Marketing

Tourism Ireland has launched major marketing drives in Britain and the United States to capitalise on the visits to Ireland this month by Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama. The organisation estimates that the visits will generate up to €150m in positive publicity worldwide. It said its promotional programme and publicity drive are being stepped up considerably, before, during and after the visits. Film footage has been commissioned of the various locations on the itineraries, which is being distributed to media in Britain and all over the US.  This covers the sites being visited, landscape and scenery, culture and heritage, as well as themes like Irish food, equestrian Ireland, genealogy,…

TheJournal.ie has announced the appointment of Susan Daly as its editor, following the resignation of Jennifer O’Connell, who has been involved in the site since it was set up in June 2010 and oversaw its launch last October. According to the site, O’Connell has stepped down from her role “to pursue a number of freelance projects and to spend more time with her young family”. She will continue to write for the TheJournal.ie . Daly, a former day news editor with the Irish Daily Star, has been promoted from the position of deputy editor of the site.

Augmented reality is playing a central part in a new Metro Herald competition that is giving away a new Mazda2 as its top prize. Since last Tuesday, Metro Herald has been running a teaser campaign encouraging readers to download a dedicated augmented reality app called Junaio on their Android smartphones or iPhones. From today, readers can hold their smartphones over the ads in a special Mazda takeover edition of the paper, to watch a selection of Mazda videos come to life in a bespoke, 3D augmented reality microsite. They can then visit the Mazda Ireland Facebook page to answer a simple question, based on the video, to enter the draw…

Sky has appointed Elaine Pyke to the newly created role of director of Sky Atlantic HD, the pay-tv company’s latest star channel, which boasts dramas from the UK and abroad and over 10 million viewers. Pyke, previously head of drama at Sky, begins her new role immediately, reporting to Stuart Murphy. She will oversee the continuing expansion of the Sky Atlantic brand as it invests in the best commissioned and acquired content for customers. As head of drama, Sky says Pyke has been at the forefront of the group’s drama commissioning strategy. The move indicates the importance of the pay television company’s newest channel. She has been responsible for developing…

Budweiser is today launching a novel campaign that will see it bringing down the price of a pint as the temperature rises. Consumers who download the ‘Budweiser Ice Cold Index’ mobile app will be entitled to a free pint if the temperature reaches over 20�C. They will receive €2 off at participating Index bars when it’s 18�C or 19�C, and a €1 mobile voucher when it’s 16�C or 17�C. Anyone downloading the app can avail of these offers from today until 31 August and will also receive one free pint of Budweiser Ice Cold, regardless of the weather. The offer is limited to one free or money-off voucher per day,…

World Cup spending, a strong performance in Asia Pacific and growth in emerging consumer regions helped the ad industry globally to come out of recession in 2010 and post an impressive 10.6pc year-on-year increase to US$503bn, according to The Nielsen Company. “2010 was the year of recovery for the advertising industry,” said Randall Beard, global head of advertiser solutions for The Nielsen Company. “All global regions and every traditional medium (television, radio, newspapers and magazines) recorded a positive turnaround with highest percentage ad spend increases coming from Middle East/Africa and Latin America, which rose 26.7pc and 21.2pc respectively. Overall 23 out of 37 global markets posted double-digit ad growth last…

Regular posts, trustworthy brand news, new product information, contests and special offers are the five basic expectations fans have of brands on social media, according to new research from Millward Brown and Dynamic Logic, in co-operation with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). While these are the five health checks identified in the Value of a Fan report, five characteristics that can help pages stand out and drive a stronger brand response but may not all be appropriate to all brands, are a sense of fun, variety, innovation, interactivity and community. Value of a Fan suggests that successful pages deepen both brand equity and engagement. The research also notes that the pages generating the…

Jameson is running a global St Patrick’s Day party for online and real-world fans over 48 hours across four continents and seven time zones. The Jameson Global Party will take place in 18 different venues across the world, including Dublin, Sofia, Johannesburg, London, Montreal, Berlin and Astana. Using a range of digital initiatives, the Jameson Global Party will link the events at varying levels of connection, from photostreams and video greetings right through to a full three and a half hour TV-style broadcast live from the Mansion House in Dublin, Taboo in Johannesburg and The Military Club in Sofia. The broadcast will be headlined by Groove Armada and supported by Irish acts Codes…

US adult internet users who follow a celebrity on a social networking site are four times more likely to follow a brand than the average American internet user, according to research from The Nielsen Company. Apparently, 64pc of adult internet users who follow a celebrity on the likes of Facebook or Twitter also follow a brand. Nielsen also reveals that such fans are also more likely to offer advice and opinion to fellow online consumers. This is particularly the case when it comes to entertainment topics where 32pc of celebrity fans online provide advice on movies (making them 44pc more likely than the average online user to do so), and 28pc provide…

UK retailers’ websites are failing to meet consumer expectations for engaging e-commerce experiences, according to a new study from EPiServer. The ‘Developing your e-commerce strategy: how to deliver what customers really want’ study is based on a survey 2,000 consumers and explores the online shopping features they look for regarding overall web experience, browsing, buying and after-sales. The report also benchmarks how 25 top UK retailers measure up to these consumer demands. The research finds that while retailers are ticking the boxes regarding the fundamentals of e-commerce, such as providing clear product images and active search, they are not providing the engaging online shopping experience that consumers are demanding. It…