Ben & Jerry’s and Ashoka Select CoderDojo as Ireland’s Top Social Entrepreneur

James Whelton, Co-founder of CoderDojo

An expert panel of business minds led by Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has crowned the nine winners of this year’s Join Our Core competition, to find Europe’s finest young social entrepreneurs – with Irish organisation; CoderDojo scooping the Irish ice cream accolade.

After impressing at the competition’s finale in London where finalists pitched ideas to 10 of Europe’s top ethical business minds, the nine winners which includes CoderDojo have each scooped a whopping €10,000. Of equal importance to the entrepreneurs, they will also receive expert business mentoring from Ashoka, the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs.

The winners will have their business logo featured on an exclusive Ben & Jerry’s tub in 2014. In addition, each has also bagged a trip to Ben & Jerry’s birthplace in Vermont, USA, where they will gain additional training and hear from US based entrepreneurs and socially responsible business leaders.

Cork based, CoderDojo was crowned the Irish winner of Join Our Core 2013, with its Irish led global movement teaching young people how to code, develop websites, apps, games and more, in a social, collaborative learning environment. Speaking from the final in London, James Whelton, Co-founder of CoderDojo comments; “Join Our Core has been such an amazing experience, getting to pitch to a panel that included Jerry Greenfield was one I won’t forget! We’re thrilled to have won and can’t wait to visit Ben & Jerry’s home turf plus see CoderDojo’s logo on a Ben & Jerry’s tub next year!”

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield said: “This year’s Join Our Core competition was extremely competitive. All of the finalists are worthy entrepreneurs with aspirations of operating businesses formed to directly address social or environmental problems in our global community. We loved the ethos and vision of CoderDojo, they are a worthy winner of Join Our Core. I’m looking forward to seeing them on a tub next year!”

Hailing from each of the competition’s nine competing countries, the winners were whittled down from over 430 entries and selected from a final 18 after impressing a panel that included Ashoka’s Paul O’Hara.

Bill Drayton, Founder and CEO of Ashoka commented: “The Join Our Core winners show a motivation from deep within to serve the whole and to make sure solutions are sustainable, fair and efficient.”

Returning bigger and chunkier for its second year, Join Our Core is inspired by Ben & Jerry’s and Ashoka’s dream to find young business mooo-vers that share the philosophy of people being as important as profit, which has seen the 2013 competition expanded from five to nine European countries – the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Austria and Switzerland.

For further information about the Join Our Core 2013 winners and the prizes they have won please visit www.joinourcore.com.

Heineken Unveils Social Tracker

Heineken Social Tracker

The Heineken Cup weekend is finally upon us and the excitement kicked off in stunning style last night with the launch of Heineken's Social Tracker in the heart of Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, at the Get in the Game Clubhouse at Ballsbridge Hotel.

The Social Tracker is a large (5 x 7.5m) projection structure that captures the Twitter chatter around the Heineken Cup. Fans can tweet at #GETINTHEGAME and see their tweets brought to life in stunning animations and visuals. Fans can also step up to the set and take a virtual conversion which, if successful, will send out a tweet of support to their selected team. Supporters can interact in real time by kicking ‘virtual conversions’ and show their support for the two finalists, ASM Clermont Auvergne and RC Toulon via #GETINTHEGAME.

Over 200,000 individual tweets have been measured since the quarter-finals with a surge of social conversation expected in the 48 hours leading up to the final. Fan conversations via the hashtag #GETINTHEGAME and tweet conversation in support of both finalists will be monitored live all weekend and this mind boggling array of tweets and data will be converted into a multi-coloured and multi-dimensional animated display on the 5m x 5m structure.

Social Tracker is just one of Heineken's many Get in the Game activities, which has seen fans engage with Heineken Cup rugby online, on their mobiles and in pubs and venues around the country in the build-up to the biggest sporting event to be held in Ireland this year. To date over 85,000 people have engaged and played Get in the Game online via www.heineken.ie/game.

