Marketing

Tourism Ireland is running a joint campaign until the end of June with VLM Airlines to promote a new flight to Waterford from Luton. The campaign includes poster ads on Thameslink trains in the Luton area, which will be seen by an estimated 500,000 commuters, new video footage of Waterford, as well as online ads running on key websites and targeting prospective holidaymakers living in the Luton area. VLM is also running press ads in newspapers such as The Irish Post and The Irish World, with the aim of targeting the Irish diaspora. A visit to Waterford, Kilkenny and Wexford for travel and lifestyle journalists will also be arranged. The…

Aer Lingus has invested around €2m in a new TV advertising campaign which aims to bring the aviation brand into the modern day. Entitled ‘Smart Flies Aer Lingus’, it shows the many ‘smart’ travellers who choose Aer Lingus, ranging from families to leisure and business and highlights checking in via mobile phone. It also features in-flight entertainment options, as well as the new full lie-flat beds available to business class guests on transatlantic flights. Irish actor Chris O’Dowd provides the voiceover and the soundtrack used in the ad is ‘A Sentimental Journey’ performed by the Metrepole Orchestra. “The launch of the new Aer Lingus brand manifesto ad is a further stage…

Ryanair has upgraded its mobile app with an improved ‘My Ryanair’ customer registration function, which allows customers to create their own personal profile and securely store payment and passport details on the app. Otherwise the app allows users to search Ryanair’s 1,600 low fare routes, choose and book fares and allocated seats, manage bookings, book hotels and care hire and check in and download mobile boarding passes. Available in both IOS and Android format, the Ryanair app has been downloaded over 6m times to date. Further additions to the ‘My Ryanair’ customer registration service will be added later this year, which will allow users to add family members to their…

EY Ireland has announced its exclusive sponsorship of the newly formed Irish Hockey League. The all-island EY Irish Hockey League will see 20 of Ireland’s top male and female clubs compete to become league champions over a 19 week-season. The first match of the league will take place in September 2015 with the final set for April 2016. “By supporting the highest performing teams in the sporting arena, as exemplified by the Irish Hockey League, we hope to expand on our own strategy to inspire effective and engaged teaming within our firm,” said EY Ireland managing partner, Mike McKerr. “We are delighted to have EY as the sponsor of the new EY Irish…

Aer Lingus and the IRFU have agreed a three-year partnership that will see the airline flying players, management and support staff around Europe as they take part in the RBS 6 Nations Championships and other international tournaments. As the official airline of the Irish Rugby team, Aer Lingus will re-name one of its aircraft Green Spirit which will be transformed with IRFU and player branding. This aircraft will be unveiled in early May 2015 while a second plane will be branded in similar livery as the team sets off to the World Cup in England and Wales in September. In addition, players from each of the four Irish provinces will…

The Dublin Bay Prawn Festival has been launched in the fishing village of Howth. The final preparations are now in place for the food festival, which takes place in Howth Harbour from 24–26 April. Now in its fifth year, the three-day Dublin Bay Prawn Festival has grown into one of the largest festivals in Ireland, popular with foodies and families alike. Local restaurants, bars and cafés will join to host a variety of food experiences, including the main attraction, a ‘Food Village’ serving the freshest seafood and the iconic Dublin Bay prawn, cooked every way imaginable in a marquee on the harbour on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The festival will…

Plenty of people each year fall foul of airport regulations. No more than 100ml of liquids can be taken in hand luggage – that means tins and jars of food, including anything from baked beans to maple syrup and jam to chocolate spread. London City Airport has revealed the most common food items confiscated from passengers who haven’t read the rules and the top five confiscated items are jam or marmalade, Marmite, Golden Syrup, Nutella and Heinz Baked Beans. However, the airport does not let the grub go to waste and has donated 300 items collected between January and March 2015 – with a combined value of more than €1,200…

TV3 Group has announced that its new channel TV3+1 will commence broadcasting on the Sky platform on channel 117 in the Sky Electronic Programme Guide (EPG). TV3+1 launched on UPC Channel 119 last year giving viewers a second opportunity to see TV3 shows. Broadcasting 24 hours a day, TV3+1 provides a full delayed one-hour feed of the main TV3 service. “We are delighted to be launching TV3+1 on the Sky platform and that the channel will now be available in so many Sky homes throughout the country,” said Niall Cogley, TV3’s director of broadcasting. “We also look forward to launching our TV3 HD service on Sky this summer in advance…

The CoderDojo Coolest Projects has launched a free public event in RDS. On 13 June young coders from Ireland and around the world will fly in to the biggest Coolest Projects Awards yet at the RDS to showcase their IT skills. Attendants are being told to expect cool apps, games, websites, robots and ‘hacks’ to make people’s lives run better. Coolest Projects 2015 offers coders aged seven to 17 the chance to submit individual or group projects using their creativity and skills with computer languages and hardware. Karina Corbett

McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland has officially launched Free Breakfast Friday, which will see the company give away 40,000 Egg McMuffins for free on Friday, 27 March. Research carried out to celebrate Free Breakfast Friday has revealed that Ireland is a nation of egg lovers, with 62pc of people voting eggs their favourite breakfast menu item, ahead of sausages at 20pc and bacon at 18pc. Love/Hate star Tom Vaughan-Lawlor has been named Ireland’s dream breakfast companion. The actor, best known for his role as Nidge, fought off competition, beating Jamie Dornan, Imelda May, Roz Purcell and Stephanie Roche. When it comes to the most important meal of the day almost half…