9 Smokin’ Hot entrepreneurs, Own Label innovation and cuteness overload in Budweiser Superbowl ad!

9 Smokin’ Hot entrepreneurs!

9 enterprises – all less than 3 years old – will contest a €100,000 prize package on 17^th February when the winners in the 2015 David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards will be announced by Dr. Chris Horn, chair of the panel of judges and guest speaker, Emma Manley, Owner and Creative Director @ Manley.

The 9 are:

• Prof Eoin Casey, Dr. Eoin Syron & Wayne Byrne, OxyMem;
• Stephen Cluskey, GoAccessible365
• Sarah Davis-Goff & Lisa Coen, Tramp Press
• Pat Divilly, Pat Divilly Fitness
• Bebhinn Flood, The Design House;
• Caroline Gardner, Quality Matters
• Elaine Lavery & Hannah O’Reilly, Improper Butter;
• Matthew Nevin & Ciara Scanlan, MART;
• Tadhg O’Toole, LIKECHARITY

Best of luck to them all on 17^th Feb - further details on the finalists can be found at www.davidmanleyawards.ie

Own Label Innovation

Despite the fact that the growth in own label sales has slowed down in Europe, it is predicted that they will account for half of European sales by 2025.  This article says that the better own labels are innovating and not just copying big brands.  Marks & Spencer had a bumper Christmas period which the retailer attributes to innovation in desserts and party food.  It has to be said that M&S do food really, really well!  How big brands will continue to fight back is always worth watching – mostly it’s been price slashing – Tesco has cut 25% approx. off 380 brands – and guess who funds that – the suppliers.  Less profit means less innovation.  Tricky.

http://www.independent.ie/business/world/big-brands-face-struggle-to-contain-own-label-advance-30939154.html

Cuteness Overload!

I’ve watched this ad about ten times today – Budweiser’s ‘Lost Puppy’ Superbowl commercial featuring a very cute puppy along with an extremely cute owner it has to be said – and some Clydesdales, of course!  If in doubt about your advertising, a puppy always works!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAsjRRMMg_Q

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Damn right I look hot! Next stage for 'Origin Green'? & Floating on Big Red Cloud nine?!

Damn right I look hot!

#ThisGirlCan is an interesting new ad campaign from Sport England which features real women – Dove-style.  They’re not “glowing” or “perspiring” – they’re sweating!  It’s a drive to get more women involved in exercise and sport and the ads feature women taking part in various sports and exercise activity, individually and in groups.  The tag lines include “I jiggle therefore I am” (my favourite!), “Sweating like a pig”, “Feeling like a fox”, “I kick balls” and “Hot and not bothered”!  While I really admired Dove when they introduced real women to their campaigns, half of me wondered if we really prefer to have more aspirational advertising?  That said, I do buy some Dove products!  I wonder how Sport England will measure its success?

http://bit.ly/1yjKxvv

Next Stage for Origin Green?

Bord Bia’s ‘Origin Green’ initiative has been very successful in marketing Irish food companies abroad so I wonder if future plans include a listing of Irish sustainable restaurants?  I came across this article in the English Independent on the SRA (Sustainable Restaurants Association) which has more than 4,000 restaurants as members in the UK – ranging from cafes to Michelin-starred establishments.  They’re rated on 3 key areas – sourcing, environment and society and patronised by diners who want a “clear conscience as well as clean plates”. The SRA has linked up with the Independent on Sunday and Unilever Food Solutions for their Awards which will be presented in February – nice initiative.

http://www.origingreen.ie/

http://ind.pn/1CFRWWW

SRA Awards - http://awards2015.thesra.org/

Lovely use of sponsorship

I love this initiative from Bank of Ireland, the main sponsor of Leinster Rugby, which saw some of their corporate customers vie to win their name on the Leinster jerseys for a day.  Big Red Cloud, the online accountancy firm, won it and got TV exposure as the match was televised, entertained 30 of their customers at the match and staff before and after the match in the Kearneys-owned Bridge Bar in Ballsbridge. 

http://sportforbusiness.com/big-day-out-for-big-red-cloud/

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Flying shirts IKEA ad, Aaron Paul's dream job & Better Call Nidge?!!

Make Storage exciting!

I love the new IKEA ad – maybe I need to go out more!  Seriously, I imagine that the power of imagination was tested with the brief to their ad agency – make an ad about storage that stops people in their tracks!   The result – The Joy of Storage – has a John Lewis-like feel to it and you find yourself empathising with flying shirts as they fly ‘home’!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DassdizThkk

And interesting to see that no matter who you are, you have to listen to and understand what your customers want - bed sales in the UK for IKEA shot up once they introduced smaller sized beds than the standard European sizes.  Wonder have they done the same here?

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/12/ikea-booms-britain-uk-size-smaller-beds-sales

Meths Distributor – your dream job?!

So is your dream job to be a meths distributor/cook?!  I was a big Breaking Bad fan and think Aaron Paul was brilliant as Jesse Pinkman – but kind of a strange choice to front the Budweiser Dream Job campaign?  Or maybe not – he has massive ‘street’ appeal (if you’ll pardon the pun) for the target audience and has a whiff of danger about him – from his BB role!  Certainly his choice as Ambassador sends the campaign into the stratosphere from a profile point of view.

http://www.businessandleadership.com/marketing/item/48992-aaron-paul-signs-up-as/

Better Call Nidge ?

