Small food producers can win ad deal

The National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) last night launched a competition to monitor the effectiveness of newspaper advertising.

Under the guise of a project entitled "Press Builds Brands", and with the help of 20 small Irish food and drink companies and the same number of advertising agencies, the NNI hopes to assess whether advertising in newspapers works.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for 20 small, indigenous food producers to literally make a name for themselves through newspaper advertising," Maeve Donovan, managing director of The Irish Times and a member of the NNI management committee, said at yesterday's launch.

Addressing the 500 members of the newspaper and advertising industries gathered for an award ceremony to announce the winners of this year's creative advertising awards in Dublin's RDS, Ms Donovan said the initiative had the chance to turn any of the 20 participating companies into "the next Ballygowan".

Twenty years ago the mineral water producer, whose name was at the time unknown, won the NNI Power of Press award and became a household name on the strength of its advertising.

"That's the sort of success story we hope to create with this initiative," said Ms Donovan.

The advertising campaigns will be assessed by a panel of judges headed by Maurice Pratt, chief executive of drinks and snacks maker C&C. Also on the panel will be copywriter and novelist Catherine Donnelly and Tara McCarthy, head of Irish food agency Bord Bia's consumer food and drinks division.

Under the rules of the project, once the 20 small food or drink producers, which must be from the Bord Bia range, are selected, each will be assigned one of Ireland's leading advertising agencies. Each agency must then create a press campaign aimed at "revolutionising the fortunes" of the brand in question.

According to Ms Donovan, the aim of the competition is to generate "tangible, persuasive information" about the effectiveness of newspaper advertising.

But for the company involved there's a little more at stake: an advertising deal worth about €1.2 million, based on 2004 figures.

"Of course, there is also the likelihood that a big surge in brand awareness will also lead to a substantial increase in sales and profits for the brands whose campaigns are being published," said Ms Donovan. "Whatever happens, 2006 will be a big year for at least three of the Bord Bia companies involved."

First prize includes €10,000 for the advertising agency team, a further €20,000 for the agency to produce and place the ads and, for the Bord Bia company, NNI advertising space equivalent to a top five Irish food brand's annual rate card spend.

Two runners-up will receive €5,000 for the agency team, €10,000 for the agency to produce and place the ads, and for the company NNI advertising space equal to a top 20 Irish food brand's annual rate card spend, which, based on last year's figures, is equal to about €750,000 each.

"All around Ireland, small indigenous companies are producing the highest quality food and drinks but most of them don't yet have the financial resources to tell their story the way they'd like to," said Aidan Cotter, chief executive of Bord Bia.

"That's why the NNI's 'Press Builds Brands' initiative is such a wonderful idea. It gives these companies a chance to get their message out - through great press advertising - to the people of Ireland."

The winning campaigns will be published in NNI's range of newspapers over a nine-month period.

Ms Donovan said that, at the end of the project, the NNI hopes to be able to point to a substantial increase in brand awareness and deliver the sort of effectiveness data that will enable newspaper sales people and agency planners to make a tangible, powerful case for newspapers.