride in being Irish. It is a moment defined by connection to heritage, resilience, and a collective spirit that feels truly authentic.”

The wording in the film is direct, powerful. It’s not trying to add an extra layer of emotion to the startling visuals. Carina says "the voiceover feels powerfully simple, without leaning on too many adjectives or an overly emotional effect. There’s no mincing of words." This was a very deliberate, creative and strategic choice, since “from the start, we wanted Concern to feel different from what’s usually expected from the category. We kept it honest and clear, that was always our foundation.” The team cast Sean Watmore’s voice to bring the words to life for his “direct and poetic tone”, which “felt like it brought the strength and urgency the brand needed,” she adds.

Getting the visuals and the message to work harmoniously was a challenge, as one couldn’t detract from the other. “The real power was in bringing the two together,” she reflects. “After a lot of refining, we reached a point where the message and the visuals felt like one.”

The team knew the story had struck the right emotional tone while being respectful “when we reached a place that felt honest,” says Carina. “When we shared it around the wider Concern team, there were truly emotional reactions; the team felt a real sense of pride in their organisation through this piece of work. That’s the moment we knew we had landed something here, and something extremely special.”

Making something that feels honest and memorable in the charity category is no mean feat, and the team “set the bar high from day one.” It took a lot of trial and error at every stage, “from finding the right footage, to perfecting the split screen, simplifying the script, choosing the voice and composing the track,” says Carina. The success of the campaign is all “down to the great collaboration of agency and client pushing the work to its best version, something that made us all extremely proud and excited at the same time,” she adds.

Building on a legacy

Concern has a long legacy of Irish support, and this campaign looks to strengthen further not only awareness but also long-term engagement from the Irish public. Gaby is clear that the charity “could not carry out its work with the poorest and most vulnerable communities worldwide without the incredible support of the Irish people and Irish organisations.”

She explains, “Concern was founded by a small group of people who were so moved by the terrible suffering of the people of Biafra in the 1960s that they felt compelled to come together and do whatever they could to help. That spirit lives on in Concern, and that is what comes to life in this campaign.”

Concern was founded in a very different Ireland in 1968. Since then, the charity has worked to evolve, continuing to connect with new generations who are distanced from Ireland’s history. Gaby says that it works to connect with people of all ages, “starting with our Schools Debates programme, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year as part of our Global Citizenship Education work.”

Concern also draws on the younger generations’ care for issues like climate change, conflict, and social justice – “the very issues that Concern has always cared about,” Gaby says – to “remind them that Concern is the right home for their passion and commitment. At the same time, we hope it will give a renewed sense of pride to our current supporters and inspire a new cohort of future Concern supporters.”

With multiple political crises unfolding in real time and affecting innocent people every day, a campaign like this feels not only timely but necessary in the awareness and resources it can provide. For Carina, this campaign is a needed reminder that “even when global crises happen far away, our shared humanity means it should be our concern too.”