Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Marie Boran has left SiliconRepublic.com, the technology news website which also compiles the technology page and the Digital Ireland supplement in the Irish Independent, to pursue a Science Communications course in DCU. She is replaced by Laura O’Brien.

Tadgh Enright is leaving RTE to join Sky News. Conor Brophy is joining the RTE business team from NewsTalk.

George Lee is the new presenter of RTE’s The Business on Radio 1.

Here’s a few articles which I found of interest recently:

• Unbranding - Business Insider: Instead of sending their latest accessory to celebs, some fashion houses are now sending rival products to sleazy stars to tarnish the reputation of rivals. (via the New York Times)
• Facebook now valued at $33 billion - Guardian: What’s really of interest here is how might try and buy the company. With almost 50% of mobile internet traffic going to Facebook, it opens up a nice opportunity for the likes of Apple or Microsoft to get a step ahead of Google. Personally though, I still think Facebook will see new rivals emerge and the price tag could prove hefty in the long run.
• Media very skilled at missing the bigger picture - Vincent Browne: Great piece by Browne in the Irish Times which highlights how the media can often sensationalise a particular story, but miss out on the bigger picture.

I was just on a week’s holidays in Beijing. Anyone who has visited the city will have experienced the markets, which bring new meaning to haggling. Essentially sales people on the various stalls will start with an opening price of up to ten times what they hope to sell an item for and negotiate for about ten minutes to try and make as much margin as possible.

Here’s a couple of tips I picked up which can be applied in any sales setting:

• Never open the negotiation: As the customer, never give the opening price. This sets a threshold which you cannot go below and if you are unfamiliar with the product or service you are buying you may start off with an opening price which is already higher than what the seller is happy to accept.
• Be personable: Always introduce yourself and get the salesperson’s name. Sellers use the same trick to try to form a bond and emotionally manipulate you when negotiating. Flip the tables and do the same thing. When we were given the first price, instead of giving a counteroffer we would immediately say something like ‘I know that’s the regular price, but I’m Irish. Do you have a special discount for us?’ So instead of launching into a back and forth of counter offers, we forced the seller to offer a discount immediately.
• Be prepared to walk away: If you look like you really want something, then you are handing over control to the seller. Most deals in Beijing are done when the customer walks away and the salesperson calls them back, accepting the final offer the customer made.
• Don’t be put off by the sales environment: When you walk into a Porsche dealership, you know that the cars cost a lot of money. Just because a shop is snazzy or the service provider pitching to you is dressed to the nines, you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable asking for a discount. Sure they’re likely to have higher overheads, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t try to drive a bargain.
• Always try to speak to another customer: No matter what you are buying in life, always try to speak to someone who has bought the same product or service. It’s a no brainer, besides making sure the quality is of a high enough standard, it’s also a quick way to check what they paid and gives you the upper hand in a negotiation if you were originally unsure what you should be paying.

The biannual Cleraun media conference takes places this year between Friday 15 October and Sunday 17 October. As usual other events have conspired against me and I can’t make it, but the Sunday line-up looks interesting.

The schedule is outlined below. No sign of information on the website yet, but judging from the 2008 conference tickets should cost around €130. The most obvious session of interest will be Carol Coulter’s talk about coverage of criminal trials on Sunday, hopefully part of this discussion will centre on the family of the victim’s perspective.

Friday 15 October 2010 at 7.30pm

Showing of Das Herz von Jenin (The Heart of Jenin): 2010 Award Best German Documentary Film (Father of Palestinian boy shot by Israeli soldiers decided to donate his son’s organs to 6 Israeli children to save their lives) Followed by interactive lecture with director Marcus Vetter about challenges in making the film

Saturday 16 October 2010: Documentary Film-making

Re-presenting reality, protecting integrity - Ian Kirk-Smith, BBCNI documentary film-maker (1991-2010)

Human rights documentaries – a case study on Burma from Radharc Films - Peter Kelly, Managing Director, Esras Films

Being true: dealing with the push for more ‘edge’ and more ‘jeopardy’ - Martina Durac, Loopline Film

Amazon Indians battling oil interests: the challenges in producing an independent documentary - Marc de Jersey, British film producer; former editor “Russia Today” (24/7 TV news channel in Moscow); former desk editor ABC New York

Sunday 17 October 2010: Issues in Journalism

Feeding the beast: sources, accountability and fact-checking in the 24-hour news cycle - Kate Shanahan, Lecturer, DIT; former RTÉ Radio & TV producer

What are the ‘arts’? How radio is broadening the horizons - Clare Duignan, Managing Director, RTÉ Radio

