Will Brit Awards sponsor avoid a reprise of sour PR note?

UTV Ireland will be broadcasting the Brit Awards later this month, it says. The channel has the rights to the music industry shindig, which takes place in London's O2 arena on February 25th. It will be hosted this year by two of the stars of UTV Ireland's launch campaign, the ITV presenters Ant and Dec.

Billed modestly as "one of the most anticipated events in the global entertainment calendar" by the organisers, last year's ceremony was dubbed a PR fail for the Brits' long-term sponsor MasterCard after it emerged that it had offered Daily Telegraph journalist Tim Walker press accreditation on condition that he send tweets that included the MasterCard Twitter handle and the hashtag "#PricelessSurprises".

Walker promptly shared the email from the credit card brand’s PR firm with the news site Press Gazette, triggering a full-scale “hashjacking” (hashtag hijacking) by Twitter users outraged by the idea of a corporation’s messengers telling journalists what to write.

And in the modern practice of harnessing other companies woes for your own brand promotion, @paddypower’s social media team tweeted, “Hey @MasterCardUK. If you send us to the Brits & ply us with booze, we’ll tweet anything you want. We’re shameless. #PricelessSurprises.”

No surprise there. But will there be a reprise of such over-zealous sponsor messaging in 2015?