Tree Time...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas down at Morrows... Can you beat our speedy elves?

Marketing Excellence!

The Morrow’s event team recently managed The CIM Ireland Marketing Excellence Awards. Now in their fourteenth year, these prestigious awards are designed to recognise and reward the best marketing achievements across business sectors in Ireland and to fly the positive value of marketing to both businesses and society. 

Hosted by broadcaster and journalist Claire McCollum, the gala ceremony took place at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Belfast with the winning companies taking home a bespoke Grainne Maher designed trophy. The winning and highly commended companies can be viewed online at the CIM Awards website. 

New for the 2013 awards was the “People’s Choice” award, where we encouraged finalists to engage with their own clients, customers and staff to vote for them via an online poll! It was a very close competition but the winner this year was The Ulster GAA and The Michaela Foundation with “The Match for Michaela.” A very worthy recipient! 

A special thanks also to the awards sponsors: Invest Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, TotalMobile and Ulster Business School as well as our event partners: Corporate AV Hire, Ramada Plaza Belfast, Northside and Bradbury Graphics, 3Sixty and NIMMS.

My Time at Morrows- Emma Devlin

When I graduated Queen’s University, armed with a degree in English and French, I hadn’t the slightest idea what I wanted to do. As career goals go, saying “Booker-Prize-by-twenty-five” to a friend when you’re thirteen just doesn’t cut it. Besides, I was 23 and that stellar writing career wasn’t going in quite the direction I’d hoped (read: going nowhere). I knew I wanted something dynamic, something creative, something fulfilling. But what?

Looking for some inspiration, I signed up to the GAP programme, a work experience scheme for graduates, who placed me with Morrow Communications for three months. With no prior experience in Public Relations (“you make people look good, right?”), I knew I was in for a huge learning curve.

Luckily, the staff at Morrow’s are a friendly bunch, and from day one I felt included in the team. With their guidance, I worked on client projects for companies like Moy Park, which gave me a unique opportunity to see the kind of hard work and preparation that goes into every successful PR campaign.  

I made the most of my time at Morrow’s, and I think I’ve learned a lot about the industry. For example, I have a much better idea of the relationship between PR and the media. Before I began at Morrow’s, the only thing I knew about PR professionals was that they sent press releases to journalists. Writing press releases, attending photocalls and contacting newspapers for myself has taught me that there is much more to it than that.

I’ve got plenty of memorable moments to choose from. From going to a pop-up farm to glamming up a pair of rubber gloves for a photo-shoot, no two days were ever the same. But if I had to choose, it would be the first time I saw one of my press releases appear in a local newspaper. While it wasn’t a big story, I took a lot of care to make it as lively and engaging as I could. It was a lot of fun to write – I got to exercise my pun muscle – and seeing it in print was hugely gratifying. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the Morrow Communications team. I feel privileged to have been placed with a talented and hardworking group of people who made a complete novice like me feel welcome. This experience has not only given me valuable insight into the PR industry, but also helped to shape my goals for the future.

Emma Devlin

Putting the Media in the Spotlight

We were delighted to be a part of the 2013 Coca Cola CIPR Media Awards last Friday night- celebrating the cream of our local print, broadcast and online media. Sponsoring the Broadcast Journalist of the Year Award, Morrows attended the buzzing event at The Mac Belfast basking in the evening sunshine.
Hosted by Eamonn Holmes, the theater style event was a fresh approach on the 20 year old awards ceremony. It was fantastic to see new talent such as Sara Girvan and the Cool FM breakfast team winning gold on the night as well as seasoned reporters such as Anne Hailes who claimed the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Special congratulations go to Claire Savage from the BBC who picked up our sponsored category for Broadcast Journalist of the Year. The judges said Claire was a 'polished reporter who always finds the connections' - we couldn't agree more and were delighted to present the gong to her on the evening.

Congrats also to the CIPR NI committee for hosting another great night allowing our local media to be recongised, applauded and, most importantly, let down their hair to celebrate!