DINEDARKin the

Sponsorship Opportunity

Experience Taste, Texture & Scent in a different way

NCBI Dine in the Dark Sponsorship Opportunity

Who are the NCBI?The National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) have been working for people with sight loss for 85 years. There are over 224,000 people affected by sight loss in Ireland and one in six people will experience sight loss during their life time. Our mission is to support blind and vision impaired people to overcome barriers to inclusion and to reach their full potential. To do this, we partner with innovative organisations, will you join us?

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DINEin the DARK

What is Dine in the Dark? Dine in the Dark is a unique dining event, where guests are blind folded throughout the full dining experience. Without their sight to guide them, guests experience complex tastes, flavours and textures in a completely new and innovative way. Senses are heightened, altering taste, touch, smell and communication during the meal.

To date, Dine in the Dark has taken the form of a pop-up restaurant in Ireland.

We are now accepting bids for Title and Junior Sponsors for the inaugural National Dine in the Dark week.

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History of Dine in the DarkOver 10 years ago, Germany’s first Dark Restaurant opened its doors, attracting over 150,000 guests.

Brought to Ireland in 2012 as part of the Taste of Dublin festival, Dine in the Dark attracted some of Ireland’s leading culinary experts including; Malcolm Starmer, Head Chef of Bite in Dublin; Stuart O’Keefe, Private Chef featured on The Food Network (USA) and Stuart’s Kitchen (TV3); Ed Cooney, Executive Chef, the five star Merrion Hotel; Ross Lewis, Head Chef at Michelin Award Winning Restaurant, Chapter One; Master Chef Ireland contestants, Bridin Carey, Conal Markey and Richard Speedie. An innovative event, food bloggers and critics from across the country lined up to take part in this unique dining experience.

Dine in the Dark gives culinary professionals the opportunity to work beyond the visual impacts of food and to focus primarily on the tastes and textures of a dish.

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Dine in the DarkIn 2015, NCBI hosted its first Dine in the Dark in The Mantry Restaurant in Navan. A sell out event, over 70 people attended on the evening.

Testimonials “Dine in the Dark was a fantastic idea.  It was a great opportunity for people to sample food in a completely new way. Moving between the kitchen and the dining room, I was able to see the guests enjoying their experience.   As a chef, Dine in the Dark made me conscious of the food I was preparing, the tastes, the temperature and the textures. I would be delighted to take part in Dine in the Dark again and support the NCBI”

Eleanor Dunne, Chef, The Mantry Restaurant

“As someone who experiences sight loss, eating out can be difficult at times, from the ambient lighting to customer handbags, navigating restaurants can be tricky.   When we hosted Dine in the Dark, the reaction from customers was superb, with the majority of them asking when the next Dine in the Dark was going to be held.   It was a totally unique way of experiencing a night out and tasting food”

Geraldine Lee; Event co-ordinator

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The Opportunity NCBI is now accepting Sponsorship bids for a Title Sponsor and Four Junior Sponsor positions as part of the national weeklong Dine in the Dark week

Dine in the Dark Sponsors will benefit under three key headings; PR, CSR and HR.

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How it works?

1 Week in November2,000,000 Audience Reach200 Restaurants8,000 Diners2016 Dine in the Dark Sponsorship Opportunity

Title Sponsor €20,000Title Sponsor receives:

• Company banner and promotional materials at national launch alongside the Restaurants Association of Ireland & Neven Maguire

• Title recognition in all national and regional media i.e. newspaper, broadcast and digital promotions to the value of over €250,000

• Title recognition on Dine in the Dark diner packs distributed across the 200 participating restaurants to an estimated 8,000 diners

• Company logo prominently featured with link to sponsor website on the Dine in the Dark website.

• Title recognition in national advertising campaign across NCBI’s 80 charity stores, the second largest chain of charity retail stores in Ireland

• Direct brand exposure to key players in the restaurant industry Publically aligned with one of Ireland’s longest running not for profits, the NCBI- Working for People with Sight Loss

Junior €5,000Junior Sponsor receives:

• Company banner and promotional materials at national launch

• Prominent recognition in all media, newspaper, and other promotional materials to the value of over €125,000

• Junior recognition on Dine in the Dark diner packs distributed across the 200 participating restaurants to the 8,000 diners

• Company logo listed with link to sponsor website on the Dine in the Dark website.

