Using Public Relations to Market Your Business
Public Relations is one of the most powerful, yet often misunderstood avenues available for small businesses to promote themselves.  While most people think of it only as getting publicity, it includes much more.
A good public relations expert can help you create a unified message that helps your marketing and business development.  They can help you define your product or service from the customer’s point-of-view, get you on the speaker’s panel at trade shows and conventions, get articles about your firm in the relevant trade publications, and help with collateral material development.  An agent should also make sure your presentation is professional, with excellent support materials, so that your message, like your photographs are in focus, instead of a blur.
Don’t expect PR contacts to get you ink with weak, boring or untimely material.   Editors are bombarded with puff stories in fancy press kits. Make sure you have a story interesting enough to stand out.  Even if you think you don’t have a story to tell, it may be worth your while to interview a few firms to see if they can suggest ways to promote your business you had not considered. 
Susan Banashek, who now has her own agency, Banashek and Company, in San Francisco, has worked with a number of large institutions, including Bank of America and First Interstate Bancorp and their subsidiaries. Susan suggests it’s imperative to use PR when actions you take will effect special interest groups. Also, when you change your message about product, service, or management, or when there are changes in your corporate structure that may concern clients, investors, or your community, use PR to let the public know your point of view. 
Susan suggests, “When a company changes its name, whether as a result of merging or to project another image, there is a need for PR tactics to raise awareness and reinforce its new image in the community. Certainly you will want to control the dissemination of information in the case of mergers, acquisitions or reemergence from bankruptcy.”
Events as a publicity tool has been used as an integral part of the PR business for years and can be far more effective than bombarding editors with press releases.  Many companies focus on staging events mainly because their products get lost trying to get undeserved publicity.   Events, on the other hand, create great photo opportunities if timely and of interest to the community.
Ed Niehaus of Niehaus Ryan Haller Public Relations in South San Francisco explains, “A small company can do its own PR, but an agency brings more than just additional hands to this effort.  An agency can add media experience, finding creative ways to make compelling news and stories out of the company’s products, services and events.”
Finding an appropriate agency is the most important step.  Look for growing firms with a specialty in your industry or market segment.  Talk with reporters and editors about who they respect.  Hollie Webster, an independent public relations and marketing expert in Orinda, suggests reviewing stories in related publications and contacting the company to inquire about who their agency is and how well they have worked together.
Once you have a number of potential agencies to pick from, start analyzing and comparing.  The most important element is chemistry. Public relations is a judgment skills business and it is imperative to ascertain the values, ability and judgment of the principal account executive assigned to your account.  Compare the personalities of your firm to the agency.  Is there a match?  Is it fun to work with them? Is their attitude one of “how do we solve this?” or is it “that can’t be done.”
Request to see a list of active clients with telephone numbers and contacts and talk with the clients.  Ask how they worked together and would they hire them again.  Check accounts lists for conflicts.  Compare size and prestige.  Do you fit in?  Visit their offices.  Carefully consider whether an agency’s expert in New York will be worthwhile after you pay travel and conference call expenses.
See if the agency volunteers how they saved clients money.  Look for evidence of work product.  Not just fancy presentations and flip charts designed to impress you, but look at the design of their programs, how the goals were established, how the audience was targeted and how success was measured.  Make sure the agency really wants your business.  Forget those agencies where it seems they are doing you a favour by taking your account.  Find someone who gets truly excited about working with you.  Enthusiasm and persistence are critical assets when it comes to communicating your message to the public.
When it comes to working with firms, Webster suggests, “It is essential that clients don’t bluff about their knowledge, and therefore their expectations of the PR process. The PR firm can’t help unless you adequately communicate the scope of your knowledge about the business.”
Get the agency on the management team.  Make them part of your strategy at the planning stage of products and programs.  They can add helpful ideas and steer you away from policies that create expensive problems.  According to Niehaus, “One mistake too many companies make is not bringing an agency in early enough for announcements.  Launching products or services takes time and many companies begin the work months in advance.”
Don’t expect too much too soon for too little money.  A PR firm will likely need a couple of months to do their spade work and a couple more months will pass before any media results can be expected.  In the meanwhile, they should be helping with trade publications and collateral materials. 
Results will come even more slowly unless the agency has the full cooperation of your staff and access to the executives on an as-needed basis.  Also, the better job you do of positioning your product or service, the more the agency can concentrate on getting results. 
Do expect to have instant access to your account executive or at least be able to reach someone at the agency knowledgeable enough to help you.  Meet the principals of the agency and discuss how often they will be getting together with you and what your expectations are from the relationship.  Expect clear, explicit plans once you get started.  The plan should tell how they will be penetrating your target media, planning for special events, developing targeted collateral materials and accessing your most appropriate markets.
Agencies work on retainer, and are usually paid a month in advance.  Some firms now work on a contingency basis and get paid only for story placement.  A retainer firm may charge as little as $1,500-$4000 a month to $10,000-$30,000 a month for a major firm. 
Good PR work, including press coverage, goodwill generated, and increased impact on public perception of your firm can be powerfully effective.  According to media experts, articles are believed and remembered four to six times more than advertising.  So, you can get a big bang for the buck with PR if you have a good story to tell.
Source
 Costly D4 now streets ahead of Beverly Hills
Top of Form
THE glitterati are aghast at the news there were no Irish entries on the list of most exclusive streets in the world, despite strong claims made on behalf of Shrewsbury Road in Dublin.
The list, published last month on ‘Wealth Bulletin’, a Dow Jones website, found that Avenue Princess Grace in Monaco – where buyers pay €12,581 per square foot — is the most expensive street in the world. Others on the list include Fifth Avenue in New York and Ostozhenka in Moscow, and the locations are noted as places where homes sell for up to €70m.
However, all is not lost for the Irish hoity-toity set.
The Dublin-based estate agency Lisney has indicated that Shrewsbury Road should, in fact, make a prominent appearance in the list, and that the other properties were only focused upon because they are up to four or five times the size of homes located on Shrewsbury Road.
The average size of a house on the road in Dublin 4 is about 6,500 sq ft. And so, through simple mathematics, Ireland gains a place in the top 10 with an average cost of €3,076 per sq foot for its most-exclusive enclave — making it more expensive than properties on Via Suvretta in St Moritz and Carolwood Drive in Beverly Hills. And that’s in a recession.
One house in Shrewsbury Road sold for a €56m three years ago, or €13,750 per square foot. The last home on the road sold by Lisney was bought by businessman Denis O’Brien in 2005 for about €30m.
Source