The projections start from 9.15pm each night at the home of the Heineken Get in the Game Clubhouse at Ballsbridge Hotel Dublin 4 and will be displayed after daylight hours until the post-Heineken Cup Final celebrations on Saturday 18th May. Heineken’s Get in the Game Clubhouse is the best place to be this weekend to enjoy the excitement of both the Amlin and Heineken Cup finals. For live updates check out #GETINTHEGAME or www.facebook.com/heineken

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.

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

Volvo Ocean Race Grand Finale

----- Press Release -----

A worldwide audience will turn to Ireland as the Volvo Ocean Race reaches a dramatic conclusion in less than three weeks time when the six teams finish their 39,000 mile race around the planet. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to come to Galway for the finish leading to a multi-million euro boost for the economy.

Since the start in Spain last November, the overall race leader is French entry Groupama 4 skippered by Franck Cammas with a crew of ten that includes veteran sailor Damian Foxall from Kerry. As many as three other teams could still upset the standings in the closest ever conclusion of the race.

The six boats have battled storms, ice threats, freezing temperatures and searing heat as well as a series of challenging equipment problems as their 70 foot state of the art racing yachts are pushed beyond their limits.

Ireland will be the tenth host-country in this edition of the race after Spain, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, China, New Zealand, Brazil, United States of America, Portugal and since Friday (15th June) France. Only Sweden, Germany, Russia and Britain have ever hosted a grand finale in the 39-year history of the race.

Each crew-member has worked almost 20 hours per day, non-stop for up to three weeks at a time living on freeze-dried food with no home comforts while trying to race as hard as possible. Ireland will be the setting for scenes of both joy and heart-break which will be broadcast live to a global audience.

Preliminary research for the race so far indicates a cumulative TV audience of 2.1 million viewers plus 35 million visits to the race website (http://www.VolvoOceanRace.com). Irish fans are the fourth highest Facebook followers accounting for over 13,000 ‘likes’ out of 183,000 people. These figures only account for the first five months of the race that started in Alicante, Spain in November 2011.

The previous race stopped in Galway in 2009 where crowds of 600,000 visitors led to a €55 million boost. Organisers are aiming to repeat this with the finale to this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race and hotels are close to full capacity in the Galway region as fans and crew families are expected from around the world.

The Galway port area is being transformed once again for the arrival of the boats on or after the 2nd July as they sail the final leg of the race from the Breton port of Lorient. An entertainment programme comprising mostly free events has been planned, starting on Saturday 30th June when the fleet prepares to depart France for Ireland.

The Volvo Ocean Race started as the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973 and has had two Irish yachts compete (1989-90 NCB Ireland and 2008-09 Green Dragon) for what is the undisputed top trophy in ocean racing.

Guinness: Arthur's Day 2012

Today, Guinness announced that Arthur’s Day will make a return on Thursday, 27th September, 2012.

Last year, hundreds of thousands of people across Ireland and millions more worldwide came together to celebrate Arthur’s Day which is the day that recognises Arthur Guinness, his spirit and remarkable legacy.

This year, Guinness promise even more surprises and plenty of excitement for Arthur’s Day 2012, but as always the pub will be at the heart of the celebrations.

Full details for Arthur’s Day 2012 will be revealed later this summer.

Three Launches ‘Support Works’ Campaign

This week, Three launched their latest campaign, ‘Support Works’. The campaign, which is focused on celebrating the vital role that fans play on the Irish Football team's journey to Poland, is part of Three's sponsorship activity for the Irish Football team.

The campaign features two new tv ads running on RTE, TV3, 3E, Sky packages, Living, and E4:
#SupportsWorks TV Ad - First Dinner Date
#SupportsWorks TV Ad – Greens

Credits:
Art Director – Bill Hollingsworth
Creative Director – Mal Stevenson
Director – Stephen St. Leger
Producer – Jack Armstrong
Production Company – H2


Alongside the tv ads, the campaign will also feature outdoor ads of 48 sheets, 96 sheets, golden squares and metro panels. There will be digital executions of rich media banners on key websites and social media. The campaign will also be supported by in store POS across Three's entire retail division.

Finally there will be an intensive programme of BTL and PR activity calling on the supporters to ‘Go Green with Pride’ and show their support for the team, featuring a number of the Republic of Ireland footballers, on-street stunt activity and exciting events for supporters in Dublin’s city centre.

