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The Irish Times: The Best Place to Live in Ireland competition, Dublin (The Irish Times Ltd, Ireland). |
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Project name |
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The Irish Times Best Place to Live in Ireland competition
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General Publication Info |
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The Irish Times is an Irish broadsheet newspaper with a circulation of approximately 100,000. Its website irishtimes.com was one of the first newspaper websites in Britain or Ireland, and has approximately 3.5 million users per month and 36 million page views per month.
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Implementation |
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Ireland grapples with recession and a torrent of negative media coverage, yet survey after survey shows we are among the happiest nations in the world. The Irish Times decided to turn its attention to some of the many positive aspects of living in modern Ireland, through a competition to find the best place to live in Ireland. For the Best Place to Live in Ireland competition, The Irish Times invited people to nominate the place they lived in, and explain its appeal – through our website. All kinds of habitats were eligible: “a town or city suburb, a village or remote rural spot, a tiny community halfway up a mountain, a street, a road or a housing estate”.
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Project results |
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From early April until late May, the competition attracted 563 entries from members of the public across 32 counties. The competition was accompanied by a strong PR campaign. Over three months, the competition received widespread coverage across Ireland, especially on local radio stations, often in places where the paper had not been well received in the past.
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Additional comments |
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Representatives of The Irish Times visited all 25 places on the final longlist and also the five shortlisted places, creating relationships with each one. The paper has now built a special relationship with the winning town of Westport. Our coverage of the winning town created a 26% increase in circulation there on the day of the victory, and a 96% increase in a follow-up feature on the town. In September, there will be a prizegiving event in the town, and a community celebration with family events, live music, food and a public debate on the nature of home in modern Ireland. It has been a truly positive experience for all involved.
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LINKS |
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Shortlist videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVpQSA9KiTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R87g9WZdWH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LME0vzb_dlQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvvF4k764ts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al0wrDFrp5Y
Blog
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/best-place/
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