 Press offices now some of most creative places to work in charity sector
The growth of global media channels and 24/7 news networks means the work of charity media and communications departments has never been more important in getting vital messages out across the planet. While once consigned to a peripheral role within many voluntary organisations, press offices are now some of the busiest and most creative places to work in the charity sector. Media and communications departments are staffed by a huge variety of people with specialist skills, from press officers to film-makers, copywriters, designers and celebrity bookers.
John McKie, ex-editor of the now-defunct pop magazine Smash Hits, works at development agency Christian Aid as an artist liaison, which means he manages relationships with celebrities to help raise the charity’s profile.
“We reach millions of people through our media coverage, but sometimes it helps if you can add a celebrity in the mix,” he explains. “They might go and visit a project, and might be able to speak knowledgably about the issues. That can be a massive benefit to an organisation like us, and most charities have someone doing this kind of work.”
Star attraction-
McKie’s past jobs in music journalism mean he is accustomed to working with celebrities, and is not easily star-struck. But there are big differences between his past career and his current work.
“I didn’t have to be an expert on the Mozambiquan civil war at Smash Hits, and I don’t need to know much about Steps in this job,” he points out. “The main skills you need for this are perseverance, patience, a certain strategic brain, and it helps if you have people skills.”
Beth Jepson, multimedia officer at WaterAid, has made similar cross-over career moves. A degree in media professional studies – in conjunction with Mersey Television – led her to gain experience as a runner on the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside. From there, she got a job in admin at Save the Children and worked up to be the media unit co-ordinator before moving to WaterAid. “My job at WaterAid is to make short films to highlight our work,” she says. “I sit in the press office, but my work spans the whole organisation. We use films to gain media coverage, or if we have an event or issue to push.”
This year is the International Year of Sanitation, so Jepson has made short viral films published on YouTube, called Pooing in Public, to shock viewers into understanding how vital sanitation is for public health.
“My job is an emerging one,” she says. “You can talk to supporters and journalists, but it’s hard to capture what it means to live without access to a toilet. Putting these videos online is quite new and has been hugely successful. Charities are also starting to see the importance of giving a voice to the people they work with, which we can do more of through film.”
Small charities, big ideas-
WaterAid and Christian Aid are high-profile organisations, with room for specialised jobs like film-making. But there are thousands of smaller, more obscure charities that also need to sell their cause.
Jaime Eastham is the communications and membership manager of the Bat Conservation Trust – one of only two in her department. “With a lot of charity PR, the cause is already sold and it’s a matter of getting a bigger piece of the pie,” she says. “I like it that this is a more unusual area. Bats are a misunderstood animal and you have to really change people’s minds.”
Eastham worked as a journalist in her native Australia and, after moving to the UK, worked in the press office at Action for Prisoners’ Families – another difficult sell. The challenge is to find creative ways of getting your charity into the public consciousness, she says, and to think on your feet when stories break that are relevant to your organisation.
“Last year we partnered with the New Covent Garden food company during Halloween,” she says. “I also try and turn around negative stories. If a building development is held up by a roost of bats, I try to explain why. Then there was the story recently where a woman found a bat in her bra, after wearing it to work. I had dozens of calls that day, and in the end it wasn’t such a negative story at all.”
The real difference for people working in charity media and communications is that they are promoting something they feel is important, often more satisfying than just pushing product at a public relations agency.
“I just find it more motivating to sell a cause rather than a product or service,” says Eastham. “Bats have recently been accepted as an ‘indicator species’, which the government uses to assess the health of wildlife as a whole. That was after lots of lobbying by us. I like knowing that what I do has made a difference.”
Source
 Costelloe brings history to life for fashion fiesta
Paul Costelloe has become a fixture at the opening of London Fashion Week and this year was no exception as his tailored looks kicked off the style fiesta.
The Dublin-born designer took pride of place at the event by being the first major show of the week. In fact, he has opened the event for the past five years and has been showing here for the past 15.
His new designs were enthusiastically received by the packed audience which included shoe designer Jimmy Choo, model Erin O’Connor and Harold Tillman of the British Fashion Council, who were all in the front row at the Natural History Museum.
Costelloe explained that this collection was a “meeting of 19th-century colonialism with the African continent”. Whatever its historical influence, this was a confident display from the maestro who has now been 25 years in the clothing business.
The colonial theme was highlighted with a selection of mixed military-style coats, large buttons and structured shoulder epaulettes. For daywear, there were plenty of pretty short dresses in an array of colours.
A tan light coat with high collars and wide belt was teamed with a mid-thigh fitted skirt for city wear. A sharp black dress had silver buttons and capped sleeves with a round collared neckline. His high-waisted pants are cut off above the ankle and given the Capri touch with strappy sandals.
The blazer is also in vogue with crested pocket and brass buttons. And the mixture of structured dresses nipped in at the waist with tulip skirts is an interesting trend for the season.
London Fashion Week will see armies of models taking to the catwalk for over 50 shows. Designers including Luella, Temperley, Christopher Kane, Vivienne Westwood and Erdem will be revealing their creations over the next few days.
Source
 

PR Manager
Salary: €40k – €60k 
Location: Kildare 

Experience 2 – 3 years

The Role:

This role is a mid level PR role working out of the Kildare based head office. This is a new position working within the Marketing department and you will have a wide remit in relation to Public Relations issues. You will work closely with the local and national press as well as FMCG suppliers and control all media related outgoing communications. Where required you will also manage and control Public Relations agency relationships.
The Candidate:
Ideally you will have 3 years media industry experience with 2 or more years of this experience working within the Public Relations sector. Preferably you will be coming from an agency side background or from consumer PR background with specific experience working with FMCG companies essential. Experience dealing with all forms of the press is a must as are excellent written and verbal communication skills and a strong networking ability. A relevant third level qualification is a must as is a full driver’s licence.
The role offers a salary of about €40,000 plus VHI and pension and yearly review as well as the opportunity for a dedicated and ambitious PR professional to work for a major international brand.
To have a chat about this opportunity, please call Jess on (01) 668 9610.