As part of the campaign, Three Ireland has launched an exclusive limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini with supporters kit. Priced at €89 the kit includes; a limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini featuring a branded FAI supporters mobile handset cover, a watch, a ‘Support Works’ car sticker and Republic of Ireland football supporter’s pin.

The handset is preloaded with the 3Football App and Three Football Flick Kick game, and will be available from all 3Stores and stockists nationwide and online.

The campaign was developed by Irish International.

For further information on Three visit www.three.ie

Smirnoff Celebrates Madonna's MDNA With New VIP Limited Edition Pack

To celebrate the start of Madonna’s 2012 World Tour and her 12th studio album ‘MDNA’, Smirnoff today announced the launch of a new Limited Edition pack that offers fans the opportunity to experience Madonna like never before.

The first part of the Limited Edition pack is a VIP access card. This gives fans the ability to unlock never-seen-before backstage content and grants access to an exclusive download of Madonna’s latest remix track ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’ – Just Blaze Bionic Dub’.

Secondly, fans have the chance to win exclusive tickets to see Mags in one of her upcoming gigs. Finally the whole thing is presented in an eye-catching nightlife-inspired pack.

The pack is available from all major high street retailers.

Rocky Road to Poland

Today, Thursday 3rd May, Three announced they are teaming up with a host of Irish music talent and Today FM’s Ray D’Arcy to release the eagerly awaited Official Republic of Ireland Song for Euro 2012.

‘The Rocky Road to Poland’ has been recorded by Damien Dempsey, Danny O’Reilly (Coronas), Bressie and The Dubliners (John Sheehan, Barney McKenna, Eamonn Campbell and Patsy Watchhorn), and was written by the Today FM Show’s listeners. Also, all proceeds are going to the John Giles Foundation and Today FM’s Shave or Dye campaign for the Irish Cancer Society.

The Irish Euro 2012 Squad and Ray D’Arcy Show listeners also feature on the track which was produced by the legendary John Reynolds. Costing just €3, the song will be available to buy in all Three Stores nationwide, 3Spots, all major music retailers, and available to download on iTunes and from the 3Music Store.

Bressie, The Ray D’Arcy Show and Three Ireland are calling all fans to Go Green with Pride and support the Official Republic of Ireland Song for Euro 2012 “The Rocky Road to Poland” in the aim to scale the charts showing that #SupportWorks. In a fitting tribute and support towards one of the artists involved, the single will also be a tribute to The Dubliners’, Barney McKenna who sadly passed away recently after the recording.

Commenting on the launch, Sales and Marketing director, Elaine Carey at Three, said: “As proud sponsors of the Republic of Ireland football team, we’re delighted to be launching the Rocky Road to Poland, with Ray D’Arcy and Bressie, and supporting two very worthy causes. The song was created by real Republic of Ireland supporters and we’re calling on all the fans to support it in the run up to Poland. We will be announcing a host of additional activities in the coming weeks to give Republic of Ireland fans the chance to go green with pride, and show “Support Works” for the team this summer.”

Commenting on the launch Bressie said: “I vividly remember Euro ’88 and it was the start of my love affair with sport. To be performing on the official Irish song for Euro 2012 is emotional!”

Commenting on the launch, Ray D’Arcy from the Ray D’Arcy Show said: “We’re very proud of the song and hope lots of people buy the single to support the Irish team this summer and help two great charities.”

Richard Dunne launches Three Ireland Samsung Supporters Kit

This week, Three announced their partnership with Republic of Ireland defender, Richard Dunne for the launch of their Samsung Supporters Kit. The kit, which includes a limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini, is available from Monday 7th May and is priced at €89.

The Kit includes; a limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini featuring a branded FAI supporters mobile handset cover, a watch, a ‘Support Works’ car sticker and Republic of Ireland football supporter’s pin. The kit will be available from all 3Stores and stockists nationwide and online at Three.ie, while stocks last.

The limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini comes preloaded with two great football Apps for Republic of Ireland supporters; the 3Football App and Three Football Flick Kick game.