• Junior recognition in national advertising campaign across NCBI’s 80 charity stores, the second largest chain of charity retail stores in Ireland

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Benefits There are a number of benefits associated with Dine in the Dark.

Public Relations As event sponsor, your organisation will be guaranteed full inclusion in all national and regional media activity connected with Dine in the Dark including press releases issued to local and national print and broadcast platforms.

Digital Promotion Your organisation will be featured in NCBI’s social media platforms with a combined reach of over 5,000 people, quarterly e-newsletter with a reach of 2,000 people and NCBI website which attracts upward of 72,000 visitors. Moreover, as event sponsor your organisation will be featured on the soon to be launched Dine in the Dark website.

As well as being featured in regular social media updates, before, during and after the event.

Adding impact to our digital media presence we will work with your organisation to ensure a joined up approach to the digital marketing space to the benefit of us both.

Brand Advertising National street advertising for 6 weeks across Ireland, through our 80 charity retail stores, the second largest chain of charity shops in Ireland.

Dine in the Dark and Sponsors will be featured in all our shops, covering every main street in Ireland for the whole of April / May promoting the event and then literature highlighting the sums raised for the following two weeks.

CSR By Sponsoring Dine in the Dark, your organisation will be publically aligned with one of Ireland’s longest running not for profit organisations. Similarly, this sponsorship will support your organisation in meeting your corporate social responsibility commitments on a national level.

Reputation Management Over 600,000 people in Ireland have a disability, that’s 1 in 8 of the Irish population, of that 600,000, 224,000 have sight loss.

Numerous studies show that upward of 60% of customers with disabilities say how they are treated directly impacts the spending habits of their friends and family members.

In Ireland, the sight loss community controls and estimated €750 million in annual spending.

By sponsoring Dine in the Dark your organisation will be highlighted as a leading brand, which appreciates the difficulties of disability, values all its customers and is active in supporting and challenging perception around disability and its place in society.

Your support will also help raise considerable sums for people with sight loss.

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Overview of Media Plan The Dine in the Dark multimedia campaign targets both general and food media professionals from traditional and online media outlets. Your brand will be exposed to over 2,00,000 people through this two month long multimedia campaign.

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Media Plan

Action Target audience Medium Timeline

National Launch campaign

Media, Restaurants, Food bloggers and general public

Press Release, Photo call, Promotional video

September

Regional campaign Local media & bloggers Tailored press releases, Photo call, Chef profiles

September November

Campaign Conclusion

Media, Restaurants, Food bloggers and general public

Press release, Photo call, Cheque presentation

November

Sponsors will also be featured on our Dine in the Dark website which will also feature restaurant listings, events, sponsor videos, profiles and promotional materials.

Dine in the Dark Celebrity Ambassador Neven Maguire

Neven Maguire is one of Ireland’s best loved chefs. The restaurateur and media personality is well known for his award-winning MacNean House & Restaurant. He has published 12 cookbooks and is currently filming his 8th series of ‘Home Chef’ for RTE.

Neven will act as our Dine in the Dark Ambassador, supporting us in media activity from the launch date to the conclusion of the project.

NCBI Junior Master Chef with Neven Maguire

NCBI, with the support of Medtronic, organised its first Junior MasterChef competition in Athlone on the 19th of September 2016 with celebrity chef, Neven Maguire.

Neven described the day as one of the best he has ever had as a chef. “I found those young chefs to be true inspirations”, he said.  “In fact it was a very emotional day. When you have your own kids sometimes you can take a lot for granted so I was delighted and honoured to be the judge on the day. I have invited the seven kids up to the Cookery School. It was a truly special experience to see them cook and it will be just fantastic to have them all up to Blacklion. We should all take a leaf out of their book. Their determination and courage and also their talent are truly inspirational”.

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Next StepsNCBI is now accepting sponsor bids for our Title Sponsor and Four Junior Sponsor opportunities. We welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you in further detail and are flexible in our approach to building strong sponsor relationships.

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Conclusion The future, we would like to make this an annual project. In early 2017 NCBI will produce a project report, identifying areas of success and improvement. We would like to then review this with our sponsors and continue to build on the financial and PR benefits of Dine in the Dark together.

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