Bushmills Live to Return to The Old Bushmill Distillery in 2013

Bushmills announces the return of Bushmills Live, to be headlined by Of Monsters And Men

The Old Bushmills Distillery today announced that it will once again throw open its doors to play host to ‘Bushmills Live’ - a unique two-day festival celebrating handcrafted whiskey and music. Following the huge success of last year’s inaugural event, ‘Bushmills Live 2013’ will take place on Northern Ireland’s stunning North Coast on 19th and 20th June 2013.

To celebrate the launch, Bushmills commissioned Wishbone Dagger to make a 3D art installation that depicts the Bushmills Live poster using materials inspired by the handcrafted whiskey and music at the heart of the festival. The master craftsmen - who cemented their friendship when creating the stage set for a hugely popular American television epic that was filmed in Belfast – used 254 casks, 250 bottle tops, 30 bottles of whiskey, five metres of AMP wiring and four guitars to handcraft the 10ft by 16ft installation artwork.

The Icelandic five-piece acclaimed indie folk band, Of Monsters and Men, are currently enjoying enormous worldwide success having just won the 2013 European Border Breakers Award, which honours the best new European music acts. Of Monsters and Man have been dubbed the ‘must see act’ of the year and this summer marks the beginning of a busy festival schedule for the group which will include a performance at one of the biggest international festivals, Coachella in California - making their intimate appearance at Bushmills Live unlike any other that fans will experience this year.

Only 500 tickets are available globally for Bushmills Live, and these ‘money can’t buy tickets’ will not go on general release. Instead, music and whiskey fans can win the chance to attend the festival by entering a draw on the Bushmills Irish Whiskey Facebook page. Entries to the draw will open this Sunday, on St Patrick’s Day at 16:08 GMT.

Of Monsters and Men, said: “Playing a show in such a unique location, around the centuries-old warehouses and whiskey barrels, to such an intimate audience, is an experience we are very excited about. It’s going to make our first gig in Northern Ireland a memorable one, and not just for us, for the fans too, we hope!"

Of Monsters and Men are in good company. They join a list of fellow indie rockers such as the iconic Snow Patrol, singer-songwriters Foy Vance and Iain Archer, Elijah Wood, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Marcus Foster, The Staves, General Fiasco and David C Clements who all played electrifying performances at Bushmills Live last year.

Speaking at the launch of Bushmills Live 2013 event Master Blender at The Old Bushmills Distillery, Helen Mulholland, promised fans that they can expect to enjoy “more great music between great friends at this year’s event.”

“Whiskey and music have always gone well together”, added Helen Mulholland. “And at Bushmills Live we like to make both by hand, bringing this fusion of handcrafted whiskey and handcrafted music together against the backdrop of our beautiful distillery with performances from artists who are friends - which makes for a cracking atmosphere!”

“It goes without saying that we’re looking forward to extending a warm Bushmills welcome to our new friends, Of Monsters and Men, and to emerging artists who we’re proud to support by creating a music platform that allows fans to discover new and upcoming talent.

“I can’t wait to reveal the rest of the line up in the coming weeks. We’re of course just as excited to open our doors to whiskey and music fans the world over who want to attend Bushmills Live, so get your entry in and good luck!”

Irish Market the First to Air New Ad Themed Around the 1960 Box Office Smash ‘Spartacus’

Innocent have just launched their latest campaign, Innocent Goodness Juicer, over on Facebook. It's powered when people use the hashtag #innocentgoodness or enter a goodness message into the tab. Fans can then see their orange juiced live on the app webcam.

In addition to the straight forward funky awesomeness, Innocent are also giving away lots of great prizes all week for the best innocent goodness messages!

Electric Ireland: Powering Kindness Week

Electric Ireland Launch Charity Initiative Inspired by Kindness to Donate €100,000 to Charity

This Saturday sees the start of a week long campaign from Electric Ireland with the main objective to to generate good will around Ireland. Simply, for the week, people are being asked to do a kind deed. Like I said, simple.

