Every week, Amárach and Future Proof Insights share exclusive findings from their PRIZM+ ad testing service, showcasing best practice creative advertising in Ireland.

FBD’s “Local Business” campaign positions the insurer as more than just a provider of cover, it casts the brand as a national backer of small businesses, from food to hospitality to craft.

The creative tells this story through a montage of SMEs and billboards that quite literally raise local entrepreneurs into the public eye.

It’s an activation designed to make FBD’s sponsorship property clear: they are the insurer that invests in communities.

Overall, the ad achieves its goal of positioning FBD as a visible supporter of SMEs.

It resonates most strongly when brand and property are clearly linked, such as in the billboard sequences where memorisation and impact spike as viewers see local businesses elevated by FBD.

Relatable community scenes also lift engagement, showing that audiences connect to everyday settings.

However, the opening montage and some mid-section sequences risk losing attention, and the final aerial lock-up, while emotionally powerful, overloads viewers with too many details at once.

In short, the ad succeeds in making FBD’s support tangible, but clarity and focus are needed to ensure every moment reinforces the sponsorship message.

Best Performing Scenes

0.11 – 0.18 – Billboard Showcase

The moment local businesses appear on billboards alongside the FBD logo delivers the strongest neural response.

Impact, Desire, and Engagement spike as viewers encode both the business stories and the brand’s role in elevating them.

This is the creative at its clearest.

The sponsorship property is not abstract. It’s shown in action by literally raising businesses into the spotlight.

For marketers, this shows the power of making the sponsorship property explicit and tangible.

People remember the brand most when its role is visible, clearly linked to the story, and easy to process, rather than when it’s implied in the background.

0.26 – 0.30 – Closing Lock Up

The sweeping aerial shot of Ireland, paired with the FBD logo and slogan, reinforces national pride and conceptual closure. Impact is solid, though cognitive load rises as multiple details are displayed.

The logo, slogan, regulated text, and visual sweep all compete at once. When attention is split this way, memory suffers.

The learning here is that closure works best when clean.

The emotional sweep is effective, but to maximise recall, the final cue should strip back to a single brand.

The sponsorship message should be presented in a way that is easy for viewers to process rather than layered with competing information.

Underperforming Scenes

0.0 – 0.06 – Opening Montage

While visually polished, the early sequence of food and services generates only moderate engagement.

Without brand cues, it risks feeling generic and interchangeable with almost any food or lifestyle ad.

Neural data suggests viewers find it pleasant but not distinctive, which means the brand message isn’t yet secured.

Marketers should note that category variety alone isn’t enough.

Early brand integration helps audiences connect the dots sooner, ensuring attention is anchored to the sponsor rather than drifting across generic imagery.

Behavioural Impact (COM-B)

Survey data shows that Capability is the strongest outcome and audiences understand FBD’s role as a supporter of SMEs.

Opportunity scores well, with the variety of businesses grounding the brand in real communities. Motivation, however, lags behind. While viewers believe the message, fewer feel a direct prompt to act.

Demographically, the ad connects most strongly with older audiences, who would be expected to be more receptive to pro-Irish business messaging, but shows flatter motivation among younger consumers.

For marketers, the takeaway is that belief in sponsorship must be paired with a behavioural nudge such as making support tangible through offers, community initiatives, or direct calls to action.

Lessons for Marketers

• Make sponsorship visible: The billboard sequence shows the value of making the brand property link crystal clear. When businesses were raised alongside the FBD logo, audiences not only noticed but remembered the sponsorship. The lesson is simple: embed your brand into the property in ways that are visible and easy to process.
• Simplify closure: The aerial finale delivers emotion, but the crowded frame splits attention. Too many cues mean less gets remembered. Endings work best when decisive, such as one strong brand sponsorship cue rather than a cluster of competing details.
• Use montages carefully: Fast-cut visuals grab attention and spark novelty, but they also overload working memory. Without brand anchors, most of it won’t stick. Montages should be used to show breadth, but always tied back to a simple, brand-led cue that the brain can hold onto.

• Convert belief into behaviour: The ad builds trust in FBD, but audiences aren’t yet prompted to act. Strong sponsorship activations add a bridge from belief to behaviour, whether a clear call to action, community initiative, or reason to choose the brand in practice.

In short, “Local Business” succeeds in positioning FBD as a backer of Irish SMEs. With earlier brand integration, cleaner closure, and clearer behavioural prompts, the campaign could move from raising awareness to driving action.

For more insights from PRIZM+ on how neuroscience drives advertising impact, visit: https://www.futureproofinsights.ie/prizm-plus/