You can also email: jess@prosperity.ie 

Promotion & Sales Staff
Wage/Salary: Not Disc
Location: Dublin
Socialite Ltd  
The job itself is for a new student VIP card that is launching this month. We are looking for reliable, outgoing and bubbly personalities for positions nationwide.
Experience preferable but not essential. If you feel have what we are looking for, you can send your CV and a recent photo of yourself VIA Email to socialite@live.ie or by post to Socialite Ltd, International House, Tara St, Dublin 2.
Successful candidates must be:

• Team Oriented
•  Outgoing
•  Positive Attitude
• Goal Oriented
• Results Driven

Google takes on Microsoft by launching free browser
Google is opening a new front in its battle with Microsoft by launching a free web browser today in 100 countries.
Google Chrome will take on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which accounts for 72% of installed browsers after shoving aside rival programme Netscape in the 1990s’ “browser wars”.
It will also compete with the second strongest player, Mozilla Firefox, which has 20% of the market and grew out of Netscape.

Google is a key partner of Mozilla and last week the two groups extended their partnership agreement until 2011, which includes a provision for Google to be the default search engine in Firefox.
Some observers believe Google has abandoned its stance that it did not need a browser because of its growing concern not only over Explorer’s default setting to Microsoft’s Live Search but also the direction that Microsoft is taking with Explorer.
Last week Microsoft introduced an Explorer update that can block access to users’ browsing habits from third-party sites.
Google’s strategy of launching its own internet-based applications such as email, spreadsheets and word processing means the company is more reliant on browser technology.
This was acknowledged by a Google vice-president of product management, Sundar Pichai, in Google’s explanation of Chrome.
Pichai said: “We realised that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser.
“What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.”
In true Google style, the news about Chrome emerged in the form of a digital comic.
Google has said Chrome will be available for download later today and will post a link to it from its official blog site.
Source
Cork tech group develops statistics service for Twitter
A Cork collective of programmers has attracted international attention this week with the launch of TweetRush, a free web-based statistics service for social networking website Twitter.
Updated every 15 minutes, TweetRush provides information like the number of people posting to Twitter daily, the volume of messages generated, top posters and number of active users.
Designed as both a showcase and a test for Cork technology collective Gogozaa, TweetRush’s figures suggest that, while Twitter has an active and engaged community, it is not as popular as previously thought. Since July 21st, when the service first began tracking activity on Twitter, it has tracked an average of 720,000 messages posted to the service each day from 165,000 users.
Earlier this summer, when Twitter was regularly unavailable due to the volume of people trying to use it, it was reported that Twitter was processing over three million messages a day, a claim that was not contested by its creators. AJ McKee, lead developer with Gogozaa, says the positive reaction was “surprising”.
The team of five developers launched the service to showcase Rush Hour, an analytics engine it has developed that monitors activity on websites for their owners.
“We needed to test Rush Hour against high volume sites,” says McKee. “We picked Twitter because it gets a lot of traffic and is very high-profile.”
Twitter was created by San Francisco-based company Obvious and launched in March 2006. It enables users to post short messages of 140 characters, the limit of mobile phone text messages, that can be viewed by anyone who has chosen to subscribe or “follow” them. Twitter and similar services are known as “micro-blogging” platforms as they let users quickly update their followers or point them to information they find useful.
US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been using the service to communicate with his supporters, while British prime minister Gordon Brown provided Twitter updates during his US visit last April.
TweetRush is not the first Twitter application from Cork to attract attention.
TwitterFone allows users to call a dedicated phone number and have their messages automatically transcribed to Twitter. TwitterFone is headed up by Cork entrepreneur Pat Phelan of MaxRoam.
Source

Paddy’s Revenge: Riverdance for ravers a hit on web
It’s been dubbed Riverdance on crack. Now an Irish-inspired jig set to the thudding beat of dance music is on course to become a UK number one.
And the performance of actor Patrick Bergin as a leprechaun spoofing an Irish reel has become a global internet phenomenon in itself.
Dancing what is generously described as an Irish jig, the actor dressed up as a leprechaun for the dance song ‘Paddy’s Revenge.’
Bergin (57) is no stranger to the music scene; in 2004 he sang ‘I’m a Knacker’ — an unlikely hit which appalled some because of its un-PC title and others for its lack of musical merit.
This time, surrounded by a number of burlesque dancers, Bergin’s unsteady turn as an Irish rascal with a pot of gold has already attracted almost 150,000 YouTube hits.
And the song, with a faint Oirish whiff (well, a smattering of the accordion, anyway) has led to dozens of copycat dance performances on the internet.
One, featuring three men in a late-night visit to a fast-food shop, shows the group dancing to the song.
British DJ Steve Mac, who has produced records for Westlife, said the track was a remix of ‘Music for a Found Harmonium’, recorded by traditional Irish band Patrick Street.
Groove
“I took it home, messed about with it on my laptop and got a really good groove going on it so I went into the studio the next day and just did it,” he said yesterday.
“When I finished it I sat back and listened to it and thought: ‘This is a monster of a record’.”
The industry magazine ‘Music Week’ has tipped the song to become UK number one in the next few weeks after its official release yesterday.
Promoter James Hamilton said the saucy three-minute video was shot in London. Bergin agreed to star in it after meeting Steve Mac in Brighton.
He told the Irish Indepednent: “He was great fun on the day and really got into the character, including the dancing. It was after the DJ Pete Tong played it on BBC Radio One that the thing really took off.
The actor, who starred with Julia Roberts in the 1991 film ‘Sleeping With The Enemy’, joked the video was “every man’s fantasy”.
He said: “It’s a cross between ‘Gangs of New York‘ and an overgrown, manic, fiddle-playing leprechaun with pots of gold and scantily clad girls — every man’s dream.”
But not everyone is amused. After Sky News featured the song yesterday, one contributor said: “Shame on you. Why do people think they can refer to Irish people as Paddys? We Irish are always up for a bit of craic but the joke is just not funny anymore.”
Source
Nokia fights Apple with unlimited mobile music
Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is to launch a new unlimited free music download service in the UK this autumn in a move that will put it in direct competition with Apple’s iPhone and the iTunes Store.
The Nokia 5310 will be the first device to include the new “Comes With Music” service, which will allow users to download from a catalogue of more than 2m tracks free of charge for 12 months.
The handset will be sold on pre-pay contracts through Carphone Warehouse and is reported to go on sale in October, in time for the Christmas sales period. A basic version of the device, without the download service, is already available on pay-as-you-go.

