Guinness: Arthur's Day 2012

Stuart Kinch, Guinness Marketing Manager, Diageo Western Europe

This week Guinness hosted a special media launch and announced the details of Arthur's Day 2012. Scheduled to take place on 27th September, Arthur's Day 2012 will see a massive expansion of the day's activities coming to every corner of Ireland with local pubs being placed at the heart of the celebration.

So what does this mean? To start with, there will be no tickets to buy this year. Instead, Arthur's Day will take place in 500 pubs across the 32 counties with live music provided in all of them. So it'll simply be a case of grabbing some mates and getting down to one of them for an evening of free Arthur’s Day music and craic.

Of course that's not the end of it. Aside from hundreds of home grown Irish artists, Arthur’s Day will also be a night full of surprises. This year you will have the chance to vote to bring internationally renowned artists such as Example, Tinie Tempah, Ellie Goulding, Mika, Professor Green, Fatboy Slim, Texas and Amy Macdonald to one of the 500 Arthur’s Day pubs near you.

Voting opened on the 15th August and will run until the 16th September To make things as exciting as possible the winning pubs will remain a secret to the public until the night itself, so you never know who might walk through the door.

Arthur’s Day artist Tinie Tempah, who has recently had four top 5 singles in the Irish charts, said, “I played Arthur's Day back in 2010 so I know all about the magic of it. I'm honoured to be invited back to Ireland for 2012 and couldn't be more excited about playing a pub gig for a small, surprised crowd! We'll be kick starting the global celebrations in Ireland on September 27th - hope to see you all there!”.

Stuart Kinch, Guinness Marketing Manager, Diageo Western Europe said, “Arthur’s Day has always been about people coming together for unique and remarkable music experiences in pubs and venues around the country. This year, we wanted to do more and give everyone the chance to experience the magic of Arthur’s Day by making all events free and giving the public a chance to vote and help bring a headline artist to their local! Apart from the change from 38 ticketed music events last year to over 500 free Arthur’s Day music events this year in pubs in all 32 counties, we anticipate many more pubs will also be organising their own celebrations around the country so it promises to be the biggest Arthur’s Day yet with the Arthur Guinness Fund also directly benefiting from the celebration”.

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’ by people to the Arthur’s Day Facebook event, a €5 donation will be made to the Arthur Guinness Fund by Guinness. Check out details on how to RSVP and ‘check-in' on the Guinness Ireland Facebook page.

Stay tuned though, as this isn't the end of the Arthur's Day story. There will be further exciting announcements made in the coming weeks. So whether you're in Dingle or Derry, this will be one Thursday night not to be missed! To Arthur!!

Famed Privateer Captain Henry Morgan's Lost Fleet Found

Many people don't realise that Captain Henry Morgan was a real person. Not only that but before he became associated with the famous rum baring his name, he was a Privateer working throughout the Caribbean. One of the great mysteries around Captain Morgan is the location of his sunken fleet of five ships that disappeared off the Coast of Panama in 1671. However, for the third year in a row, with the help of the Captain Morgan brand, a team of leading U.S. archaeologists have been scouring the mouth of the Chagres River in Panama in search of this lost fleet.

“Morgan was one of the most infamous privateers of all time, so for me, this is a chance to use archaeological research to bridge the gap between science and pop culture. Most people associate Morgan with the image on a bottle, but in reality, he was an iconic historical figure who accomplished incredible feats throughout the Caribbean,” said Frederick “Fritz” H. Hanselmann, underwater archaeologist and Research Faculty with the River Systems Institute and the Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State University who has been leading the team in an effort to locate, excavate and preserve the remains of Morgan’s lost ships.

Hanselmann continued, “Locating his lost ships and being able to properly preserve and share it with the public is our ultimate goal with this project. We’re really close – and at the end of the day, his ships are down there and we’re going to find them.”

The story of the search for the lost fleet began back in September 2010 when the archeological team discovered six iron cannons off the coast of Panama belonging to Captain Morgan. The next breakthrough then came last summer with the discovery of a 17th century wooden shipwreck, which is believed to be one of the five ships Morgan lost in 1671 on the shallow Lajas Reef. The fleet included his flagship Satisfaction.

Returning to Panama this summer, the team excavated a host of historic artifacts from the shipwreck in hopes of confirming its origin. During this work, the team recovered a sword, chests, wooden barrels and multiple cargo seals. The artifacts, which are currently housed at Patronato Panamá Viejo (Old Panama Trust) in Panama City, will undergo the preservation process before being studied further and verified by London-based experts in English artillery.

