PR Cork

Bras for Breast Cancer
September 30, 2011 by Christine
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
Category: DMprTags: Bra Tug of War, Bras Skibbereen, Cork PR, DM, DMdesign, DMpr, Irish Cancer Society, PR blog, PR Cork, Sean Murray Skibbereen, West Cork | Comments (1)
Hollywood Glamour in Glengarriff!
June 27, 2011 by Christine
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!
Category: DMprTags: Christine Duggan, Cork PR, DMpr, George Hook, Glengarriff, Maureen O'Hara, Maureen O'Hara Classic Film Festival, MOHCFF, PR blog, PR Cork, Susan Bernard | Comments (0)
It Doesn’t Have to be Serious!
May 25, 2011 by Christine
I had the most fun on a recent photoshoot for The Clarion Hotel with photographer Neil Danton. It was great to do something completely light hearted to raise awareness of the fantastic deals that are available at The Clarion Hotel, Cork throughout the summer period for Live at the Marquee.

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!
Category: DMprTags: Clarion Hotel Cork, Cork PR, DMpr, Elton John Cork, Imelda May Cork, Live at the Marquee, PR blog, PR Cork | Comments (0)
Online PR – The Boost You Need for Your Small Business
May 3, 2011 by Christine
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.
Category: DMprTags: Christine Duggan, Cork PR, DMpr, Online PR, PR blog, PR Cork | Comments (0)
Why Simple Ideas are often the Best
April 11, 2011 by Christine
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!
Category: DMprTags: Cork PR, Diarmaid Twomey, DMpr, Dragons Den, Expresso Ads, Neil Danton Photography, PR blog, PR Cork | Comments (0)
You Get What You Give
March 31, 2011 by Christine
Just like everything else in the world, the nicer you are the more you seem to get back. Therefore, the nicer you are to a service provider, chances are the better the service you will receive in return. Thinking about this made me think of how all of us tend to go the extra mile for those who appreciate what we do so here are just two quick tips for getting more from your service providers be they in PR, design, plumbing – whatever!

Be Friendly

So maybe you’re just having a bad day and you didn’t mean to sound abrupt on that call or come across short on the last email. Perhaps you’re in a hurry or you’re having a particularly crappy day – does that mean you can skimp on the niceties to those that are providing you with a service? Some people think that by being tough and/or ungrateful will make their provider work harder for them or by not giving praise means that you are happy enough with what they are doing – I suppose we can all be guilty of this.

However, it is proven that being nice doesn’t cost you anything and encourages people to try harder and go that extra step to make you even happier. Give praise, say thank you, write a card or even cheaper, an email – it won’t take long and you’ll see a marked difference in how you are treated in return. It’s karma!

Give: Friendliness and Gratitude

Get: The extra mile

Take ideas on Board – dare to be different

Don’t shoot down ideas because you’ve never done “that” in the past. This isn’t the past – it’s always a good time to step up your image and new ideas which may seem a little bit crazy are often the ones that take you to higher ground and help you stand out from your competition. I know that I am extra motivated when working on creative campaigns for clients who just get it and want to break the mould. So don’t be afraid to test the waters and trust your provider.

Give: Trust

Get: Creativity and Motivation
Category: DMprTags: DM, DMdesign, DMpr, PR blog, PR Cork | Comments (0)
Some things just don’t need PR…
March 23, 2011 by Christine
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!!
Category: DMprTags: Cork PR, DM, DMdesign, DMpr, PR Cork, West Cork | Comments (0)
Flip Out with The Clarion Hotel on March 8th
March 1, 2011 by Christine
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!
Category: Graphic DesignTags: Adi Roche, CCI, Clarion Hotel Cork, Cork PR, DMpr, Pancake Tuesday, PR Cork | Comments (0)
Show Us Your What!?
February 1, 2011 by Christine
Over the past twelve months there has been some great viral campaigns by well known brands – probably the most popular being The Old Spice Campaign which really took off and raised the value and awareness of what reminded people of Dads aftershave from the 80’s to a cool and dare I say sexy shower gel – afterall – didn’t just about every woman want their man to at least smell like Isaiah Mustafa!?

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!!
Category: DMprTags: Christine Duggan, Cork PR, DMpr, old spice, PR blog, PR Cork, Swish, wink | Comments (0)
End Your Day the Flahavan’s Way on January 27th with The Marketing Institute
January 21, 2011 by Christine
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.
Category: DMprTags: Cork PR, DMpr, Hayfield Manor, Marketing Institute, MII, PR blog, PR Cork | Comments (0)

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