Smirnoff Night Life Exchange & Madonna

Today, 18th August, Smirnoff made the announcement that the next iteration of their Night Life Exchange project will not only attempt to get 10 million people to discover, share and swap the most original nightlife experiences in 50 countries but also to find the best dancer from their fans for an opportunity to join Madonna on her next tour. To mark the announcement the Smirnoff Ireland dance troupe were on the streets today for a number of impromptu performances all over Dublin City Centre to spread the word.

The initial goal sees Smirnoff fans worldwide invited to co-create and participate by contributing ideas on what makes their local nightlife distinct in the categories of drinks, dance, fashion, music, places, and more, creating a nightlife cocktail of unique events. The most inspiring suggestions from each region will then exchanged with another country in November. Participating fans will have the chance to win a place at one of the global events or experience another country’s party at a Smirnoff NEP event in their own city.

The second part of this years NEP, focusing on the importance of dance, offers fans the opportunity to showcase their own style and flair through an exclusive online dance competition. Starting today, fans just need to submit a 60 second video demonstrating their best moves. The best dancers from around the world will then be chosen to compete for the grand prize at one of the NEP venues. On hand on the evening, Madonna will judge the final herself and select a winner to join her on her next tour as one of her dancers.

Talking about the project, Madonna said, "What attracted me to the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project is the combination of participating in the celebration of nightlife around the world and the opportunity to discover the world's best unknown dancers. The best dancers are always in the clubs looking for the most original experience, just like Smirnoff is doing."

Simon Burch, Global Brand Director for The Smirnoff Co., said, “Smirnoff mixes original nightlife from around the world and gives everyone the chance to be there through extraordinary, one-of-a-kind experiences. Who better to decide the best in the dance category than Madonna herself?”

The 50 countries participating in the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project include: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Dubai, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, Trinidad, Turkey, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months and pop along to the

The ESB Electric Ireland Park at Electric Picnic

This week ESB Electric Ireland announced what they have in store as the official energy partner of Electric Picnic. Teaming up with comedian Karl Spain, ESB have revealed their energy-efficient playground for grown-ups where festival goers can play and use the energy they generate to charge their phones. The playground will feature an adult sized merry-go-round, a giant hamster wheel and see-saws, all of which generate energy that people can share and use. For those that prefer something a little less childish, there will also be fifteen bikes in the Park to help generate power.

To help get everyone into full power-generating swing the ESB will have a number of Irish and international celebrity MCs on hand, including Karl Spain, Andrew Stanley, Damian Clark and Gearoid Farrelly. These guys will be tasked with recruiting festival goers to make use of the playground and also to find volunteers to get on their bikes! On top of this, the MCs will also host a number of small challenges throughout the weekend and may even take part in some of these challenges themselves.

Speaking at the launch, Karl Spain said, “Yes, ESB Electric Ireland has brought an even crazier element of fun to the EP line up this year and I’m looking forward to trying the playground out for size! It will really show people how much energy it takes to power even small things like a mobile phone. From see-sawing to merry-go-rounding and peddling there’ll be even more ways to generate energy at this year’s Picnic. It’s a great initiative and I can’t wait to share my energy with fellow festival goers in September.”

Ken McKervey, Commercial Manager ESB Electric Ireland commented “As the Official Energy Partner to the festival, ESB Electric Ireland is delighted to show festival goers how much fun sustainability can be. We are well aware how important having a facility to recharge phones is to festival goers so it’s great that we can provide this in an entertaining way! We are delighted to have the comedians back this year to MC and between the comedians, the bikes and the playground it will be a fully sustainable festival of fun.”

Outside of their energy-generating playground, ESB Electric Ireland's position as official energy partner of Electric Picnic sees them providing 6 km of energy efficient festoon lighting around the camp sites and walk ways to the main arena, and providing e-cars to transport artists around the festival site. All of this will see the festival’s lighting emissions reduced by 80%.

To stay up to date on all of the campaigns details and upcoming competitions, just head over to the ESB Electric Ireland Facebook Page.