Once the 12-month free download contract expires, users will still have access to the songs they have already downloaded but will have to renew their subscription in order to access new tracks.
The songs are protected by digital rights management (DRM) preventing them from being copied on to CDs or shared illegally over the internet.

The service is being piloted in the UK ahead of a roll-out in Europe and Asia next year.
Three of the “big four” record labels — SonyBMG, Universal and Warner Music — are reported to have already signed up. Nokia is understood to be in talks with EMI and hopes it will be on board by the time of the UK launch this autumn.

The labels will make their repertoire available on the new service in exchange for a licence fee from Nokia.

The Nokia UK managing director, Simon Ainslie, said: “‘Comes With Music’ is the most compelling digital music offer ever introduced to the UK.

“You get a fantastic Nokia device with unlimited access for a year to a huge catalogue of music. We’re thrilled to be working with Carphone Warehouse to bring ‘Comes With Music’ to the UK.”

The Carphone Warehouse — which is also the UK distributor for the Apple iPhone — has begun accepting pre-orders for the new Nokia device today. A retail price has yet to be confirmed.
Source
Michelin guide dishes up endorsements of 25 Irish pubs
Four pubs in Mayo and Cork have been added to the latest Michelin guide on pub food.
Seventeen pubs in the Republic feature in the Michelin Eating Out in Pubs 2009 guide to the UK and Ireland, published yesterday.
Northern Ireland accounts for eight entries, seven of which are based in Co Down. The Distiller’s Arms in Bushmills, Co Antrim is the eighth entry.
Entries added since last year include three Mayo pubs: Crockets on the Quay in Ballina, JJ Gannon’s, Ballinrobe and The Sheebeen, Westport. The fourth new entry is The Poacher’s Inn, Bandon, Co Cork.
The Poacher’s Inn is praised for its “winning combination of smart, comfortable surroundings and wholesome, home-cooked food” and “intimate upstairs restaurant, where cheery, attentive service keeps things ticking along nicely”.
The Michelin inspectors found Crockets on the Quay, Ballina to be “a proper Irish pub, with a spacious, dimly lit and atmospheric interior”. The guide praises the “fresh, hearty cooking . . . quality ingredients . . . plenty of choice . . . and ultra-friendly staff”. JJ Gannon’s in Ballinrobe has a “stylish, seductively-lit front bar” and the “fantastic selection of wines by the glass complements an interesting menu of modern classics”.
The Sheebeen in Rosbeg, Westport, is described as “an attractive whitewashed, thatched pub” where cooking is “fresh and simple – everything is home-made, including the bread – with the more interesting dishes to be found among the large selection of daily specials”.
Dublin is represented by just one pub – the Cellar Bar in the Merrion Hotel. The Clarendon Café Bar which was listed in the previous guide has since closed.
The Cellar is described as “one of Dublin’s favourite places for lunch” and “a city institution all round”.
Michelin inspectors selected 563 pubs, including 84 new entries, for their cooking.
The guide’s editor Derek Bulmer said “the standard of cooking in British and Irish pubs keeps getting better and better.
“We are seeing a growing confidence in our culinary heritage, greater use of local, seasonal ingredients and a rediscovery of regional specialities.”
The Punch Bowl Inn, Crosthwaite, Cumbria was selected as the Michelin Pub of the Year 2009.
A spokeswoman for Michelin said that pubs were selected for inspection in a number of ways. “Establishments can request a visit themselves, our readers recommend places to stay and eat and our inspectors also find places,” she said.
“When we visit, we go unannounced, eat, pay the bill and then introduce ourselves. We do not like anyone to know we are going, as the experience may not be the same as other diners may have.”
Source

Google takes on Microsoft by launching free browser
Google is opening a new front in its battle with Microsoft by launching a free web browser today in 100 countries.
Google Chrome will take on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which accounts for 72% of installed browsers after shoving aside rival programme Netscape in the 1990s’ “browser wars”.
It will also compete with the second strongest player, Mozilla Firefox, which has 20% of the market and grew out of Netscape.