Each kind deed is then logged and assigned to one of three charities. At the end of the week, Electric Ireland will convert these deeds into donations to the charities totaling €100,000. The three charities are: Special Olympics Ireland, Concern Worldwide and Focus Ireland.

You sign up and register your interest at www.poweringkindness.ie and then every deed that you log is passed onto friends, family or strangers and the kindness is shared. There is no limit to the number of good deeds you can do and the charities will benefit from every act of kindness completed during the week.

At the end of the week, the charity with the greatest number of good deeds done in their name will receive a donation from Electric Ireland for €50,000 with the other two charities receiving donations of €25,000.

Deeds can be as simple as making tea for your friend, giving up your seat to a stranger on the train, calling into a an elderly neighbour for a chat, topping up someone’s parking if you see the clampers patrolling, paying for coffee for the person behind you, offering an umbrella to someone being soaked by the rain, the list is endless.
Poweringkindness.ie will host all the details you need to know during the week, including:

• Some inspiration with a list of suggested good deeds
• Check out what good deeds have been logged to date, there may be some well-known faces taking part
• An update on how each charity is doing and how many deeds are assigned to them
• A deed tracker to show where deeds are travelling to – around Ireland, around the world and the route they are taking

The Electric Ireland Powering Kindness week will culminate in an announcement event that will take place on Friday November 23rd in the city centre. At this, the announcement of the charity with the largest amount of kind deeds done in their name will be made.

The campaign will be hosted primarily through www.poweringkindness.ie but you can get live updates through the Electric Ireland Facebook Page, Twitter Account (@electricireland) and following the #poweringkindness hashtag!

Guinness: Arthur's Day - Paints The Town Black App

Fans To Reveal Arthur’s Day Message and Raise
Over €30,000 for Arthur Guinness Fund

I've posted a lot about Arthur's Day, and will probably post some more, but this is definitely one of my favourite things happening around Arthur's Day this year. Today the Guinness Storehouse launched a brand new Facebook application that allows fans to paint a pixel on a canvass in the digital world that will trigger the spray painting a huge canvass in the real world action in the Guinness Storehouse to reveal an Arthur’s Day message.

The app also helps raising funds for charities as, for each pixel painted, Guinness will donate €5 to the Arthur Guinness Fund, generating in excess of €30,000 for the fund on completion of the painting.

Each pixel correlates to an area on the canvass that is hanging on the 1st floor of Guinness Storehouse. With 6600 pixels to paint, it is estimated that the final image will be created by midday tomorrow (Wednesday 26th September).

According to Lisa Fitzsimons, Marketing Manager of the Guinness Storehouse, ‘We are delighted that we are able to involve thousands of people in the creation of the real-world canvass at Guinness Storehouse. Fans of Guinness and the Guinness Storehouse can play their part in the creation of this canvass while continuing Arthur Guinness’ philanthropic legacy and generating funds for the Arthur Guinness Fund  benefiting many worthwhile social entrepreneurs in Ireland.’

Visitors to the Guinness Storehouse can interact with the application through teams of staff with iPads to claim their pixel and fans throughout Ireland can do so through their Facebook profile. Those who wish to see the real-world reveal can witness it on the 1st floor of the Guinness Storehouse.

The ‘Paint The Town Black’ can be found on the Guinness Ireland Facebook page and was developed by Tribal DDB London. Matt Oxley, Head of Creative Technology, Tribal DDB, London, said ‘This is a truly innovative campaign that blends technology and creativity to bring to life a traditional medium in a modern way’.

Guinness: Arthur's Day - Mumford & Sons, Primal Scream or Fun Lovin' Criminals at Your Local

Today Guinness announced a raft of new additions to the confirmed Arthur's Day lineup. From Mumford & Sons to Primal Scream to Fun Lovin' Criminals, there are now even more top name acts and stars who you might see down your local. Not forgetting surprise performances, this September 27th is shaping up to be the biggest Arthur's Day yet.

