And the Oscar is awarded to..

Belfast Media Festival 2012 -Northern Ireland: Open for Business

For the third year running, Morrows were delighted to manage the Belfast Media Festival, a prestigious event for the creative industries in Northern Ireland. Held over two days at the BBC Blackstaff Studios in Belfast, the aim of the Festival was to encourage debate, thinking and collaboration amongst companies involved in one of the fastest growing and most important sectors to the Northern Ireland economy.

Delegates representing broadcasting, music and the digital industries heard from a host of keynote speakers including Gerd Leonhard, a futurist who discussed how the broadcasting landscape and technology could change over the next five years; Peter Salmon, Director BBC North and Laura Mackie, Director of Drama for ITV who is responsible for many successful productions for the channel including Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Monroe and of course the worldwide phenomenon Downton Abbey.

As well as keynote speakers, delegates could tailor make their own agenda by attending workshops focusing on a diverse range of topics including Business Opportunities in the Chinese Market; Sell it! a pitching masterclass; Getting Games into Bed with TV, which examined the role broadcasters can play in the continually growing gaming industry and Journalism and Ethics, a though provoking session which discussed the role of the newspaper industry following the Leveson inquiry.

The festival was drawn to a close with an inspiring and insightful interview with Northern Ireland’s very own Oscar winner Terry George, who, together with his daughter Oorlagh won the Academy Award for the Live Action Short Film Category for The Shore earlier this year. Terry also wrote, directed and produced Hotel Rwanda which was nominated for three Academy Awards, In the Name of the Father and Whole Lotta Sole.

Video highlights, including the interview with Terry George are available to view online at www.belfastmediafestival.co.uk

Sam Neill Uncorked !

We truly went from Holywood to Hollywood this week when Kieran Donnelly had the great pleasure of meeting acting legend Sam Neill at the launch of his own Two Paddocks wine in Bureau by the Lough  in Whiteabbey, Co Antrim. 'Mein hosts' were Damien and Dana Curran who treated guests to a wonderful tasting lunch, complemented by two fantastic Pinot Noir wines from Sam's artisan winery in the Central Otago region of New Zealand. Bureau by the Lough Bar and Restaurant as well as sister company The Light House Wine Store are among a select number of independent NI outlets chosen to stock the award winning wines.

The special tasting was attended by wine enthusiasts, film buffs and media alike who were treated to stories about Sam's successful acting career as well his clear passion for wine. Answering questions from guests Kieran asked him about his latest role in a new BBC drama - Peaky Blinders- due to be aired in 2013. Sam plays a tough Northern Ireland policeman tackling gang crime in post WW1 Birmingham and has had to relearn the accent from his early childhood spent in Omagh and Armagh. Leaving these shores for New Zealand at the age of 7 he has enlisted the help of our very own James Nesbitt and Liam Neeson to help him perfect the accent.You can hear a short clip here on audioboo as he recounts the story and gives us a sample of the accent. (Apologies for the quality, but it works ok if you play it loud or with earphones !)

listen to ‘Sam Neill @ Bureau by the Lough, Whiteabbey, NI’ on Audioboo

A Brush with Fame...

From Dan Akroyd...to Basil Brush. Yep, we really know to mix with the A-listers at Morrows!

Seona, Kelly and our new intern Portia showed their 'foxy' side yesterday, mingling with the Grand Opera House's Panto stars for 2012 - including Mr. Brush himself.

Sponsoring NI's favourite pantomime for the second year running, our client Dale Farm is gearing up for the Cinderella extravaganza which opens to the public on 8th December...and we can't wait for the 'Dairytale' to begin!

Boom Boom!



Mixology meets Mythology at the Crystal Head Vodka Launch

It's not too often that you get to work with a hollywood legend, but that's exactly what we got the chance to do when we helped local sales and distribution company LMI Drinks (part of the LMI Food Group) to launch Dan Aykroyd 's premium vodka, Crystal Head.

OK, so the man himself wasn't able to attend the Belfast launch at Love&Death INC, but more than 50 of Northern Ireland's top mixologists did. Each got the chance to sample Crystal Head, to learn a little bit more about the story behind the brand and to take home a few new cocktails ideas!