Google is a key partner of Mozilla and last week the two groups extended their partnership agreement until 2011, which includes a provision for Google to be the default search engine in Firefox.
Some observers believe Google has abandoned its stance that it did not need a browser because of its growing concern not only over Explorer’s default setting to Microsoft’s Live Search but also the direction that Microsoft is taking with Explorer.
Last week Microsoft introduced an Explorer update that can block access to users’ browsing habits from third-party sites.
Google’s strategy of launching its own internet-based applications such as email, spreadsheets and word processing means the company is more reliant on browser technology.
This was acknowledged by a Google vice-president of product management, Sundar Pichai, in Google’s explanation of Chrome.
Pichai said: “We realised that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser.
“What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.”
In true Google style, the news about Chrome emerged in the form of a digital comic.
Google has said Chrome will be available for download later today and will post a link to it from its official blog site.
Source
Cork tech group develops statistics service for Twitter
A Cork collective of programmers has attracted international attention this week with the launch of TweetRush, a free web-based statistics service for social networking website Twitter.
Updated every 15 minutes, TweetRush provides information like the number of people posting to Twitter daily, the volume of messages generated, top posters and number of active users.
Designed as both a showcase and a test for Cork technology collective Gogozaa, TweetRush’s figures suggest that, while Twitter has an active and engaged community, it is not as popular as previously thought. Since July 21st, when the service first began tracking activity on Twitter, it has tracked an average of 720,000 messages posted to the service each day from 165,000 users.
Earlier this summer, when Twitter was regularly unavailable due to the volume of people trying to use it, it was reported that Twitter was processing over three million messages a day, a claim that was not contested by its creators. AJ McKee, lead developer with Gogozaa, says the positive reaction was “surprising”.
The team of five developers launched the service to showcase Rush Hour, an analytics engine it has developed that monitors activity on websites for their owners.
“We needed to test Rush Hour against high volume sites,” says McKee. “We picked Twitter because it gets a lot of traffic and is very high-profile.”
Twitter was created by San Francisco-based company Obvious and launched in March 2006. It enables users to post short messages of 140 characters, the limit of mobile phone text messages, that can be viewed by anyone who has chosen to subscribe or “follow” them. Twitter and similar services are known as “micro-blogging” platforms as they let users quickly update their followers or point them to information they find useful.
US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been using the service to communicate with his supporters, while British prime minister Gordon Brown provided Twitter updates during his US visit last April.
TweetRush is not the first Twitter application from Cork to attract attention.
TwitterFone allows users to call a dedicated phone number and have their messages automatically transcribed to Twitter. TwitterFone is headed up by Cork entrepreneur Pat Phelan of MaxRoam.
Source
Paddy’s Revenge: Riverdance for ravers a hit on web
It’s been dubbed Riverdance on crack. Now an Irish-inspired jig set to the thudding beat of dance music is on course to become a UK number one.
And the performance of actor Patrick Bergin as a leprechaun spoofing an Irish reel has become a global internet phenomenon in itself.
Dancing what is generously described as an Irish jig, the actor dressed up as a leprechaun for the dance song ‘Paddy’s Revenge.’
Bergin (57) is no stranger to the music scene; in 2004 he sang ‘I’m a Knacker’ — an unlikely hit which appalled some because of its un-PC title and others for its lack of musical merit.
This time, surrounded by a number of burlesque dancers, Bergin’s unsteady turn as an Irish rascal with a pot of gold has already attracted almost 150,000 YouTube hits.
And the song, with a faint Oirish whiff (well, a smattering of the accordion, anyway) has led to dozens of copycat dance performances on the internet.
One, featuring three men in a late-night visit to a fast-food shop, shows the group dancing to the song.
British DJ Steve Mac, who has produced records for Westlife, said the track was a remix of ‘Music for a Found Harmonium’, recorded by traditional Irish band Patrick Street.
Groove
“I took it home, messed about with it on my laptop and got a really good groove going on it so I went into the studio the next day and just did it,” he said yesterday.
“When I finished it I sat back and listened to it and thought: ‘This is a monster of a record’.”
The industry magazine ‘Music Week’ has tipped the song to become UK number one in the next few weeks after its official release yesterday.
Promoter James Hamilton said the saucy three-minute video was shot in London. Bergin agreed to star in it after meeting Steve Mac in Brighton.
He told the Irish Indepednent: “He was great fun on the day and really got into the character, including the dancing. It was after the DJ Pete Tong played it on BBC Radio One that the thing really took off.
The actor, who starred with Julia Roberts in the 1991 film ‘Sleeping With The Enemy’, joked the video was “every man’s fantasy”.
He said: “It’s a cross between ‘Gangs of New York‘ and an overgrown, manic, fiddle-playing leprechaun with pots of gold and scantily clad girls — every man’s dream.”
But not everyone is amused. After Sky News featured the song yesterday, one contributor said: “Shame on you. Why do people think they can refer to Irish people as Paddys? We Irish are always up for a bit of craic but the joke is just not funny anymore.”
Source
Nokia fights Apple with unlimited mobile music
Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is to launch a new unlimited free music download service in the UK this autumn in a move that will put it in direct competition with Apple’s iPhone and the iTunes Store.
The Nokia 5310 will be the first device to include the new “Comes With Music” service, which will allow users to download from a catalogue of more than 2m tracks free of charge for 12 months.
The handset will be sold on pre-pay contracts through Carphone Warehouse and is reported to go on sale in October, in time for the Christmas sales period. A basic version of the device, without the download service, is already available on pay-as-you-go.

Once the 12-month free download contract expires, users will still have access to the songs they have already downloaded but will have to renew their subscription in order to access new tracks.
The songs are protected by digital rights management (DRM) preventing them from being copied on to CDs or shared illegally over the internet.

The service is being piloted in the UK ahead of a roll-out in Europe and Asia next year.
Three of the “big four” record labels — SonyBMG, Universal and Warner Music — are reported to have already signed up. Nokia is understood to be in talks with EMI and hopes it will be on board by the time of the UK launch this autumn.

The labels will make their repertoire available on the new service in exchange for a licence fee from Nokia.

The Nokia UK managing director, Simon Ainslie, said: “‘Comes With Music’ is the most compelling digital music offer ever introduced to the UK.

“You get a fantastic Nokia device with unlimited access for a year to a huge catalogue of music. We’re thrilled to be working with Carphone Warehouse to bring ‘Comes With Music’ to the UK.”

The Carphone Warehouse — which is also the UK distributor for the Apple iPhone — has begun accepting pre-orders for the new Nokia device today. A retail price has yet to be confirmed.
Source
Michelin guide dishes up endorsements of 25 Irish pubs
Four pubs in Mayo and Cork have been added to the latest Michelin guide on pub food.
Seventeen pubs in the Republic feature in the Michelin Eating Out in Pubs 2009 guide to the UK and Ireland, published yesterday.
Northern Ireland accounts for eight entries, seven of which are based in Co Down. The Distiller’s Arms in Bushmills, Co Antrim is the eighth entry.
Entries added since last year include three Mayo pubs: Crockets on the Quay in Ballina, JJ Gannon’s, Ballinrobe and The Sheebeen, Westport. The fourth new entry is The Poacher’s Inn, Bandon, Co Cork.
The Poacher’s Inn is praised for its “winning combination of smart, comfortable surroundings and wholesome, home-cooked food” and “intimate upstairs restaurant, where cheery, attentive service keeps things ticking along nicely”.
The Michelin inspectors found Crockets on the Quay, Ballina to be “a proper Irish pub, with a spacious, dimly lit and atmospheric interior”. The guide praises the “fresh, hearty cooking . . . quality ingredients . . . plenty of choice . . . and ultra-friendly staff”. JJ Gannon’s in Ballinrobe has a “stylish, seductively-lit front bar” and the “fantastic selection of wines by the glass complements an interesting menu of modern classics”.
The Sheebeen in Rosbeg, Westport, is described as “an attractive whitewashed, thatched pub” where cooking is “fresh and simple – everything is home-made, including the bread – with the more interesting dishes to be found among the large selection of daily specials”.
Dublin is represented by just one pub – the Cellar Bar in the Merrion Hotel. The Clarendon Café Bar which was listed in the previous guide has since closed.
The Cellar is described as “one of Dublin’s favourite places for lunch” and “a city institution all round”.
Michelin inspectors selected 563 pubs, including 84 new entries, for their cooking.
The guide’s editor Derek Bulmer said “the standard of cooking in British and Irish pubs keeps getting better and better.
“We are seeing a growing confidence in our culinary heritage, greater use of local, seasonal ingredients and a rediscovery of regional specialities.”
The Punch Bowl Inn, Crosthwaite, Cumbria was selected as the Michelin Pub of the Year 2009.
A spokeswoman for Michelin said that pubs were selected for inspection in a number of ways. “Establishments can request a visit themselves, our readers recommend places to stay and eat and our inspectors also find places,” she said.
“When we visit, we go unannounced, eat, pay the bill and then introduce ourselves. We do not like anyone to know we are going, as the experience may not be the same as other diners may have.”
Source