“For us, there’s no better way to communicate the values and unwavering spirit of our brand than by unearthing the real-life history of its inspiration,” said Tom Herbst, Brand Director, Captain Morgan USA. “This adventure that we’ve embarked on truly embodies the character of Morgan himself and the free-spirited nature of rum. In our case, we don’t have to make up a brand story – ours is real and it’s waiting to be discovered at the bottom of the ocean floor.”

Captain Henry Morgan was one of the few men to survive the treacherous life on the high seas long enough to enjoy his successes. From 1664 to 1671, Morgan led daring raids throughout the Spanish Main, resulting in riches for him and his men far beyond what they ever expected.

In 1670, Morgan amassed the largest fleet in the history of the Caribbean and set his sights on Panama City, the richest city in the western hemisphere. While en route, his flagship and four additional ships ran aground on the Lajas Reef at the base of Fort San Lorenzo, the military base that guarded the mouth of the Chagres River – the only water passageway leading toward Panama City. Despite the setback, Morgan and his men prevailed, securing Fort San Lorenzo, sailing up the Chagres and ultimately making their way by foot through the dense rainforest to take Panama City.

All artifacts excavated through the project will remain the property of the Panamanian government and will be preserved and displayed by the Patronato Panamá Viejo in Panama City.

Meteor: Facebook For Free

Last week, Meteor launched a brand new offer, Anytime Online. The new deal gives customers free data with their top ups. Specifically aimed at social media users, the deal is designed as a budget-friendly way to stay connected through all your social channels. Basically, Meteor is giving free data with online top-ups at every level from €5 to €20. This is a first in the Irish market.

Deirdre Currid, Meteor’s Marketing Communications Manager said, “We know our customers would love to connect with their friends on the go with Facebook and Twitter more often, but have the perception that mobile internet is out of their price range. In response to this, we created the Anytime Online campaign to show them that they no longer need to put themselves in awkward situations to avail of free WiFi. We’re offering them free data with top-ups at every level, from €5 to €20 to help enjoy being more connected for less. With this new plan, Meteor has written the book on value!”

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.

It's Not MiWadi, It's Emma's Wadi

MiWadi today announced the launch of a new limited edition addition to their range: Emma’s Wadi. Emma Dorgan from Cork is the winner of MiWadi's latest marketing initiative, the MiWadi MiWay Competition. Emma suggested the creation of a new flavoured MiWadi, Bananaberry Split. Emma's flavour is described as a deliciously fun, tasty and mouth-watering blend of blackcurrants, bananas and ice-cream.

The MiWadi MiWay campaign gave kids the opportunity to enter a virtual MiWadi factory to select the fruits and flavours for their ‘Wadi’ and name their new flavour . This campaign reflects MiWadi’s vision of seeing the world through the eyes of a child and bringing more fun and excitement to the squash category.

23,000 children from all over the country mixed, matched and combined ingredients to create their very own MiWadi. The MiWadi team went through each and every entry before choosing the three flavours to make it on to our shortlist. Then, following nearly 300,000 votes cast over 3 days, the winner was selected – Emma Dorgan.

Emma, who starts senior infants this September in Rathcormac’s Scoil Bhríde, entered the MiWadi MiWay Competition after her older sister Kate entered. Emma’s father Don commented; “The reason behind Emma’s choice of flavours is simple – blackcurrant is the MiWadi she takes to school each day, bananas are her favourite fruit, and she always picks ice-cream when ordering dessert. Emma has been so excited about the squash being made before she goes back to school, so she can bring her MiWadi in and show it off to all her classmates.”

When Emma’s not busy inventing flavoured squashes, she loves playing with her dolls with her big sister Kate, and is now set to be very popular with her new found ‘fame’. “I can’t wait to start school so I can show all my friends my Wadi” said Emma.

Speaking today at the official launch of Emma’s Wadi, Dee Cunniam, Senior Brands & Activation Manager said; “We are delighted to launch our new limited edition Emma’s Wadi, to the Irish market. Emma’s Wadi is simply a creation that only a child’s imagination could conjure up! Her blend of delicious flavours, certainly has a distinctive taste from any other squash. Even at a young age Emma has shown that creativity and imagination are key to successfully producing a new and exciting product that both children and indeed all the family can enjoy.”

The prize for Emma’s creative efforts is a trip for herself and her family to Disneyland Resort Paris with €1,000 spending money. Emma’s mother Lynda commented; “The kids are so excited about going to Disneyland and can’t stop asking when we are going. We plan to go in September as it will mark our 10th wedding anniversary, so it will be very special. We are so proud of Emma.”

Emma’s Wadi is available in a 1l single concentrate pack nationwide from the beginning of August.