Crystal Head is steeped in myth and mystery. Legend has it that 13 crystal heads were unearthed in regions from all over the world, including the southwest of America and Tibet. Dated as between 5,000 and 35,000 years old, many believe that the skulls were polished into shape from solid quartz chunks over several hundreds of years, and that each head offers spiritual power and enlightenment to those that possess them!

The launch night was a tremendous success and although there were a few sore heads the next day (of course we had to try the product!!) the team from LMI Drinks were delighted with how the night turned out.

We have been working with the LMI group for a number of months now, and very much look forward to helping the team to grow its profile in Northern Ireland and to working with its ever expanding portfolio of brands.

Digital TV Goes Local

While much of the focus has been on the digital TV switchover here (with Northern Ireland being the last UK region to witness the end of analogue) another digital development has flown somewhat below the radar. Northern Visions TV, the long established not for profit community-based media and arts organisation, which operates a media centre in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast, has just been awarded the licence to be the local Digital TV channel in Belfast by media regulator Ofcom.

Well done them ! Not bad for an organisation that just a few months ago was facing closure following the decision by the Arts Council and Northern Ireland Screen to remove its core funding, some would suggest because it fell between two stools.

This decision will see Belfast becoming one of only 21 towns and cities across the UK who have been chosen to join the digital revolution scheme launched by former UK Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to enable a new generation of local TV news and content to emerge across the UK.

This should prove to be an interesting experiment in just how important local and regionalised content is to viewers in Northern Ireland, and no doubt will be an exciting venture for all concerned. From what we can glean so far, NvTv hopes to be live on Freeview in Belfast on September 9, 2013, but also plans to launch two ultra local TV news channels online in advance.

As with most local TV channels planned under the scheme, the focus of NvTv will be on news, with the first year seeing six bulletins a day on weekdays and Saturdays, with five-minute bulletins four times in the daytime, and 15-minute bulletins at 7pm and 10pm. Sunday will see a round-up of the week’s news added to the schedule.

There is also a flagship 40-minute Community Today show which will showcase in-depth news coverage every weeknight from the beginning.The general aims of the channel are to broadcast local news, current affairs, and a wide range of cultural, educational, and entertaining programming – in keeping with the previous work of Northern Visions. They are also planning to deliver a regular Current Affairs programme – called 'The Insider', as well as a regular business programme. Ambitious indeed !

Other programmes will encourage citizen journalism, educating in the techniques to produce high quality content using mobile phones and other cheap video devices. We all know just how important mobile phone coverage has become in helping shape the news agenda these days.

A national company will manage the TV transmissions for all the local TV channels and Ofcom has produced maps predicting the coverage. The Belfast city area covers 268,000 people, but the full range of the transmitter is expected to reach more than 645,500 people, albeit to varying degrees.

So for those of you in the Greater Belfast area, just when you thought all your digital retuning days were over, remember to add September next year to your long term calendar. It should make interesting viewing !

Outstanding in Our Field

We are delighted to have been recognised as 'Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy' of the Year at the recent CIPR Pride Awards, claiming the evening’s most prestigious title for the third time.

Collecting a total of four Gold and three Silver awards at the glittering ceremony held at Titanic Belfast, Morrows took the Gold and Silver awards in the Corporate and Business Communications category, Gold in Community Relations and Not-for-Profit categories and Silver in Public Sector and Best Digital Campaign.

Speaking about the award Kieran Donnelly, Director at Morrow Communications said, “We are delighted to be recognised as the 'Outstanding Public Relations Consultancy' for the third time. In the current economic climate the team has been firmly focused on adding value to each of our clients through strategic and professional communication services. These awards are a fitting recognition for all their hard work and dedication."

As if that wasn’t enough, one of the team, Marty Byrne won the ‘Photo and Caption Competition’ on the night. His creativity was awarded with an iPad courtesy of the competition sponsors, Origin Partners who designed the App used to host the gallery of pictures taken on the night. Needless to say he was a very happy boy !

Inspired by his Shakespearean amateur dramatic roots, his winning picture and caption is below (the Joris in question being none other than Joris Minne from JPR !).



Winning Picture & Caption:
"Alas poor Joris, I knew him well !"