Fancy golfing with the cream of the crop?

Do you see yourself as the next Rory or Darren?
Well, get practising your swing because Dale Farm is giving three golfers across Northern Ireland the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in a Pro-Am team with a leading professional, as part of the 2012 Irish Open.

Three competition winners will play 18 holes with a European tour winner on their Pro-Am team during the prestigious tournament, which is returning to Northern Ireland for the first time in half a century.

If you're up for the challenge or know someone who would be, nominate yourself (or nominate someone) by emailing dalefarmirishopen@morrowcommunications.com with the entrant's name, club name, contact details, official handicap and a 100 word explanation of what winning the prize would mean to them. 

Closing date 22nd June 2012. Note - entrants must be at least 15 years old on June 22nd 2012 and in possession of an official single figure handicap.

Morrows Raise a Glass to New Partnership with Global Brewer

Morrow Communications are proud to now represent Molson Coors in Northern Ireland. Working in partnership with Slattery Communications, a Dublin based consultancy, Morrows will be helping drive the corporate and consumer profile of this global brewer in NI, whose beer portfolio include Cobra, Carling, Coors Light and Corona. The business opened direct sales and marketing offices in Belfast and Dublin in 2010.

Leading local bakery gets royal seal of approval to mark centenary

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall paid a special visit to Irwin’s Bakery in Portadown on Friday 27th April, as part of their two day visit to Northern Ireland. The royal couple enjoyed a tour of the family-owned Irwin’s Bakery, which is this year marking its 100th year in business, tried their hand at ‘flipping’ their famous soda farls and sampled some of Northern Ireland’s finest baked goods. They then spent time meeting staff and representatives from charity, sporting and community groups who have been supported by Irwin’s; before unveiling a commemorative plaque and cutting a celebration cake.

Now in the third generation of the Irwin family, Irwin’s Bakery is headed up by brothers Brian and Niall, who were thrilled to welcome such special guests, “We are extremely honoured and proud that Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Irwin’s Bakery as part of their time in Northern Ireland this week,” said executive chairman Brian Irwin. “It is particularly special that this visit took place during our centenary year. The visit created a wonderful sense of excitement and morale for our valued team of staff, as well as representative customers, suppliers, charity and community groups. A company cannot exist and thrive without the support of all these groups - particularly our staff.

“There was a great interest from the couple in the fact that we are a family-owned business and how we have grown since our beginnings in 1912. By taking a tour of the bakery floor, we were able to demonstrate how we combine years of baking expertise with modern technology to create our wide range of breads,” Brian added. “Prince Charles was particularly interested in hearing how we make our soda bread and we had a nice chat about our family recipe – but that will stay between us,” Brian said.

Prince Charles was so impressed by the company’s soda and wheaten bread that he specifically requested extra loaves of each product to bring home with him - now that's a right royal seal of approval.

New partnership 'insures' results for local business

Morrows are proud to be working with Open and Direct Insurance to deliver the business’ PR and communication needs.

With 16 busy branches across Northern Ireland and a new ‘quote and buy’ online service just launched from its site in Coleraine, the leading local insurance provider has a great story to tell and Morrows are delighted to help do that.

Visit Open and Direct online for more info.

A taste of Titanic

Titanic. An icon. A tragedy. A major tourism product and globally recognised brand.

The programme to mark the 100th anniversary of the ship's infamous maiden voyage commenced this weekend with the opening of the Titanic Belfast project and building, bringing visitors from home and abroad into the city and putting the world's media spotlight on Northern Ireland.

Just around the corner at 'foody mecca' St George's Market, hundreds of visitors were sampling another local tourism product, our first class food, as chefs recreated Titanic's on board menus as part of an interactive demonstration.

Food NI, in partnership with Belfast City Council, brought the taste of Titanic to life with the special 'Titanic Kitchen' food sampling event. Talented chefs recreated the first, second and third class menus from Titanic, showcasing dishes ranging from porridge to 'cabin biscuits', haddock in 'sharp sauce' to wine jellied fruits.

The successful event is one of many that will capture the interest of people from near and far, who long to find out more about the ship and its heritage.

With tourists already visiting Belfast from across the globe, it seems the whole world has a taste for Titanic...

Rising rugby stars primed to tackle tournament

Hot on the ‘heels’ of Ulster securing a coveted place in the Heineken Cup quarters, the draw has taken place for the 33rd annual Nutty Krust Rugby Floodlit Tournament at Portadown RFC. Always a keen supporter of grassroot sports, Morrows client Irwin’s Bakery has been primary sponsor from the tournament since its kick off in 1979.

