When Irish ailes are smiling

The Homestead brand continues to be an integral part of the grocery experience in Ireland today

Supporting Irish suppliers has never been more important than now and Irish consumers are continuing to respond positively to home produced products

Brand Central

15 May 2012

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IRISH

AT A GLANCE: IRISH

Stonehouse Marketing is a cash and carry/wholesale group with 34 depots nationwide and a buying power close on EUR*1bn
Avonmore is Ireland’s number one cream brand. Avonmore cream is made in Ballytore, Co Kildare, from fresh Irish Milk
Kilmeaden is the number one selling branded block in Ireland
Goodfella’s commands a 47% share of frozen pizza
Love Irish Food now has over 90 members
MiWadi began manufacturing in 1927, when it was filled by hand in Nassau Place, Dublin
PostPoint retailers can offer their customers a large portfolio of electronic payment products and services
Deep RiverRock currently holds the number one bottled water position on the island of Ireland with 18.4% value share*
Pigsback.com has almost 400,000 active users

It isestimated that nearly 230,000 people are employed directly or indirectly in the agri–food industry in Ireland so in order to support these jobs and this veryimportant industry, Irish consumers need to actively seek out home produced produce, which they continue to do in droves. There are a number of ways to tell if a food is produced or manufactured in Ireland. One is the Bord Bia Quality Assurance logo. The Bord Bia scheme ensures that all steps in the food chain from production to final packaging for sale to the end user are quality assured and happen on the island of Ireland.

The Love Irish Food brand indicates to consumers that the product was manufactured inIreland therefore contributing to the economy. Love Irish Food now boasts over 90 member brands. This month will see Love Irish Food unveil a new campaignaimed at encouraging consumers to check where their food and drink products aremanufactured. Because of its strict membership criteria consumers can becertain a product is manufactured in Ireland if it carries the Love Irish Food logo.

While it is important to support Irish produced products the fact is that Irish food issynonomous with quality. From artisan producers to large scale exporters Irishproducts have long held the reputation of being of exceptional quality. This makes Irish products very attractive to consumers. To take advantage, make sure your Irish aisle is well stocked.

Bringingvalue home

It’s hard tobelieve the Homestead brand was only launched in 1983. Itsinstantly recognizable jingle “Homestead, Homestead Brings Value Home” seems tohave been around forever. Famed for offering mainly Irish-made grocery and household products at competitive prices, the Homestead brand continues to be an integral part of the grocery experience in Ireland today.

Homestead is wholly Irish-owned by Stonehouse Marketing, a cash and carry/wholesale group with 34 depots nationwide and a buying power close on €1bn.

Homestead isa premium own-label range of approximately 100 products across various categories.

Support for Irish brands will be a contributing factor in the recovery from our current economic crisis and support for Homestead will help towards maintaining Irish jobs for the future.

Making Irish moments special

Avonmore is Ireland’s number one cream brand and boasts a strong portfolio that caters to the nation’s sweet and savoury needs. The range includes the ever popular Fresh Cream, the chef’s favourite Double Cream, tangy Sour Cream, LightCream for the more health conscious, convenient Freshly Whipped Cream which can be spooned directly over your favourite dessert and the most recent addition,Cooking Cream. Avonmore Cooking Cream is a unique product, which contains half the fat of standard cream but has a smooth thick texture adding a lovely depthand richness to all your savoury dishes.

The Irish love to entertain, and with picnic and barbecue season just around the corner, Avonmore has a cream to cater for all occasions. Its new food website features over 200 easy to make recipes, from starters through to desserts and even some after dinner coffee ideas. Consumers can also view award winning Irish chefs such as Paul Flynn of The Tannery Restaurant, Dungarvan and Oliver Dunne of BonAppetit, Malahide present delicious recipes using everyday ingredients on an online You Tube food channel Cook with Avonmore. Cook with Avonmore promotes quality food using Irish ingredients, so for home cooking inspiration check out cookwithavonmore.ie or follow it on Facebook for weekly recipes and cooking tips.

Avonmore Cream is a member of the independent food organisation Love Irish Food, as well as the National DairyCouncil Campaign. Avonmore Cream is made locally in Ballytore, Co Kildare, from Fresh Irish Milk.

The Avonmore range offers the great freshtaste shoppers expect in convenient formats and pack sizes suitable for today’s lifestyles.