The 3Football App features regular newsfeeds on all of the action in Poland, squad announcements, fixtures, live match commentary, results and tables. It will also feature a Fanzone that will incorporate all the details of additional exciting initiatives from Three to support the Republic of Ireland Team as they’re announced, competitions to win lots of goodies, and a special Club Offer.

Commenting on the launch Richard Dunne said: “I am delighted to be in Dublin today to announce the launch of the Three Ireland Samsung Supporters Kit. As we get closer to June, we need our supporters to get behind the team and show their support! The 3Football App will give fans the chance to have all the updates on the squad, live commentary on the matches and the chance to win lots of football prizes at the touch of a button.”

Commenting on the launch, Sales and Marketing director, Elaine Carey at Three, said: “As proud sponsors of the Republic of Ireland football team, we’re delighted to be launching the Three Ireland Samsung Supporters Kit, marking the first step in our campaign to support the team in the run-up to Poland in June. The limited edition Samsung Galaxy Mini handset is preloaded with the fantastic new 3Football App - a must have for all Footie fans to show their support for the team and keep close to what’s happening on the ground in Poland. We will be announcing a host of additional activities in the coming weeks to give Republic of Ireland fans the chance to go green with pride, and show “Support Works” for the team this summer.”

For further information on Three Football visit www.3football.ie

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.

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.

ESB Electric Ireland - Tweet 'em Home For Christmas

Last Thursday and Friday saw Twitter abuzz with the ESB Electric Ireland Tweet ‘Em Home for Christmas campaign. The campaign, which was a huge success, saw over 47,000 tweets generated and a total of €80,000 donated to charity!

Concern Worldwide (Team A supported by RTE 2FM's Hector and www.culch.ie) ultimately won with the greatest number of tweets for their hashtag #ESBElectricIrelandTeamA. The team generated over 18,000 tweets and secured an additional donation of €20,000 for the charity.

Following a phenomenal initial response from the general public and Twittesphere ESB Electric Ireland set a new challenge on the second day of the campaign: to reach a target of 25,000 tweets. This target was achieved and an additional €10,000 was donated to each of the three charities involved bringing the total to €20,000 for each charity and an additional €20,000 for the winning charity.

The teams were as follows:
Team A: Musician Mundy and Comedian Joe Rooney, with support from 2FM’s Hector and www.culch.ie
Charity: Concern Worldwide
Hashtag: #ESBElectricIrelandTeamA

Team B: Comedian Andrew Stanley and RTE Presenter Katie Van Buren, with support from 2FM’s Rick O’Shea and www.joe.ie
Charity: Irish Cancer Society
Hashtag: #ESBElectricIrelandTeamB hashtag

Team C: Magician Keith Barry and Rugby Commentator Brent Pope, with support from 2FM’s Will Leahy and www.entertainment.ie
Charity: ISPCCwill
Hashtag: #ESBElectricIrelandTeamC


For further details on ISPCC visit www.ispcc.ie, on Irish Cancer Society visit www.cancer.ie, and on Concern Worldwide visit www.concern.net.

ESB Electric Ireland - Tweet 'em Home For Christmas

Yesterday ESB Electric Ireland announced that Mike Carey, Liz Cotter and Ian O’Flynn were selected as the lucky drivers who will help Tweet ‘em Home for Christmas. Each of the drivers and their “star navigator” will receive €10,000 from ESB Electric Ireland for their chosen charity and will also have the chance to win an additional €20,000 for the winning charity by competing to generate Tweets using the three team hashtags.

Team A: Musician Mundy and Comedian Joe Rooney
Charity: Concern Worldwide
Hashtag: #ESBElectricIrelandTeamA

Team B: Comedian Andrew Stanley and RTE Presenter Katie Van Buren
Charity: Irish Cancer Society
Hashtag: #ESBElectricIrelandTeamB hashtag

Team C: Magician Keith Barry and Rugby Commentator Brent Pope
Charity: ISPCCwill
Hashtag: #ESBElectricIrelandTeamC

The teams will travel from Dublin to Galway and back again this Thursday and Friday, December 8th and 9th in a Renault Trophy, a DeLorean and a New York yellow taxi cab. The teams will compete in a number of challenges in various towns along the way to earn additional Tweet energy for their cars.

