Media&Marketing: Advertiser reaction to the first three days of the Irish Daily Mail has been mixed, but a certain amount of negativity is detectable.
This may because the paper so far has not made any attempt to target Irish advertising agencies or their clients. However, in tim,e the agencies will have to be approached and they may need some persuasion to come aboard.
So far the paper's visiblity has been good with merchandisers hitting certain parts of Dublin and handing the paper out. Most of this activity has now ceased and the paper is in the newsagents for 30 cent and 35 cent on Saturday. Ultimately it will be sold at 75 cent.
The presence of British adverts remains noticecable. For example, yesterday's edition contained an advert for retailer Asda, which does not trade in the Republic.
The paper is seeking to build an average circulation of 40,000 copies in the first few months. Initiative, one of the largest agencies in Dublin, said the paper would face several obstacles before it could achieve this.
For example, it pointed out this week athat the sports section was "almost directly taken from the UK version".
It also added: "The paper's mid-market, catch-all strategy may not attract Irish readers, who have distinct needs, which appear to be serviced by existing newspapers. The newspaper is to be audited monthly by ABC so we should know in a couple of months how the new paper is doing - just as they begin to offer Irish advertising space".
Universal McCann, another leading advertiser, said it was not ideal that no Irish advertising was being solicited or included.
Martina Stenson, managing director said: "From a media planner and buyer's perspective the launch of the Irish Daily Mail has been an incredibly low- key affair."
She added: "There has been little or no sharing of information from Associated Newspapers and it appears that they have taken a decision not to include Irish advertising for the time being. We have to assume that they are waiting for their first audited figures before approaching potential advertisers. This will mean that in the short term the paper will feature UK ads, which from a consumer perspective, isn't ideal."
There is the added problem of Irish companies like Aer Lingus and Ryanair having their British ads in the Irish edition with prices in sterling.
The editor of Marketing magazine, Michael Cullen, said the format of the paper was predictable.
"The Mail's new Irish edition offers no surprises and is exactly the type of paper we've been expecting. As competition for circulation among the dailies intensifies, along with the added dimension of the two morning freesheets, it will be interesting to see where the Mail picks up sales."
Meanwhile, at the paper itself, the night editor, Danny Gallagher, who previously worked with the Sun, has departed.
The reason for his departure was not disclosed by Associated, although UK media reports yesterday said his depature was hastened by differences with Martin Clarke, the former editor-in-chief of Ireland on Sunday, who has been helping to launch the new paper. Associated Newspapers declined to comment yesterday.
Literary turn at TV3
With suitors continuing to circle TV3, the station is not standing still on programming. It has submitted up to seven proposals for funding to the Sound and Vision licence fee fund, set up by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.
The Sound and Vision fund, which represents 5 per cent of annual licence fee revenues, is now available to privately owned radio and TV stations. It is understood to contain about €25 million and TV3 is hoping some of its proposals will qualify.
One of its most intriguing proposals is to produce a programme about Flann O'Brien (Brian O'Nolan), who once penned copy for this newspaper under the name Myles na Gopaleen.
Provisionally called Forty Years On, this special will celebrate the life and times of Flann O'Brien and will involve almost every current Irish comedian. It is expected to air in April.
GAA fights popular
It may have been unedifying, it may have been reprehensible, but Sunday's punch-up between Tyrone and Dublin seems to have caught the imagination of TV viewers at least, if not the GAA hierarchy.
It attracted 108,000 viewers to TG4. The audience for the programme actually peaked at 196,000 at one stage, although it is not clear if this was during one of the more robust altercations.
AFA O'Meara, the Dublin agency, pointed out that such figures exclude any out-of-home viewing in places such as pubs, bars and clubs.
Meanwhile the RBS Six Nations game between Italy and Ireland attracted 316,000 viewers.
The audience peaked at 484,000 and, as is traditional, the match delivered very strong coverage amongst ABC1 men.
Native languages
Polish and Turkish construction workers have been targeted over the last few weeks in an unusual campaign from the Health and Safety Authority.
The campaign was about safety at work and on building sites, but unusually the spots only ran in Turkish and Polish.
The campaign by DHR Communications is likely to become more popular in the years ahead.
The HSA claims to be the first organisation to communicate with these two groups in their native language.
In-store TV adverts
The Dixons Group, which also owns Currys and PC World, is to offer advertising space on all its in-store televisions. The in-store display TVs, which usually show music or TV programmes, are to show a loop of TV adverts, with each being shown four times per hour.
Wilson to UTV
Michael Wilson (36) has been appointed by UTV as head of television. Wilson previously held a number of senior roles with Sky News. He was centrally involved in launching Sky News Ireland in May 2004 and was also an editor of Reuters Television before joining Sky News.
Emmet Oliver can be contacted at eoliver@irish-times.ie
