Meteor Christmas Ad & New Jingle

Meteor’s new Christmas Jingle Composed by former Bell X1 Brian Crosby

Next week Meteor will launch their 2012 Christmas campaign, “Let’s Get Christmassy”. The campaign will be driven by a new TV ad which debuts Meteor’s new Christmas song composed by Brian Crosby, former member of Bell X1.

Following in the character tradition of Meteor ads, the latest ad will feature a new Meteor character Steve. Steve is followed from the moment he realises that Christmas is here. During the ad we then hear his internal thoughts as he anticipates all the things that he loves about an Irish Christmas. In typical Meteor style, the ad features a series of vignettes capturing Steve getting Christmassy: taking it easy in work; eating a selection box for lunch; abandoning Christmas shopping in favour of drinks with mates; being gifted with an annual supply of underpants by his Mam; being late for Christmas mass; and “enjoying” a Christmas dip in freezing Irish waters.

“We wanted our ‘Let’s Get Christmassy’ campaign to celebrate a very Irish Christmas and all of the things that make Christmas our favourite time of year. There was no Christmas song out there that reflected this so we wrote our own,” commented Lisa Comerford, Head of Brand and Advertising, ‘We were delighted to work with a talent like Brian, who not only composed the song but acted as musical director on the project in its entirety and in conjunction with the creative team at Rothco, Bobby Byrne and Stephen Rogers.”

“The best and most unique things about an Irish Christmas are free or cost very little. These are some of the things that set the Irish Christmas apart and this is what we wanted to convey with our “Let’s Get Christmassy” campaign. Value is what Meteor is all about and our Christmas phone range reflects just that. We have some real Christmas crackers of phones this festive season including exclusive colour ranges not available anywhere else” she added.

The “Let’s Get Christmassy” ads showcase the Meteor device offering for Christmas.

A 10 second sequel ad also forms part of the campaign, developing the storyline, and featuring the hero Steve buying a handset as a Christmas gift for his office crush Sarah.

Created and filmed entirely in Ireland, the Meteor “Let’s Get Christmassy” TV campaign launches Thursday 15th November and will be supported with radio, press, online display and social media from November 19th. #whatmakesmechristmassy.

The ad was developed by Meteor with Rothco and creative team Stephen Rogers and Bobby Byrne, was directed by Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman from Team D.A.D.DY. and produced by Gary Moore from Red Rage Films.

Smirnoff: Yours For The Making

Sarah-Jane Wai O’Flynn, lead singer of the Dirty Epics is pictured under the world’s largest free-hanging mirror ball to announce the Smirnoff “Yours for the Making” campaign.

Smirnoff's latest campaign, Yours for the Making, is a challenge to all their customers and fans, throughout Ireland, to make more of our free time by trying something new on nights out. To drive this, Smirnoff have brought together a collective of the most creative and innovative nightlife experts, including Dirty Epics front woman Sarah-Jane Wai O’Flynn, to uncover extraordinary nights.

To amplify the campaign and create real engagement and feedback, club promoters, night owls and partygoers are being called upon to fuel the search by tweeting their suggestions for new nights to @SmirnoffGB_IRE using #yoursforthemaking. Whether it's a silent disco or rubiks cube party, Smirnoff will reward the best submissions by turning suggestions into reality.

To celebrate the launch and to get people to make the most of the extra hour this weekend, Smirnoff has created a giant mirror ball suspended over London.  Sarah Jane Wai O’Flynn who attended the impromptu set by DJ Maya Jane Coles under the mirror ball, commented, “With an extra hour this weekend, it’s a great opportunity for people to get out and make the most of their night.  I am really excited to be involved in the Smirnoff Yours for the Making campaign in Ireland to find the next big thing in nightlife, I can’t wait to start seeing the ideas coming through and hopefully getting to see some of these ideas become a reality.”

The Smirnoff mirror ball is currently the World’s largest free-hanging mirror ball.

Situated in the centre of London, the giant Smirnoff mirror ball marks the clocks going back this weekend and calls on the 80% of Irish who plan to sleep for longer, to make the most of their extra hour. With over half the population likely to forget the clocks going back all together, the world’s largest mirror ball spinning is not just a bold reminder to set our clocks but also to feel inspired to try something new.

TV advert featuring Caoimhe Rathmone which shows the lengths Chill Insurance will go to get you the best deal on your insurance. Don't stress out searching for insurance when we can do it for you.

An interesting move by Chill Insurance in their latest TV ad - instead of hiring professional actors and actresses they held open auditions for their 120 staff members who fancied themselves as the new faces of Chill Insurance.

I think this was a great move by the firm and shows a trust in their staff. Plus, for an insurance business, I really like the ad. Thumbs up all around.