Ken McKervey, Commercial Manager, ESB Electric Ireland commented, “ESB Electric Ireland Tweet Em Home for Christmas is just around the corner now. It gives people the chance to give something to charity this year in a fun and engaging way by simply using social media like Twitter and Facebook. We want to urge everyone to help our three teams by tweeting or by liking on Facebook using the relevant hashtags to power the cars as they drive across the country on Thursday and Friday!”

People can follow the progress of each of the teams in real time using the Facebook App on the ESB Electric Ireland Facebook Page

For further details on ISPCC visit www.ispcc.ie, on Irish Cancer Society visit www.cancer.ie, and on Concern Worldwide visit www.concern.net

ESB Electric Ireland - Tweet 'em Home For Christmas

Last Thursday, 17th November, ESB Electric Ireland announced the launch of their latest campaign, ‘Tweet Em Home for Christmas’. The campaign sees three teams, each representing a different charity (the Irish Cancer Society, Concern Worldwide and the ISPCC), taking part in a two day drive across Ireland on the 8th and 9th December in cars powered by tweets and likes.

As part of this campaign, ESB Electric Ireland are running a competition on Facebook to give three people the chance to drive one of three teams of ‘star navigators’. The teams will include broadcaster Brent Pope, musician Mundy, comedians Andrew Stanley and Joe Rooney, magician Keith Barry and ‘Juice’ presenter, Katie Van Buren.

Team 1: Concern – Mundy and Katie Van Buren in the DeLorean
Team 2: Irish Cancer Society – Andrew Stanley and Joe Rooney in the New York Taxi
Team 3: ISPCC – Brent Pope and Keith Barry in the Ecar

Full details are on the Facebook Page with a closing date for entries of the 1st December 2011.

Each of the charities will receive €10,000 from ESB Electric Ireland and then the three teams will compete to receive an additional €20,000. The celebrity teams will compete to generate Tweets using a hashtag, with the tweets powering their cars as they cross the country. People can show their support for one of the charities by tweeting or posting on Facebook to top up their “tweet tank”.

The teams will be assigned one of three fantastic vehicles for the drive; an Ecar, a DeLorean and a New York yellow taxi cab. The vehicles will travel from Dublin to Galway and back again over two days with ‘star navigators’ taking it in turns to help the drivers cross the country and to generate power using their own social media channels. The teams will compete in a number of challenges along the way to earn additional Tweet energy for their cars and additional details will be announced in the coming weeks. People can follow the progress of each of the teams in real time using the Facebook App on the ESB Electric Ireland Facebook page.

Ken McKervey, Commercial Manager, ESB Electric Ireland commented, "ESB Electric Ireland Tweet Em Home for Christmas gives people the chance to have some fun while also supporting charities - particularly important at this time of year - simply by using social media like Twitter and Facebook. The use of Tweets to power the cars makes this extremely innovative, and we’re delighted to have so many personalities on board for the drive as well as three incredible cars, which will be a sight to behold along the three routes from Dublin to Galway and back."

For further details on ISPCC visit www.ispcc.ie, on Irish Cancer Society visit www.cancer.ie, and on Concern Worldwide visit www.concern.net.

Counting Down to Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project

The count down is well and truly on. There's now just three weeks until the 2011 Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project. In preparation for the event I was lucky enough to be invited to a special Smirnoff experience last Thursday night at in The Grafton Lounge. The event saw Kenji Jesse, Smirnoff Global Ambassador, dropping into town to create and demonstrate an array of impressive Smirnoff cocktails. Ahead of the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project, Kenji wanted to give a taste of what was in store for guests. His creations on the night included the Smirnoff Thai Collins, Smirnoff Big Apple and Smirnoff Lemon Lime Bitters, as well as a few Smirnoff favourites like the Moscow Mule.

The real fun on the evening came, however, when the guests got to try our hands at creating our own Thai cocktail. I'm fairly proud to say that Jules and I were joint winners with our Lychee-nee-tini. First we crushed Lychees and Kaffir Lime leaves, and blended them with a dash of Lime juice and Lime and Ginger syrup. Then pack the glass with ice cubes and pour over a measure of Smirnoff. Finally, top it all off with soda and a sprig of mint.