Guinness 'Five' - The Guinness Food Experience

Yesterday evening, Thursday 11th August, I had the absolute pleasure of popping along to the Guinness Storehouse to experience their brand new Guinness food experience. Adding to its already top class offering, the Guinness Storehouse unveiled an incredible new food experience which sees the entire fifth floor dedicated to Guinness and Food.

The €2 million investment in the heart of St. James’s Gate has been fittingly named “Five. Guinness and Food Experience”. The new experience includes an authentic Irish Bar called Arthur’s Bar, an 18th Century inspired Brewers Dining Hall, a restaurant named Gilroy’s inspired by the iconic Guinness advertisements by John Gilroy. Beyond this, however, there will also be live cooking demonstrations where foodies and Guinness drinker’s alike can see an unique Guinness gastronomical experience driven entirely by the Irish tradition of wholesome, local produce. Finally, there is also an interactive recipe sharing bank that allows visitors to take Guinness recipe cards home to try the recipes for themselves and also share their own Guinness inspired recipes with others.

Speaking about “Five” the new Guinness and Food Experience at the Guinness Storehouse, Managing Director, Paul Carty said “We are delighted to officially open the doors to our new Guinness and Food experience which marries the best of Irish produce to Guinness, an iconic Irish brand. We have a dedicated team who have been working on this specific food project for over a year now, so we are thrilled with the results which we look forward to sharing with our visitors from all over the world, show casing the best of Irish produce”.

The Storehouse team have carefully selected a number of key local suppliers to work alongside with and their produce can be seen on the menus at “Five” including Ardsallagh goat’s cheese, Irish mussels from Carlingford and MD Bakery in Waterford who supply the Waterford Blaas.

Executive Chef at Guinness Storehouse, Justin O’Connor, said, “Certainly the most recognisable and popular Guinness dish in the world is Beef and Guinness stew; in fact, since we opened our doors in 2000, we have served over 400,000 portions of Beef and Guinness Stew. We have refined this traditional dish as part of our project using Hereford beef from Nenagh in Co Tipperary. The meat is marinated for 24 hours in Guinness and aromatics and then slow cooked for succulence and taste.”


Full outlet details...

Brewer’s Dining Hall
The Brewer’s Dining Hall takes inspiration from the 18th and 19th century dining room of the same name. This traditional dining hall catered for the hard working at St. James’s Gate Brewery, who wanted to eat well. The Brewer’s Dining Hall is an informal dining experience served buffet style featuring the freshest and most wholesome ingredients. All of this is experienced with full views of the working kitchen which is on show through a large glass viewing area.

Gilroy’s Restaurant
Gilroy’s restaurant is inspired by the artist, John Gilroy, who was the artist and creator behind the “MY GOODNESS, MY GUINNESS” marketing campaign. In Gilroy’s you will be greeted with a warm setting surrounded by the wonderful animal characters created by Gilroy, all of which are displayed prominently overhead to add to your dining experience.
Gilroy’s is a waiter style bistro restaurant offering a premium food experience serving traditional Irish food complemented by a contemporary twist.

Arthur’s Bar
The Irish Pub is an integral part of Irish life and always has been. The pub is the focal point of community life where music, sport, literature and family occasions are all celebrated.
Arthur’s Bar is a modern twist on a traditional Irish pub, taking elements of a traditional Irish pub, and showing them in a contemporary manner.

Captain Morgan's Caribbean Adventure - The Captain's Island

Sun, sea, surf, Captain Morgan and a chance to win €15,000….. where do I sign up?

Simples. Just pop over to the Captain Morgan Ireland Facebook Page and start your adventure for a chance to join Captain Morgan, Mena Suvari and 13 other teams of aspiring buccaneers in a contest to win a €15,000 share of the Captain's legendary bounty on The Captain’s Island (from 9th – 14th October) in the Caribbean.

Before you get the chance to prove yourself against these other teams you first need to be selected to go - not everyone can get to The Captain’s Island. First you need to show Captain Morgan that you have traits befitting of a Captain – leadership, camaraderie, bravado (without recklessness), clever thinking and determination. To prove yourself, you will need to complete a number of different challenges on the Captain Morgan’s Facebook page to earn ‘keys’. ‘Keys’ are also available on promotional Captain Morgan packs in supermarkets & off-licenses, in bars, at events and in a number of other secret locations. You will need to collect five keys in total.

