A Vital Voice for Northern Ireland’s Peace Process - Farewell Visit by US Secretary Clinton

Morrow events team had the pleasure of providing event support services to OFMDFM and the Executive Information Services team during the recent visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Northern Ireland.

Secretary Clinton said during the Stormont Castle Press Conference "Peace here has proven remarkably durable, "However it is being tested. The recent attacks are a sad reminder there are still those who would try to destroy it. The promise of peace must be delivered. There has to be an economic return for people here.

"I offer to you, as I stand down from Secretary of State, to continue working with you in developing the peace process as an advocate and cheerleader for the process and to reach out to those who are not feeling part of it."

In a relatively short lead in time – 4 days to be precise, Morrows provided bespoke indoor and outdoor staging units for the world’s media at the Stormont Castle Press Conference and co-ordinated local media accreditation in the run up to the day.

It was such a privilege to be involved in such a significant milestone in the Northern Ireland political calendar.

Peace be with you – PEACE III Programme is on the Morrows agenda

Morrows events and production teams have recently won two separate contracts under the PEACE III programme – Investing in Our Future Good Relations programme for the Southern Partnership and the North West Partnership PEACE III Legacy Celebration project. 

Investing in Our Future Programme is an engagement programme aimed at community groups celebrating good relations activities across the Southern Cluster area which includes Armagh, Banbridge, Newry & Mourne, Craigavon, and Counties Monaghan & Louth.  The programme will deliver 15 regional events and a closing Good Relations conference in September 2013.

The NW Partnership Legacy project aims to consolidate and celebrate the excellent work and projects that have been delivered through the Peace III programme in the Derry/Londonderry, Strabane, Omagh and Donegal areas. The project will consist of an online exhibition with photo galleries, video libraries, project library and vox pops from project participants; additionally a brochure will be developed capturing a flavour of the 26 projects from the programme; and a series of celebration events will take place between May – June 2013. 

Morrows are delighted to have the opportunity to work on these projects and hope that they bring about a long and PEACEful partnership!

Portia earns her PR spurs at Morrow Communications

Back in September we were contacted by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) about the possibility of getting involved in a new Internship Programme that it planned to launch.

After meeting with DEL we signed up and took the opportunity to meet the candidates.  Portia-Ellis Woods joined Morrow Communications in October.  With her eight week placement now complete, we were keen to find out how she had gotten on.

"When I heard about the DEL Internship programme I jumped at the chance to be a part of it.  I completed my application form and waited.  Thankfully I was selected by DEL and was delighted to be placed with Morrow Communications", explains Portia.

"My eight week internship with the company has involved a varied range of activities, tasks and projects. Starting in October I was included in the team from day one and have had the chance to work in every area of the event, production and PR teams."

Portia took the opportunity to not only develop her public relation skills, but to also get actively involved with the Morrow's Events and AV teams.

In terms of highlights, Portia has a lot to choose from!  "I never thought when I started the programme that I would be talking about meeting the world famous Basil Brush, but that's exactly what happened when I helped to launch the Dale Farm sponsored Panto 'Cinderella'.  It was great to be a part of this, as well as a host of other client photo calls.  I learnt the level of preparation needed before the shoot, organisation at the location and then the process of selecting the best pictures."

Portia also had the chance to work on client projects for companies like Asda, Dale Farm, Flahavan's, NYSE Euronext and Moy Park - which helped her gain an insight to the many different elements the team manage on a daily basis.

"It was great to get introduced to such a wide spectrum of clients and to have the opportunity to get involved in many aspects of account management.  The team really looked after me and took the time to include me and to explain what we were doing and why.  I have learnt so much from them. It has definitely been a very busy eight week period. Arranging photo calls, researching, helping at events, liaising with journalists as well as writing press releases and advertorial copy are just some of the activities that I have undertaken.