Holding politicians to account — how an Irish media investigation led to an EU ban on Brazilian beef - Justin McCarthy, Chief Livestock Editor, Irish Farmers’ Journal

We are all investigative journalists - Don Van Natta, Jnr, New York Times Investigative Correspondent, Manhattan

Administration of justice versus prurient public curiosity — media coverage of recent criminal trials - Dr Carol Coulter, Legal Affairs Editor, The Irish Times

Facebook is the world’s most popular social network, surpassing the success of previous rivals such as MySpace and Bebo, but new research shows that younger users are becoming affected by ‘Facebook Fatigue.’ PFSK points to research by Ypulse which shows that 25% of teens surveyed spent little to no time on the site. Mashable covered similar research if you are interested in further statistics.

This is why I continuously say focus on creating compelling content rather than building platforms. A couple of years ago, most marketing execs would not have foreseen the shift to smartphones and as a result wouldn’t even have contemplated mobile apps. Who knows what platforms will be prevalent in a couple of years time?

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Why would teens want to be on the same social network as their parents? Seriously, how do you explain turning down a friend request from your mum at the dinner table! Like previous generations of teens, they will turn elsewhere, building communities with their peer set away from the prying eyes of adults.

According to the Sunday Tribune, Gavin Duffy is lined to fill the void created by Eamonn Keane’s sudden departure at the lunchtime slot at NewsTalk. Julie O’Donnell (new blog that is well worth a subscription) has more on the article, including speculation on the make-up of the station’s breakfast show following the announcement that Claire Byrne is headed back to our screens with RTE. NewsTalk bosses better get their house in order if they are to maintain their challenge for listenership figures.

All is not well in the local newspaper industry with the River Media Group, the company behind the Letterkenny Post and Derry News, posting more negative news. The Irish Independent reported on Monday that the Group’s newspaper arm posted €3.3 million losses.

Despite all the doom and gloom in the newspaper industry, the Irish print market is holding up well. Roy Greenslade offers some interesting analysis, pointint out that readership has only declined by 0.28% over the past twelve months and 86% of the Irish adult population regularly reads a paper. Catherine O’Mahony points out in the Sunday Business Post that emigration in recent months may be bolstering the figures, with younger audiences who would be more likely to get their news online moving abroad. O’Mahony rightly observes that the ABC figures for actual sales will reveal the real story behind the Irish print media landscape shortly. The JNRS survey is available to view here.

O’Mahony also writes about Radio Nova in the same paper. The new radio station is aimed at 25-50 year olds. One has to question the launch of another station in an already crowded marketplace, particularly in the current economic climate.

Jim-Jim Nugent has quit 2FM ahead of today’s scheduled revamp. The former presenter of the breakfast show had been offered other opportunities at the station, but decided to pursue his stand-up comedy career. The Irish Times has a full report.

Nice video from Ciarán Adamson which gives a behind the scenes look at what goes into creating an exhibition stand, starting with the initial sketches to the finished product.

The EU Commission Representation in Ireland and the Celsius research Group, DCU, are hosting a special one day conference entitled “Communicating environmental issues through the web - What can the internet deliver?”

The conference takes place on Saturday 4th September at 10.00 am in European Union House, 18 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Entry is free and you can register here.

Here’s the running order:

The Guardian reports that the Times’ paywall has seen its online audience fall by two thirds, a performance which eve by the Guardian’s admission is ‘better than many had expected.’

The same paper also points to the Daily Mail’s online operation, which is bucking the trend and shows that it is possible for media organisations to make money online without paywalls.

According to the Irish Times, ‘former Irish ambassador to the UK Dáithí Ó Ceallaigh has been appointed chairman of the Press Council.’

The Sunday Times has been covering internal rota changes at NewsTalk. Unfortunately no link is available as it now resides behind a paywall. The Sunday Tribune has picked up on the story and reported at the weekend that the Breakfast Show format will change with co-presenter Claire Byrne starting the show and Yates joining later in the morning. The supposed changes are apparently not going down well with fellow staff. There was another twist in the tale yesterday with both the Irish Independent and the Evening Herald reporting that Byrne was actually set to leave NewsTalk and join RTE as one of its afternoon TV presenters. Confused, you should be!

The Tribune also speculates that Charlie Bird, RTE’s Chief News correspondent, will head a new nightly news programme to go head-to-head with TV3’s Tonight With Vincent Browne.

The recession has hit radio listenership figures. Less people working means fewer cars on the road driving to and from the workplace. The Irish Times has a recap on the latest JNLR figures and Pembroke Communications have a screenshot of the graphic that went along with the print edition of the article.

