Virgin Media Ireland is offering €1m worth of advertising and publicity as part of its #BackingBusiness initiative to boost Irish businesses nationwide.
The company is offering free on-air advertising including creative and production, profiles in relevant TV programmes, and social media promotion across its full schedule covering Virgin Media channels One, Two and Three.
Aidan D’Arcy (pictured), Director of Business at Virgin Media, said the #BackingBusiness initiative is designed to underpin the renewal and recovery of businesses in communities throughout Ireland in response to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
“It’s open to businesses across the country and aims to give them a national platform to showcase their resilience and ingenuity during these challenging times,” said D’Arcy. “It will run until September, featuring as many Irish businesses as possible."
D’Arcy explained that all business owners have to do is to send in a short email, outlining who and where they are, some of their main products or services and how they have coped and reinvented themselves through the current crisis.
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He said the best way to do this is to take a short video by mobile phone, including shots of the business premises. Submissions can be e-mailed to backingbusiness@virginmedia.ie, or submitted through WhatsApp on 089 611 1111.
“Virgin Media reaches into every home in Ireland and our editorial, creative, production and commercial teams are really looking forward to bringing this programme to life,” said D’Arcy. “As the economy gradually reopens in the weeks to come, we encourage consumers everywhere to rally in support of their local shops, businesses and service providers and to buy Irish wherever possible including online shopping and ordering by phone.
“This campaign celebrates and promotes the spirit of Irish businesses and their resolve to fight back, recover and succeed in spite of this unprecedented crisis. We’re really delighted to make it happen and we’re looking forward to hearing from businesses in every village, town and city across Ireland.”
The first six businesses to feature in Virgin Media’s #BackingBusiness campaign are listed below.
PamperTheCamper.com
Having established a foothold in the festival market by providing camping packages and fully serviced ‘Glampsites’ to festivals across Ireland, Pamper The Camper has pivoted to offer a wide variety of multi-purpose bell tents for use at home. The company says the bell tents can serve as playroom for children, a chill-out escape for adults, or even a garden office to help with home working challenges.
The Sensory Pod
The Sensory Pod was due to be in Dubai, having won a contract for Expo 2020, which was cancelled until 2021, and they had a large volume of Sensory Units built for the Expo that were going to be left gathering dust. Now the firm is renting the entire stock to parents of special needs children.
StuffUNeed.ie
What started as a very local delivery service to help the elderly and those cocooning quickly grew into a viable business within weeks. The founders have increased their grocery lines to nearly 500 items from major suppliers, such as United Drug and Proximo, and have added a number of local independent restaurants who would otherwise be unable to reach customers.
Nufields
Using high quality, commercial standard equipment, organic seed and an organic coconut fibre based soil, anyone can now grow restaurant standard, nutrient dense microgreens at home. All you need is a window sill!
Workspace Interiors
The office workspace design company has developed a range of home working solutions for customers as well as a range of ‘sneeze screens’.
South William Clinic & Spa
The clinic is closed for the moment but the online shop is busy and there are also online skin consultations for customers.
