Marketing

The 2014 Eircom Junior Spiders winners were announced at a ceremony at Google HQ in Dublin today. Hosted by RTÉ’s Aidan Power, the awards recognise and reward primary and post primary students for the innovative ways they use the internet, especially around website development, school blogs and design. At primary level, the Mega Spiders have three categories – Best Project, Best School Blog and Best School Website. For post primary students the awards are split across two categories. The Giga Spiders rewards students from first to third year and the Tera Spiders are open to students from fourth to sixth year. The Giga and Tera Spiders reward students under the…

Ireland is in the top three ‘dream destinations’ for Americans, according to a new survey released this week by TripAdvisor. The bi-annual TripBarometer study, conducted by the travel review website, included more than 10,000 US respondents and looked at worldwide travel patterns, as well as the planning and booking habits of travelers at different life stages. When asked about their dream destinations to visit, the top three for American travelers were Italy, Australia, and Ireland. “The results of this TripAdvisor survey are good news indeed and confirm our own research that Ireland is high on the wish list for Americans as a dream destination,” said Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism…

A total of 10,500 newly digitised items have been released by the National Library of Ireland (NLI). Dramatic advances in information technology means the NLI is driving forward a programme of metadata creation, digitisation, digital preservation and online access to Ireland’s cultural heritage, according to Sara Smyth, NLI digitisation programme manager. Smyth highlighted the importance of having an effective national programme of digitisation and preservation to ensure public access to culturally important collections. “Libraries have always collected, managed and provided access to all forms of information,” she said. “Since 2010, we have overhauled our digitisation workflows and put in place key technical infrastructures. We achieved this with limited full time…

The 1,000th anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf takes place on 23 April and to mark this occasion, Wikipedia is supporting the first ever Irish live Wiki editing event in Dublin’s Science Gallery this Saturday, 19 April to improve the Battle of Clontarf Wiki pages. There is also an ongoing blow by blow re-enactment of the run-up to the battle and the battle itself on Twitter @1014retold for everyone to follow. The online events are being facilitated by 1014 Retold , a digital storytelling project that aims to bring the tale of the Battle of Clontarf to life for a modern day audience using digital tools and social media. The organisers are actively…

Aer Lingus Introduces New In-Flight Shopping Range – Boutique Aer Lingus launches ‘Boutique’ in-flight shopping offering Aer Lingus has launched a new in-flight shopping range – Boutique – that it says will bring a wider range of luxury shopping to customers on all of its flights, at prices up to 60pc less than on the high street. According to the airline, the new retail offering builds on the success of the previous in-flight shopping selection and showcases an entirely revamped product range, based on feedback from customers. Extensive Product Range with Exclusive Items The range includes 80 new products including several Aer Lingus exclusives. Included in the women’s range are…

Eddie Rocket’s is launching a new TV ad with an interactive social media campaign that will allow customers to choose the ending that will appear on TV in this month. It’s the first time in five years that Eddie Rocket’s has been on TV screens and the ad is part of a wider marketing campaign in 2014 for Eddie Rocket’s that will include a series of new TV ads, with a total investment of over €250,000. The new TV ad is set in outer space and features an astronaut reaching for an Eddie Rocket’s hamburger that is simply ‘Out of this World’. The ad has been shot with two endings…

The Great Wall of China has joined the list of more than 100 global landmarks that will go green this weekend to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. The installation of green lights on the wall for the first ever has been negotiated through the combined efforts of the Irish Embassy and the Tourism Ireland team in China, as well as the Foreign Affairs Office in China. “The Great Wall of China is joining the biggest Global Greening to date, involving iconic sites in countries around the world, including Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro and the Great Pyramid of Giza,” said Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon…

Unesco World Heritage site Petra in Jordan and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland Paris will be going green for the first time this year as part of Tourism Ireland’s global St Patrick’s Day celebrations. Other first timers in the Global Greening initiative – which is being run for the fifth time in 2014 – include the Holmenkollen ski jump in Oslo; Canada’s Whistler ski resort; the Rhine Falls near Zurich; the Evoluon Eindhoven in the Netherlands; a number of sites in Chicago – including Soldier Field stadium (home to the Chicago Bears team), the Trump International Hotel & Tower and the Wrigley Building and Millennium Park; four skyscrapers in Philadelphia…

Former Westlife star Nicky Byrne is to be part of the new line-up on RTE 2FM, presenting a mid-morning show that’s set to start within the next few weeks. RTÉ said Byrne will be joined by another new voice to day-time radio on 2FM which will be announced in the coming days. The Nicky Byrne Show will air weekdays from 11am. Byrne has previously presented Celebrity Sunday in 2010 on 2FM and filled in for Ryan Tubridy on Tubridy in May of last year. Head of 2FM Dan Healy said he’s thrilled that Byrne is joining the team. “I believe that Nicky will appeal to young audiences through instant likeability…