MARY HARNEY’S advice to consumers to “shop around” seems to have struck a chord. The tanaiste took a bit of a pasting following her Marie Antoinette-type comments but Carmel Foley, director of consumer affairs, believes the PD leader is onto something. Foley’s office, fresh from a mauling at the hands of the Irish Bankers’ Federation following its submission to the Competition Authority investigation on the banking industry, is planning an extensive advertising campaign in the run-up to Christmas, urging consumers to “shop around” and be price-savvy. Ireland’s inflation rate of 3.2% remains stubbornly higher than that of fellow European Union members but with a little creative input that might be brought down to average European levels. The creative and media buying account is believed to be worth €500,000 and Billboard understands that Young Advertising, McConnells, Adept/Carat and Cawley Nea are among the five agencies shortlisted by the director for the account. A series of ads are set to run in November and December across all media.

Northern lights

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board has launched a £1m (€1.42m) advertising campaign to encourage people in both the north and south of the island to take short breaks in the north. Television advertising has begun on RTE 1, Network 2, TV3 and UTV. The radio ads start tomorrow on Radio 1 and 2FM. There will also be a print media campaign, direct mail activity and a short breaks colour brochure. Created by the Belfast-based advertising agency Fire IMC, the theme is “Add a Splash of Colour to your Life” and will push the benefits of taking short breaks. About 60% of the funds will be spent in the republic. Last year, the number of visitors from the republic to Northern Ireland rose by 14%, from 88,000 to 100,000, and they now account for 35% of all visitors to the north.

Give that man a beer

Liam Meaney has called last orders at Tennents Ireland. The managing director is moving upstairs, taking on the role of non-executive chairman in January. Meaney, 58, has worked at the company for nearly 13 years. With the company’s market share on the increase he says this seems like a good time to step aside. In addition to his non-executive role Meaney will work on a number of initiatives for Interbrew, Tennents’ parent company. Meaney’s successor is Stuart MacFarlane, managing director of Bass Ireland, Interbrew’s Northern Ireland-based subsidiary. Although the operation in the republic will be managed from Belfast by MacFarlane, Meaney stressed Interbrew’s commitment to business here, describing it as the “engine of growth”. Tennents Ireland claims it will increase its volumes this year by more than 33% — albeit off a small base — boosted by Interbrew’s acquisition of the Stella Artois and Beck’s brands. This comes against a decline of between 4% and 5% in the overall Irish beer market in 2003. Tennents Ireland is estimated to have a 3% share of the on-trade beer market and about 8% to 10% of the off-licence trade.

Waiting for impact

The date for publication of Joint National Outdoor Ratings (JNOR), the market research that measures the impact of outdoor advertising, appears to have been pushed back. The research was due to appear in the fourth quarter of this year but is now unlikely to appear until next March, according to industry sources. It is hoped the JNOR will have a similar impact to the JNLR (radio listenership) and the JNRR (newspaper readership) figures, providing accurate research on outside advertising media. The JNOR figures are being funded by companies that own outdoor sites and the specialists that sell to agencies. These include JC Decaux, Clear Channel, Viacom, Avenue, PML, Posterplan and Posterscope. Similar research has been available in the UK for some time.

Nobby scores

Marian Finucane’s listenership figures might be under pressure, as suggested by the recent JNLR/MRBI radio ratings, but her popular morning chat show continues to exercise a powerful media influence if her interview with Nobby Stiles, the former England footballer, last Monday is anything to go by. The gap-toothed 1966 World Cup winner and brother-in-law of Irish midfield great Johnny Giles entertained listeners with anecdotes and reminiscences from his long career as part of a plug for his new book, After the Ball. Such was the interest in the book generated by the interview that Eason, the retailer, had to reorder copies to satisfy demand. In terms of the average adult audience per quarter-hour slot, the key measure used by media buyers, the recent JNLR/MRBI listenership figures for July 2002 to June 2003 showed Finucane’s audience declined by 9% to 323,750. Clearly, though, the show offers a good platform for promoting books, explaining why public relations people keep pestering radio and television producers to interview authors.