Who is your (alternative) most refreshing NI personality?

Belfast boxing hero Paddy Barnes may have taken the title of Carling’s Most Refreshing NI Personality, but who else should have made the top 10?

 

You can get in touch via the Carling Ireland Facebook page or on twiiter using the hashtag #CarlingBrilliantlyRefreshing.

 

 The current top 10 list is as follows:

1. Paddy Barnes
2. Terri Hooley
3. James Nesbitt
4. Stephan Nolan
5. Paddy Kietly
6. Rory McIlroy
7. Tiffany Brien
8. (Jedi) Jim Eastwood
9. Titti Von Tramp
10. Van Morrison

Cameron Stands in the Footprint of Titanic

No...not the Prime Minister, but none other than multi-oscar winning Director James Cameron who visited Northern Ireland recently to launch his Titanic 3D remake. Calling it the highlight of his visit he and Producer Jon Landau visited the last standing place of the Titanic, the Titanic Dock and Pumphouse, in the Northern Ireland Science Park - the very place where Titanic last stood on the eve of her first and last voyage in April 1912.

During the tour which was hosted by Mervyn Watley, Director of Corporate Real Estate and Facilities at the Northern Ireland Science Park and Tour Guide Colin Cobb he said it evoked strong memories of his trips to the ocean bed where the ill-fated liner now lies. He was impressed by the sheer size and authentic nature of the visitor attraction including the dry dock and the original steel dock gate, which itself is over 100 years old and built in the same way as the hull of the Titanic itself.

For anyone who hasn't yet visited the site or stood down in the dock you should make it a priority. Alongside a visit to the Titanic Belfast building, it offers the authentic heritage of the period and immediately presents you with the size and scale of engineering brilliance that Belfast was once synonymous with. Sitting as it does alongside the modern innovation of the Northern Ireland Science Park which plays host to a range of engineering sectors from the modern era, the juxtaposition reminds us that NI's innovation gene is alive and well.

Boxer Barnes ‘Brilliantly Refreshing’ says NI

Belfast boxing hero Paddy Barnes has certainly enjoyed a fantstic summer. Not only did the 25 year old have an incredible London 2012 Olympics, he also made history by becoming the first boxer from Northern Ireland to win consecutive Olympic medals, and to round it all off he has now been named as Carling’s most ‘Brilliantly Refreshing’ personality.

It fell to Gavin Bates from Molson Coors to deliver the good news to Paddy, who in turn decided that Gavin deserved an impromtpu sparring session - can you tell who won? 

In Carling's poll Paddy beat of some stiff competition from the Godfather of Punk, Terri Hooley, the star of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit, James Nesbitt, broadcaster Stephen Nolan, comedian Paddy Kielty and the World’s number one golfer, Rory McIlroy – to name but a few.

The nationwide survey sought to identify Northern Irish personalities who are famous for their open, unique and sometimes controversial views. The announcement of the survey results heralds the launch of Carling’s new ‘Have the Next One on Us’ campaign that is running in participating pubs across Northern Ireland.

Commenting on being named Carling’s most ‘Brilliantly Refreshing Personality’ Paddy Barnes said, “I’m really chuffed to know that people see me as refreshing! I went to the Olympics to compete but also to enjoy the experience. I had a ball, met some fantastic athletes (Usain Bolt was something else) and did my best to represent my country and the sport of boxing.

“The support I received during the Games was amazing and certainly gave me a boost. I’d like to thank everyone who supported me. London 2012 was an experience that I’ll never forget.”

Taking Advantage (NI) to another level

We are delighted to welcome Advantage NI to Morrow Communications. Our AV Team has been commissioned to produce a series of web based videos and case studies to assist Advantage NI tackle the issue of youth unemployment in rural areas. The video case studies feature young people, and tell their story of how they found employment, as well as additional commentary coming from employers discussing the skills sets they are looking for.

Life Through a Lens

The past few months have been busy for our AV Team. They have been involved in some fantastic projects - they rubbed shoulders with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall when the royal couple visited Irwin's Bakery as part of a special two day visit to NI, took a golf lesson from Mr. Caddyshack himself, Bill Murray at the Irish Open and completed work for a variety of organisations from across a diverse range of NI business sectors. Some of the highlights have included:

The production of a fast paced promotional film for the NI Defence Industry. Commissioned by Invest Northern Ireland, the DVD showcases the advanced skills we have to offer this specialist sector in the likes of manufacturing, innovation and exports. The film was shown to a select group of stakeholders at a special screening hosted in the Houses of Parliament.



We've also been re-commissioned by Queen's University to work on 'Season 2' of its highly successful innovation series. Filming is well underway and some of the projects that will be captured are quiet simply amazing. For a flavour of things to come why not check out Season 1

Ground Breaking Design @ Morrow Communications

Morrow Communications is not a company that ever stands still! In fact we're always keen to explore new ways of improving our client services. For some time now we have been exploring how best to integrate graphic design in to our client offering….and are delighted to say that we now offer an in-house graphic design service.

Perhaps the most exciting project to date has been an augmented reality project for Moy Park. Working closely with Blippar we created an on pack competition with a difference - using the very latest smart phone technology. 

Moy Park is the first Northern Irish brand to use this cutting-edge technology, which brought the competition to life and enabled people to enter via their smart phone in the supermarket. By simply holding their smart phone screen over the Moy Park logo on the pack consumers were taken to a virtual reality Moy Park recipe book and interactive link to the Florida competition.

InterTradeIreland

Morrows events team are delighted to announce that we’ve just been awarded the InterTradeIreland Event Management contract for a second term! We first won the tender for event management services in 2010 and this new contact will see us continue to produce events all over Ireland! Some of our recent InterTradeIreland event successes include:

Venture Capital Conference 2012 - An Oscar Winning Performance!
Over 250 delegates from across Ireland came to Belfast’s City Hall to 'Navigate the Funding Maze' and to build on the experiences of companies that have been through the private equity process. Hosted by the BBC’s business editor Jim Fitzpatrick, the event featured keynote presentations from Danny Moore of Lough Shore Investments (who had funded the Oscar winning production“The Shore”) and Dennis R Costello from Braemar Energy Ventures. There’s more to events than setting tables and issuing name badges - Have a look at this timelapse video that shows what goes on!



Collaborate to Innovate Conference

The Andrews Gallery in the iconic Titanic Belfast was the venue for the recent InterTradeIreland “Collaborate to Innovate” Conference. The event was to highlight and demonstrate the importance of research and innovation in achieving Europe’s 2020 objectives for economic growth and job creation. As a cross border event, the conference was opened by both Arlene Foster MLA and Lucinda Creighton TD as well as featuring a keynote address by Máire Geoghegan-Quinn the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science.

Young People Making an Impact

 The Northern Ireland Environment Agency together with OFMDFM jointly hosted the second Impact 2012 Youth, Sustainability and Environment Awards in March. The Awards were an opportunity for young people from across Northern Ireland to be rewarded for their activities in sustainable development initiatives and to showcase their projects at a final exhibition and celebration event.

Morrows managed the full event process from managing entries and judging packs; organising and managing 38 project exhibitions; commissioning unique bespoke trophies; booking and coordinating the arrangements for the awards including compere Frank Mitchell as well as entertainers, suppliers and venue management

The day was a great success with 300 attending the awards final to view the innovative environmental projects before being entertained by circus performers, interactive characters, an ariel silk performer as well as up and coming Northern Irish band “The Wonder Villains.” Judges commented that the standard of entrants was extremely high and finalists waited with baited breath as the winners were announced. A great day!