Galway Independent & Impact Media?

TristanPeter

What's the deal here? Almost every single week the Galway Independent have an in-your-face 2 page spread dedicated to Impact Media. If I see one more cheesy, grinning picture of Niall McGarry, the founder of Impact Media, staring out at me, I'm going to start using the Galway Independent as toilet paper :mad:
I mean, are both businesses owned by the same person or are Impact Media actually paying to shove their success stories down our throats
Again, in today's paper is another "Advertising Promotion." The company is certainly making an impact on me but in a very negative way...but does that matter? Maybe as long at they are making any impact at all, good or bad, they are succeeding in their goal. I'm sick of looking at them though but their spreads are hard to avoid.

biko

Think they used to work there.

Lynskey, now financial director and McGarry, chairman, knew about design, advertising and media and after leaving university they sold space in newspapers. During their time with the Galway Independent freesheet, they noticed the amount of ad spend locally.

Ads were being placed in large numbers in the Galway Advertiser, Mayo News and Limerick Leader, with little or no real thought behind them. They saw an opportunity for advertising services locally and Impact Media was founded to fill the gap in 2003.

http://www.marketing.ie/index.jsp?p=323&n=316&a=287

pointofnoreturn

I've found it annoying too, when i use to read that paper, Think it's like that for over a year! and really there stories aren't so amazing just small local projects

biscuits1981

bit jealous r we peter

TristanPeter

biscuits1981 wrote: »

bit jealous r we peter

Now that you mention it...no

Malice

Marketing people are trained liars so anytime I come across articles glorifying their achievements I instinctively skip over them. If you are sick of looking at them just turn the page.

Buglim

malice_ wrote: »

Marketing people are trained liars so anytime I come across articles glorifying their achievements I instinctively skip over them. If you are sick of looking at them just turn the page.

Come on, you would have gone down a storm in 1930's Berlin, who's next for the large brush stroke opinions????:D

_Whimsical_

I'd say the Galway Indo is the cheapest place for local advertising now. It's obviously effective too. For example I don't know the name of any other small Galway PR company and I doubt many other people do either. They're probably there every week because they've just found it works!

Malice

Buglim wrote: »

Come on, you would have gone down a storm in 1930's Berlin, who's next for the large brush stroke opinions????:D

I don't know, there are so many to choose from; Students, old people, travellers, foreigners etc.

chilly wrote:

For example I don't know the name of any other small Galway PR company and I doubt many other people do either.

But if you wanted to know something like that couldn't you just do a quick Google search? Then you wouldn't have to faff about trying to find the newspaper with the ad in it as you'd be presented with websites which would hopefully have valid contact details present.

TristanPeter

chilly wrote: »

I'd say the Galway Indo is the cheapest place for local advertising now. It's obviously effective too. For example I don't know the name of any other small Galway PR company and I doubt many other people do either. They're probably there every week because they've just found it works!

I agree in that I'm sure it does work. It just irritates me to see the same self-gratifying spiel every week. It reads and looks as if it's a journalistic write up...but it's just Impact Media writing it themselves :rolleyes:

And yes...I do skip over it. The first two to three weeks of it were enough for me

ScumLord

chilly wrote: »

I'd say the Galway Indo is the cheapest place for local advertising now. It's obviously effective too. For example I don't know the name of any other small Galway PR company and I doubt many other people do either. They're probably there every week because they've just found it works!

Does it work? It's hardly targeted marketing, more like blanket marketing which cost loads and gets minimum return. The Galway advertiser is hardly the first place businesses turn to when they are thinking they need a bit of marketing.

Zzippy

Buglim wrote: »

Come on, you would have gone down a storm in 1930's Berlin, who's next for the large brush stroke opinions????:D

Jeez, you just Godwin'd a thread about a marketing company. Bit OTT?

irishvamp90

Same the last 2 weeks in limerick,both the limerick independent and the limerick chronicle,and jerry flannery a director whf??doubt he works there some how

_Whimsical_

ScumLord wrote: »

Does it work? It's hardly targeted marketing, more like blanket marketing which cost loads and gets minimum return. The Galway advertiser is hardly the first place businesses turn to when they are thinking they need a bit of marketing.

