Background: Tommy McAnairey’s mission is to inform people about the dangers of carbon monoxide through the medium of traditional Irish ballad. He happens to be a canary – which is no coincidence, because canaries used to work in coalmines detecting the lethal gas, and Tommy lost many of his ancestors that way. So you could say he has a personal interest in the issue.
This Campaign: While Tommy’s first TVCs launched in 2014, in September 2015 he launched his second campaign: to go all out for Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week. So he did what any crusading singer-songwriter would do: he released a charity single!
From a media point of view, Tommy’s campaign was nothing if not multi-faceted. He promoted the single through music-industry channels and means (e.g. by sending it to radio DJs directly, radio airplay, record shop presence, interview and cover presence on Hot Press magazine, presence on the Wall of Fame in Temple Bar, cover versions by other artists) as well as more conventional advertising channels (TV, radio, press). All the while, Tommy took to Twitter, commenting as his single climbed the iTunes download charts!
