Ford Corporation spent $10 million (€9.5 million) this week buying television spots worldwide for what is probably the first truly global advertisement. The two-minute advertisement ran last Monday in one time zone after another, starting in New Zealand and heading west.
It was screened on RTE just before 9 p.m. and, in another first for Ford, features the seven product brands - Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Volvo - which come under its umbrella.
According to Mr Eddie Nolan, chairman and managing director of Henry Ford & Son in Ireland: "It's not about selling cars; it's about creating a positive feeling." The company expects the advertisement to have reached a billion people in one night.
It probably comes as no surprise to anyone to hear that the main purchasers of chocolate assortments are female and between the ages of 20-45.
Cadbury's is introducing a new chocolate assortment product called Miniature Heroes which it hopes will have a younger, unisex appeal, as the tub-shaped pack is full of miniatures of the brand's best-known names, including Crunchies and Twirls.
The company has clearly been inspired by Mars's hugely successful Celebration product, a similar assortment of miniatures. Some £3 million (€3.8 million) was spent developing the product. In the Republic, the company is spending £250,000 in a multimedia campaign.
Sponsorship is clearly close to Mr John Foley's heart. The sales and marketing director for Waterford Crystal won the 1999 Marketer of the Year and, at the awards ceremony at the Morrison Hotel, the first people he thanked were the event's sponsors, Marketing magazine and BFK Design.
Waterford Crystal's own sponsorships range from the Book of Kells to the Ryder Cup 2005. Mr Foley says that, while its trophy business has close ties with sport, it has been encouraged by the success of the John Rocha collaboration and is changing tack, with more links to fashion and music events.
