grainne byrne PR

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/what-does-it-taketo-sell-to-america-10490609.html

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

What does it take to break into US? Top 5 Ads & A great PR initiative (not mine!)

What does it take to break into the US?

This week Primark (Penneys) opens its first US store – in Boston. It’s a massive move for the company and it must be hoping it avoids the fate of Tesco, Sainsbury and M&S who all failed to make it stateside. The choice of Boston is considered a good one because of its big student population and younger Americans are more open to buying international brands. Also opening just one store is considered smart as slow expansion is working for Ted Baker, Topshop and Boden in the US. Topshop sold a 25% stake in its business to a US private equity firm so it would have US expertise on board. A state by state or focus on key cities is recommended in this article for Primark.

Top 5 Ads

This is the Guardian’s current Top 5 and a couple have dubious starts but turn out to be good ‘uns! The 5 featured are Honda, Pot Noodle, Gatorade, Under Armour and McCoys crisps. Synchronicity seems to be in vogue with both the Honda and Under Armour ads using impressive displays of it but I still found both ads a bit cold. The Pot Noodle one is good – had me all riled up initially as was thinking of link between nutrition and sporting achievement – but it sends itself up very nicely. I really like the Gatorade commercial as it features comments from a very young Serena Williams (pictured) – I won’t give a spoiler re the ending but it’s great. The McCoys one is just simply funny! See for yourself……

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2015/sep/08/serena-williams-steps-back-in-time-for-gatorade-advert

A Great PR initiative

Hats off to whoever came up with this angle to promote houses for sale in Delgany – I can imagine plenty of copycat attempts! The interior designer for these Wood Group homes, a woman called Eily Roe, imagines characters and their lifestyles living in her show homes and designs for them. So an Irish Times journalist was invited for a sleepover in one of the homes and this article was the result. Nice one!

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/try-it-on-for-size-could-you-live-the-showhouse-life-1.2328078

http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2015/aug/24/how-pick-colour-scheme-for-brand

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

why McDonald's ditched red, Airbnb for disabled people & is yours a Foodie Town?

Why McDonald’s ditched red

What do you need to consider when choosing a colour(s) for your brand? Apparently fast food companies traditionally chose yellow and red (speed & efficiency) combinations but McDonald’s found that red was associated with bad food – so it retained the golden arches but now uses more greens and natural colours as well. A bank born out of a merger between two US banks broke the mould with its brand colours – silver and gold (coinage) – whereas banks around the world traditionally use nationalistic colours, representing patriotism and security. And yellow apparently resonates with the logical side of the brain. So go figure – with the help of a list of colours at the foot of the article and what each represents!

Is yours a ‘Foodie Town’?

This is the second year of a really nice initiative from the Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) – Ireland’s ‘Foodie Town’ in 2014 was Dingle. They’re looking for towns/destinations that actively promote themselves through things like food festivals, gourmet trails or farmers’ markets, as well as great dining experiences for locals and visitors. They need to also have established a local producer/supplier network that is utilised and promoted by local businesses. Plans for future growth, education, training, development and employment will also be taken into consideration. Closing date for entries is 7^th September.

http://www.businessandleadership.com/marketing/item/51523-search-for-irelands-top/

“Airbnb for disabled people”

Like all the best ideas, Accomable came about as a result of trying to solve a problem based on every day experience. Srin Madipalli and Martyn Sibley have spinal muscular atrophy and use motorised wheelchairs – something they’re well used to – but they often found travel a challenge. Madipalli said, “The information for assisted travel is terrible and not connected to booking accommodations and services.” So last year, they set up Accomable which they describe as “Airbnb for disabled people and anyone with mobility difficulties.”

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/accomable-lessons-from-an-inspiring-start-up-1.2323013

Image source: boutiquemc.co.uk

www.diyPR.ie

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/irish-times-daily-readership-up-10-to-427-000-1.2316476

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Richard Branson - "Be Fearless", London's not burning with Tan Organic - and more!