This year's Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project will be held in Dublin's CHQ Building on Saturday 12th November. Tickets can be bought exclusively through the Smirnoff Ireland facebook page for just €10 each.

Not only will there be delicious cocktails such as we enjoyed on Thursday but also a assortment of exotic Thai food to nibble on. Beyond the delightful food and drink there will also be some seriously cool music to dance to. Dublin born and Australian tamed dance sensation The Potbelleez will headline the evening with support from Fourplay DJ’s Ray Shah, Killian O’Sullivan, Steven Cooper and Rory Lynam, and DJ Gordo.

For more information check out the Smirnoff Ireland facebook page and stay tuned!

Tickets Now On Sale For The Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project

On 12th November, Ireland will receive the very best of Thailand’s nightlife for a one of a kind experience. This week sees tickets for the next Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project go on sale. If you want to pick up some you'll find them exclusively available through the Smirnoff Ireland facebook page for just €10 each.

Guests at the event in the CHQ building, Dublin can expect to sip on delicious drinks, enjoy the best of Thai food and dance to some seriously awesome international music. Kicking off the night in style will be DJ Gordo. DJ Gordo is perhaps best known for supporting Calvin Harris on his Irish tour. Next up you'll experience Dublin's Fourplay DJ’s Ray Shah, Killian O’Sullivan, Steven Cooper and Rory Lynam. Then last, but very much not least, Australian dance sensation the Potbelleez will rock the dancefloor with their unique mix of dance, electro and hip hop beats.

For those of you who think you have the moves, there's also still plenty of time to enter the exclusive online dance competition. To enter the competition to find the best dancer and join Madonna's official dance crew, just upload a sixty second clip of you dancing to a Madonna track. Smirnoff have also confirmed that Madonna will attend the New York celebration to help handpick the overall global winner of a dance competition alongside her choreographers Rich + Tone.

To find out more, follow the action on facebook.

Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project

Back in August I wrote about Smirnoff Night Life Exchange partnering up with Madonna, and yesterday the rest of the story finally unfolded. Smirnoff announced that this years Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project will be taking place on 12th November and will see Ireland exchanging a night out with Thailand.

As with last year's very awesome Argentina night out, party-goers should expect delicious drinks, tasty Thai food and an experience that will, in no doubt, be one of the best they've ever had. Irish Australian dance superstars the Potbelleez will be rocking the dancefloor with help from Fourplay DJ’s (Ray Shah, Killian O’Sullivan, Steven Cooper and Rory Lyna) and DJ Gordo.

For full information check out the Smirnoff Facebook Page and see my posts from the previous Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange activity.

As I previously posted, this year's Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project will see Madonna partnering with Smirnoff to hold a global dance competition. As part of this, Smirnoff have revealed that Madonna will be attending the New York celebration to help handpick the overall global winner of a dance competition alongside her choreographers Rich + Tone. Smirnoff fans can win tickets to the New York finale at the Smirnoff Facebook Page.

“This year’s Nightlife Exchange Project is triple the size of last year’s, has bigger global names and more local original ideas,” said Simon Burch, Global Brand Director for The Smirnoff Co. “We’re going to enjoy it with our fans. We are inviting our Facebook fans to share with us their one-of-a-kind nightlife experiences so we can create them on 12th November.”

Smirnoff is inviting fans to share their ideas and suggestions on the most original aspects of nightlife in their country. Fans with the most original ideas winning an invite to the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project in their city or abroad. Nearly 10,000 ideas have been submitted thus far including local cocktail recipes, new dance styles, types of music and city fashion trends.

The pairings for the 18 countries taking part in the nightlife swap are:
Great Britain with Jamaica
Ireland with Thailand
Brazil with Germany
Australia with Italy
Canada with Vietnam
USA with Netherlands
Lebanon with Mexico
Venezuela with Cyprus
Argentina with Turkey

Guinness Cork Jazz Festival 2011

Back again for the October Bank Holiday weekend (28th-31st October 2011), tickets for the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival are now on sale, and this year's festival is set to be bigger and better than ever, with something to suit every music lover’s tastes.