Don't forget though, this year's Arthur's Day has no tickets. All you need to do is grab your mates and pop down to any one of 500 free Arthur’s Day music events taking place in local pubs across all 32 counties.

Of course, to shape which of these artists will appear in which local you'll need to join the 55,000+ people who have already voted. Though best hurry as voting will close on 16th September. The winning pubs will remain a secret to the public until the night itself so you never know who might walk through the door.

Fun Lovin’ Criminals, who are no strangers to Ireland said, "Doing things the normal way just ain’t us. That’s why we’re excited to be a part of Arthur’s Day this year. We’ll be putting on a special performance in a secret location and that’s all we can say. Ireland, you had better get ready for us."

Without doubt Arthur's Day promises to be a remarkable night of live music featuring hundreds of home grown artists and, as usual, a night full of surprises.

The Arthur Guinness Fund

Arthur's Day isn't just about music and entertainment. Through the Arthur Guinness Fund, Arthur’s Day supports social entrepreneurs in Ireland and around the world who are in the business of changing communities for the better. This year, for every ‘check-in’ to an Arthur’s Day Facebook event in any of the 500 locals, a €5 donation will be made to the Arthur Guinness Fund by Guinness.

Confirmed Headline Artists:

• Mumford & Sons
• Primal Scream
• Fun Lovin’ Criminals
• Example
• Tinie Tempah
• Ellie Goulding
• Mika Professor Green
• Fatboy Slim
• Texas
• Amy MacDonald

A selection of the other artists performing:

• Rubberbandits
• Delorentos
• Royseven
• Key West
• Little Green Cars
• Picturehouse
• We Cut Corners
• The Shoos
• Jerry Fish
• The Hot Sprockets
• Mundy
• Walking on Cars
• Dove
• The Vals
• The Rapparee
• The Bonnevilles
• The Heads of State
• Ard Ri
• Midnight Graffiti
• Fiddlers Geen
• Ruaile Buaile
• Willie Byrne
• Gentry Morris
• The Muldoons
• Shane Butler
• Jaker
• Hush Warley
• Ghost Estates

Note: The list of pub artists will continually be added to between now and Arthur’s Day on 27th September

Electric Ireland Tweethunt

Next Tuesday, 14th August, Electric Ireland will announce their activity for Electric Picnic 2012. The announcement will include news about a very special guest. Building on their success from last year’s Tweethunt, Electric Ireland have decided to again give fans the chance to win tickets to Electric Picnic.

Starting Monday 13th and running until Friday 17th August, one fan each day will win four tickets to Electric Picnic – that’s five days, five winners and four tickets each!

Again the competition will be run through the Electric Ireland Facebook page using a custom app. First, however, fans have to tweet the Share the Energy hashtag (#SharetheEnergy). Then live on the Tweethunt map on the Electric Ireland Facebook competition app the location of the daily codeword location will start to be to revealed. This works through a map display. The more times #SharetheEnergy is tweeted, the closer the map zooms in on the daily codeword location.

Participants then need to make their way to the actual location where the codeword will be revealed on anything or anyone. Once it is spotted it just needs to be sent, via a Twitter DM, to @ElectricIreland. The first person to do so wins the four Electric Picnic Tickets.

I'll have more info on Tuesday so stay tuned.

Calor Announces the Shortlist for Community Champion 2012

At the announcement of the shortlist for the Calor Community Champion 2012 were
TV & Radio personality, Hector Ó hEochagáin and legendary GAA and sports broadcaster,
Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh and Jennifer Fagan, Marketing Executive, Calor.

Yesterday, Calor announced the shortlist of nominees for the inaugural Community Champion 2012. Without doubt the calibre of nominations has been very strong and clearly highlights the exceptional and largely unrecognised contributions people are making to their local communities. These local unsung heros, who have gone above and beyond in giving back to their communities, and are now in with a chance to be crowned Community Champion 2012 and win €1,500 and a bursary of €7,500 to give to their nominated charity or local organisation. On top of that, Calor is also throwing in €500 for the person or organisation that nominated them.