That hasn’t affected plans for a new radio station from launching. According to the Irish Independent, the launch of Radio Nova will create 32 jobs.

RTÉ director general Cathal Goan is stepping down after serving his full seven year term. Lots of speculation in the media of late as to who will be his successor. Chief financial officer, Conor Hayes, is tipped to succeed him, with Ed Mulhall, Managing Director of RTÉ News, and Claire Duignan, head of RTÉ Radio, cast as his rivals for the position.

A Danish charity, Udenfor, is running a unique initiative to raise awareness about homelessness. Guerilla Innovation writes “Copenhagen Poverty Walks is a new alternative walking tour giving locals as well as visitors a unique opportunity to experience the city from the perspective of homeless people. The tours are guided by homeless themselves and during the walk, participants will hear about the guide’s personal street experiences and universe.”

Paul Allen has a great op-ed in the Sunday Business Post about the relationship between politics and the media.

Calvin Klein Jeans has pulled a masterstroke with its latest billboard campaign by using a QR code to conceal a racy image, which passerbys can reveal with their smartphone (via Mashable.)

The New York Times has an interesting article about how Kleenex have bolstered their sales through some clever packaging design. The company has used packages that resemble wedges of fruit in order to illustrate different occasions that customers can use their products, rather than simply for blowing their nose.

David Taylor offers some great insights into whether brand publishing is right for a company.

Buzzfeed recently highlighted a really innovative marketing initiative from Dove - the Magic Mirror: “Dove came up with a creative idea to have people actually try their product. They sent a de-misting pen to a variety of hotels, and had them write a message about Dove on the mirror, pointing to the product. After the guest would have a shower, the message would appear when the rest of the mirror steamed up - the perfect time to try the product! Hard to ignore, right?“

Cool ad from Kit Kat, which appeared just after the epic Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut. Check it out on Brand Ireland.

There a new web development trend which creates prank on regular websites. For example, Bacolicio.us to put bacon on a web site. Just append the URL to http:// bacolicio.us and watch it sizzle. Activists are putting it to practical use like this mod which creates an oil spill on any website (via Mashable.)

Check out this funny April Fools Day prank Dr Pepper played on Chatroulette in the UK.

I love this ad for the Dodge Challenger - nothing says gung ho quite like George Washington in a muscle car.

Conor O’Donnell has been named as the new editor of the Irish Daily Mail (via the Irish Times)

There have been some changes at the Irish Independent business desk. Joe Brennan has moved to Bloomberg. Peter Flanagan is now in charge of the media and marketing column as Laura Noonan takes over Brennan’s previous brief.

Gráinne Seoige is joining the lineup for ITV’s new breakfast show Daybreak.

John Murray, host of The Business and Morning Ireland, is to take over the vacant 9-10am slot on RTE Radio 1, following Ryan Tubridy’s switch to 2FM.

Brendan O’Connor has been made the permanent host for RTE’s Saturday night TV chat show. The show kicks off on 25 September and runs from 9.35 to 10.45pm.

I spotted this on Buzzfeed this morning. Very simple, yet powerful video from South Africa which illustrates attitudes to violence against women. As it says on the site, don’t condone violence by doing nothing.

Corvette are offering its customers a chance to help build the engine on the assembly line. Holy Kaw has an article on the new marketing initiative for the Corvette ZR1 and Z06, which retails for over $100,000. An extra $5k lets car enthusiasts get an extra personal experience by putting the finishing touches to the engine.

For those of you with iPhones still trying to figure out all the changes, I recommend watching Mashable’s video walkthrough. The new folder option is the standout feature of the new operating system for me.

I spent last weekend in Chicago at an internal Edelman meeting. I got to meet Dan Edelman, founder of the company, over the weekend when he came to speak to all of us. Ahead of his 90th birthday, Advertising Age conducted a video interview, which is available to view below. You cannot but be impressed by a guy who started his own company which now has 52 offices across the globe.

The Irish Independent speculates that George Lee will present the replacement for ‘The Business’ programme on Saturday mornings during July and August.

The Irish Times reports that Ryan Tubridy will take the late Gerry Ryan’s slot on 2FM. There will be a change in format with the show switching to a two hour slot, primarily due to Tubridy’s workload with the Late, Late Show.

Local media woes continue as The Meath Post, The Cavan Post and The Sligo Post all closed last week. RTE has more on the story.