Captain Morgan commented: “The chance to have a three day legendary experience on my Caribbean Island and a share of a €15,000 bounty - why wouldn’t you want to be part of that adventure? Sign-up for The Captain’s Island and if you’re lucky enough it could all be yours. Oh, and did I mention that you’ll get to hang out with me, the Morganettes and get interviewed by Island reporter Mena Suvari too? What are you still reading this for – enter now!”

Mena Suvari added: “But you’re going to have to impress Captain Morgan to stand a chance here. If you can’t show leadership, camaraderie, determination, bravado and clever thinking then you can kiss goodbye to an Island adventure and a share of his bounty. He doesn’t just give this away – you have to earn it.”

The contest is open now to everyone in the island of Ireland above legal purchase age and challenges conducted via Facebook require a fun-loving Buccaneer who has a passion for adventure, creativity and a winning spirit. The closing date for crews to sign up and collect five keys is 18th September 2011.

About Captain Morgan:
In 1654 a young Henry Morgan left his native Wales for the West Indies. He never looked back. A born leader, he quickly made Captain and became famous as a legal pirate or Buccaneer, defending British interests and generally rocking the Caribbean. His awesome exploits on the high seas earned him a knighthood and by 1680 Sir Henry Morgan was a plantation owner and Governor of Jamaica. There he lived out his final days until his death in 1688.

Centuries later he became the figurehead for a company that became as famous as the man himself… The Captain Morgan Rum Company.

Three launches ‘S’Up’ Campaign

Three have just launched their latest campaign with everyone's favourite music and reality crazy kids, Jedward. The campaign, which announces Three's new “All you can eat” data on Prepay, will hit TV screens tomorrow evening (5th August) and run for five weeks until 11th September 2011. The campaign uses 30 second placements on RTE, TV3, 3E, Sky packages, Comedy Central, MTV E!, Living and E4. Aside from the TV slots, the campaign will also run online rich media banners on yahoo, MSN, Ryanair, Facebook, and Skype. Finally, the campaign will also use targeted press advertising and special builds in Dublin’s city centre.

The campaign was developed by McCann Erickson and the TV ad was directed by Damien O’Donnell, who has directed the films; ‘East is East’, ‘Heartlands’, and ‘Inside I’m Dancing’, and produced by Russ Russell of Russell Curran Productions.

The TV ad features Jedward calling, texting and tweeting each other all day long. This may not appear unusual given the close bond the twins share, but what is different about Jedward is that they call text and tweet each other even when they’re in the same room, because it costs them nothing on Three Prepay. They can call each other to say hello or in Jedward’s case ‘S’Up?’ and make sure they don’t miss what’s going on even for a minute.

So we have TV, online and press so far, but the most interesting part of the campaign is the in-store POS and PR activity, which will focus on recruiting a third member of Jedward via on-street and social media auditions to spend a day with Jedward at a secret Three Ireland Jedward gig on 16th September. Lucky Three Prepay customers will receive a special Jedmail inviting them!

Commenting on the launch, Sales and Marketing director, Elaine Carey at Three, said: “We at Three are very excited to be launching ‘All you can eat’ data for our Prepay customers, marking another important first in the Irish market for Three. From Friday the 5th of August, Three Prepay customers can avail of the exclusive ‘All you can eat’ data price plan for the first time, giving unlimited mobile internet access, free any network texts, and free Three to Three calls, all for just €20 a month minimum top up. To celebrate this we are offering the Samsung Galaxy Europa on Prepay for just €49, 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.”

Commenting on the launch, Emma Sharkey, McCann Erickson, said: “Jedward’s star power and their ubiquitous popularity will help Three to reach a larger prepay audience. Jedward’s youthful energy and innate sociability are a natural fit with the brand’s Prepay proposition. Three understands that people want the ability to stay in constant contact with their closest friends through texts, social sites and calls, without fear of burning through credit.”

For further information on Three, the new offer or the handset, just visit www.three.ie and be sure to follow Three on Twitter and Facebook.