Voting is now open to each and every member of the public through the Calor Facebook page. Visit the Gallery of Nominees and you can see who is representing your county and who the organisation is that they have selected to receive the prize. You'll also find their ‘pitch’ for your vote. Voting is open until August 20th.

Speaking at the shortlist announcement, Hector Ó hEochagáin, TV personality and head of the Judging Panel said, “We asked for nominations from every corner and boreen on the island and you have not disappointed! All of us on the judging panel have been heartened by the stories of unseen work going on across our local communities. This initiative has been a platform to shed light on these truly deserving people. We now have a gallery of what can only be described as real life community heroes. Now it is time to see what each county is truly made of and who the best supporters are, so visit the Gallery of Nominees and get voting today!”

Jennifer Fagan, Marketing Executive, Calor Gas said, “At Calor we have been overwhelmed by the quality of work going on across the country and the numbers of nominations which have been flooding in to us. These people help to raise aspirations and create a feel-good factor within local communities. Choosing the local champions has been a hard task, without them it is clear our communities would be much poorer places. Calor wants every county to get behind their local champion and provide them with the reward and recognition they deserve.”

The Calor Community Champion 2012 will be announced on September 4th.

Rosanna Davison Competes in Captain Morgan Volleyball Match

Yesterday, London commuters and visitors were treated to a series of pop-up beach volleyball matches hosted by Captain Morgan. The matches, featuring Ireland's very own Rosanna Davison with a host of European models and dancers, took place at a variety of locations around London’s city center including; Leicester Square, Westminster Bridge and Jubilee Gardens.

Speaking in London Rosanna said; ‘I was delighted to get the chance to take part in Captain Morgan’s volleyball team. Myself and the girls had a fun day meeting people in London. There’s a real buzz about the city’.

For more information go to the Captain Morgan Facebook Page.

Three Ireland Launch #3HubTalk

Three Ireland have launched an exciting new Facebook App, Three ‘Hub Talk’. The app provides a space where some of Ireland’s favourite celebrities (including Roz Purcell, Bernard Dunne, Pippa O’Connor, Conor Mortimer and the not-so-real Marty Morrissey) will be revealing exclusive content via their own Facebook and Twitter pages. Fans will then have the opportunity to interact with these personalities.

Each day the celebs will post a link to the app of an exclusive personal video or picture. Fans will then upload their own version of the video/picture in order to win a whole host of daily, weekly & grand prizes. The celebrities themselves will each select a winner at based on how entertaining the data shared is.

Prizes up for grabs include Samsung Galaxy Minis, official Republic of Ireland jerseys and €20 top-up vouchers. Also, everyone who enters the app, even if it’s just for a nosy at the celebrity content, will be in with the chance to win the grand prize of a brand new Samsung Galaxy SIII with bill paid for a year and two VIP tickets to see Ireland take on Germany in their World Cup qualifier in October (including an overnight stay and dinner in a top Dublin hotel).

Commenting on the launch Bernard Dunne said: “Three ‘Hub Talk’ is a really clever idea from Three. It not only gives fans a chance to interact with each other in a fun and competitive way, it also means they can win really great prizes every single day. I’m a big Twitter fan and I’m always looking for different ways to interact with my followers. It’s also great for Three customers to be able to use their phone to upload data without any charges!”

Speaking about the campaign, Elaine Carey, Sales and Marketing director at Three, said: “We’re very excited to be launching Three ‘Hub Talk’ to promote our latest prepay offer. The Hub will be the perfect place for our customers to come to make great use of our ‘All you can eat’ data offering by sharing all sorts of content. From Wednesday 1st August, as well as having a place to come and share exclusive content, Three Prepay customers can snap up the Samsung Galaxy Mini on Prepay for just €69, an amazing price for a great Smartphone, with the ‘All you can eat’ data plan allowing Three Prepay customers to make the most of its enhanced social media functionality.”