"It has been a valuable experience working for such a successful company and a pleasure to work alongside a talented, hardworking team of people. I feel very privileged to have been part of the team at Morrows and will take with me all the skills and attributes I have learnt during my internship."

New Dimension helps win new AV contract

An innovative approach to 3D animation, placing staff members within an architect’s impression helped our Design and Production team to fight off stiff competition to secure the contract for a set of informational videos about the new Community Safety College being developed in Desertcreat, near Cookstown.

The new college is due for completion in October 2015, for the training of PSNI, Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the Northern Ireland Prison Service staff. With work not yet underway at


the site a 3D `architectural flythrough’ of  the college is the only thing available to bring the building to life. Our team came up with a creative treatment which involved filming staff members in front of a Green Screen and then using graphic effects to make them look like they were actually inside the 3D flythrough.

The first edit, featuring the effect, was completed for a conference in Mid-November and won great praise from the clients, with three more edits to go. This is a new style of production and we hope to be able to roll the effect out to more clients in the future.

Morrow's AV wins new health DVD contract

We are delighted to have won an exciting new project with Queen's University and St. Mary's Hospital, Manchester.  We were tasked with producing a health promotion DVD to help raise awareness of Gestational Diabetes.  

Aimed at pregnant women, the DVD will be given to those diagnosed with the Gestational Diabetes and will provide them with information on the condition,


how to best manage it during pregnancy and how to cope with it after birth.

The DVD has been produced in a number of different languages (English, Urdu, Arabic and Somali) in response to communities with the greatest occurrence of the condition.

With work almost completed and pilots planned for January 2013 we are looking forward to getting some true quantitative and qualitative analysis of the impact of our work.  

Ruby Rouge Ball in aid of Lauralynn Children’s Hospice

The Morrow Communications team was out in force to lend our support to a recent charity event in aid of the LauraLynn Children’s Hospice.

The Ruby Rouge Ball in loving memory of baby Victoria Thompson,was held at the Belfast Cabaret Supper Club at the end of November.  The event was a fantastic success, raising over £12,000 for the charity.

Morrow’s Director, Moya Neeson took a hands on approach, helping to organise the event.  She was ably assisted by a number of Morrow's staff including Events Director Jane Watson. The event was a huge success and a fitting tribute- truly a night of mixed emotions.

QUB extend Morrow's AV contract into 2014

The Design and Production team are delighted to have had our contract for the provision of video services to Queen’s University extended until 2014. We have been working with the marketing team at the University since January 2011 and have produced several successful videos and established a fabulous relationship with the team. We are delighted at this endorsement of our hard work and ability to deliver exactly what a client needs!


QUB Slice of Life from Morrow Communications on Vimeo.

Making his Mark in the Design and Production Team

 A fresh new talent has joined the Design and Production team at Morrow Communications. University of Ulster Graduate, Mark Robinson took up the post of Trainee Editor and Graphic Designer in September 2012, and due to hectic timetables has had to hit the ground running.

Mark is the first male addition to the all-female Production team, but is taking it all in his stride- thanks, he says, to his part-time student job in a Bingo Hall!

As a student, Mark’s work won him recognition and a number of awards, including the Creative Skillset Undergraduate Award for his dissertation. He has already brought his impressive editing skills to the productions of a number of our clients including Invest NI, IntertradeIreland and Asda.

Mark’s addition to the team brings a fresh youthful perspective to our work and allows us to keep more of our production work in house- thus offering even better value to our clients.

Cool FM’s Jingle Ball Rocked!

Morrow Communications’ client, Cool FM last week filled the Odyssey to the rafters with thousands of screaming pop fans for the first ever Cool FM Jingle Ball Live. Thousands poured into the arena to witness the biggest pop gig Belfast has ever seen - a line-up which included JLS, Matt Cardle, Labrinth, Amelia Lily, Misha B, Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Stooshe, Lawson and Joe McIlderry and Morrow’s own pop svengali, Marty Byrne was backstage taming the press pack in an exclusive media room

The press conference-style backstage media room brought together a host of glamorous showbiz reporters and some slightly less glamorous press photographers for quickfire questions and photos just before the artists took to the stage. The media room ran very smoothly despite some extraordinary wardrobe choices, demands for better refreshments and a dash of diva behaviour (and that was just the journalists).

