The Persuaders Guest Presenters - July

I'm taking a ( well-deserved if you ask me) break for a few weeks from The Persuaders. I'm sure I won't be able to break away from my RSS addiction, but am off air. I hope you will consider giving your listening custom to the following on the next three Fridays on Dublin City FM at 1pm.

Friday July 10th, - Ron Immink and Yanky Fachtler will host a Bookbuzz special and will focus on a book from a marketing perspective.

Friday 17th and Friday 24th July - Ronan Kinahan from Vibe Marketing and Mark Byrne from Designworks will be doing an impression of a Marketing Ant and Dec show - they won't tell me what exactly they will be talking about, or who their guests might be - so long as you stay within the laws of libel, I'm cool, guys!

Digital Marketing School

An interview with vStream founders Andrew Jenkinson and Niall O'Driscoll about a new initiative they are starting Digital Marketing School. The idea is that the site will become an educational portal for all digital marketing matters - a great idea I think and hopefully can help in positioning Ireland as a leader in digital marketing.

Latest podcast - The Big Switch campaign

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In this podcast two of the most prominent campaigns running in Ireland today are analysed. John Burns from Guinness is in studio to discuss the Guinness Signature campaign ( part of the wider Guinness 250 Advertising campaign ) and Nicky Doran from Bord Gais Energy tells me about the strategy behind the 'Big Switch' campaign, that has seen over 100,000 people make the move to the company for their electricity supply.

Guinness Signature Advertising

I'm a great fan of Guinness advertising; in terms of Irish creativity I sometimes think that the artform that's advertising for the Black Stuff is often deprived of its rightful place alongside other manifestations of Ireland's creative talent. Sometimes the advertising has an almost iconic dimension to it; the Guinness 250 campaign that's been running since the start of the year has offered us all a trip down memory lane to revisit those campaigns that were part of our growing-up. Recently I got a chance to interview John Burns, Marketing Manager in Ireland for Guinness. The context was the very noble effort of the Guinness team to collect 1m signatures with the aim of reaching a target for the Arthur Guinness Fund of €2.5m. Take a look at a shortened version of the interview in this YouTube clip. I will be posting the full interview soon in the podcast edition of the show.

When is a sponsorship not a sponsorship?

Seemingly when it's Ericsson's involvement in the Volvo Ocean Race we're talking about. Last week I was invited to facilitate the questions and answers session at the Global Marketing Showcase at the Volvo Ocean race which was visiting Galway. On of the speakers Ole Rembe Vice President Communications, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson was at pains to point out that the company do not even use the term sponsorship when referring to their huge range of activity. Have a listen HERE to my podcast which includes interviews with Ole among others.

Oh, and here's a pic of me on board the joint China-Ireland entry Green Dragon ( note the absence of shoes to protect the surface of the vessel).

SMILE Hotel Marketing Conference May 21st 2009

I'm delighted with the line up for this year's SMILE Conference - and also with the themes that will be addressed - revenue management for hotels, digital marketing, distribution - it promises to be a great networking event too, and we've a new venue to celebrate also - One Kilmainham. I hope to see you there. Here's a video I recorded with fellow organiser, Cyril Mc Aree, publisher of Hotel and Restaurant Times.

RTE Player

I'm really loving the newly launched RTE Player. As a news junkie it should not surprise you to know that the RTE website is my homepage, but this Player takes the 'on-demand' provision of news and drama to new levels. Sure BBC have had theirs for a while now, and I enjoy accessing their shows online when I'm in Belfast, but I think RTE have done a great job with it.