For further information on Three visit www.three.ie

Survey Reveals 1 in 5 of Irish Parents Don’t Read to Their Children

This week sees the launch of the Eason ‘Get Into Reading’ campaign. The campaign aims to highlight the importance of reading, especially with children, and is supported by leading Irish authors Cathy Kelly and Ireland's new children's laureate Niamh Sharkey. To kick off the campaign a survey

As part of the campaign, Eason commissioned Amárach Research to carry out a survey, which revealed some very interesting results. The stand out insights were...

• While four-in-five (84%) Irish people were encouraged to read by their parents and almost seven-in-ten members of the Irish public (69%) were read to as a child, almost one in five (18%) of Irish parents never read to their children.
• Close to two in four parents ‘pass the buck’ to their partner when it comes to reading to their children – men (42%) are more guilty of this than woman (34%)
• More than half of Irish parents of kids under 8 have felt badly about not having time to read with their child.
• One third cites time pressures as the main reason for not reading more to their child.
• A quarter of Irish people read for five or more hours each week and those who were read to as a child are 30% more likely to spend this amount of time reading than those who were not read to as child – 24% of those who were not read to as a child read for an hour less each week.
• Almost all (93%) of respondents concur that reading increases one’s vocabulary and close to half (46%) have listed reading as an extracurricular activity on their CV.
• 79% of those surveyed would like more time in the day to read more.

Dr. John Sharry, child psychotherapist, commented on the research findings, “Establishing a daily reading time with your children is the single most important ritual, benefiting not only their learning and communication but also creating an important connection between you. The research describes the barriers to reading with children with ‘having no time’ being the most cited reason by parents. This highlights the importance of building a daily routine of reading with the ‘bedtime story’ being one of the most important of these. Bedtime reading not only provides all the educational benefits of reading, but also is an important ritual in gaining a good night’s sleep and usually a special moment of connection between parent and child.”

Ireland's leading female author and mother to nine year old twin boys, Cathy Kelly offered her thoughts, “‘It’s hard to find time to read to your children. At night time, I’m often shattered, want to throw myself into bed and am not in the mood for another chapter of the wonderful Harry Potter. But I do it and I can see the enormous difference reading has meant to my sons in terms of learning.

She continued, “Both of them now love books. When they were little, the bedtime story was part of the lovely bedtime routine. Now, it’s a fabulous time to read – and talk. Children tell you what they really feel at night. Reading gives you a lifetime of joy and even ten minutes each night can make such a difference to your children.”

According to David Field, Head of Marketing and Retail Development at Eason, “We at Eason are hugely committed to supporting literacy in Ireland, particularly among children. ‘Get Into Reading’ really draws on the importance of reading from a young age and the role of the parent in nurturing their child’s love of the written word. We recognise the passion many people share for reading and we simply want to encourage kids and adults alike to read more, one book at a time.”

In order to facilitate the campaign, Eason are calling on the Irish public to pledge their support for reading by visiting the Eason Facebook page or website. All who pledge will be entered into a weekly draw to win a €500 Eason voucher.

‘Get Into Reading’ is part of Eason & Son’s commitment to literacy and will include weekly in-store reading events for children and parents throughout the year. Each Saturday morning, participating Eason stores will host ‘Get Into Reading’ Story Time events where a dedicated member of staff will read a preselected book to the children. ‘Get Into Reading’ Story Time kicks off this Saturday 28th July.

The Eason ‘Get Into Reading’ campaign is a year-round initiative and takes place in line with other initiatives supporting literacy such as the Eason Spelling Bee which was met with huge success this year receiving entries from close to 300 schools from all 32 counties of Ireland. Later this year, Eason will also announce details of a partnership with Barnardos Children’s Charity in support of child literacy.

Heineken: ‘Yourfest’ App

Are you a music fan? In fact, it doesn't even matter. Everyone's a big enough music fan to enjoy their own completely customised and personalised music festival. And guess what? That's exactly what Heineken Live Access is offering with the ‘Yourfest’ app on the Heineken Facebook page (it's also available on www.heineken.ie/yourfest).

