Monday, January 30, 2012

Heineken: Long Story


Heineken Ireland have just launched their latest ad campaign, the Long Story. The campaign is driven by a brand new, Irish-made TV ad described as "a punchy but light-hearted look at how one man finds himself making the most of an unexpected circumstance and the fun that can be found in every moment."

The ad is a short narrative of one man’s adventure to recover his unfinished drink, 'cleaned up' by an eager waiter. In his attempt to reclaim his last mouthful of Heineken the hero inadvertently finds himself trapped on an express train from Paris to St. Petersburg. Here he entertains his fellow passengers with his story of woe and has a bit of fun along the way. Once he gets to St. Petersburg everything almost starts over again.

To celebrate the launch of the ad, Heineken will be putting on a special event this Thursday (2nd February) at the Old Harcourt Street train station, The Odeon. As well as stepping the Odeon back in time for the evening, Heineken will also have Ryan Sheridan, who wrote and performed the track featured on the ad, on hand to give an intimate, acoustic performance.

Anyone who would like to attend the event can apply for tickets on the Heineken Facebook page.




***Update***

Here is footage from the evening Heineken hosted in The Odeon with Ryan Sheridan.


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Chinese New Year And Kildare Village


It's hard to believe it's been a year already, but Chinese New Year is here again and Kildare Village is right in the middle of celebrations for the year of the Dragon.

This year, for the year of the dragon, Kildare Village has launched a really cool augmented reality smartphone app
*, the “Chic Dragon”, to celebrate the festival. The app, which marks the first use of augmented reality by a luxury outlet retailer, is free to download and features an animated dragon that takes users on an interactive journey through scenes of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping Villages. Customers just scan the code on posters around the Village and watch the dragon come to life on their screens. In addition, everyone who interacts with the app and watches the “Chic Dragon” video are in with a chance to win a €500 shopping spree.

Beyond the app and competition, no Chinese New Year would be complete without the official ceremonies that surround the festival. Kildare Village is getting into the spirit again this year by decorating the pedestrian streets of the Village in their festive best. Fortune cookies will also be distributed in the boutiques, restaurants and the tourist information centre from Friday 27th until Sunday 29th January.

Over the weekend of the 28th and 29th January there will be a number of traditional and contemporary entertainment acts in the Village such as vibrant Lion and Dragon Dance displays and Chinese opera performers. For further information on Dublin Chinese New Year Festival please visit www.cny.ie and for events happening at Kildare Village please see www.kildarevillage.com.


* The Chic Dragon app for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android is free to download from the App Store and the Android Market from 16 January 2012.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Talk To Joe With Lyons Tea

RTÉ Radio 1 announces Lyons Gold Blend Tea as
new sponsor of RTE Radio 1’s Liveline with Joe Duffy


You may have noticed that I have a bit of a soft spot for Lyons Tea - you can find several posts on their recent work here on Digitology. So I'm delighted to announce that Lyons Tea has joined forces with RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline. The Lyons Gold Blend brand – “the richer tasting tea” – will is now the sponsor of the country’s 2nd most listened to radio show (398,000 listeners) with an exciting 12 month sponsorship deal.

Liz Finlay, Marketing Manager, Lyons Tea commented: “We are thrilled to be the new show sponsor. Lyons Tea has long been associated with the art of conversation through its ‘Talk’ campaigns and there is no better talker or facilitator of talk than RTE Radio 1 presenter Joe Duffy – it’s the perfect pairing.”

Tara Farrell, Sponsorship Manager, RTÉ Radio said: “The Lyons Tea Liveline sponsorship is a significant one for RTÉ Radio 1. Lyons Tea, of course, is an institution, and so is Liveline. We look forward to a successful year ahead for both partners and, yes, lots of talk!.”

The sponsorship package includes six sponsor credited stings per day, a 12 month presence on the Liveline home page, podcast sponsorship plus sponsorship of all Liveline Funny Friday outside broadcasts.

Monday, January 16, 2012

100 Things To Watch In 2012

Great presentation from JWT

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

LG - Smart Thief

LG launched this on Youtube on 28th December to promote their new OLED Ultra Slim LED television, which they claim is the world’s slimmest TV screen.



Check out the number of views already...

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Guinness Storehouse Still Ireland's No.1


With its visitor numbers increasing by 10% in 2011, it's no surprise that The Guinness Storehouse has announced it attracted over a million (1,025,677) visitors through its doors last year. Not only does this see Guinness Storehouse retain its position as Ireland’s no.1 international visitor attraction but also as the fourth largest brand visitor attraction in the world.

Speaking at the announcement today, Managing Director, Paul Carty said: “We are delighted to announce we are still the no. 1 international visitor attraction in Ireland with over 1 million people passing through the Guinness Storehouse doors last year. Over the past number of years, the Irish tourism industry has been under severe pressure and we are proud to have played a part in enticing overseas visitors to Ireland and encouraging domestic visits too.”

Mr Carty continued “all eyes were on Ireland during the high profile state visits of US President Obama Barack Obama and Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II last May and this had a positive impact on our visitor numbers. A very successful St Patrick’s Day festival and the launch of FIVE, an entirely new experience dedicated to Guinness and Food at the Storehouse also contributed to helping us achieve our second highest footfall figures ever recorded.”

Welcoming the Guinness Storehouse figures, Alex Connolly, Head of Communications at Fáilte Ireland emphasised: “Visitor attractions play a vital part in growing both tourism revenue and visitor numbers and these figures today reflect an increase in overseas visitors last year and maybe also a royal bounce from the Queen’s visit. If we can maintain this momentum in 2012, there is every reason to believe that the Storehouse, and all our other key tourism attractions, can further increase visitor numbers this year. That will be good for tourism and great for our economy”.


Visitor Breakdowns:

  • 92% of all visitors to the Guinness Storehouse are from overseas.
  • Visitors from the USA, Germany, the UK, Ireland and Italy were ranked as the top five visiting nations to Guinness Storehouse.
  • German visitors were up 17%
  • US visitors were up 14%
  • Irish visitors were up 14%
  • Italian visitors were up 5%
  • August was ranked as the busiest month in the history of the Storehouse with 116,021 visitors.


Guinness Storehouse Facts:
  • The Guinness Storehouse is ranked the fourth largest branded visitor centre in the world after Hersheypark in Pennsylvania; Autostadt, the Audi/Volkswagen Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany; and the Coca-Cola Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • The Guinness Storehouse has welcomed over 9 million visitors since opening its doors in 2000
  • 92% of all visitors to the GUINNES STOREHOUSE are international. The top 5 nationalities who visit the Storehouse are (1) USA (2) UK (3) ROI (4) Italy (5) Germany.
  • Approximately 150 people are employed at the Guinness Storehouse
  • 1 in 2 holiday-makers who visit Dublin, visit the Guinness Storehouse
  • The building is 125 feet high, 170 feet long and 151 feet wide.
  • It would take 14.3 million pints of Guinness to fill the giant glass atrium in centre of the Guinness Storehouse building
  • Over 1.6 million visitors have tasted Guinness for their first time
  • Over 400,000 visitors have learned how to pour a pint of Guinness
  • Gravity Bar is the highest bar in Dublin located 44 metres off the ground