Interesting report in the Irish Times a couple of weeks ago on the proceedings of one of the Joint Oireachtas Committees. David McRedmond, chief executive of TV3, told the committee that Dail proceedings came across as “archaic, male-dominated, long-winded or in short not relevant.“

McRedmond can’t really be criticised as he’s running a business and TV3’s success depends on its viewing figures. However, from a media perspective the committee chairman, Ned O’Keeffe, is right in saying that “many issues covered by the Dáil were relevant.“

A letter by Leo Varadkar to the Sunday Business Post caught my attention recently. He writes:

Politics is no circus. In the week George Lee resigned, an all party committee agreed the wording of the constitutional amendment to protect children’s rights.

The following week, the confidence debate on Willie O’Dea took up 90 minutes of Dáil time, but we spent much more time finding the truth about Hangar 6.Trevor Sargent’s resignation took up ten minutes of Dáil time, but we spent three hours debating Fine Gael’s jobs plan.

The real work rarely gets media attention. When I complain about this to members of the media, they explain that the public is more interested in personalities and political soap opera than issues like jobs and children’s rights.

I disagree. We desperately need political reform and better politicians, but we need a better media, too, with commentators who are better informed and less opinionated, journalists who make complicated and important stories interesting, rather than ignoring them, and interviewers who question politicians before trying to catch them out.

I asked a journalist on Twitter what her thoughts were on his letter and her response summed things up perfectly:

The challenge for journalists is to make the complicated interesting

There is a clear danger if the media ignore important issues on the basis that personality politics is more entertaining.

Fascinating video adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, which illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

Johanna Blakley gave an interesting talk at TEDxUSC 2010, where she discussed what all creative industries can learn from fashion’s free culture (spotted via Boing Boing)

OpenFM has secured a temporary licence in the Dublin area from 13 June on 89.9FM for 30 days. The aim of OpenFM is to promote mental health, foster a greater understanding and sense of the LGBT Community and as a space for exploring existing and emerging issues, within the context of quality music and broadcasting.

THE Irish Examiner’s head of marketing, Mairead Maher, has been appointed as interim chief executive following the recent appointment of the newspaper’s chief executive, Tom Murphy, as interim chief executive of the Irish Examiner’s parent company, Thomas Crosbie Holdings.

Mindshare Dublin’s analysis of Ryan Tubridy’s performance as host of RTE’s Late, Late Show shows that the presenter has been a success in his first season by attracting a new younger audience.

There has been lots of speculation following Eamonn Keane’s shock resignation from NewsTalk. It’s rumoured that he is in contention for the late Gerry Ryan’s slot on RTE. At the weekend, the Sunday Times speculated about possible changes to the NewsTalk schedule following his departure, with George Hook switching to the breakfast show and current presenters Claire Byrne and Ivan Yates moving to lunchtime and drivetime respectively.

Politics.ie reports that Dan O’Brien is joining the Irish Times as economics editor.

Irish News Blog aims to cover the interesting stories that don’t get coverage in the mainstream Irish media.

Marketing.ie reports that Q102 has signed a new ten-year contract with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI).

With the Time shifting to a paywall strategy, the Mail Online outlines why it will remain free.

Eoin Murphy has moved from the Irish Daily Star on Sunday to the Irish News of the World as chief showbiz correspondent.

Catherine O’Mahony analyses the latest radio listenership figures in the Sunday Business Post.

Ray Nolan, one of Ireland’s most successful Irish entrepreneurs, spoke at an IIEA event recently on the challenges facing indigenous Irish companies. It’s well worth a watch. Ray will also be speaking at the upcoming Dublin Web Summit. Credit to the IIEA for putting on another great event, be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel where they have a series of talks from a variety of interesting speakers available.

We’re recruiting an account manager for our corporate team. If you are interested in discussing the position, please email me on piaras.kelly@edelman.com for further information.

In case you missed it, classic clip from Sky News (via Deaglan de Breadun)

The Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin is hosting a very interesting event from a media perspective on Thursday 27 May between 6:30 - 8:00pm. Read more below and on the Science Gallery website.

Libel laws are having a chilling effect both on scientific research and journalistic freedom in the UK and Ireland as current libel laws may intimidate journalists, scientists and publishers into silence in fear of prosecution. The effect has been dubbed “libel chill” and has been described as de facto censorship. At this pivotal event some of the most important figures in the current UK libel reform campaign come to Dublin including Simon Singh, the journalist who successfully defended himself after a two year libel battle with the British Chiropractic Association, and cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst, who is currently being sued for libel in the biggest ongoing medical libel case.

Tickets go on general sale (€15) at midday on 11 May.