You’re not you (when you’re hawking chocolate)

The recent uproar about the new Snickers Twitter campaign has raised a few eyebrows at Morrow Communications and kicked off a bit of a debate about communications on Twitter.

In case you haven’t seen it - as a tie-in to its Joan Collins / Stephanie Beecham fronted TV ad, various celebrities (with a combined followership of nearly 5 million) allowed their twitter streams to be taken over by Snickers. The campaign saw Katie Price tweeting about global economic policy and Ian Botham talking about his love of the cello. All to illustrate the fact that “You’re not you when you’re hungry.”

 So far, so clever-clever. But when the celebs then posted a pic of themselves with the aforementioned nut and nougat based confectionary and the hashtag @snickersUK#hungry#spon (which isn’t even a proper hashtag) followers were apparently upset that they had been “marketed at” without prior permission.

Some cynics amongst you might say it’s ridiculous that anyone following Katie Price has a problem with being marketed to (she is a one woman masterclass in the art of self-promotion – currently working on her 5^th ‘autobiography’).  Nonetheless, the ASA are investigating the matter and it could have serious consequences for the communications industry.

The complaints centre round the fact that the initial “takeover” tweets were not signposted as being part of a promotional campaign and therefore formed some sort of ‘stealth advertising.’

The problem with trying to restrict promotional activity on a platform such as twitter is that it could be argued that everybody’s tweets are in some way selling something. Whether that is a new fitness DVD, an unpublished novel or just the concept of yourself as a ‘real cool dude.’ Does taking a photo of your dinner in that swanky restaurant everyone’s been talking about constitute advertising?

The Snickers’ furore will no doubt make many working in communications wary of trying to take advantage of this still unpredictable media. As McDonald’s recent experience might show (the #McDstories campaign resulted in 140 character anecdotes about fingernails found in big macs amongst other delights), Twitter can be virulently anti-corporate.

Commentators are now wondering if the ASA will recommend each tweet with a promotional slant is tagged with something similar to TV drama’s use of the product placement ‘PP’ logo. Perhaps we can start the hashtag right here? Suggestions?

Shaping up nicely

Morrow’s client Dale Farm Spelga has been promoting health and fitness through its partnership with ladies fitness chain Curves and Belfast’s premier shopping destination, Victoria Square.

Dale Farm Spelga is launching a three-month initiative with Curves distributing thousands of pots of Spelga Low Fat Bio and Spelga Fat Free Yogurts to clubs across Northern Ireland. In addition, the local dairy business has partnered with Belfast’s Victoria Square to offer three deserving Curves members a luxury shopping experience with a personal stylist plus £150 worth of shopping vouchers.

As anyone who has met us will know, here at Morrow Communications our bodies are our temples so we're only too happy to help promote Dale Farm's latest campaign. 

We’ve stocked up on Spelga Fat-Free so we'll be fit, fashionable and fabulous in no time - as if we were ever anything else.

United demonstrates strength of NI agri-food sector

The Northern Ireland agri-food sector demonstrated further growth this month through the further expansion of the United Dairy Farmers business. United Dairy Farmers, Northern Ireland’s largest dairy business and parent of Dale Farm, this month extended its farmer cooperative membership beyond Northern Ireland and into Great Britain.

The cooperative, owned by around 1,800 Northern Ireland farmers, now also has dairy farmer members in both England and Scotland.

This represents a significant step in repositioning United as a UK wide farmer cooperative.

“We are delighted to have injected further impetus to our business by adding the current milk suppliers to our GB factories to our membership base,” United’s Group Chief Executive David Dobbin said.

“Our sales of consumer products in GB have witnessed record growth over the past year, mainly driven by sales of cheese, butter and spreads from our Northern Ireland plants. The introduction of GB membership further strengthens our position as a national dairy business owned by farmers across the UK at a time when foreign owned dairies are increasing their presence and control of the UK dairy market,” he added.

“This expansion is good news for all United shareholders throughout Northern Ireland and Great Britain. It reinforces our credentials as a national player supplying the best of British Red Tractor dairy produce and will help us increase our business with UK supermarkets.”

Fashion Friday...

A few of the team attended the launch of the fabulous West Coast Cooler Belfast Fashion Week today at James Street South's private dining room. As well as checking out the fashionistas of Belfast and getting a sneak preview of the 'collections' we were there to support the super stylish, super affordable George at Asda - featuring in its debut Spring/ Summer show!

George's latest collection features an ecclectic mix of ice cream pastels and soft metallics...bang on trend for this season! A real crowd pleaser was the George pleated midi skirt modelled by the goreous Naoisa Tan...only £14 and one of the highlights of the capsule show (if we do say so ourselves!) Roll on 16th March for the full show!

Love is in the air...

Morrow Communications Event Manager, Jane Irwin today appeared in the popular “First Person” interview column in the Belfast Telegraph, as part of Morrow Communication’s ongoing work with CoolFM. Jane became lucky in love when she joined CoolFM’s dating site and is now happily engaged to her beau, Sam Watson, who she met through the site. The interview recounts Jane’s experience of the online dating scene, why she chose CoolFM’s dating service and how her relationship with Sam blossomed from that first online message.

We at Morrow couldn’t be happier when we heard news of Jane’s engagement and knowing Jane, the wedding is going to be one spectacular and well organised event!

Northgate Named as 'Preferred Supplier' for Major NI Education Contract

Northgate Managed Services has been named by C2k as its 'preferred supplier' for the Education Newtwork NI contract. The five year contract will see Northgate design, implement and manage a completely new and innovative Private Cloud environment for all schools in NI, providing secure access to resources online, 24/7 from a wide range of devices.

A delighted Andy Ross (Northgate's Chief Executive) said, "This is great news for the company, and for everyone involved and clearly positions Northgate as one of the UK’s leading providers of ICT services for schools. Achieving preferred supplier status is also of great significance for the local economy. Securing technology jobs in NI can only be viewed as a positive boost for Northern Ireland.”

To read more about this story and the service Northgate will provide please click here