Public Relations Report 2004

The one-year sponsorship agreement with Allianz was a very significant development for Cumann na mBunscol in the past year. Allianz has been an excellent national sponsor and it’s good to have them supporting us for a further period. A longer term commitment from the company will depend on the return they get from counties in the coming months. Details of a new arrangement to ensure maximum return for Allianz will be discussed at the AGM.

The following are the main Public Relations initiatives I have been involved in since our last AGM in Sligo.

1. Preparing a submission and negotiating a new one-year sponsorship deal with Allianz.

2. The Roadstone National Awards : They were a great success again last year and An Taoiseach, as our special guest, added to the occasion. Roadstone, through their Managing Director, Michael Grogan, have committed their support for another year and planning is at an advanced stage for the 2004 awards. The 2003 awards were featured in a 30 minute documentary on RTE and a segment on ‘Nationwide’ was watched by a huge audience. A promotional video of the Awards’ Banquet in The Berkeley Court Hotel, sponsored by Roadstone, was distributed to every primary school in the country.

3. I spoke at the launch of the McDonald’s ’Catch and Kick Challenge’ in Croke Park and was involved in all the Croke Park exhibitions of the ‘Challenge‘, in organisation of the days, providing children for each Sunday to help with equipment and carry banners and providing commentary for the crowd. The initiative was a huge success and schools appreciated the equipment and coaching materials they received from McDonald’s.

4. A special photo-shoot was arranged with an international singing star and some Cumann na mBunscol children to be used to promote the ‘Lift and Strike Challenge‘ 2004 - the hurling promotion. The identity of the singer will be revealed sometime between the launch in Croke Park on March 30^th and the start of the summer series in Croke Park. 

5. A promotion with Lyons Tea that provided a top-quality Gaelic games pack for primary schools and a full-colour poster that has been widely welcomed by teachers. Hundreds of schools have registered for a county jersey promotion based on token collecting.

6. Cúl4Kidz : this is one of the most exciting projects to come on stream for many years. 120,000 copies of Cúl4Kidz magazine were distributed with The Irish Times on three occasions. Further issues will follow in 2004. The magazine is a state-of-the art Gaelic games production that is ideally pitched for the primary school child. The accompanying website is vibrant, colourful and informative and it has enormous potential. I am a member of a committee planning content and development of these valuable resources on an on-going basis. Further details of these initiatives will be announced at a forthcoming meeting with County PRO’s

7. Up to the time of its demise, I provided two pages for Highball magazine each month.

8. The INTO-GAA Mini-Sevens is still generating significant publicity throughout the country. The Croke Park element of the scheme was successful in 2003. I introduced the scheme to the crowd at all stages of the event and involved the Mini-Sevens children in a guard of honour for the senior teams at both All-Ireland finals.

9. Irish Pride Bakeries, part of the IAWS group, produced the much-publicised DJ Carey video last year. They distributed free copies of the video to schools in selected counties [their choice!]. Thanks to Claire McTigue of IAWS for assistance with this initiative.

10. I provided Cumann na mBunscol material for 42 match programmes throughout the season. The full-page, full-colour presentation in Croke Park programmes during the All-Ireland series got a very favourable response.

11. For the second year we ran a competition on the Cúla 4 programme on TG4 with a prize of an opportunity for a child to participate as an umpire at the Mini-Sevens in Croke Park. TG4 were very pleased with the response and it generated significant publicity for Cumann na mBunscol in the week before the All-Ireland football final.

12.The RTE 6.1 News carried several segments on Cumann na mBunscol activities during the year.

13. I did Cumann na mBunscoil related interviews with RTE Radio, RTE TV, Lite FM. Raidio na Gaeltachta, Radio Kerry, Anna Livia Radio and a Sunday morning slot with Robbie Irwin on Radio2 on his very popular sports programme.

14. I wish to thank all who helped organise half-time entertainment during the All-Ireland Camogie finals and the Ladies All-Ireland finals in Croke Park.

15. Along with Jim O’Reilly, I attended the INTO Congress in Galway. A great deal of positive promotional work was done, contacts were made and thousands of posters, stickers and other promotional material was distributed to schools during the three days of the Congress.

16. As Dublin PRO, I was involved with over 30 different promotional initiatives. Many of these received considerable national media coverage with our sponsors logo prominently featured

17. I contribute 2 pages every Wednesday to ‘The Star’ newspaper. The pages carry the Allianz logo.

18.Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael launched their new magazine, ‘CG’. I contributed an article for the first issue and attended the launch.

19. Cumann Peil,Gael na mBan will launch a new magazine in the near future. I have arranged for a feature to be done on a Belfast school for the first issue.

20. I arranged for RTE to film in schools in Tyrone and Armagh prior to the All-Ireland football final. These segments were transmitted during the live broadcast of the All-Ireland. I wish to thank Mícheál O Briain of RTE for facilitating this project.

21. I arranged for a segment on camogie for a new Campbell’s Soup advertisement to be filmed in Scoil Cholmcille, Knocklyon.

22. I attended the launch of the Allianz football and hurling leagues. On both occasions I brought children for photographs. At the launch of this year’s football leagues by An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the 10 year involvement of Allianz with Cumann na mBunscol was celebrated with a special cake. Photographs were taken with An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, GAA President, Seán Kelly, County Managers, Mickey Harte and Tommy Lyons and Allianz Managing Director, Brendan Murphy.

23.Two Croke Park projects, devised by Cumann na mBunscol, Ath Claith, generated a significant amount of positive publicity. The innovative ’Other Foot’ game got three outings in Croke Park due to a significant reaction from the general public. RTE’s excellent ‘Breaking Ball’ programme featured the skills’ development game. The Croke Park face-painting initiative involved the building of six custom-made multi-coloured carts and six teams of painters who attended all matches and added a new dimension to our games, especially for families. Comhairle Laighean CLG gave great support to this initiative as did Croke Park Stadium Manager, Peter McKenna.

I wish to express my thanks to all members of the media who helped spread the Cumann na mBunscol gospel during the past year. Publicity is the life-blood of our organisation and without their assistance our work would go un-noticed.

Special thanks is also due to John Corcoran and John Redmond from Slattery PR. Enda Lynch did a superb job for us also before he departed to pastures new with Vodafone. Cumann na mBunscol wishes him well in his new job. Catherine Plunkett, Caroline Meany, Damian O’Neill and Dónal Bollard from Allianz were extremely supportive and fully understand and appreciate what we are about.

If we wish to retain Allianz as sponsors, it will be essential that all our units take the matter seriously. A seminar for County PRO’s will be arranged in the near future to explain exactly what is required. Allianz have expressed a desire to attend this gathering.

Tá súil agam go mbainfidh siad taitneamh as an eagrán reatha de ’Scoilspórt’. Gabhaim buíochas le gach éinne a chabhraigh liom é a chur le chéile. Bainigí sult as bhfuair gcuairt go dti An Riocht - lár-ionad na peile!

 Jerry Grogan

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