The most interesting announcement around the festival, in my opinion, is the news that the opening act this year will be none other than the exceedingly talented Damon Albarn. Sometimes Blur frontman Albarn will be joined by his band, Another Honest John’s Chop-Up. Another Honest John’s Chop-Up is a collective of musicians who take inspiration from jazz funk and southern soul.


Another outstanding act who will be performing at the festival is the Kyle Eastwood Quintet. Kyle, who is also known as son of actor/director Clint Eastwood, has made a name for himself on the jazz scene, producing eight studio albums and composing the scores for many of his father’s films including Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby.

Other noteworthy acts on the schedule include; Randy Brecker, the acclaimed trumpet player, Tia Fuller, the saxophonist, who not only has her own highly successful band but also plays alongside Beyoncé and Richard Galliano, the renowned accordionist. Galliano’s performance at the festival will be inspired by the work of Coppola and the music from The Godfather.

Barry Fitzpatrick, Brand Manager, Guinness commented, “We are very excited to introduce this year’s line up. The Guinness Cork Jazz festival maintains its jazz soul, but the line up includes some unexpected talent which will definitely appeal to all musical tastes. We will be announcing more acts in the coming weeks on www.guinnesscorkjazz.com”.

The Guinness Cork Jazz festival will not only have music hosted in more venues than ever before, but ticket prices have also been reduced this year. Tickets can be purchased through www.ticketmaster.ie and more information on all aspects of the festival can be found at guinnessjazzfestival.com/.

ESB Electric Ireland Electric Picnic Tweet Hunt

Last Wednesday I wrote about The ESB Electric Ireland Park at Electric Picnic. Beyond being the Official Energy Partner to Electric Picnic, ESB Electric Ireland are also running an energy generating adult playground full of over-sized playground favourites. The twist is that each of the playground items contributes to generating power to help charge participants' phones while they have fun. The playground will also be supported by a host of Ireland's top comedians who will be charged with generating as big a crowd of participants as possible.

This weekend I found out about ESB Electric Ireland's upcoming competition to promote its Electric Picnic partnership.

From Monday, ESB Electric Ireland will be giving away 25 tickets in Europe's first real time treasure hunt using Google Maps and Social Media. The #ShareTheEnergy Tweet Hunt, which is being run through Electric Ireland Facebook Page, gives would be festival-goers the chance to win tickets to Electric Picnic using a Facebook App with a Live Google Map that combines a live Twitter feed to reveal five secret locations around Ireland where tickets are hidden. The Tweet Hunt begins on Monday 22nd August at 9am and ends on Friday 26th August, with one lucky person having the chance to win five tickets to Electric Picnic each day.

To find the secret locations, participants need to tweet #Sharetheenergy. The more the hashtag is tweeted, the closer the map zooms in to where the tickets are hidden. Then, a special code word is revealed along with the exact details of the secret location where the Electric Ireland Sparkheads are waiting with the tickets. After that the first person to find the Sparkhead, and tell them the daily code word will receive five tickets to Electric Picnic.

Ken McKervey, Commercial Manager, ESB Electric Ireland commented, “The ESB Electric Ireland Tweet Hunt is a new addition to our Electric Picnic sponsorship this year. Tickets are like gold dust and we hope would be festival-goers will enjoy this innovative competition using social media channels in a fun and unique way to try to win tickets to this fantastic festival.”

For more info on the campaign or any other details of ESB Electric Ireland's Electric Picnic activities, pop over to the ESB Electric Ireland Facebook Page.

Additional information about the ESB Electric Ireland Tweet Hunt:

• The innovative Facebook App and social media mash-up was developed by Tequila Ireland and Agency.com.
• The App features a live Twitter feed so users can check the tweets to the hashtag and see the 13 zoom levels as each is revealed.
• The Facebook page will show pictures of the winner each day and announce the race for that day is over with the next day’s Twitter Hunt commencing at 9am.
• The Twitter Hunt is open to residents of the Republic of Ireland aged over 18.