ARTHUR’S DAY
The marketing wheeze that is Arthur’s Day has come around again this year. So successful was the event last year that the umpteenth anniversary of the founding of Guinness has now become the umpteenth plus one.
The marketing wheeze that is Arthur’s Day has come around again this year. So successful was the event last year that the umpteenth anniversary of the founding of Guinness has now become the umpteenth plus one.
A new 11-screen movie complex with 1,850 seats is in the offing for the top of the St Stephens Green shopping centre, The Sunday Tribune reports.
What the Sunday Times calls “the worst-kept secret in the Irish mobile phone industry” is to be officially announced next month, when Eircom launches its own mobile phone brand.
A website that aims to cut business costs by replacing direct mail with online marketing has already signed up more than 500 companies and is adding between 25 and 50 new clients a week.
The Sunday Tribune will relaunch next month in “compact” form to cut costs and attempt to hinder the march of the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Times reports.
Bono has apparently spent some of the time recuperating from his back injury penning tracks for a new U2 album. According the Sunday Times, the band played three new songs on their stage comeback in Italy this weekend and manager Paul McGuinness confirmed a new album could even be completed this side of Christmas.
The Sunday Times reports that TV3 is to be allowed to run twice as much advertising as RTE. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has given the go-ahead for independent stations like TV3 to run an extra two minutes of advertising per hour, bringing them into line with UK channels broadcasting here.
Sky is to launch the first 3D television channel in Ireland in October. The channel will be available to subscribers who are using the Sky+HD package. The Sunday Business Post quotes the broadcaster as saying that the Ryder Cup and 3D movies such as Bolt and Monsters And Aliens will be available on the new channel in the first week.
BBC Television has signed up Irish comedian Mario Rosenstock’s Special 1 TV puppet show as a key part of its World Cup coverage. Rosenstock, who also does the Gift Grub impersonations on Today FM, has confirmed that his company has agreed a “large six figure” deal with BBC 3 to run the puppet show throughout next month’s big soccer
The NCH tripled its profits last year as more than 340,000 people attended 700 events at the Dublin city centre venue, according to The Sunday Business Post.
The venue had record box-office sales of €8.23m in 2009 and made a pre-tax profit of €557,000 – an increase from €186,000 in 2008. The NCH now has accumulated profits of €1.7m and the directors said plans for significant expansion were continuing despite the downturn.
The plan involves building a new 2,000-seat auditorium, upgrading the existing 1,000-seat venue and the creation of the third hall with 450 seats. The selection of a preferred contractor for the €100m redevelopment is due to take place sometime later this year.
City Channel, the TV station set up by former RTE presenter David Harvey, is planning a joint venture with UK media company Chellomedia to scout for opportunities in Britain, The Sunday Times reports.
The new joint venture will be used to roll out local stations in the UK, with Bristol and Edinburgh being mentioned as the likely locations in the near term. The new channels would be based on City Channel’s business model employed in Dublin, where it is heavy on infomercials and low-cost advertising.
The long shadow cast by Gerry Ryan’s untimely demise has fallen even over the future staff usage of Twitter, according to The Sunday Times. The national broadcaster is planning to issue new guidelines on the use of the service and on other social media such as Facebook.
Top presenter Miriam O’Callaghan was forced to apologise in the wake of Ryan’s death when she tweeted a public confirmation before the official station announcement. She deleted it after RTE contacted her to let her know it hadn’t yet gone public because Ryan’s family had yet to be informed.
Separately, it would appear Ryan Tubridy is the clear front-runner to take over the prime morning earnings slot on 2FM. As everyone knows, Ryan will be a very hard act to follow.
Noone Casey are delighted to announce they have been Highly Commended in the Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2010 in the category ‘Best use of Creativity’ for the Twelvedoors project.
Thanks to all the artists, Mick Quinn for his photography and Modus for their web design over the twelve months of street art.