The nation’s favourite cheddar unveils new advertising

Kilmeaden, the number one selling branded block in Ireland has announced thelaunch of a new media campaign kicking off this month. This heavyweightcampaign comprises two new executions focusing on the Kilmeaden grader as a hero.The new creative builds on past advertising by focusing on the care, craft and expertisewhich goes into every block of Kilmeaden cheese whilst also evolving the brandstory through focusing on the expertise and skill of the Kilmeaden grader, and on Kilmeaden’s taste credentials as the “Fillet of Cheddar”.

This media will be supported with a Kilmeaden website, Facebook page and digital programme focusing on the grader message and driving loyalty among younger audiences.

Kilmeaden is renowned for superior quality and a unique taste, thanks to the craftsmanship and care that goes into every block. The quality and uniqueness of Kilmeaden Cheddar can be attributed to a strict selection process to ensure only the best cheese goes into Kilmeaden. It is matured for up to 10 months, giving it all the time it needs to develop its distinctive flavour and unique taste.

Kilmeaden’s successful portfolio has recently beenextended with the launch of two new offerings. Kilmeaden Lighter offers halfthe fat of standard cheddar but with the same Kilmeaden taste while Kilmeaden Smooth and Mature is a cheddar with sweet notes, and a smooth and truly distinctive flavour.

Kilmeaden is a proud supporter of the independent foodorganisation Love Irish Food and carries the Love Irish Food Logo on all keyselling SKUs.

Goodfella’s is fastest growing frozen pizza

Ireland’slargest and fastest growing supplier of frozen pizza, Green Isle Foods in Naasis one of the founding members of Love Irish Food. Goodfella’s commands a 47% share of frozen pizza and is growing from strength to strength. Hot on the heals of a new brand restagewith investment in making its pizzas even tastier, the company is continuing todrive new sales opportunities with a new Delizia range targeted at thoselooking for a lighter eat.

It’s our Miwadi!

MiWadi is a truly iconic Irish brand and continues to go from strength to strength inthe marketplace appealing to all age groups. From small beginnings in 1927,when it was filled by hand in Nassau Place (Dublin) and distributed by horseand cart, MiWadi has become one of Ireland’s best-loved brands and continues tobe the largest squash brand in Ireland. It is still produced in Dublin to thisday and around 16.5 million litres of MiWadi are consumed every year.

MiWadiis proud of its Irish heritage and was one of the founding members of the LoveIrish Food initiative. This year MiWadi, Ireland’s number one squash* has given its younger fans the chance to create their very own MiWadi flavour. The “MiWadiMiWay” campaign kicked off in March and it gave kids the opportunity to enter avirtual MiWadi factory to select the fruits and flavours for their ‘Wadi’, name the new flavour and design their own label. The winning flavour, as decided by a public vote, will go into production in the summer andwill be available in supermarkets and convenience stores throughout Ireland in August. MiWadi MiWay was supported heavily with an on-pack promotion, heavyweight TV and digital advertising and PR support.

MiWadi

This campaign reflects MiWadi’s vision of seeing the world through the eyes of a child and bringing more fun and excitement to the squash category, driving penetration and frequency of MiWadi at a key time ofthe year. The reaction from the trade has been excellent to date and astrong activation plan in trade is planned for the key back to school period to showcase the winning flavour.

Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MiwadiIreland.

*(Source:Nielsen MAT 25 Mar 2012, value share 43.4%)

DeepRiverRock pure Irish water

The Deep RiverRockbrand was first introduced to the Irish market in 1994 and since then hasestablished itself as one of Ireland’s most popular and best selling quality water brands. Deep RiverRock currently holds the number one bottled water position on the island of Ireland with 18.4% value share*. Bottled locally from source in Co Antrim, it contains naturally occurring essential minerals such as calcium and magnesium.

DeepRiverRock prides itself on being a pure Irish water with strong local credentials. 2012 sees the continuation of the brand’s “local” marketingcampaign leading with the iconic “Town of Deep RiverRock” TV advert.

Supporting the local community through key strategic partnerships across the island isimportant to the Deep RiverRock brand. Deep RiverRock is also official waterpartner of Dublin GAA, reigning All Ireland Football Champions as well as thehugely successful Ulster, Leinster and Connacht rugby teams.

Deep RiverRock is available in a range of packssuitable for a variety of occasions (single and multi-packs, still andsparkling, plain and flavoured). The brand’s 750ml sports-cap pack holds the position of number one impulse sports-cap water in Ireland*. This is the ideal size for on-the–go consumers with healthy active lifestyles. Deep RiverRock’s six x 500ml is apopular pack to take home and store in your fridge allowing you to re-hydrateanytime. Younger members of the community can enjoy Deep RiverRock from a smaller 330ml bottle which is available in singles or an eight x 330ml multi-pack.