From 8th February, Under 19 players from 15 Clubs will play every Wednesday evening at Chambers Park, Portadown, in a bid to lift the prestigious tournament trophy on 2nd May 2012. This year’s fixtures promise to make exciting viewing for all rugby supporters, with one or two piquancy matches as tournament hosts Portadown meet Ballynahinch in the first round and last year’s victors Armagh Monaghan meet Instonians.

Listen to Brian Irwin, executive chairman of Irwin's Bakery speaking about the tournament to In Touch Rugby here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fEnQXYEx6c
To follow the progress of the tournament follow Irwin’s on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/irwinsbakery

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.”

Turkey Sales Set To Take Off For Moy Park This Christmas

As part of an ongoing relationship with Marks & Spencer, leading poultry processor Moy Park will supply all UK and Ireland M&S stores with four new lines of turkey products in the run up to Christmas.

Moy Park, which supplies major retailers throughout the UK and Ireland with fresh, locally sourced poultry and convenience foods, has developed the turkey range in conjunction with M&S.

“Christmas is a key time of year for the poultry sector and a peak time for turkey production.” explains Tony O’Neill, Moy Park’s business development director.

“We have worked hard to develop new products to suit the needs of the market and will produce a substantial number of turkeys for M&S alone this Christmas season” said Tony O’Neill.

Pride in client work at Morrows

Morrow Communications entered two awards in this year's CIPR Northern Ireland PRide Awards and won in both categories. Morrows took the Gold Award in the Corporate Social Responsibility category for its communications of the Asda 'Sporting Chance' initiative, aimed at encouraging activity in young people.



The team also picked up the Silver award for the Irwin's Bakery 'Great Veda Debate' campaign, which drove sales of the popular local loaf by asking the public to join the all important 'sliced or unsliced' discussion.

The awards bring Morrows' collection to a total of 18 Gold and 15 Silver within the past three years.

Supply deal has snowball effect for bakery

Snowballs are spreading festive cheer for one local business as Irwin's Bakery has secured a major supply deal through its cakes and biscuits division, Howell Handmade. The business has won a contract to supply its locally made ‘Mini Snowballs’ to Asda stores across the UK as part of the supermarket’s ‘Chosen by You’ own-brand range.

The first ‘own label’ supply contract for the Saintfield-based home bakery, will be worth over £150k per annum to the business and will run right through the key Christmas trading period, with a view to extending this to a longer basis.

Stefan Szymura, Account Manager with Irwin’s Bakery said the contract was, “a big win for Howell Handmade and a significant development in the overall Irwin’s business strategy".

Whilst Irwin’s products have a number of ‘own brand’ deals with key retail partners UK-wide, this is the first major supply contract of this kind for a Howell Handmade product and is testament to both the quality and appeal of traditional Northern Ireland baked goods. The small sponge coconut buns were chosen for the Asda range following a series of consumer taste tests, from which Asda said feedback was "extremely positive."

Irwin’s Bakery acquired Howell in 2006 and in doing so has successfully extended its reach within the confectionery bakery category.

A baker's dozen for Irwin's

More good news for the local food sector this month as Portadown based Irwin’s Bakery has scooped a contract with Sainsbury’s in Northern Ireland to supply pancakes and soda farls for its new core range of ‘By Sainsbury’s’ own-label products.

The deal, worth over £250,000 p.a to Irwin’s, will see its locally-made products being sold in all 13 of Sainsbury’s Northern Ireland stores. This will strengthen Irwin’s already strong relationship with the retailer, which it currently supplies with around 4m products each year.

Michael Murphy, Commercial Director at Irwin’s Bakery comments, “We are delighted to have secured this deal with Sainsbury’s and are particularly proud to be producing traditional local products such as pancakes and soda farls for inclusion in their newly launched ‘By Sainsbury’s’ range. With almost 100 years experience in baking breads and hotplate products such as pancakes and soda farls, we have the expertise and knowledge that Sainsbury’s need from their supply partners to deliver first class own-brand products.”

For more information on Irwin's range of products visit http://www.irwinsbakery.co.uk/ or follow Irwin's on Facebook www.facebook.com/irwinsbakery

Local Businesses Shine at CIM Awards

Three of Morrows' clients had a presence at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ireland Marketing Excellence Awards, held at Belfast's City Hall on November 3rd.

Northern Ireland Science Park was a named finalist in the Business to Business Service Marketing category; Moy Park was a finalist in the Best Sales Campaign and Overall Food & Drink categories and Irwin's Bakery picked up the top accolade in the Food & Drink category.

These awards are a testament to the level of innovation and quality these businesses demonstrate in marketing their brands – and how they use strategic communications to drive their businesses forward within their sectors.

Speaking about their win, Michael Murphy, Commercial Director of Irwin's Bakery said, “We’re extremely proud to have picked up this award, not least as Irwin’s were being judged against competition from across a very broad and thriving food sector.”