Eason’s Virtual Book Shop

This week sees one of Ireland's most recognised high street names take a bold new step in the world of retail. Eason, Ireland’s leading bookseller, who started its retail legacy with news stalls in train stations across Ireland in the late 1800s, is returning to its roots as it launches Ireland’s first ever Virtual Book Shop at Connolly Station in Dublin to allow commuters to buy bestselling books by simply scanning QR codes with their smartphones.

The Virtual Book Shop resembles the shelves you'd see in an Eason store, displaying images of book covers with corresponding QR codes. Once scanned they will bring users to an online mobile shop where they can purchase the book. Everything from bestselling Sport, Food and Drink, Kids and Fiction titles will be available to purchase at the Eason Virtual Book Shop including a pre-order option for what are expected to be some big hits for Christmas.

Speaking about the Virtual Book Shop, David Field, Group Head of Marketing and Retail Development, Eason said, “We’re delighted to be bringing the first ever Virtual Book Shop to Ireland. While the traditional physical store is still very much at the heart of Eason, we recognise the ever-growing need to further develop our online shopping experience and to create a concept that is not only innovative and a first to Irish market but that very much demonstrates that we are as contemporary multi-channel retailer. To bring the Virtual Book Shop concept to life we’ve put social at the heart of the solution by deeply integrating with Facebook.  Not only can people shop in a totally new way, they can share their experience via Facebook, make recommendations and see what titles their friends have bought which really brings that word-of-mouth marketing to social platforms.”

Also speaking at the launch of Eason’s Virtual Book Shop, leading Irish author, Cecelia Ahern said, “As an author there is no greater feeling than seeing your book on the shelves. But today seeing my new release One Hundred Names available in Ireland’s first ever Virtual Book Shop – it’s really exciting and I am delighted Eason has invited me to be part of this.”

Developed by VendorShop Social, the Eason’s Virtual Book Shop takes integration with Facebook a step further than most brands by using the Facebook Open Graph as a key part of the mobile store application. The result is a much more personalised experience for users and a more viral solution for Eason.

“We all know the power of word of mouth marketing and Facebook’s Open Graph functionality enables a business to embed word of mouth into their marketing and e-commerce activities. Open Graph is an extremely powerful tool to turn people’s interactions with your brand and products viral, but many businesses simply don’t realise what is possible”, said Chris Small CEO of VendorShop Social.

Ireland’s first ever Virtual Book Shop will be situated in Connolly Station from Monday 22nd October until Christmas with plans to bring the mobile shopping experience to other locations throughout the country.

Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award: SmartThings

€100,000 prize awarded on main stage at the Web Summit

Yesterday, Thursday 18th October, Electric Ireland announced that SmartThings are The Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award Winner 2012 at the Dublin Web Summit. SmartThings is the recipient of the Spark of Genius €100,000 prize.

With over 1,000 startups competing in The Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Competition, SmartThings battled with 3 other finalists, pitching to a panel of international investors and industry heavyweights in front of a full audience on the main stage at The Web Summit yesterday.

SmartThings makes it easy to connect the things in your physical world to the internet via your smartphone.  Using SmartThings you can control your air conditioning, lock your doors or get an alert when things go wrong. 

Speaking at the announcement, Margaret Colton, Head of Marketing, Electric Ireland, said, "We are delighted to present the Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award to SmartThings. At Electric Ireland, we are committed to powering the innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit that is inherent in start-up companies. We wish SmartThings all the best of luck and congratulate the team.”

Dublin Web Summit Founder Paddy Cosgrave said, “SmartThings is a well deserved winner of this year’s Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award. This competition is an incredible platform for startups to pitch to the world’s top investors and media and we are delighted the winner was announced at the Web Summit, one of Europe’s biggest tech events. On the back of winning the Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Award in 2011, Redeem & Get have enjoyed huge success with a launch to a global audience”.

“The Web Summit is committed to helping emerging technology companies get off the ground. As well as the Electric Ireland Spark of Genius final, we have also showcased 260 leading technology start-ups from Ireland and abroad at the Web Summit. The last two days have been an amazing opportunity for emerging companies to showcase their products to some of Europe’s leading technology figure”, added Cosgrave.

The Electric Ireland Spark of Genius Competition, now in its third year, focused on the most promising high potential Irish startups. 1,000 initial entries were shortlisted to a top 100, who then pitched from one of four separate stages – social, mobile, consumer and enterprise- to leading international investors (Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Atomico, Accel and many others), industry leaders, startup experts at the Dublin Web Summit. From these 100 finalists, four finalists were chosen for a final stage of judging before SmartThings was announced as the final winner.

Overall winners SmartThings were presented with a €100K prize fund supported by Electric Ireland, Mason, Hayes & Curran, Microsoft Bizspark, KPMG, Cawley Nea, Getty Images, PCH International and HT Meagher O’Reilly.