Marketing

Tourism Ireland announced today that it has bought the domain name ‘Ireland.com’ from The Irish Times for €490,000. The all-island tourism marketing body said the new domain name will deliver greater stand-out for the destination around the world and bring significant long-term benefits for tourism in Ireland. It said the move is part of a redevelopment of Tourism Ireland’s suite of websites designed to capitalise on the growing importance of the internet in travel and holiday planning and to harness growth in social media. The new website will be unveiled to tourism industry leaders at the launch of the organisation’s 2013 marketing plans towards the end of the year and…

UK digital ad spend increased by 12.6pc to a record six-month high of £2.59bn in the first half of 2012, according to the latest Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB) advertising expenditure report, conducted by PwC. Boosted by an increase in video and banners in social media, display advertising across the internet and mobile grew by 10.6pc year-on-year to £590.9m and accounted for 23pc share of digital ad spend. Digital video advertising increased 43pc to £69.8m and accounted for 12pc of online and mobile display in the first six months of 2012. Banners in social media environments increased 36pc to £134.2m and represented 23pc of display ad spend. The IAB said…

The Web Summit has launched Web Summit by Night, which will see attendees of the two-day tech event take over four bars on Dame Lane in Dublin 2 on the evening of Wednesday, 17 October.  In association with partner Dyn, Web Summit by Night will feature four Dublin pubs opening their doors and providing free comedy, music and drinks to the attendees from across Europe. The Mercantile, Sweeney’s, SpeakEasy and The Stag’s Head will host a mixture of music, comedy and entertainment from a variety of acts from around the world including Quiet Life, Liam MacDougal, Blah’gards, White Collar Boy and The Gorgeous Colours. Entrance will be free to all…

Boots Ireland has introduced a contactless payment option at all its stores across the Republic of Ireland. The option, delivered through a partnership with Streamline and Visa Europe , allows customers to pay for items totaling less than €15 by touching the point-of-sale terminal with their contactless Visa card. Using this method, customers do not have to enter their personal identification number (PIN). “Our aim is to offer customers a great shopping experience with quick, easy ways to pay, and we believe that contactless payment is one way to deliver this,” said Boots Ireland managing director Debbie Smith. “The new technology should help to reduce transaction and queuing times.” “Contactless payments make in-store payments…

The number of European smartphone users scanning QR codes via their devices grew by 96pc in the past year to 17.4 million users for the three month average period ending July 2012, according to figures from Comscore. The study, an overview of mobile commerce and QR code usage across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), reveals that three out of every four QR code scans resulted in users receiving product information, making this the most popular type of result across Europe. Over one in four scans resulted in event information, making it the second most popular result across five countries. Some 19.4pc of…

The Best Overall Organic Product at today’s National Organic Awards 2012 was awarded to Crowe’s Farm for its Organic Dry Cure Back Rasher product, which was chosen for its high quality, superior taste and smart packaging.

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) has upheld complaints about a Club Orange billboard ad, which featured two oranges and used the tagline ‘The Best Bits in the World’. The ASAI found that the ad should not be displayed again as the imagery used was “intended to represent a pair of women’s breasts”, and “sexual innuendo” was being used merely to attract attention. Club Orange said that the ‘best bits’ in question referred to the bits of natural orange in the drink and had been key to the brand for years. According to agency Chemistry, which created the ad, it was intentionally tongue-in-cheek and humorous. Last year Club Orange’s…

Social media is having an increasing influence on the TV viewing behaviours of US consumers , particularly in the younger age brackets, according to a new survey from Horowitz Associates. ‘Multiplatform Content and Services 2012’ finds that 24pc of 18-34 year-old adults and 30pc of 15-17 year-olds have started watching a show on TV because of something they saw online or through social media, compared to 16pc of total 18+ adult consumers surveyed. In the survey, 14pc of social media users agreed that social media helps them remember to tune into shows they want to watch. This figures rises to 19pc among 18-34 year-old adult social media users and 28pc of 15-17 year-old…

BT ad UK’s most memorable from a London 2012 sponsor – NielsenPictured: BT’s Hola was the most memorable and third most liked A BT ad showing a group of Spanish girls visiting a neighbour’s flat to use their broadband while in London for the Olympic Games was the most memorable Olympic-themed TV ad in the UK from an official sponsor during 2012, according to new figures from Nielsen. Nielsen said the ‘Hola’ ad was 36pc more likely to be remembered than the average Olympic-themed TV ad from an Olympic sponsor. The BT ad was narrowly ahead of McDonald’s free Olympic glass giveaway, which was 32pc more memorable than the average…

L’Oréal Professionnel launches INOA smartphone app Colour specialist L’Oréal Professionnel is to start a new smartphone app, INOA Colour Capture, which focuses on its ammonia-free permanent hair colour range, INOA. The new app uses augmented reality and geolocation technology to send users on a mission to capture thousands of virtual INOA colour bubbles in participating salons across the UK and Ireland. “We are delighted to announce the launch of n on iOS and Android,” said Michael O’ Connor, digital marketing manager for L’Oréal Professionnel. “The app is a first for L’Oréal and a real innovation in our marketing of INOA Colour using augmented reality and location-based features to drive our…