Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

I attended a marketing breakfast last week and noted at the event how far behind we are in Ireland in terms of viral marketing. There was no mention of the likes of YouTube or Google Video. Instead ,the only mention of viral marketing was a Carlsberg PowerPoint presentation that was emailed around following [...]

One of the discussion point that came up at a marketing breakfast I attended last week was that the Internet was resulting in the commodisation of goods. My thought on the subject is that’s why creating a brand is so important online.
Consumers don’t just use the Internet to get goods at the cheapest [...]

There are thousands of charities across the globe all vying for money from a limited pot. Because it is such a competitive space, charities are having to go above and beyond with their efforts in order to raise awareness about their cause.
I read about a very interesting fundraiser in the Irish Times yesterday. [...]

I actually find it frustrating reading mainstream media online. Why is it that they don’t hyperlink? I understand the whole walled garden strategy, but surely they could at least link to their own material or make links open in a new browser window.
The reason why I think mainstream media stories should include links [...]

For all the talk of practical applications of blogging and other social media tools, one of the best uses of these new techniques is to promote movies on the Internet, especially in Ireland.
The reason why movies should be promoted via the net is because word-of-mouth plays such a heavy role in what people decide to [...]

It seems a few people were thinking along the same lines as there are two articles in the Irish Times today about politics and blogs, one written by Adam Maguire. I also happened to be thinking along the same lines and here’s my two cents on the subject.
Despite voter turnouts dropping across the globe [...]

Sitting in traffic on my way home from work yesterday I was amazed by the number of bars advertising on the radio. I heard ads for Isaac Butts, Fitzsimons and 21. Of the three advertisements, Fitzsimons was the only bar who had any reason to be on the radio because it was highlighting [...]

For all the talk about how blogs, podcasts, etc are changing the world we live in, the media landscape or how we communicate with each other, what do we really contribute to society?
Let’s face it, I’m posting this from a 12″ laptop worth around €1000, with a Nokia N70 worth €249 in my pocket and [...]

A recent post by ‘that girl’ over at the Thinking Out Loud website raised the point about bloggers’ lack of awareness about ethics.
Before I start I should say that I willingly participated in some photographic moments last night. I choose which ones to do (ones with sponsors of the awards categories etc). But already this [...]

PR consultants strive to tell their clients’ stories in language that the target audience will understand. Legal firms and financial institutions often seem to confuse customers with jargon. One interesting knock-on effect of this is these companies are going to miss out on precious hits from Google because consumers simply aren’t using their [...]

The real selling point of SMS marketing for me is timing. You can deliver your organisation’s message at a precise moment which can enable you to connect with your target consumer and improve the purchase decision at the same time. It’s a great tool for professions like doctors and dentists to remind their [...]

Ed Byrne has launched a new blog which will be well worth a read. He’s recently joined Hosting365 as their Marketing Director, hence the lack of posts on his old site. He will also maintain the Hosting 365 blog.
Ed has just announced the launch of a series of geek dinners in Ireland. [...]

Changes on the Internet are having an interesting effect on how news is digested by the public. It used to be that today’s news would be tomorrow’s fish and chips lining, but Google seems to be changing all of that.
Visit Google and enter the search term ‘Ashley Cole’ (If you are too lazy to [...]

The picture above is the packed house at the Irish Blog Awards on Saturday night. The picture below is the front cover of the Sunday times, the picture on the front page is of Una Keane, an Irish singer, and Joe Conway, of Digicast, to announce the launch of Making Waves, a new [...]

I was reading the latest issue of Mongrel magazine and flicked through an interview with Messiah J and The Expert, an Irish hip-hop duo. I couldn’t help but notice the link for the MySpace page at the end of the interview. How long is it before we see this snippet feature in every [...]

Apple always gets praise about its marketing. As a brand, it seems to be omnipresent and always thought of as cool. In fairness though, I think the success of their marketing is down to their brilliant products rather than product placement, etc.
Reebok on the other hand is a brand which I think is [...]

For all the surveys and percentages about the popularity in the Internet in Ireland and the lack of broadband take-up, I came across two interesting statistics this week which shows that Irish people are using the Internet a lot more than is thought.
I just watched the infamous Eamonn Dunphy outburst on YouTube again, it’s now [...]

It seems that no matter what corner of the globe you travel to, sports stars always court controversy. Whether it’s Paulo Di Canio giving facist salutes to Lazio fans in Italian Soccer, Dublin and Tyrone GAA stars fighting on the pitch or Olympic athletes becoming embroiled in another doping scandal.
Some people have argued that [...]

If you follow some people’s advice, you should jump into online communications and start a blog, etc. Ask these same experts what exactly you should talk about and they’ll start to run out of steam. Be sure once you hear either of the following phrases, ‘the cluetrain manifesto’ or ‘naked conversations’, to immediately [...]

I signed up for a ShoZu account the other day because I’m after buying a Nokia N70 (expect some sort of review early next week). I haven’t activated it on my phone yet because I think I may just bluetooth any pictures or videos I want to put onto the Internet from my handset [...]

One of the main reasons PR practitioners have to read as many newspapers as possible is to get to know the media. It’s the best way to find out whether a journalist has any specific interests in a sector, who is covering a story on an ongoing basis and to figure out who is [...]

For all the complaints about the lack of business blogs in Ireland, a lot of people seem to be overlooking the increasing role that Social Media is playing in Irish society.
I’m still waiting for my iTrip, so I was listening to Spin FM on Friday evening in the car. The two DJs were having [...]

I get some grief sometimes for not playing golf. A lot of people say that golf is a great networking tool, but I’ve had to laugh recently after seeing that the old boys club of making deals out on the golf course seems to be evolving.
Welcome to the Old Boys Club 2.0! People [...]

I was out in the recently reopened Laughter Lounge in Dublin last week. One of the comedians on the night really highlighted the fact that the media seem hell bent on keeping the public in a state of fear. Open the papers any day of the week and there will be a prominent [...]

The Sunday Business Post has a nice article on Irish businesses and podcasting in today’s Computers in Business supplement. Bernie Goldbach has a synopsis of the article on his website. One thing that annoys me about podcasting though is the belief that it will become a successful commercial enterprise in the near future. [...]