Ballymaloe trusts students with campaign

The makers of Ballymaloe relish are entrusting the latest advertising campaign for their new range of products to a group of CIT students.

The students pitched Dragon’s Den-style to run the campaign, with the prize of managing a €10,000 cross-platform campaign up for grabs.

Marketing manager for Ballymaloe Maxine Hyde said that at first she had only gone into CIT to share her business savvy, but she had come away with ideas on how to launch the company’s latest line.

“When Lisa Scannell, the CIT business lecturer, asked me to come in and share my challenges with launching a new product, I did so to help the students and make their class more interesting, because it’s quite hard to learn business without practical experience. I didn’t realise that I would come away with a few brilliant ideas to launch the new pasta sauces,” she said.

The new campaign for Ballymaloe single-serving sauces for pasta dishes will feature a giant character called Seamus who is searching for a partner. The campaign will feature Seamus across social media and traditional media with the hashtag #itsmadefor1.

At the centre of the campaign will be a four-video series that will follow Seamus’s search for love in a mini-romantic comedy.

“The campaign is lighthearted and aimed at single people, as well as students and young professionals. We are giving the students full rein over it so they will have to decide ad spend and what mix of digital and traditional media to use,” said Ms Hyde.