Morrows were involved with Jingle Ball Live from the beginning, organising media partnerships with local press titles, celeb interview pieces, ticket giveaways, social media and crisis management consultancy as well as management of the backstage press area. With the event being hailed as a huge success, we’re already looking forward to Cool FM’s Jingle Ball Live 2013!

Local schools visit Boys' Model School

Earlier this week we attended the Boys’ Model School as part of its Transition Open Day.

The School invited pupils from 18 local primary schools to come along to the special ‘open day’ with the aim of giving the pupils an insight into what school life would be like if they decided to attend the Boys’ Model.

Pupils spent time with school staff and student mentors in each department and were given the opportunity to get to grips with gym equipment, conduct science experiments, create comic strip animations in the Media Centre, and to cook up a storm in the Home Economics Department.

Commenting on the open day Alan Logan, Acting Principal from Boys’ Model School said: “The day was a great success. More than 18 schools from our catchment area attended, and the feedback from the pupils and their teachers was very positive.

“The move to post primary school is an exciting time for children. However, it can equally be a time of uncertainty due to the prospect of meeting new friends, learning new subjects and getting to grips with a more independent lifestyle. The Boys’ Model Transition Days are designed to familiarise primary school pupils with the facilities, routines and culture at the School and reassure them of the fun and rewarding learning experiences they will have if they choose to come to the school.”

There's nothing like a Dame !

As part of our 'Morrows Masterclass' Series we were delighted to welcome Dame Mary Peters to our offices to speak to us about her journey of success. The masterclasses are designed to motivate, inspire, engage and challenge our thinking on how we do business - and Dame Mary certainly achieved that.

Dame Mary, or 'Mary P' to her friends, recounted her fascinating story from her early childhood through to her role in the recent London Olympics and peppered it with interesting insights into her experience of competing, winning, teamwork and personal development.

As Lord Lieutenant of Belfast and the official representative of the Queen, you can see why she makes the perfect Ambassador for Northern Ireland, for sport generally and for wider humanity. Despite her amazing success and profile she remains very humble and grounded and impressively left the room full of infectious positive energy.

Perhaps not surprisingly, her focus and determination to succeed are as strong as ever, now channelling her energy into her charity, the excellent Mary Peters Trust. They are supporting the next generation of sporting stars from Northern Ireland and helping them to achieve excellence in their chosen sport. We have had the pleasure of working with Mary through a number of our clients including Dale Farm and Asda and can vouch for the great work that she and the Trust does. With her help, there is no doubt we will have more local champions to cheer on in the sporting arenas around the world.

Propelling Entrepreneurship Forward

We are delighted to be supporting the promotion of the excellent Invest Northern Ireland Propel programme again, working alongside the delivery agents, Xcell Partners. The programme is now inviting applications for its 2013 intake and is designed for entrepreneurs with business ideas that have the potential to scale up and reach significant export growth. It has already helped over 30 local entrepreneurs to set up and grow successful businesses based on innovative ideas, products and technology.

In launching the call for new applicants, we were delighted to be joined by previous programme participants Janette O’Hagan co-founder and CEO of Okotech, which has developed an innovative, wireless heating control system called heatboss®, and Fergus Wallace, founder of www.mygripzone.com an online interactive golf coaching aid - both excellent examples of the innovation excellence we need to encourage  in Northern Ireland.

To launch the 2013 Propel programme and outline how it can help turn an idea into a globally focused business, Invest NI is running five regional awareness seminars during w/c 10th December in Newry, Omagh, Londonderry, Ballymena and Belfast. For more information on the programme visit www.propelprogramme.com or to register for the events, go to www.investni.com/events