Have a great Christmas and an even better 2012!

Christmas 2011 Newsletter

It’s been a bit of a busy week but I can’t let it finish without writing a quick post on a very special campaign being run by a local shop in Skibbereen. Sean Murray Fashions is looking for the women of Ireland to send him their old bras with a donation to The Irish Cancer Society.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Sean aims to cover the town with bras to raise awareness and round out October with a fashion show in aid of the charity as well as a tug of war with the bras on Main St. The tug of war is a fun event but will symbolise the struggle against breast cancer Irish female sufferers face on a daily basis. Each year more than 2,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and although women are more aware of it there is still much to be done.

If any ladies reading this have old bras (which I’m sure you do) lying around the house please send them to Sean Murray, 5 Main St., Skibbereen along with a small donation – the pennies make the pounds (or cents make the euros!). Sean Murray’s is also donating 10% of sales of bras sold throughout October to the Irish Cancer Society as well as giving ladies 10% off for themselves – everyone’s a winner!

Here is a link to TV3’s Midday programme where the ladies speak about the campaign

Sean also hit the national airwaves yesterday morning when he spoke to Hector live on air about the campaign!

Below is a sample of some the coverage from the papers yesterday…

Irish Examiner

Cork Independent

]]> http://www.dmblog.ie/2011/09/30/bras-for-breast-cancer/feed/ 1 http://www.dmblog.ie/2011/06/27/hollywood-glamour-in-glengarriff/ http://www.dmblog.ie/2011/06/27/hollywood-glamour-in-glengarriff/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:50:47 +0000 Christine http://www.dmblog.ie/?p=857 DMpr had the pleasure to work on the PR for the Maureen O’Hara Classic Film Festival which wrapped up yesterday after ten days of screenings, book signings special talks, Q+A sessions, music and food.

During the festival I had the pleasure of meeting Maureen; a true lady who never tired of giving her time to those who travelled from all corners of the world to catch a glimpse of their all time favourite Hollywood star.

The festival received all the media attention it deserved and even pulled a front page in the Irish Examiner on Saturday 18^th June with an article by Eoin English after his interview with Susan Bernard, former actress and daughter of Hollywood’s most famous photographer, Bernard of Hollywood. Susan was in Glengarriff to preview her new book Marilyn; Intimate Exposures which will be published by Sterling Press in October of this year.

Cork’s favourite son, George Hook also visited Glengarriff twice to interview Maureen and broadcast his Newstalk show The Right Hook on opening night before officially doing the honours of opening the festival to great laughter and applause in The Eccles Hotel.

Pic: Neil Danton

Minister Jimmy Deenihan also travelled to introduce Sé Merry Doyle’s documentary Dreaming the Quiet Man on Friday last. This was Maureen’s third time to see the documentary and if you get a chance it is well worth going to see and is sure to put a smile on your face!

Pic: John Delea

Already looking forward to next year’s festival!

Three of our friends at the Clarion really got in to the spirit of it by dressing up as three of the headline artists for Live at the Marquee. Raymond channelled his inner Elton John while Mark made a youthful Christy Moore and Kasia almost really did become the beautiful Imelda May.

The entire shoot was such fun. It is always great to have a client just run with an idea –  it goes to show that if you dare to be different then you will be noticed! And noticed they were in national and local media as well as on the street when they stopped traffic while on the boardwalk!

Thanks too to Neil Danton who can instantly fall in with a wacky idea and bring it to life!

If you own a local business there’s good news when it comes to online PR. With clever use of online web marketing and localised PR you can easily generate free messaging or promotion for your business.  When a local business produces it’s own online news content, it almost always results in increased search engine rankings, traffic, and business.

The more education and informative your content is the better the results.

Below are 3 easy steps to get started with local online PR:

Put a News Section on Your Website

If your business has a news section on it’s website, you’ll have a place to publish and manage content about events, new products or services, and community involvement of your business. It’s unlikely to gain mainstream attention of major media outlets, but it does help improve your repeat business and build a loyal following of customers. In addition, it boosts search engine rankings, especially if you are writing news tailored to the region you do business in. Before you know it, your business will be known for it’s great communication and you’ll be ahead of your competitors in the search engines.

Use Press Releases To Generate Buzz

Think you can’t have a news section on your website because your company hasn’t been in the news? You can always write your own news. In fact writing press releases about your website is one of the best ways to generate a buzz for what you are doing. It gives local press a story. Even a charity walk could be newsworthy for your local newspaper. True, it’s not national front page material but it could gain exposure for your company in the community section or events of your local paper.

