A year-long advertising campaign for Mitchelstown cheese began this week with a lavish 60 second TV commercial made by McConnells Advertising.

It is the first TV advertisement the agency has made for its client Dairygold Food Products since it won the account late last year and the cost of the campaign in terms of media spend and production combined is in the region of £1.5 million (€1.90 million).

The commercial which represents the Cork-based food company's biggest spend to date on TV will eventually have a 40 second cut down and will run until the end of the year on RTE, TV3 and UTV. As yet no supporting print campaign is planned.

The highly visual advertisement is a departure for the company in that it is focused entirely on brand building. Mitchelstown is the market leader in pre-packed natural cheeses and already has 30 per cent of the market. Previous television advertising has featured specific products within the range.

According to Mr Keith Murray, account executive at McConnells: "For our first price of advertising for Mitchelstown we moved to a powerful brand-building statement as opposed to a product related tactical approach." The resulting commercial is most easily described as a lyrical piece featuring a sort of modern Irish every man shot against a backdrop of some of the most strikingly picturesque locations in the State. The ad was shot in the first week of December in locations that included Inch Strand and Slea Head, Ireland's most westerly point, and it features extensive use of aerial photography.

As the product is not shown until the final seconds, viewers might initially be forgiven for thinking that the atmospheric piece of film is a Bord Failte commercial. The idea was to establish a link between the natural beauty of the unpolluted Irish countryside and the naturalness of the cheese. The commercial was produced for the agency by Russell Avis and was directed by John Moore with music by Ronan Hardiman, a composer who has worked extensively with Michael Flately.