Piaras Kelly PR – Public Relations in Ireland

Another couple of things that caught my attention that I feel are worth highlighting.

First of which is KMPG’s ‘That’ll Never Work…’, a book about twelve Irish entrepreneurs. From a PR perspective this is a great example of a company putting its money where its mouth is and taking ownership of a space. As Minister Harney points out in the press release, “KPMG provides invaluable support to many of our most successful entrepreneurs, and congratulations to Michael Gaffney, Colin O’Brien and all at KPMG involved in the publication of this fascinating read. Most of all – our congratulations go to the contributors. The inspirational stories of the challenges they faced, their unfailing determination and ultimately their hugely deserved success are wonderful examples of Irish enterprise.” I haven’t read the book yet, but it looks insightful.

LG punk’d some Hollywood celebs for the launch of its new Scarlet TV range. Celebs like Lindsey Lohan turned up at the red carpet affair thinking they were there for the launch of a new TV series by a Sopranos and Smallville director. It was a rather well run campaign as I noticed a few banner ads and blog posts in the runup to its release, genuinely thinking that it was a new TV show. Great way to get stars to your launch without paying appearance or endorsement fees.

The producers of the new Batman film which hits cinema screens in June this year are running one of the best commericla online viral marketing campaigns I’ve seen. Here’s one aspect, the recruitment campaign for the lead villian’s gang. It should be pointed out that it always helps when you’ve got a huge budget and hardcore fans.

There’s a great New York Times article about the evolution of Nike’s marketing spend. For me, Nike is a brand which encapsulates marketing 2.0 (or whatever buzzword you want to use), between its Nike+ partnership with Apple, “word-of-foot” marketing by tapping into running communities and redistribution of advertising spend to incorporate online videos (not all of which are great.)

And finally John Naughton points out a great ad from New South Wales police warning teens about the dangers of tuning out from the world on their iPods.