I think it does work.The importance of establishing brand recognition cannot be overestimated,particularly in a small market place.It's power works on both a conscious and an unconscious level.Just having a name on the tip of your tongue counts for alot in any sector.They have quite a few well known but small Galway businesses on their books. Alot of small to medium sized local businesses aren't going to be very interested in spending time researching the best local PR firms. I'm sure that alot would be happy to go with a firm that's established their reputation by advertising their successes and the work they've done for local clients that future customers can identify with. I presume they aren't forking out money for absolutely no return.Time will tell I suppose!

He looks familiar http://www.impactmedia.ie/our_team.shtml
I must have gone to college with him or something.

Mrs OBumble

TristanPeter wrote: »

It reads and looks as if it's a journalistic write up...but it's just Impact Media writing it themselves :rolleyes:

Yeah, but it's hardly different from the press-releases from councillors and the advertorials from businesses of all sorts.

There's very little of what I'd call journalist write up in any of our local papers.

_Whimsical_

JustMary wrote: »

Yeah, but it's hardly different from the press-releases from councillors and the advertorials from businesses of all sorts.

There's very little of what I'd call journalist write up in any of our local papers.

That is very true and a pity really. The front page might have an actual story but so much of the local papers are just page upon page of press releases now.

Malice

Zzippy wrote: »

Jeez, you just Godwin'd a thread about a marketing company. Bit OTT?

I never noticed the reference in Buglim's post until you said it .

Buglim

Zzippy wrote: »

Jeez, you just Godwin'd a thread about a marketing company. Bit OTT?

I never mentioned them by name, I could have been refering to the beautiful Bauhaus period which ended in 1933.

Still have to say to Just Mary that unlike Malices original comment which has a lot of truth to it, I read all the local newspapers and in fairness, you do have your local business and notes pieces which you may find boring (remember others may not) but take a look at your local papers this week and you will find some very good local interest news stories.

So if you will Mary, please pic up a copy of the Galway Independent, Advertiser and Tribune and tell me which papers you have a problem with and why? (lets stil to the first 12 pages where the main news is)

diverdriver

I think the name spells it out. The Galway Advertiser. No room for interpretation there. It advertises. The Galway Independant is also an advertiser trying to tap into the Advertiser's market. Frankly any news in it is a bonus. Any free paper lives on advertising. I happily browse both but don't exactly take the news items seriously. Many are just press releases, word for word.

You can't really expect them to be unbiased or contain anything really interesting. Both do at times but like I said it's a bonus.

Buglim

Hi D

Well why dont you look at this weeks papers and I'll set you the same task as I set Mary?

Mrs OBumble

I've already got rid of the Info, but looking at the Advertiser:

p1 - one article, written by a journalist about what was said in court
p2 - editorial, continuation of the p1 article, one apparent article that's really just advertising copy for the paper itself
p3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19 - all advertising
p8 - one article (1/4 page) which is a court report from Australia + a photo (yup, the must have done some work to get the photo ... or did some childhood enemy of the guy send it in?)
p10 - another court report, and a press release from the Irish Pharmacy Union with one paragraph from the HSE tacked on the end
p12 p one article by "Una Sinnot" - not a name I've seen there before - is it a press-release from the Gardi? reads like one ...
p16 - letters to the editor (no effort from the paper there)
p18 - another court report, a press release from Frank Fahey, and a write up of a NUIG research report

Ironically, it's in the next few pages that we start getting some interesting articles which actually have local news in 'em. I wonder how many people make it past the crime reports to get to this bit of the paper.

Seriously though: I don't have a problem with this. I'm getting exactly what I paid for - well, actually quite a bit more than I paid for, since I appreciate the Sudoku, the politics write-ups, and some of the articles in the middle of the paper.

Happy now?