First, choose a music theme, then create your festival name, and finally add your dream selection of acts to play on three different stages. With your festival poster created, you can now share it with friends to compare tastes. fans can also find out how to win a trip to some of the world’s biggest real-life festivals through the app.


What is Heineken Live Access?
Heineken Live Access is offering three VIP trips to Sensation in Bangkok, Sandance in Dubai or The St. Maarten Regatta. The prize includes international travel and accommodation with entertainment along the way. Each festival features world renowned acts in an unbelievable setting, ensuring the winners will have the trip of a lifetime.


How to enter:
Pick up a special Heineken Live Access pack in-store.
Find the code on the pack.
Enter the code on www.heineken.ie


About the Festivals:
Sandance, Dubai:
Sandance is a five star, 12 hour day and night dance music festival held on the beach of the world famous Atlantis Hotel on The Palm in Dubai. The prize includes a 4 day all inclusive package for two people to Sandance in Dubai (October 12) including flights, festival tickets, hotel accommodation & transfers.

Sensation, Thailand:
Sensation has been touring the globe for about a decade now. After conquering continents like Europe, Australia and South America and attracting over 1 million people, Asia is up next hosting the Ocean of White. The prize includes a 3 day all inclusive package for two people to Sensation in Bangkok from the 17th to the 20th of August 2012 including flights, festival tickets, hotel accommodation & transfers.

St. Maarten Regatta:
The 33rd St. Maarten Heineken Regatta provides world class sailboat racing combined with the hottest concerts and after-parties! With the official slogan being "Serious Fun" it is no wonder people come from over 25 countries to attend this one of a kind regatta in the Caribbean. The prize includes a 3 day all inclusive package for two people to the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta in the Caribbean in March 2013 (dates tbc) including flights, festival tickets, hotel accommodation & transfers.

Electric Ireland: The Road To London

Electric Ireland have launched a new Facebook game to celebrate their involvement with Team Ireland at London 2012. There are lots of prizes to be won including an all expenses paid trip to the Olympics!

Check it out for yourself here.

A really nice feature to the app it that it also allows you to customise your Facebook cover photo at the end to show your support for the Irish Team.

Become A Character in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Sony is offering the chance for one lucky Irish person to be a part of gaming history and create their own character in Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception for PlayStation3.

In 'Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception' the game characters are not just animations, they're played by real actors, acting out the scenes in a performance capture studio. Sony is offering the chance to be part of Uncharted history and become a playable game character through a new competition launching this Friday 9th March on the Sony Ireland Facebook fan page - The Uncharted Audition by Sony!

However, not only will the winner get to create their own in-game multi-player character, but they will get to do it in L.A. while also meeting the Naughy Dog Inc. creative team behind the game. The winner will also get the unique opportunity to experience the behind-the-scenes of motion capture.

To win, competition entrants will partake in a series of three challenges to prove they have what is takes to be as good as Nathan Drake.

The three challenges which include:
‘Name like Nathan Drake’, creating a compelling name for themselves as an action hero
‘Move like Nathan Drake’, submitting a video of themselves demonstrating their moves and agility
‘Act like Nathan Drake, recording a voiceover to a muted game scene, testing their creativity and voice acting skills

From across Europe, there will be 10 finalists selected to compete at a live event in L.A, where one lucky winner will be chosen to win the grand prize of a trip to the Naughty Dog Inc. studios to be a part of gaming history and leave their legacy in the

The competition opens this Friday 9th March and closes on Sunday 18th March at 24:00 GMT.

Coca-Cola Launches Move to the Beat London

Last week, Mark Ronson and Katy B unveiled a giant 25m wide, 10m tall new piece of urban art right in the center of London in the shadow of the Olympic Stadium. The artwork marks the launch of Coca-Cola's Move to the Beat campaign and their London Olympic sponsorship. It was created by Neil Edward, Hadley Ever and Smug, and is situated in Hackney, East London. The Beat Wall, as the piece of art is known, tells the story of how the sounds of sport and music were fused together by Mark Ronson with lyrics and vocals by Katy B, to create the official Coca-Cola song for the Olympic Games.

