THE PEOPLE of Sligo, looking to promote their county as a tourist destination, did some serious business crowdsourcing and persuaded a volunteer group of marketing professionals with Sligo connections – though working mainly in Dublin – to research, plan and design a campaign.
The volunteers keen to help their home place included Bernice Burnside from Bvisible Communications; Padraig McKeon, director at Drury Communications; advertising executive Johnny Ferguson; and Gervaise Slowey, Global Client Services for Ogilvy.
The result is a €140,000 campaign to promote the various sports and arts offerings in the county.
The campaign includes radio and print, and is funded by contributions raised from tourism, retail and service business interests in Sligo with support from Fáilte Ireland and the Leader programme.
Sligo is lucky with its people, not least its lead copy writer – WB Yeat’s provided the campaign’s catchphrase, “Arise and Go Now”.
Meanwhile, in Dublin, director Samuel Abrahams has been braving the elements filming the latest phase in Tourism Ireland’s global glossy “Jump into Ireland” advertising campaign.
Yesterday, the crew were in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre in Dublin’s city centre and from there it was the old reliables – the Ha’penny Bridge, the Grand Canal and the statue of Patrick Kavanagh, as well as Sweny’s Pharmacy on Lincoln Place.