Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Near FM have started podcasting and are offering a best of the week’s programming podcast. The radio station is a local station for Dublin’s North East. It’s also interesting to note that a representative for Near FM announced this on Boards.ie, Ireland’s most popular Internet forum.
It’s funny and sad in some ways […]

NewsTalk 106 have launched their ‘Local Heroes’ campaign which will see the station give away €40,000 to four good causes. They are currently looking for submissions and each the four chosen projects will get some great exposure over the course of the week they are showcased.
During the week NewsTalk 106 will interview the cause’s […]

The latest media backlash against video games has kicked in after it was confirmed that the infamous GTA: San Andreas sex mini-game is part of the original game rather than a mod.
The games industry is one of the media’s favourite whipping boys due to the ‘a computer game made me do it’ defence and their […]

One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve started working in PR is the difficulty in contacting some media personalities’ agents simply because there’s no quick way of finding out who represents them. You have to go through all the go betweens who all include their own handling charge in the personality’s fee. Believe it […]

The BCI has announced that it has granted a ten year license to Channel 6, fresh off the news that City Channel is due to launch next month.
It’s interesting to note that around fifteen years ago Ireland only had two national radio stations (let’s ignore all the pirate stations for argument’s sake) and around ten […]

Forbes.com have announced their best of the web - blogs that matter. Hardly groundbreaking, but nice to see that you’ve stumbled across some blogs that other people read too.

Chris Moyle’s Radio 1 breakfast show will now be available as a podcast…well the best of the week’s shows anyway. <sarcasm> Can’t wait to get the best of Liveline with Joe Duffy soon </sarcasm>

My Powerbook is finally back up and running again after around 24 hours stressing. It all started when my battery went dead so I picked up my adaptor and plugged it in, only for it to spark.
I put the other end into the laptop but no disco and the stressing began. To cut […]

Why is it that when any alcohol or soft drinks company sponsors an event they always run with the standard ‘My product is the only product of its kind that will be sold at this event’ approach?
I’ve posted about it before, but it’s something that happens over and over again. Sure enough, if you […]

Following on from Ed’s comment yesterday about TV3 lack of a news site despite being on air for almost seven years, here’s my pop at their interactive week. (Ed you must be a mind reader because this has been in storage since the weekend)
So TV3’s interactive week is finally rolling around, one […]

Just thought I’d drop a quick line on my comments policy because a couple of them were stuck in limbo for a while.
Comments which contain two urls or more are held back for moderation to try stop spammers. I haven’t checked them recently so apologies to those who might have thought I was ignoring […]

I’m a big addict of RSS, it’s revolutionised the way I surf the web and get news updates. However there’s nothing like getting your hands on a newspaper to get a better insight of what’s going on.
Interpreting the news is completely different through RSS or by newspaper. With RSS you get news instantly […]

I was talking to somebody in a promotions company the other day and he was telling me about Today FM’s branding at Oxegen. They put up a load of banners beside the campsite and as soon as he saw it, warning bells started to go off in his head. Sure enough by the […]

Well by the time these iPod decks are released I’ll probably have to buy a second and third iPod because my 15GB will probably not be compatible. Click the link to check out the slickest looking thing I’ve seen for a while (unfortunately I can’t hide the inner nerd in me.)
I think I’ll give […]

The BBC announced today that it is enforcing a sensitive news delay. The decision came about in the wake of the live coverage of the Beslan school siege. Apart from saving viewers from seeing shocking scenes, the move will also allow the news team to check their facts before committing to a specific […]

I seem to have missed the hype about this one, but Sky News are podcasting. I’m really excited about this move because if Irish media organisations need a clear sign that podcasting is a viable and exciting new medium of communication, this is it.
Sky News is now number one in the podcast chart and […]

I found out the other day that Heineken sponsor Oxegen, Ireland’s largest music festival. Unless you actually go to the event and see that the only beer being sold happens to be Heineken, then there’s not much else in-your-face obvious sponsor activity.
Oh wait, there’s the en of Oxegen in Heineken script…eh, that’s a bit […]

Consumers have too much choice today. Companies overcater for people and it ends up hurting their profits. For example, HB has a limited edition range of ice creams available for its Magnum brand - I think it’s the Seven Deadly Sins promotion running at the moment. This is a far cry from […]

One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve started working in PR is that I’ve developed an appreciation for the English language. The difference one word can make is startling. How the media reported the death of Tara Whelan in a terrorist attack in Turkey is an unfortunate example of this.
When her identity was confirmed […]

Games Toaster report that Sony are putting up a ‘Playstation Dome’ at music concerts and other high profile events this Summer across Ireland. Apparently 20,000 people have visited it so far.
Ignoring the figures for a moment, this is a great sponsorship in my opinion. Despite gaming’s widespread popularity, it’s another pastime which is […]

In this month’s Irish Travel Trade magazine the current developments in booking systems are discussed. The piece opens with the following statement about one of the products under the microscope, ‘Show your customer what only a travel agent can do for them - with Amadeus’. Then it launches into a big analysis on […]

There’s been plenty of talk on the blogosphere about the impact of Social Media on the media and public relations, but something I haven’t heard discussed as much is its impact on media monitoring.
With the advent of RSS it’s becoming much easier to track what’s being said about your client yourself, and at considerable less […]

I called someone who works in the newsroom at a radio station yesterday to meet for a coffee. After I dialed I glanced at my computer screen and noticed the time. I was two dial tones into the call and immediately jumped and slammed down the receiver. Why? Because it was […]

I noticed a couple of changes on WordNet the other day. It’s a lot more interactive and descriptive, with better breakdowns of entries and links to synonyms, etc within an entry.
For those unfamiliar with WordNet, it’s best described as a powerful online thesaurus. Particularly handy for PR practitioners - we’ve long been accused […]

But where’s the hash key on Macs?