Connect With Your Customers Socially

With the ever-increasing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, you can place your company’s name in front of a captive audience absolutely free. The key is to be personal and provide value to your friends or followers and think a little bit differently to your competitors.

Last night we watched Corkman and entrepreneur Diarmaid Twomey enter the Dragons Den with one of the simplest yet brightest ideas to date – selling ad space on coffee cups. This, together with his no nonsense presentation made it impossible for the Dragons to say no and in a reversal of fortunes Diarmaid had them on their knees! In the end he chose to seal the deal with Norah Casey and Bobby Kerr.

I have had the pleasure of working with Diarmaid over the past number of weeks and it is clear to see that the Dragons have made a sound investment in him and his business. Diarmaid and Expresso Ads are destined for great things and we wish him all the very best of luck!

Check out Expresso Ads here; www.expressoads.ie

The pictures were taken last week by the wonder that is Neil Danton – always a pleasure!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to catch the most beautiful sunset in Baltimore – some things are naturally perfect and this was certainly one of them. When something is this good it doesn’t require help with design or PR…luckily for DM, there aren’t many places or things in the world like this!!

Get thee to the Clarion Hotel this Pancake Tuesday (March 8th) to raise funds for Chernobyl Children International (CCI) and get your pancake fix. Head Chef Tommy Butler will be be going flipping mad from 11am to 4pm on the Boardwalk to raise money for Adi Roche’s charity which has been helping children in Chernobyl for the past 20 years since the nuclear disaster in 1986.

It’s hard to believe that it’s 25 years ago this year but CCI who have raised more than €90million in the past 20 years since its foundation in 1991 continues to do amazing work on the ground to give thousands of children hope for the future.

I recently had the privilege of meeting Adi and two lovely little girls Krystina and Olga last week at a special photocall at the Clarion and they are amazingly happy and self assured children thanks to Adi and all the hard work by CCI. So if you have some time next Tuesday please support the Clarion and treat yourself to a scrumptious pancake for a great cause!

Yep, it definitely worked for Old Spice, so much so that other brands decided to give it a go and come up with something fun and frivolous to appeal to their audiences. One such brand was Pantene who enlisted the help of Cat Deeley to encourage women to show “your swish” – your what I hear your say? Yes – “your swish”! So, you go log on to the pantene website and upload a video clip of yourself swishing your hair – great idea, no!?

I thought from the beginning that it was mad and wondered where they would take it and months on they really haven’t taken it anywhere as the ad is still being aired. So no funny viral ad was pieced together of all these mad ones swishing their hair in a last ditch attempt to be recognised – nothing! What was the point of it all apart from possibly causing whiplash to many women and causing a partner or ten to lose an eye from being whacked in the face by a mane of hair!

So, last week as I was watching TV an ad came on for a new No. 7 mascara and at the end they asked people to show them their wink!! Now, at this point, I had to laugh – “show us your wink”?! How many different winks can the human race possibly give – is there a difference between a “sexy” wink and a “how’re ya” wink? The whole concept is mad and unoriginal. I would love to know who thought that copying an originally poor idea with the whole swish thing thought that a wink would be any better??

Soon there will be roomfuls of women with whiplash, and paranoid eyeless men who will be left wondering if the winks they think they are receiving are those of a woman mocking him or giving him the come on. No, they will just be perfecting their wink before they upload it for absolutely no reason!

Next there’ll be a campaign to show us your….no, on second thoughts, I won’t give away my idea – I will pitch it to a cosmetics company who will love it and I will be rich!!

The Marketing Institute, South Region will start 2011 “The Flahavan’s Way” by welcoming Sales and Marketing Director of Flahavan’s to address members and guests at their upcoming Marketing at Night Event in The Hayfield Manor Hotel on Thursday 27^th January at 6pm.

John Noonan, will address the Institute on the challenges of building the Flahavan’s brand over the past decade and the successes the company has enjoyed including being awarded the Irish Exporter of the Year in 2009. Noonan has, in the past, been awarded the accolade of Marketer of the Year proving that traditional brands still have a place in the hearts of consumers. At the event he will impart tips on how you can build your brand through creativity and strategic planning.

The event is open to all and the entry fees are Members €15, Non-Members €25 and Students €10. Places can be booked online on www.mii.ie and early booking is advisable.