The song, Anywhere in the World, will provide the soundtrack for mobile and digital platforms and all Coca-Cola events during the games. The Beat Wall is the visual dramatisation of how Mark Ronson travelled the world searching for the inspiration to create it, while meeting young athletes and recording the sounds of their sport to use in the song. The campaign itself is Coca-Cola’s global campaign, focused on teens, to celebrate the beat of London 2012. The campaign ambition is to bring teens closer to the Olympic Games by encouraging their passion for music, and drawing inspiration from London’s musical heritage.

“As the longest continuous supporter of the Olympic Games Movement, our ambition at Coca-Cola is to bring teens closer to the Games and to sport in general,” said Sanjay Guha, Marketing and Olympic Games Director for North West Europe & Nordics. “The Move to the Beat™ campaign is all about bringing the Olympic Games to life in a way that engages a teen audience, bringing the social side of the Olympic Games to teens everywhere by tapping into their passion for sport and music live online and providing access to fantastic content via Track the Beat.”

The unveiling of the Beat Wall also marked the launch of the Beat Facebook app and the Move to the Beat television commercial. The Track the Beat app engages teens by encouraging them to ‘collect beats’ through Facebook to gain access to exclusive content and prizes. Teens will be able to discover the beats that feature in the Move to the Beat song, download wallpapers and screen savers of imagery from the wall. The Move to the Beat TV ad, which features the song, will be broadcast globally and sees Mark Ronson and Katy B performing alongside some of the international athletes whose sporting sounds have been used to provide the beat of the track.

The athletes whose sounds form the beat of the track and whose images appear on the wall, are:
Darius Knight, 21, table tennis player from Great Britain
David Oliver, 29, 110m hurdler from the United States
Kseniya Vdovina, 24, 400m sprinter from Russia
Dayyan Jaffar, 17, archer from Singapore
Maria Espinoza, 23, taekwondo athlete from Mexico

1,000 Tickets To Czech Republic Friendly In Aviva For €10 Each

‘Three loves football’

Today, 13th February, Three and the FAI (Football Association of Ireland) announced something extremely, extremely cool. Together the two have created the ‘Three loves football’ special ticket offer. The ‘Three loves football’ is a celebration of Ireland’s qualification for EURO 2012.

But what is it?

Tomorrow, 14th of February at 3pm, Three will release 1,000 tickets for Ireland's friendly against the Czech Republic in Aviva Stadium on February 29th for just €10.

Seriously, €10!

Get over to the Three football Facebook page, tomorrow afternoon for full details of how the 1,000 tickets will be distributed on a “first-come, first-served” basis.

This isn't Three's only Irish Football activity. In recent months, Three has launched a number of initiatives such as their “Dare to Dream” affinity scheme offering Football Association of Ireland-affiliated clubs across the country the chance to earn cash when their members switch to Three which helps support the development of grass roots football. Last August Three also launched their ‘Go green with pride, pull on the jersey’ campaign. This saw Three give fans the chance to trade-in their old Republic of Ireland football jerseys and get €20 off the brand new Ireland home jersey.

The Interest Graph

A great piece here from Gary Vaynerchuk discussing the explosion of Pinterest, something Gary predicted at the start of the year. While Facebook may be king of the Social Graph, Gary sets out his belief on how Pinterest, and indeed Tumblr, are both offering users interest driven experiences. Well worth a watch...

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.

Axe Wishes You A 'Merry Hot Christmas'

Axe's latest campaign comes in the form of a Facebook application Christmas e-card. I'm not going to say anything, just clickthrough and take a look.

Lyons Tea Calls On All ‘Mugs’

Trade in your old mug for Lyons Tea special edition Gold Blend mug as part of Christmas mug giveaway

Lyons Tea last week announced the details of their first ever 'Mug Scrappage Scheme' taking place this Thursday, 17th November, at 11am on Dublin’s South King Street (top of Grafton Street). The Scheme offers tea drinkers the chance to trade in their most unwanted mug and walk away with the much-coveted Lyons Gold Blend mug.