Google takes on Microsoft by launching free browser
Google is opening a new front in its battle with Microsoft by launching a free web browser today in 100 countries.
Google Chrome will take on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which accounts for 72% of installed browsers after shoving aside rival programme Netscape in the 1990s’ “browser wars”.
It will also compete with the second strongest player, Mozilla Firefox, which has 20% of the market and grew out of Netscape.

Google is a key partner of Mozilla and last week the two groups extended their partnership agreement until 2011, which includes a provision for Google to be the default search engine in Firefox.
Some observers believe Google has abandoned its stance that it did not need a browser because of its growing concern not only over Explorer’s default setting to Microsoft’s Live Search but also the direction that Microsoft is taking with Explorer.
Last week Microsoft introduced an Explorer update that can block access to users’ browsing habits from third-party sites.
Google’s strategy of launching its own internet-based applications such as email, spreadsheets and word processing means the company is more reliant on browser technology.
This was acknowledged by a Google vice-president of product management, Sundar Pichai, in Google’s explanation of Chrome.
Pichai said: “We realised that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser.
“What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.”
In true Google style, the news about Chrome emerged in the form of a digital comic.
Google has said Chrome will be available for download later today and will post a link to it from its official blog site.
Source
Cork tech group develops statistics service for Twitter
A Cork collective of programmers has attracted international attention this week with the launch of TweetRush, a free web-based statistics service for social networking website Twitter.
Updated every 15 minutes, TweetRush provides information like the number of people posting to Twitter daily, the volume of messages generated, top posters and number of active users.
Designed as both a showcase and a test for Cork technology collective Gogozaa, TweetRush’s figures suggest that, while Twitter has an active and engaged community, it is not as popular as previously thought. Since July 21st, when the service first began tracking activity on Twitter, it has tracked an average of 720,000 messages posted to the service each day from 165,000 users.
Earlier this summer, when Twitter was regularly unavailable due to the volume of people trying to use it, it was reported that Twitter was processing over three million messages a day, a claim that was not contested by its creators. AJ McKee, lead developer with Gogozaa, says the positive reaction was “surprising”.
The team of five developers launched the service to showcase Rush Hour, an analytics engine it has developed that monitors activity on websites for their owners.
“We needed to test Rush Hour against high volume sites,” says McKee. “We picked Twitter because it gets a lot of traffic and is very high-profile.”
Twitter was created by San Francisco-based company Obvious and launched in March 2006. It enables users to post short messages of 140 characters, the limit of mobile phone text messages, that can be viewed by anyone who has chosen to subscribe or “follow” them. Twitter and similar services are known as “micro-blogging” platforms as they let users quickly update their followers or point them to information they find useful.
US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been using the service to communicate with his supporters, while British prime minister Gordon Brown provided Twitter updates during his US visit last April.
TweetRush is not the first Twitter application from Cork to attract attention.
TwitterFone allows users to call a dedicated phone number and have their messages automatically transcribed to Twitter. TwitterFone is headed up by Cork entrepreneur Pat Phelan of MaxRoam.
Source
Paddy’s Revenge: Riverdance for ravers a hit on web
It’s been dubbed Riverdance on crack. Now an Irish-inspired jig set to the thudding beat of dance music is on course to become a UK number one.
And the performance of actor Patrick Bergin as a leprechaun spoofing an Irish reel has become a global internet phenomenon in itself.
Dancing what is generously described as an Irish jig, the actor dressed up as a leprechaun for the dance song ‘Paddy’s Revenge.’
Bergin (57) is no stranger to the music scene; in 2004 he sang ‘I’m a Knacker’ — an unlikely hit which appalled some because of its un-PC title and others for its lack of musical merit.
This time, surrounded by a number of burlesque dancers, Bergin’s unsteady turn as an Irish rascal with a pot of gold has already attracted almost 150,000 YouTube hits.
And the song, with a faint Oirish whiff (well, a smattering of the accordion, anyway) has led to dozens of copycat dance performances on the internet.
One, featuring three men in a late-night visit to a fast-food shop, shows the group dancing to the song.
British DJ Steve Mac, who has produced records for Westlife, said the track was a remix of ‘Music for a Found Harmonium’, recorded by traditional Irish band Patrick Street.
Groove
“I took it home, messed about with it on my laptop and got a really good groove going on it so I went into the studio the next day and just did it,” he said yesterday.
“When I finished it I sat back and listened to it and thought: ‘This is a monster of a record’.”
The industry magazine ‘Music Week’ has tipped the song to become UK number one in the next few weeks after its official release yesterday.
Promoter James Hamilton said the saucy three-minute video was shot in London. Bergin agreed to star in it after meeting Steve Mac in Brighton.
He told the Irish Indepednent: “He was great fun on the day and really got into the character, including the dancing. It was after the DJ Pete Tong played it on BBC Radio One that the thing really took off.
The actor, who starred with Julia Roberts in the 1991 film ‘Sleeping With The Enemy’, joked the video was “every man’s fantasy”.
He said: “It’s a cross between ‘Gangs of New York‘ and an overgrown, manic, fiddle-playing leprechaun with pots of gold and scantily clad girls — every man’s dream.”
But not everyone is amused. After Sky News featured the song yesterday, one contributor said: “Shame on you. Why do people think they can refer to Irish people as Paddys? We Irish are always up for a bit of craic but the joke is just not funny anymore.”
Source
Nokia fights Apple with unlimited mobile music
Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is to launch a new unlimited free music download service in the UK this autumn in a move that will put it in direct competition with Apple’s iPhone and the iTunes Store.
The Nokia 5310 will be the first device to include the new “Comes With Music” service, which will allow users to download from a catalogue of more than 2m tracks free of charge for 12 months.
The handset will be sold on pre-pay contracts through Carphone Warehouse and is reported to go on sale in October, in time for the Christmas sales period. A basic version of the device, without the download service, is already available on pay-as-you-go.