Buglim

This is one paper Mary, What about the other two???

I agree that the Advertiser haven't been putting in the effort but you can't call all the local papers rags just based on the Advertiser.

ScumLord

chilly wrote: »

I think it does work.The importance of establishing brand recognition cannot be overestimated,particularly in a small market place.It's power works on both a conscious and an unconscious level.Just having a name on the tip of your tongue counts for alot in any sector.They have quite a few well known but small Galway businesses on their books. Alot of small to medium sized local businesses aren't going to be very interested in spending time researching the best local PR firms. I'm sure that alot would be happy to go with a firm that's established their reputation by advertising their successes and the work they've done for local clients that future customers can identify with. I presume they aren't forking out money for absolutely no return.Time will tell I suppose!

There a bit stupid if they won't shop around and these guys are preying on them.

scary_tractors

In fairness for a freebie the Galway Indo is not bad - compare it to the Advertiser for gods sake... the advertiser does exactly what it says on the tin, at least the first few pages of the Indo have actual news in them. And the Tribune just put frank faheys press releases on the front page every week. Not what you'd call intrepid.

cL0h

TristanPeter wrote: »

It reads and looks as if it's a journalistic write up...

You are expecting professional unbiased journalism in a rag you got for free. The Galway "Independent" and Advertiser serve those who pay for them and no one else.
They regularly publish one sided rebuttals by Galway business people to balanced articles published in the City Tribune. Two pages later you'll see a large ad from same business people.
Try paying for your news.

Buglim

Hi C

Now I wonder where that rant came from, C thats a load of rubbish..... sorry but if you put your argument forward that free sources are not reliable than you can exclude the whole of the internet & radio also (some are good and some are bad).

Sorry but that is just rubbish of the highest order. I'd like to know if you have even read some of the local papers this week because I doubt it from that response.

A unbiased opinion is non existant, every paper is influenced by editors and owners.

I am not a journalist but i don't think you could meet a journalist in Ireland who has never had a story influenced by the commercial influences affecting the paper.


OP was refering to an advertorial piece which the Tribune is more than happy to accept and not news content.

Please get your facts correct before milling in with your opinion.

Mrs OBumble

Buglim wrote: »

This is one paper Mary, What about the other two???

Like I said, I've already got rid of this weeks Indo. And as an unemployed person, I can't afford the Tribune: papers are limited to the Irish Times once or twice a week and doing my best to read it on-line the other days.

cL0h

Buglim wrote: »

Hi C

Now I wonder where that rant came from, C thats a load of rubbish..... sorry ..........

Please get your facts correct before milling in with your opinion.

Well I wonder where your rebuttal is coming from. For the record I have no allegiance to any paper. I have this weeks Tribune, Independent and Advertiser in the house. Two of them came through the door whether I liked it or not. The other I bought in a shop. The difference in news quality is stark.

Now what facts would you like me to get straight?

umpirestrike

Jeepars for someone who has no allegaince to any paper you certainly seem to be defending the Connaught Trubune a lot. If its facts your after you should remember that the tribune has about twenty full time journalists and about twenty more freelancers, so that's forty people. The independent and the advertsier have about four or five each id say so expecting them to be as good is disingenious. Another thing too, last year I had to pay a higher fee for the tribune cos they said there was going to be a life section. last week, dick byrne wrote in his column that this is being pulled so does this mean that it will be cheaper again.
The word is that there will be job cuts there too soon, which is very sad, but it shows what an unreal planet that has been operating on, especially with the sales of the paper falling. there are loads of them left in the shops.

cL0h

umpirestrike wrote: »

If its facts your after you should remember that the tribune has about twenty full time journalists and about twenty more freelancers, so that's forty people. The independent and the advertsier have about four or five each id say so expecting them to be as good is disingenious.

Are you a little confused there umpirestrike. Are you saying the Tribune is not a better paper than the other two or are you saying it is?
I'm saying it is. That's an opinion not a defense. Read all three this week and tell me any different.