Belfast Media Festival 2011

For the second year running, Morrows were delighted to manage the Belfast Media Festival, a prestigious event for the creative industries in Northern Ireland.

The creative industries are one of the fastest growing and most important sectors in the Northern Ireland economy and the aim of the Festival was to encourage debate and thinking on how the creative landscape will change over the next ten years. This included how the development of new technology will change the way content is produced, the skills that will be required and how the industry will meet the changing needs of the local audience.

Over 350 delegates representing broadcasting, music and the digital industries heard from a host of keynote speakers including Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, David Abraham, Chief Executive of Channel 4 Television and David Flynn, creator of BAFTA award winning programme “The Million Pound Drop.” A particular highlight and coup for the Festival was an “audience with” the actor and comedian Rob Brydon, who took time out of his busy schedule to speak about his experiences within the industry – and local talent was represented by well known faces such as Patrick Kielty, BBC NI’s William Crawley and Stephen Nolan.

In addition to the keynote presentations, delegates could attend a variety of seminars focusing on key topics such as “Mind Your Language!” - a focus on the importance of Irish language within broadcasting; “Independent Spirits” looking at how independent production companies can successfully compete in the world of British television and “Radio without End” a lively debate on the importance of radio within an industry now dominated by many digital platforms. Delegates could also visit a “Digital Street” showcasing the latest in broadcasting technology and exhibition featuring local creative companies.

Video highlights, including the interview with Rob Brydon will soon be available to view online at http://www.belfastmediafestival.co.uk/

Dale Farm 'Creams the Competition' with Record Number of Awards

Dale Farm is celebrating its most successful award season ever - picking up 29 major accolades for Dromona cheese and butter. With international awards from Nantwich, the Great Taste Awards and Frome – the impressive haul has underlined this Northern Ireland company’s status as a world class dairy producer.


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 Sweeping the board at September's Frome Cheese Show in Somerset, Dale Farm was awarded 14 gold, silver and bronze medals – impressing judges, who included cheese connoisseurs and senior buyers from major supermarkets, outlets and industry bodies.

To find out more about Dale Farm, its products and parent company United Dairy Farmers visit http://www.dalefarm.co.uk/

Local loaf takes flight

NI based Irwin’s Bakery has secured a major deal with retail giant Asda to supply its ‘Irish Batch’ bread into 150 stores in England. The deal, which is worth around £200,000 per annum to the local bakery, will make the loaf (known as ‘Nutty Krust’ in Northern Ireland) available for the first time in England.

“Developing our products into key export markets across the UK and Ireland remains central to our business strategy. We are particularly pleased to have secured this deal with Asda, which will see the iconic Northern Irish batch loaf become widely available through its store network in England,” said Michael Murphy, Commercial Director with Irwin's.

Chris Moore of Irwin's and David Quigg of Asda are pictured celebrating this partnership. For more info visit http://www.irwinsbakery.com/

Redrock showcases innovation at National Ploughing Championships

Rescued NI machinery business Redrock is gearing up for the 80th National Ploughing Championships in Athy (20th-22nd September), where it will showcase its range of redeveloped trailers, mixers, tankers, feeders and slurry pumps.

The County Armagh business, which was saved from the administrators in 2010, has been reaping the benefits of a significant reinvestment and modernisation programme, smashing its first year annual sales target of £5m, doubling its employee base to 42 and growing sales across Irish, UK and European markets. Redrock will host a large stand at The National Ploughing Championships, the latest in a series of key trade shows across Europe that the business has attended.

Redrock Managing Director Frank Flynn comments, “The National Ploughing Championships will be an ideal opportunity for us to showcase the innovation that we have ploughed into our product range over the past 18 months.

“Our recent focus has been to fine tune our range of cattle feeding and slurry handling equipment, using our engineering expertise to ensure we are meeting the needs of today’s farming community.

“We completely redeveloped our trailer, mixer, slurry pump and blockcutter ranges and this week’s event will allow us to highlight the results. For instance, the new Redrock ‘all round’ silage block cutter will be on display. This is a new version of already proven range of silage blockcutters but it can also be used as an industrial heavy-duty bucket for picking up loose materials. This dual purpose means increased efficiencies for the farmer and is a prime example of how we’ve been successfully reshaping our product offering.”

The business’ sister company, steel fabrication specialists Steel Solutions, will share presence at the Redrock exhibition stand and will display an impressive sample construction to demonstrate its metal and roof expertise in farm buildings.

“We’re committed to continually reinvesting into our business and driving the Redrock brand forward in key markets including Ireland. That said, we value the opportunity to meet with farmers firsthand at such an important sector event as the National Ploughing Championships,” Frank concludes.