My Media: Maeve Desmond, Bord Bia
26 May 09

Newspapers
Rather that reading the printed papers, I mostly go online for news. I go to the Irish Times website and I also check RTE.ie daily. I think Hugo Arnold is a great food writer in the Times. I also go after the European press, and British press like the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian, particularly for trade and foodie-type news. At weekends I love Marie Claire Digby's food file in the Irish Times on Saturday and I also read the Sunday Independent. I regularly follow what John MacKenna is saying in the Irish Independent. Outside of work I find Twitter and Facebook to be great sources of information in terms of of sharing opinions and finding out what people are buzzing about.

Magazines
I love Food & Wine magazine, and enjoy reading Ross Golden-Bannon. The health supplement in the Irish Independent is a great read, and I get a lot out of the Irish Times Saturday magazine. Magazines tend to be more of an impulse purchase, though I do buy Image Magazine monthly for fashion, and Instyle magazine a few times a year.

Books
The last book that I read was Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, and I've also seen the film. I'm currently reading Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she's an African writer. I tend to look at books that have won awards because I know then that they are well-read. I would put store in the Orange Awards, the Richard and Judy Book Club, and the Ryan Tubridy Book Club. Billy Connolly's books are great because they are very funny and down-to-earth. I've also read Michael J. Fox's biography. It's a real book of encouragement, as it's a story about striving through adversity.

Television
I never miss Dragon's Den and I watch both the English and the Irish versions. I also enjoy The (Irish) Apprentice, and I love The Late Late Show. Bloom will be featured on the last Late Late Show with Pat Kenny this Friday, so I will be tuned into that. I like light-hearted stuff like Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. News-wise, I'd watch the RTÉ news at 9 o clock, and sometimes I tune into Sky News because they refresh their bulletins very regularly.

Radio
I tend to tune into Morning Ireland, and Drivetime in the evening. At the weekends, I'm a bit of a channel-hopper and would go from 2FM to 98FM. I really like Ruth Scott on Saturdays.

Advertisements
I thought the recent online Cadbury ad campaign for relaunching the Wispa was brilliant. It was done with social media, viral movies and Facebook posts. Basically, consumers asked for Wispa to be brought back and Cadbury listened to them. I think a lot of TV ads are like 'recession ads' at the moment, nobody has spent any money on them, so a lot of them are not rocking my boat.

New Media
I use new media daily.  Facebook, Twitter, Youtube are great sources of information and I'd reference them quite a lot in our Bord Bia campaigns. It's a great way of communicating what you're doing to the mass audience out there.
I follow a lot of blogs, for instance Niall Harbison's, Peter Donegan's, Conor O'Neill's and Damien Mulley's.

Maeve Desmond is Bord Bia's International Communications Manager