Every tea drinker has their favourite mug. It's the right shape, the right weight and it always makes the perfect cuppa. However, since the airing of Lyons Tea Gold Blend television advertisement, tea drinkers all over Ireland have been itching to get their hands on the now famous red Gold Blend mug featured in the ads. On top of that everyone has an unwanted mug that they would love to get rid off. Perhaps it harbours unhappy memories from a past love, is too thick-rimmed, too big or too small - the reasons are endless. So, between these two situations the 'Mug Scrappage Scheme' was born.

Don't worry though, if you can't make it into the city centre this Thursday, you will be able to get your own red mug with every purchase of Lyons Gold Blend 160 pack this Christmas.

For those that can pop in, the Lyons Tea Team will be on hand to accept all unwanted mugs and of course hand out the popular Gold Blend mugs in return, with lots of Gold Blend tea sampling for everyone who comes along.

What happens to all these unwanted mugs you may ask. Well, as part of its Mug Scrappage Scheme, Lyons Tea has teamed up with Age Action Ireland to put all tea drinkers’ unwanted mugs to good use by selling them in their charity shops.

Liz Finlay, Marketing Manager, Lyons Tea comments, “Tea drinkers place almost as much importance on their mug as they do on the actual tea within. There has been so much demand for our red Gold Blend mugs that we thought a mug scrappage scheme would be a fun way to distribute the sought-after mugs. We hope to see everyone on Thursday 17th trading in their unwanted mugs and in doing so helping to support Age Action.”

Tea drinkers can also add to their mug collection through Facebook where there's a chance to win Lyons Gold Blend red mugs in the lead up to Christmas.


About Lyons Tea
· Lyons Tea employs expert master blenders and tasters to select the best blends and combination of some of the finest teas from Kenya, Assam from India and Ceylon from Sri Lanka to produce the highest quality tea. Lyons Tea is available from leading supermarkets and retailers nationwide.
· Lyons is Ireland’s number one tea brand with 43.9% market share***; Lyons is an iconic Irish brand with more than 100 years of tradition in Ireland, having started business in Dublin in 1902 near Christ Church Cathedral. It is now owned by Unilever Ireland.
· Lyons Tea is Ireland’s favourite tea. The Lyons Tea range includes Lyons Gold Blend, Lyons Original Blend, Lyons Gold Blend Reserve, Lyons Kenya Blend, and Lyons Decaffeinated Tea. Lyons Green Tea is available in original, with Lemon and with Mint. For further information on Lyons Tea visit www.lyonstea.ie
· Lyons tea is currently working with the Rainforest Alliance - independent experts in sustainability and by 2012 all our tea will only come from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms.

***AC Nielsen October 2011

A taste of Thailand with the Smirnoff 'Bangkok Collins'

In preparation of Smirnoff's upcoming Night Life Exchange Project and to honour the brands long standing history of drinks inspired by different cultures, Smirnoff have decided to share with us a delightful new cocktail: The Smirnoff Bangkok Collins.

The drink, inspired by the tastes of South East Asia, will remind anyone who has visited Thailand of some of your favourite Thai places. It includes traditional Thai ingredients that will make you want to experience the Thai culture for yourself.

Create this delicious drink at home using the following method:
Ingredients:
Smirnoff No. 21 - 35.5ml
Lemon juice - 15ml
Ginger syrup - 5ml
Soda - 100ml
Lemongrass stick - 1

Method:
Pour lemon juice, syrup and vodka into the base of a highball glass with crushed ice
Fill the glass with cubed ice
Top with soda and stir
Bash the thick end of lemongrass as it helps to release the flavour
Garnish with lemongrass, lemon wheel and a straw

For the chance to have one of these delicious drinks made for you by a Smirnoff Mixologist, make sure to grab your ticket for the Nightlife Exchange Project, which are now on sale exclusively through the Smirnoff Ireland facebook page.