Listen up Stuart Carolan or anyone attempting that difficult ‘second album’ – if Stuart does produce a spin-off of Love/Hate,  he might well keep a close eye on how the creators of Breaking Bad spin-off ‘Better Call Saul’ succeed or otherwise with their new show.  They’ve set the series in pre-BB times to help it stand alone.  ‘Frasier’ did it post-Cheers – but they moved the character to a different city so it was easier.  Either way, no doubt Stuart might have to field the same questions as  ‘Saul’ creators -  constantly being asked if stars from their original massively successful series will feature in the new one!

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/better-call-saul-no-walter-white-or-jesse-pinkman-season-one-20150110

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Having Drico on team doesn't win u the game; Press Releases - don't send a template - & Sainsbury's pips John Lewis

Press Release – don’t send a template!

Oops!  How not to send a press release is revealed here with the offending company’s release re-printed by The Guardian. Ouch!  My initial reaction was “why would you use a template at all?!”  But in organisations with multiple branches where the local person might not be PR-literate, they are helpful.   This Guide – as it’s a guide more so than a template – does give some good tips including using local, newsworthy angles.  Anyway, enjoy reading it – and a tip from me – never fill in the “To” box on an email until it’s ready to send, just in case!

http://www.theguardian.com/media/mediamonkeyblog/2015/jan/06/prfail-fill-in-all-the-template-before-sending-out-your-press-release

“Having Drico on your side doesn’t win you the game”

So said Jamie Heaslip at a recent UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School marketing breakfast.  But this wasn’t a side snipe at BO’D – he meant winning was a combined effort. Jamie also quoted advice his dad gave him for business and sport – “Control the Controllers” i.e. the things that matter as the rest is just noise.  Another recommendation was to always surround yourself with better players.

http://www.independent.ie/business/media/jamie-heaslip-lines-out-with-winning-advice-30845203.html

Sainsbury’s pips John Lewis as most viewed Xmas ad

Globally John Lewis was the winner with 22.1m views as against Sainsbury’s 16.6m but in the UK, the latter won out. Both were excellent but I did admire Sainsbury’s bravery for using such an emotive piece of history (disputed I know) in an ad for a supermarket- it hit the right note though.  It’s a beautiful piece of work. And John Lewis will no doubt reign supreme again next year in their home market.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/06/sainsburys-john-lewis-most-viewed-viral-ad-youtube-uk

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juice challenge for charity, low key launch for UTV Ireland and Pepsi's new year salutation!

Timely & innovative fund-raiser – the Irish Juice Cleansing Challenge

“True healthcare reform starts in your kitchen, not in Government” – a quote on the Irish juice cleanse website.  I’m so impressed with this very timely marketing initiative that I’ve signed up! The Irish Juice Cleansing challenge will benefit two charities – Focus Ireland and St. Vincent de Paul.  It costs just €14.99 to sign up and as well as a % going to the charities, you get a free eBook of juice recipes, tips and a discount voucher for a juicer – which finally prompted me to buy one after months of procrastination!  The only criticism I would have of this is that the organisers should be more upfront about who’s behind it as it’s an initiative to be proud of.  It’s only when I clicked on ‘contact us’ I found it’s a Cavan-based company called Real Health Revolutions.  They should add an “About Us” page to the website.

http://juicecleansechallenge.ie/

UTV Ireland- can’t do a ‘soft launch’ after intense marketing campaign

UTV Ireland finally came on air yesterday – and after all the hoo-ha and intensive marketing campaign, it was quite a lame launch.  You can’t have a ‘soft launch’ after a high impact marketing campaign – the whole idea of a ‘soft launch’ is that you do it quietly and then when happy it’s right, shout about it!  The station seems to have a very strong line-up in its news and current affairs – so we should have seen that – live.  I watched Pat Kenny’s programme which was interesting but a live current affairs show from him would have shown Pat at his best. 

The Irish Indo today described it (a bit cruelly) as “the bland leading the bland” (see link below) while the Times says there were “no New Year fireworks” but does advise that we’ll see the real UTV Ireland on Monday 5^th January when the news and current affairs kicks in (link below also).

Despite the low key start, it’s great to have another TV station in the Irish media landscape - they have a strong line-up of shows in their stable so they’ll get the audience numbers.  But I want to see what’s unique about them – roll on Monday.

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/pat-kenny-is-front-of-house-as-utv-ireland-hits-our-screens-1.2052454

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/television/tv-reviews/utv-ireland-first-night-review-the-bland-leading-the-bland-30876563.html

How did you wish your customers a Happy 2015?!

If budget was no problem, how would you wish your customers a happy new year?!  Pepsi used 2014 mousetraps and 2015 ping pong balls for their salutation – see link!

http://www.independent.ie/videos/have-you-seen/video-2014-mousetraps-and-2015-pingpong-balls-create-ultimate-chain-reaction-30873259.html

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