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Caught on film: Actor Clive Owen on stage at the Jameson Film Experience |
IRELAND. Irish Distillers last night hosted the first Jameson Film Experience, a lively and hugely entertaining evening of film and music that coincided with the brand’s sponsorship of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.
The event, held at Dublin venue The Academy, gathered together a host of international media as well as key customers and partners of Irish Distillers. Befitting Jameson’s close involvement with the film industry, the highlight of the night was an on-stage interview with British actor Clive Owen, best-known for his roles in Sin City, Croupier, Children of Men and his latest work, Duplicity.
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Jameson’s long-standing sponsorship of the Dublin International Film Festival has been extended by three years |
The theme for what was described as an “experiential” event was the genre of graphic novels, which were the inspiration for the film Sin City. Guests were treated to an array of Jameson cocktails while watching a screening of an excerpt from Sin City before the on-stage interview with Owen. In addition, a specially created audio soundtrack for the evening was created by DJ Yoda, while the one-man band Rarely Seen Above Ground also performed. The MC was MTV presenter Laura Whitmore.
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Irish Distillers CEO Alex Ricard (right) welcomes Clive Owen (left) and MC for the evening, MTV’s Laura Whitmore |
Graffiti artist Maser also created a showcase of work for the event, which was held over the venue’s three floors, each floor designed with a graphic novel theme. And original sketches from Guillermo Del Toro were exhibited in the event’s gaming zone, depicting the story-boards from the film Hellboy II.
The event was one of the showpieces of the seventh Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, which runs from 12-22 February. Jameson has just renewed its sponsorship for another three years.
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Clive Owen’s appearance added weight to the strong Jameson branding around the Dublin venue last night | |
The evening’s entertainment was preceded by a media launch with Clive Owen and Irish Distillers CEO Alex Ricard. There, Ricard told The Moodie Report: “Jameson has had close connections to film for a long time, not only in Dublin but at around 20 other events around the world, from New York’s Tribeca Film Festival to the recently announced Jameson Empire Awards. This year we wanted to deepen that support by hosting our own Jameson event.”
The film connection is one element in the company’s marketing strategy for the brand, which has helped drive net sales by +14% in the first six months (to 31 December), and volume by +7% in the same period.
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The Jameson Film Experience treated guests to a screening of Sin City (left), in which Clive Owen starred; other highlights included a set of Hellboy II movie story-boards from artist Guillermo del Toro (right) | |
“This performance was driven by growth in our key strategic markets,” said Ricard. “This includes the US, where Jameson has grown by +21% in the first half. Russia was a great driver for the brand, and indeed all of Eastern Europe has performed well, as has South Africa, so we are very happy with the performance in the year to date.”
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Every picture tells a story: Graffiti artist Maser produced a showcase of work especially for the Jameson Film Experience |
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Alex Ricard on Jameson, the movies and the role of travel retail |
“Travel retail too remains a vital showcase for the brand, as Ricard underlined. He said: “There’s no doubt that travel retail is a key strategic driver, both as a window but also in value terms. It’s no secret that travel retail has suffered from declining passenger traffic, though the brand has outperformed the market.”
“And we also bring the film experience to passengers at airports through Jameson,” he added. “We have run major film promotions at Dublin, Amsterdam and Prague airports in recent months, and these have been highly successful.” The promotion grew sales at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol by +35% after its launch in October.
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