Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

One of the sites I started to read recently is Gordon’s Republic, the blog of the editor of Brand Republic. I found one of his recent posts about hotel branding quite interesting because he notes “people have more of a relationship with a bottle of Heinz Ketchup or Tide washing detergent because these brands […]

Most of the talk about YouTube, an online video sharing website, in marketing/PR/ advertising circles up until now has been about user generated content, whereby consumers post videos which they have created themselves and whether brands can be featured. There are other interesting aspects to YouTube though as a number of different organisations have […]

Interested to read on Public Relations India about someone who compiles all their “media coverage clips and making these copies available at her office reception, conference room, CEO, and the marketing and sales departments.“
Now while compiling press clippings is nothing new, I think the way she is going about it so proactively is really refreshing. […]

Damien Mulley rightly points out the reason why Irish bloggers have gotten so upset over the fact that it@Cork received a cease and desist letter over the use of the phrase ‘Web 2.0′ in the title of an upcoming conference is due to the fact , “Irish bloggers couldn’t give a toss about web 2.0 […]

One.
It takes the rest of them to talk about it.
While Irish bloggers are busy waffling about a cease and desist letter. PR bloggers created their own storm in a tea cup last week about the launch of the Social Media press release by Shift Communications.
I agree that the press release is evolving, but I […]

One.
It the rest of them to talk about it.
Supposedly blogs might replace traditional media. Realistically, blogs and other forms of social media will compliment traditional media.
However, you’ve really got to question that in an Irish context when the thing which has irked Irish bloggers the most since the Dublin riots is the fact that […]

One of the most frustrating aspects for clients about photocalls is that you can’t prominently feature your branding in the pictures, except for those for trade media.
Flick through the papers any day of the week and look at the photos in the general news sections, specifically those that look staged or feature models. You’ll […]

I had to ring a press office the other day. The only thing was I didn’t have the company in question’s number. Went to their website and searched high and low for the number. My search quickly turned from the press office number to any number at all. Needless to say […]

I posted a quick tip a couple of weeks ago about how to find regional photographers in Ireland by ringing the local paper for a recommendation. A colleague stumbled across this website today where you can select photographers by county and by speciality. Very handy resource and saves the bother of making of […]

The most frustrating thing about the many discussions involving public relations on the internet is that they tend to revolve at either end of a spectrum. You either get people harping on about how we’re nothing but a bunch of spin doctors or a group waxing lyrical about how great we are.
I’m always reminded […]

Unfortunately last week saw the demise of Capital Magazine, a biweekly publication aimed at young Dubliners. When it launched I thought it would struggle due to the number of free magazines aimed at a similar market such as Mongrel. Twenty six weeks later I was proved right.
A strange thing happened though during those […]

Doing my usual trawl through Irish tech media websites and discovered that Damien Mulley, probably Ireland’s fourth most popular blogger (behind Doncha, Slugger and Twenty), has started to pen a column for Electric News.
This is the latest shrewd move by Electric News to increase traffic to their website. They recently signed a syndication deal […]

Create your own headline!

A recent comment on my website by Stuart Bruce got me thinking. Not about what he said though, but about the fact that he put MCIPR after his name.
It’s quite clever because it makes him stand out, look authoritative and increases chances of people clicking through to his site to specifically read about PR.
Given […]

Inspired by Brian Greene’s photo below which highlights how much Ireland has changed over the past year, and after reading about a lot of related activity over the last few weeks - I thought I’d post my twelve days of a changing Irish society (More like twelve observations on Irish life at the minute […]

Companies always seem to wonder about how they can develop better relationships with the media. The answer is simple - press the flesh.
Working in PR, there is nothing worse than having to talk to journalists on a regular basis on the phone, without ever having met them face-to-face. I often wonder if we […]

Today marks the first anniversary of this website. I found out the hard way when I discovered that my domain had lapsed and I thought that it had been hijacked. Drama over, but I thought I’d take a quick moment to reflect on the past twelve months.
Simply put, the site has been an […]

When I started this website, I thought of it as more of a personal resource where I could track emerging trends and educate myself. The scary thing though is that I’ve built an audience. People at work are aware of this site, as are some clients and journalists. Funnier still, people I […]

The elevator pitch is something I’ve heard a lot about, but is rarely explained well. That in itself is kind of funny, given that an elevator pitch is effectively a thirty second window to explain what you do in an interesting way to whoever you’re talking to.
People generally have opinions built around certain professions, […]

One use of podcasting that hasn’t really been discussed is a cheap form of media training. The problem with being interviewed is when someone asks you a question, it’s often akin to turning on a tap and forgetting to turn it off. People just keep blathering on and don’t really get their point […]

One of the most regular questions I get asked when I’m out and about is how do you trust you trust your staff with blogs. It’s a good question to ask, but in asking the question they’ve answered half of it themselves - you’ve got to trust your employees.
The second half of the answer […]

Journalists are right to be cynical. They get rung on a daily basis by people like myself pitching their clients. However, it gets worse. Work doesn’t finish at 5.30pm (or whenever the deadline is), because people are always trying to sell them a story.
I was slightly taken aback at the ICT Excellence […]

The Gardai have appealed for cameraphone footage from witnesses after this afternoon’s rampage by a stolen bus across Dublin. The chaos, reminiscent of similar incidents in the United States, left one person dead and thirteen people injured.
Whilst it was a terrible incident, I was a little taken aback when the officer in charge of […]

I was eating dinner in a pub before going off to see a musical last night. I was finished my meal and was surprised when the waitress brought over a bowl of cocktail sausages when I finished my meal. I was about to say that I didn’t order them when I saw that […]

Irish bookmakers have made Grainne Seoige the firm favourite to succeed Pat Kenny as the host of the Late, Late Show, when he decides to step down, despite the fact that she is yet to start presenting her new show on RTE. As an aside, the move is a blow for Sky News Ireland […]