Robert- Courage

I was going to write something about Christmas coming up for this blog entry but I happened across a video that changed my mind. This video concerns a young boy of perhaps about 12-13 years of age. There is no dialogue to the story but instead the tale is given to us through a collection of handwritten flashcards. His name is Jonah Mowry and he has been cutting himself since the 2^nd Grade (8 years old).

As the video progresses we learn that Jonah has been bullied since the 1^st Grade (6-7 years old) and that he will be entering in the 8^th grade next month. Jonah is terrified of returning to school because every day he gets picked on and he is hated by everyone. This doesn’t surprise him because he hates himself too and he has frequently thought of suicide as his only way out.

Despite the emotional nature of this video it ends positively with Jonah saying that he is not going anywhere and that he has a million different reasons to stay. Upon seeing this video I found myself thinking about my own schooldays. I was lucky enough to never have had any trouble like Jonah but I knew people who were miserable for five days a week throughout their time in primary school and secondary school and I wish I had done more to help them. Even just stop and talk to them and let them know I was there.

Coming from a background in psychology I am very passionate about the emotional health of my friends and colleagues in both the MDP and beyond. I also know from personal experience that one of the simplest and most effective ways of coping with depression or anguish is to talk about it. Jonah felt that he had to turn to the online community for support but even confiding in a friend or someone you trust can have a very positive effect on someone’s wellbeing.

A link to the video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdkNn3Ei-Lg&feature=share

And please remember to share it on either facebook or twitter to spread the story of Jonah Mowry.

For anyone looking for more information on depression or feel the need to talk about themselves or others anonymously, Aware Ireland offers a depression counselling -service.

You can get in touch with them here: http://www.aware.ie/

If you do think someone you know might have depression then the worst thing you can do is ignore it. Far too much grief in this world has been caused by others assuming someone else will solve the problem.

Thank you and good night.

Christy- under the tree at SPAR

The unexpected has happened; SPAR is set to begin featuring in RTE’s Fair City as a new outlet.

The store will become part of the storyline and will essentially create awareness for the brand. In Ireland to date there has never been such an extreme investment in product placement and brand integration of its kind; costing SPAR €900,000 over the next three years.

Christy Phelan, the loser in love, has always put his business as his priority at the Carrigstown corner shop. His corner shop is currently under a transformation into a state-of-the-art SPAR store. Although it is evident that opportunities are there for through the investment, Fair City can also benefit from the opportunity to create new story lines around the Christy Phelan, one of Fair City’s favourite characters.

SPAR has been in the Irish market for over 50 years which places SPAR as a fitting product placement for the Irish soap. RTE’s Fair City reaches over 500,000 viewers across Ireland four times every week, an average of over half a million viewers per episode in 2011

The opportunity for SPAR goes further than product placement because the SPAR brand will be a feature of the story-line on a regular basis which will maximise marketing activity. An on-screen store launch will be aired in December of this year. Although the viewers will now notice the SPAR tree symbol during each episode, they will also notice a “PP” logo to state that the programme contains product placement.

Advertisers are currently faced with an era where viewer can now skip through TV ad breaks at a high speed which allows the viewers to avoid advertisements with the use of SKY+. I feel that SPAR has innovatively established a marketing method which can overcome the current ad avoidance issues and tie with the Irish communities.

Posted By Christine Cullen