Once the 12-month free download contract expires, users will still have access to the songs they have already downloaded but will have to renew their subscription in order to access new tracks.
The songs are protected by digital rights management (DRM) preventing them from being copied on to CDs or shared illegally over the internet.

The service is being piloted in the UK ahead of a roll-out in Europe and Asia next year.
Three of the “big four” record labels — SonyBMG, Universal and Warner Music — are reported to have already signed up. Nokia is understood to be in talks with EMI and hopes it will be on board by the time of the UK launch this autumn.

The labels will make their repertoire available on the new service in exchange for a licence fee from Nokia.

The Nokia UK managing director, Simon Ainslie, said: “‘Comes With Music’ is the most compelling digital music offer ever introduced to the UK.

“You get a fantastic Nokia device with unlimited access for a year to a huge catalogue of music. We’re thrilled to be working with Carphone Warehouse to bring ‘Comes With Music’ to the UK.”

The Carphone Warehouse — which is also the UK distributor for the Apple iPhone — has begun accepting pre-orders for the new Nokia device today. A retail price has yet to be confirmed.
Source
Michelin guide dishes up endorsements of 25 Irish pubs
Four pubs in Mayo and Cork have been added to the latest Michelin guide on pub food.
Seventeen pubs in the Republic feature in the Michelin Eating Out in Pubs 2009 guide to the UK and Ireland, published yesterday.
Northern Ireland accounts for eight entries, seven of which are based in Co Down. The Distiller’s Arms in Bushmills, Co Antrim is the eighth entry.
Entries added since last year include three Mayo pubs: Crockets on the Quay in Ballina, JJ Gannon’s, Ballinrobe and The Sheebeen, Westport. The fourth new entry is The Poacher’s Inn, Bandon, Co Cork.
The Poacher’s Inn is praised for its “winning combination of smart, comfortable surroundings and wholesome, home-cooked food” and “intimate upstairs restaurant, where cheery, attentive service keeps things ticking along nicely”.
The Michelin inspectors found Crockets on the Quay, Ballina to be “a proper Irish pub, with a spacious, dimly lit and atmospheric interior”. The guide praises the “fresh, hearty cooking . . . quality ingredients . . . plenty of choice . . . and ultra-friendly staff”. JJ Gannon’s in Ballinrobe has a “stylish, seductively-lit front bar” and the “fantastic selection of wines by the glass complements an interesting menu of modern classics”.
The Sheebeen in Rosbeg, Westport, is described as “an attractive whitewashed, thatched pub” where cooking is “fresh and simple – everything is home-made, including the bread – with the more interesting dishes to be found among the large selection of daily specials”.
Dublin is represented by just one pub – the Cellar Bar in the Merrion Hotel. The Clarendon Café Bar which was listed in the previous guide has since closed.
The Cellar is described as “one of Dublin’s favourite places for lunch” and “a city institution all round”.
Michelin inspectors selected 563 pubs, including 84 new entries, for their cooking.
The guide’s editor Derek Bulmer said “the standard of cooking in British and Irish pubs keeps getting better and better.
“We are seeing a growing confidence in our culinary heritage, greater use of local, seasonal ingredients and a rediscovery of regional specialities.”
The Punch Bowl Inn, Crosthwaite, Cumbria was selected as the Michelin Pub of the Year 2009.
A spokeswoman for Michelin said that pubs were selected for inspection in a number of ways. “Establishments can request a visit themselves, our readers recommend places to stay and eat and our inspectors also find places,” she said.
“When we visit, we go unannounced, eat, pay the bill and then introduce ourselves. We do not like anyone to know we are going, as the experience may not be the same as other diners may have.”
Source

Sept 5^th-7^th          Self-Build Show, Dublin

Sept 6^th-            Lost Sheep Triathlon, Kenmare, Co. Kerry

Sept 6^th - 21^st      Dublin Fringe Theatre Festival

Sept 7^thGAA        Hurling Championship Final

Sept 11^th - 14^th   Dublin Art Fair, RDS

Sept 12^th               Culture Night, Dublin

Sept 12^th-14^th       Formula One, Italian Grand Prix

Sept 14^th- 20^th     Horse Racing, Listowel, Co. Kerry

Sept 16^th-21^st       Ryder Cup, Kentucky, USA

Sept 21^stGAA       Football Championship Final

Sept 25^th-28^th     Guinness Oyster Festival, Galway

Sept 27^th-28^th      Wedding and Honeymoon Show, RDS

Sept 25^th - 28^th    Golf, British Masters

Sept 30^th               Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)

Search Engine Marketing Campaign Manager

Salary- Negotiable

Location- Dublin City Centre

This leading publisher has offices in all corners of the world, and in recent years have invested huge amounts of money and efforts into ensuring the online side of their business is as prolific as their print offering. They now require an experienced Search Marketing professional to undertake the following:

·Campaign Management

·Carry out keyword research

·Build, manage and report on Google Ad Words campaigns for a wide variety of businesses.