“Be fearless” – Richard Branson

When Virgin Atlantic pilot, Bernice Moran wanted to start her own confectionary business, her boss, Richard Branson gave the following advice - “Build your brand based on your passions and beliefs and your vision. Create your brand identity and the doors will open . . . people buy you and your brand. Be fearless going against global brand players in the confectionary business.” Bernice and her sister Linda set up “Be Sweet” and now have 30 different products which are sold on British Airways flights as well as in Ireland, the Middle East, Asia and the US. Her biggest mistake she says was jumping in with both feet without having done her homework and making herself aware of various cultural issues to take on board (sorry!) first! A good read.

http://bit.ly/1MCrwhd

London’s burning?

Not if Irish self-tanning company, Tan Organic has its way! I love companies and brands that think big! Last week they brought a team of Irish models (pictured) and a 20 foot inflatable self-tan bottle for a major awareness and sampling promotion in London. They appeared at popular spots including Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and more and gave away 5,000 free samples. A professional flash mob appeared throughout the day for added fun. But it wasn’t all frivolous - their serious message about dangers of sun tanning was supported by the UK cancer community and the promo team was led by blogger and cancer survivor Eimear Coghlan. Well done to whoever thought of this idea – love it!

Who’s reading what?

Are Irish people still reading newspapers and if so, how? 4 out of 5 Irish adults are. Last week, the Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS) came out – this covers readership of Irish newspapers between July 2014 and June 2015. 720,000 people now read Irish newspapers online – up 27% on last year. Laura Slattery reports, “Readership of The Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Irish Daily Star and Irish Daily Mirror increased over the past year, while readership of the Irish Independent was flat. The readership of the Herald, Irish Daily Mail and Irish Sun fell, researchers found. All Sunday titles lost readers, with the exception of the Sunday Business Post.”

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

21 ways to make content viral, how 5 brands tackle climate change & which social media sites work

21 ways to make your content more viral

Longer content is more likely to be shared than short – this is one of the surprising (to me) tips in this very helpful infographic in PR Daily depicting 21 ways to get your content shared. Other tips include using plenty of images as this makes your content more credible, use odd number and [brackets] in your headline and only feature short URLs. Targeted CTAs (Calls to Action) work much better than generic e.g. “share these weight loss tips” rather than “share this post.”

http://bit.ly/1WfHn8f

How 5 big brands are tackling climate change

Communicating about their support for climate change in an engaging way can be challenging for brands – this article talks about how 5 big brands (4 of them familiar names to Irish audiences) are doing so. Focusing on one – Adidas – I really like what they are doing. They’re a founder member of an organisation called “Parley for the Oceans”, an organisation where creators, thinkers and leaders come together to raise awareness of the oceans and collaborate on projects that protect it. Adidas apparently specifically supports its educational and communications activities. Recently Adidas launched the first shoe made from recycled ocean plastic. Other brands covered include Ben & Jerry, Coca Cola, Unilever and Staples.

http://bit.ly/1NnT1YF

Business guide as to which social media sites are working

An “eye opener” is how the Indo’s Adrian Weckler describes recent quarterly results from the big players on the social media scene. He talks about which social media to watch from a marketing point of view. Facebook is still the biggie while Twitter is struggling to make ads work on its platform. 72% of Facebook members check into the site or app every single day. Also worth noting is that 76% of its advertising revenue now comes from mobile devices. Instagram with its 300m users worldwide has enabled advertising APIs – automated software that lets advertisers place ads without having to call someone. 63% of Snapchat’s Irish users use the app every single day and M&Ms have used it here to promote competitions but no advertising as yet, unlike the States where big brands have been using it for some time. Excitement about Snapchat’s future is because of the ongoing development of its media channels, “Discover” and “Live”.

http://bit.ly/1JapDre

www.diypr.ie

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/aug/04/brands-purpose-profits-cause-marketing

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Brands should focus on higher purpose, Not so Barking Mad & JNLRs

Focus on a higher purpose not just on profits

So says the Global Head of Social & Digital Marketing at Philips but he warns that you have to be sincere, be consistent and be prepared to stand your ground. In this interesting article on CSR (corporate social responsibility) Blake Cahill states that employee engagement can be challenging and that some consumers can see the activity as exploitative. He mentions a couple of global CSR campaigns such as Kenco’s “Coffee V Gangs” and Toms footwear who, for every pair of shoes sold, give a pair to a needy child as well as talking about smaller scale ones from Oasis (‘spring a smile’) and UPS (‘your wishes delivered). “The cause should be rooted in the brand, it should make sense to customers and it should have a practical, shareable outcome.”

