Opportunity for Wexford food brands to grow

FOOD brands in Wexford are being encouraged to apply for the Love Irish Food Brand Development Award.

Love Irish Food have invested a total of €1 million in media and creative content to support Irish food brands - making it the biggest national food award in the Irish food industry.

The 2018 Brand Development Award, provides brands that carry the Love Irish Food logo with the opportunity to win €75,000 in advertising space, scheduled across Exterion Media’s retail portfolio and Retail digital network.

The extensive out-of-home campaign will appear nationally for two weeks and includes print production and digital animation. Additionally, Owens DDB Advertising Agency will provide the winner with up to a €10,000 creative bursary to create and develop the Outdoor advertising campaign.

The award provides Love Irish Food member brands, who support over 15,000 jobs in the Irish food industry, with the chance to win a fully funded national advertising campaign from Exterion Media and with a runner up receiving a business to business featured profile in Checkout magazine.

The award was established to help locally produced brands establish and distinguish themselves in the Irish market.

Love Irish Food and Exterion Media will work closely with the winning brand to plan a campaign that will optimise their business objectives.

Kieran Rumley, Executive Director, Love Irish Food said: ‘At a time when Brexit has added much uncertainty to the market, the award allows the winner the certainty of knowing that they have an advertising campaign for their brand in their plans for 2019, a critical year for Ireland’s food industry. The award will provide Irish SME brand producers with the opportunity to advertise to Irish consumers on a national level, giving them a huge opportunity to connect with their target audience and build their brand.’

Antoinette O’Callaghan, Marketing Manager, Exterion Media added: Over the last number of years this award has demonstrated the efficacy of advertising in driving both brand awareness and sales.’

To enter, brands must register at www. loveirishfood.ie before September 28. The second phase involves a completed submission to be submitted by November 2. A shortlist of competitors will then be interviewed by the judging panel with the winner announced on November 26.