·Write creative, compelling and well-optimised ad copy

·Robust Reporting from Impression to Conversion and ROI

·Understand tracking; advise clients on setting up Google Conversion Tracking and Google Analytics, where appropriate

·Be able to analyse Google Ad Words and Analytics reports

·Be an excellent report writer. Extract key performance indicators from clients’ campaigns, analyse and present it in an easy-to-digest format. Less is More and Keep It Short and Simple (KISS)

·Local Search & Ad Models

·Have an interest in and original opinions on Local and Mobile Search

·Keep up to date with all Google Advertising models: text ads, image ads, mobile ads, placement ads, click-to-play video ads and click-to-call

·Have a strong understanding and practical experience of SEO and in achieving results in Natural search results

·Attention to Detail

·Have experience or knowledge of synchronising SEO, PPC and Affiliate marketing efforts.

·Have a head for figures – set budgets and reconcile invoices with click activity statements and liaise with Finance etc

·Monitor KPIs of all clients in a centralised daily report

·Quality & Committed to Client Service

·Identify areas for potential improvement and automation.

·A knowledge of XML feeds and API integration would be beneficial

·Enjoy the challenge of building a competitive and best-practice online marketing service

Qualifications and Experience:

·Google Ad Words Professional (GAP) (Preferable)

·Appropriate tertiary qualification required

·An in depth understanding of usage drivers and metrics

·High level communication and presentation skills

·Experience in Online industry

·Proven ability to build successful SEM campaigns

·Proven ability to adapt to change

·Proven ability to build and manage relationships with customers and internal stakeholders

·Excellent attention to detail and methodical approach to benchmarking

·High level of interpersonal skills to liaise with all levels and departments

·Excellent time management skills & self starter

For a confidential discussion about this position, please contact Ellie at Prosperity on 01-6090166 or email ellie@prosperity.ie

Digital Marketing Manager – telco/mobile/broadband

This innovative communications company are picking up the pace in broadband and breaking into the mobile market – shaking it up and offering Irish consumers an alternative to the usual packages. They are expanding their marketing team, and need people who have a passion for new ideas, think differently, have boundless creativity, can smell a business opportunity and are passionate about listening to customers and putting them first.

In this dynamic environment, things have to happen fast so they want people who enjoy responsibility, who like to be given scope to try new things, who dare to break the rules and thrive in the deep end. They need people who are decisive and aren’t afraid to make the odd mistake, who will power forward and succeed.

They want candidates with a range of experiences and qualifications. So if you’re smart, honest, cheeky, questioning, amusing, disruptive, intelligent and restless we want to hear from you. Here is just one of the roles that have now arisen:

Digital Marketing Manager

This individual will be responsible for developing and implementing the digital marketing strategy, working with the Commercial Marketing team & the Communications Marketing Manager to create the digital consumer strategy, making sure that it fully delivers on brand, in line with their business objectives and plots a very distinctive and effective path ahead of the other players in the market. Your challenge will be to ensure that they have the very best online presence in the industry.

This person needs to have proven track record, letters after the name are not really what this role is about, they are more interested in someone who is match fit for the imagine challenge and wants the Irish consumer to get a better deal on mobile.

Here are just some of the things needed from this person:

·Devise, develop and maintain all online campaign development, taking full responsibility for all content, marketing, site communications, and project managing the development & design team.

·Oversee marketing of digital platforms and ensure design and content is on-brand and on-message.

·Keep the website at the forefront of consumers’ minds

·Have an incredible talent for great copy

·Spot and exploit communications opportunities

·Deliver an exceptional online retail experience for mobile

·Day-to-day execution and development of search engine optimization strategies relating to, search keyword purchases, online and viral marketing, integrated marketing and contra deals.

·Review analytics data in order to understand and report on traffic trends and marketing opportunities

·Develop and maintain close and productive working relationships with key people across the business

·Tracking and monitoring online consumer forums

Skills: Commercial awareness, analytical project management skills, a great communicator, listener, and leader. Be able to work in an entrepreneurial environment with strong, passionate people. Have a track record in working cross functionally & get the best out of people.

For a confidential discussion on this great opportunity, please contact Ellie at Prosperity on 01-6090166 or emailellie@prosperity.ie

Online Brand Manager and Search Marketing Executive

Salary- €40-55k

Location- Dublin

Our client is a vibrant and progressive online company with an excellent reputation.They have a fantastic opportunity for an enthusiastic candidate with a minimum of 3 years experience in online brand marketing and SEO.

Responsibilities:

• Online marketing including management of link campaigns, PR on the web, advertising campaigns

• Online media campaigns-monitoring and reporting on search strategies

• Management of PPC & SEO activities

• Research and analyse key business drivers, trends and operating metrics

Required Experience:

• Degree in Marketing, Communications or Advertising

• 3 years experience in internet consumer marketing

• Knowledge of the search engine marketing industry

• Ability to measure results and asses ongoing strategy

Within this role there is fantastic opportunity for career progression, coupled with a highly competitive salary package. If online marketing is your forte, then this is the position for you. Online Marketing is the industry of the future.

Contact Emma at Cpl Marketing on 01-6146047

Search Marketing/SEO specialist

Salary- 35-45K doe

We have an excellent new opportunity for a Search Marketing expert to join a leading Online Company. The successful candidate will have at least 3yrs + SEO experience.

Job responsibilities:

·Knowledge and experience of SEO, Web 2.0 concepts, traffic and SEO analysis tools (Google Analytics, Google Webmasters Tools, keyword and structure research spiders)

·Organic search engine optimization, which entails making sure our websites are search friendly and optimized to receive traffic and provide a positive user experience.

·Online marketing, including management of link campaigns, public relations on the web, specialised advertising campaigns.

·Measuring effectiveness of all online media campaigns and monitoring and reporting on all facets of our search strategies and campaigns.

Required Experience:

·Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Communication, Marketing, Advertising, or related field

·Minimum 2 years organic search experience; and minimum 2 years experience in consumer Internet marketing.

·Extensive knowledge of the search engine marketing industry

·Expert in natural search engine listings and search algorithms (3+ years exp)

·Ability to reverse engineer Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask search algorithms

·Deep understanding of key factors, on-page and off-page, that influence organic search rankings

·Up-to-date knowledge of events, trends, and changes in algorithmic search industry

·Knowledge in Internet and web development technologies: HTML, XHTML, Java, CSS, Flash, ASP, PHP, etc.

·Demonstrated results increasing site rankings and search traffic

·Ability to measure results and assess ongoing strategy

All interested candidates please send CV or Call Jonathan on 01-6472100