Not so Barking Mad!

Having worked in Mars (maker of Pedigree dog food amongst other brands), Paul Fortune saw a gap in the market for a quality dog food with a high meat content – so in 2008, he set up “Barking Heads.” He and his two business partners were inspired by Innocent and Ella’s Kitchen – two other high quality brands who do their marketing in a fun way. Barking Heads’ logo was researched in the primary school playground of Paul’s kids. The article below doesn’t give a lot of info on the brand so here’s the website - http://www.barkingheads.co.uk/ and I see they do ‘Miaowing Heads’ food also for us cat owners and their products are sold here in Ireland. I like their “Meet the Family” web page.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/small-business-person-of-the-week-paul-hunter--founder-barking-heads-10434080.html

Radio Listenership June 2014 – July 2015

RTE Radio 1 and Newstalk shows did well in July’s JNLRs (Joint National Listenership Radio) survey but Sean O’Rourke’s Radio 1 show was the only RTE programme to increase listener numbers (to 317,000) over the 12 months. Apparently younger listeners turned to Radio 1 during the marriage referendum so some shows had particularly good figures for the past quarter. Ryan Tubridy also had a very good year but now he moves to John Murray’s Radio 1 9am slot. Newstalk Breakfast (a personal favourite) grew its audience by a very impressive 26,000 to 173,000 over the past twelve months. Locally, Red FM overtook 96FM to become the number 1 local radio station in Cork.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/radio-1-recovers-lost-listeners-ratings-survey-shows-1.2302370

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/jul/20/apple-pay-businesses-uk-payment-systems

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Outlawed for 2016, is your business ready for Apple Pay & 5 'fringe' social media platforms

Trends in 2016

As we rebuild our world in 2016, it will be all about the “Emotional Web” according to Meabh Quoirin of The Future Foundation who gave an excellent talk at DIT on Tuesday. “The Warming Web” and channeling people’s moods was just one of the trends she identified.

“Injury Time Appeal” was another – an example of which is a customer in-store getting a brand message telling him/her that they have only 10 minutes to redeem a certain offer. The importance of “Peer to Peer” enterprises, social entrepreneurship and self-parody (showing that we’re not perfect, we’re human) were also highlighted. One excellent example was cited – Carsberg’s “Beer Body Ready” response to that “Beach Body Ready” ad campaign. The slide above shows absolute “no-no’s” for brands in 2016.

I’ve only skimmed over the excellent talk that Meabh gave at DIT who, along with The Marketing Institute, ran the seminar to promote their Masters in Digital Marketing & Analytics.

Is your business ready for Apple Pay?

Possibly launching here later this year as Apple apparently contacted Irish banks earlier in the year, is your business ready for Apple Pay? According to this article Apple Pay is definitely not just for the ‘big boys’ – any company that considers itself premium, tech-driven and user-friendly should be seriously considering enabling their customers to pay them this way. It cautions that before you invest, you should check who your customers bank with and if they’re interested in using contactless payment services like Apple Pay. It’s a trend that can only increase with 44.8% of all UK online payments last year made with a mobile device. If you do adopt it, you’re advised to train staff well on how it works and ensure you have an “Apple Pay Champion” on every shift.

Are the 5 ‘fringe’ social media platforms suited to your business?

Well, it all depends on where your target audiences spent time, of course. This article gives one tip to find out where your audience are – check to see where your website is coming from and which networks they’re on. They then give a brief description of Snapchat, Vine, Tumblr, Vimeo and Quora. 71% of Snapchat users are under 25, 57% of Vine (the 6 second video platform) users are women and this is ideal for Twitter users, Tumblr is for short blogs, Vimeo for professional video users and those who enjoy a quality experience while Quora boast 2.9m users on its Q&A platform.

http://bit.ly/1IeuCF8