*(Source:Nielsen MAT NI JF ‘12 & MAT ROI J/F ’12; Total island of Ireland)

Irish

PostPoint offers the perfect mix of retail add ons

PostPoint, a wholly owned subsidiary of An Post, has been a leading supplier of electronic services in Ireland for more than a decade. The company, which supplies almost 2,400 retailers nationwide, employs 22 people and operates from its headquarters in the GPO Dublin.

PostPoint retailers can offer customers a large portfolio of electronic payment products and services for the Irish marketplace.

Among the products that PostPoint supplies are mobile top-up for all Irish networks, stamps, TV renewal fee, ParkMagic’s top up TollTag used on all nationwide tolls, parking credit for ParkMagic parking disks in Limerick and Cork City and international calling cards.

In addition over 145 bills, like ESB Electric Ireland and Bord Gais, can be paid through BillPay. Once BillPay enabled, PostPoint retailers can simply scan a customer’s bill and accept payment.

Stamps

The One4all Gift Cards have become a popular choice for customers. They can be ordered free of charge through PostPoint’s retail support desk or online at www.postpoint.ie/retailer.

With many companies launching pre-payment cards as alternatives to bin tags, waste management is a growing business. Greenstar, Barna Waste and South Dublin City Council customers can load their pre-payment cards in their local PostPoint store. Ukash and paysafe are two more simple online payment solutions. Both allow customers to pay cash for online activities. There is no need for a bank account, a credit card or for personal details to be exchanged.

On the Pigsback!

Since 2000, Ireland has been “on the Pigsback”.Through Pigsback.com, Irish consumers have been engaging with their favouriteconsumer brands and enjoying generous discounts for doing so. On Pigsback.com,members are offered coupons for their grocery shopping, special offers,exclusive competitions and much more.

Since the launch of Mega Deals in 2010,Pigsback.com has been experiencing tremendous growth. The levels of growth inthe Mega Deal offering is evidence of this; over EUR*10m in deals are expectedto be sold in 2012.

Pigsback.com’s Irish credentials run deep – fromthe Dublin-based head office in Citywest, to its brand name ‘Pigsback’ (Ar Muinna Muice) itself, Pigsback.com is very proud to wear the Guaranteed Irish symbol.

Pigsback.com saves thousands of Irish shoppers every week on daily brands such as Brennans, Robinsons, Persil, Johnson &Johnson and McCambridges. Pigsback.com coupons have experienced a resurgence with an increase of 55% on coupon prints in the second half of 2011.

For more information and to make great savings visit www.pigsback.com. Use the code “GUARANTEED IRISH” and get 10-% off until 31 May, 2012.

Fair Dews to Tullamore

The origins for Tullamore Dew date back to 1829 when the Tullamore distillery was founded in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Daniel E.Williams, who became general manager for Tullamore Dew, had a rebellious spirit that brought the electricity, telephone and car to Tullamore. He single-handedly created the very first Irish whiskey blend his way, when other distillers couldn’t.

The way we make whiskey stays true to our humble beginnings. Daniel E. Williams never compromised on creating the best tasting whiskey. Today, Tullamore Dew is still made to his exacting standards, using only premium ingredients, triple-distillation, and a unique blending of threetypes of Irish whiskey. It is this absolute refusal to compromise on the tastethat has made it is one of the most awarded Irish whiskeys and widely acclaimedby whiskey connoisseurs, winning 30 gold medals in the last 10 years.

Irish by name, Irish by nature

Irish Mist is Ireland’s original liqueur – blended with Irish whiskey, honey and natural aromatic spices. It was firstblended in Tullamore in 1947; however its origins go back thousands of years toan early Irish recipe for “heather wine” known to the chieftains and nobles of Ireland’s ancient clans. Today its exact ingredients remain a secretknown only to its blenders. The unique blend of Irish whiskey, honey and herbsmakes Irish Mist easy to drink. It is the smoothest, most accessible introduction to Irish whiskey. It embodies the sociability, warmth and friendliness of the Irish and smoothness of Irish whiskey. ‘Irish by name,Irish by nature’.

In 2009 the brand was re-launched and there was a change to the bottle shape, this brought about an up-to-date appeal to theyounger generation both male and female.

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