Persuaders Postings

Vote for your favourite Christmas Adverts

2011-12-03T10:59:00.001-08:00

This Christmas I'm running a poll to select the best Christmas Advert from Irish and International Brands. Most of the people I know have views on this topic - and it's fair to say the re-running of old favourites and new entrants is a part contributor to the feeling of good cheer. So, go ahead and nominate your favourites at the link below .... as a small incentive Jacob's are donating a fantastic hamper of their festive goodies to be raffled among all those who enter...so what are you waiting for???The overall results and raffle winner will be announced on The Persuaders on December 16th show.CLICK HERE TO ENTER

Latest podcast: hotel social media marketing

2011-08-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

This is a special podcast dedicated to the topic of using social media tools to enhance hotel marketing. Guest in-studio were Dr. Des O'Mahony founder of hotel technology company, Bookassist and Adrian Sherry, Group Marketing Manager for Moran Bewleys Hotel Group. On the telephone we were joined by Guillaume Thevanot from HouseTrip and editor of a highly popular hotel marketing blog. Among the topics we explored were the impact of social media on hotel marketing, how social media interacts with hotel loyalty programmes, the impact of review sites and how to resource social media marketing for hotels.

Jameson Brand Strategy podcast

2011-05-22T04:16:00.001-07:00

New Persuaders Podcast- Sponsorship Strategy and Measurement

2011-04-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

Latest Marketing Podcast: Social Media Marketing in Ireland

2011-03-24T22:37:00.000-07:00

Latest Podcast - Irish consumer trends

2011-03-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

Latest Persuaders Podcast - IAB Ireland Interview

2011-03-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

Latest Persuaders Podcast - Net Promoter Score - Irish Customer Service Survey

2011-01-30T14:21:00.001-08:00

Content on Demand - Latest Podcast

2011-01-21T23:12:00.001-08:00

What is your Irish brand of 2010?

2010-12-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

This Friday it's time again for our Persuaders yearly marketing review when I and a couple of select guests wrack our brains to identify the highs and lows from 2010. In studio again to review the year are Gerard Tannam from Islandbridge and Denis Goodbody from Adept. Given the provenance of the participants we thought it might be an idea to solicit our audience's views of the Irish Brand of 2010 so do drop us a line with your thoughts on the subject. I'm working on a prize for the most creative so it will be worth your time to contribute....

2010-11-26T12:30:00.000-08:00

Latest Podcast - special on 3D video marketing - interview with Visit Jamaica who have just launched the world's first 3D tourism promotional video.

The pocket broadcaster arrives

2010-11-12T23:39:00.000-08:00

Hats off to RTÉ Radio 1 who this evening will broadcast possibly the world’s first radio programme made entirely on an iPhone at 6.45pm. The whole show was produced and edited using a smartphone.I think it's part of the Documentary on One series and RTE's Ronan Kelly seemingly interviewed, appropriately enough, mobile users in Cork about their Smartphone habits. And there was I feeling smug at my capability to edit my radio show on my Mac and e.mail into the guys at Dublin City FM.

The show will be available to download after broadcast at http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/docs_curiousear

Jet Blue ad has it in the bag

2010-11-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

On a day when Ryanair has less than covered itself with glory in its 'tossing' ad aimed at Aer Lingus, here's something with a lot more creativity from the guys at Jet Blue who take a pop at airlines who insist on fleecing the customer with extra charges for bags. It's a reality ad with a difference.

Latest Persuaders Podcast - mobile marketing

2010-11-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

Irish Web Awards - Shortlisted!!

2010-10-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

The Persuaders has been shortlisted for the Independent Podcaster category for this year's Irish Web Awards. I'm delighted that the judges saw fit to include the podcast as among their favourites, especially as the show celebrates 10 years on air, and over 3 years as a podcast. The podcast has been a great way to widen the reach of the show, and also to include additional material that I could not fit into the 30 minute radio show format - 140,000 downloads of the show has to count for something I guess. Hoping to see some of you next Saturday night.

Client Science author Rachel Killeen Interview

2010-10-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

Latest Persuaders Podcast

2010-09-25T12:27:00.001-07:00

A great episode of the Persuaders with two very inspirational interviewees.

Firstly an interview with Veronica Canning author of Shoeisms - Veronica has been Veronica Canning is recognised in Ireland, United Kingdom and abroad for her expertise in Thinking Strategies for Success, involving setting goals, realising them, overcoming challenges, and embracing change.

Plus....an interview with Ivan Misner, founder of the world's largest networking organisation BNI ( Business Networking International) where he discusses the benefits of networking as a marketing strategy.

Facebook Marketing Tips podcast

2010-09-18T06:35:00.000-07:00

In my most recent uploaded podcast In this marketing podcast an interview with Luke Abbott.

Luke is a Social Media Specialist with Neworld Associates in Dublin. His first use of working in social media was in 2005 promoting gigs, events and festivals through Myspace, later Youtube and Facebook. In 2009 he completed a Masters in Marketing in WIT, and awarded student of the year for his dissertation ‘An Investigation of Marketing On Social Networking Websites’ – looking at why consumers engage in social network marketing and what they expect from it. He currently writes two blogs, the first looks at interesting marketing concepts on and offline http://www.mrlukeabbott.com, and the second is the Neworld blog which has a focus on social media http://blog.neworld.com.

Take a listen....

Latest Persuaders Podcast : 3D video marketing

2010-09-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

In this podcast an interview with Niall O'Driscoll and Andrew Jenkinson from v-Stream.

The company recently had a first in digital marketing here with the development of an interactive experience entitled "The Aviva Stadium 3D Experience" which will give sports fans across Ireland unique access to the stadium in a dramatic 3D personalised experience, housed in a travelling simulator.

A world first, vStream has developed software to personalise stereoscopic 3D video, to allow the viewer to experience the build up to an international soccer or rugby match in the first person, with their name and picture being featured throughout the content.

Tommy Hilfiger marketing strategy podcast

2010-09-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here's another in the series of Persuaders that Roisin Ni Mhordha recorded in my absence this summer.

In this podcast Claire Nolan - Marketing Manager for Tommy Hilfiger Ireland is in conversation with Roisin discussing .....

· New ad campaign ‘Meet the Hilfigers’
· Change of direction
· How, why, what, when and where?
· 25th Anniversary of Tommy Hilfiger
· TH growing from strength to strength
· TH range, Denim, Runway Collection etc.

Also in this podcast Brian McEvoy - Photographer and Pictures in Publicity discusses....

· What makes a good photographer?
· How long in the business?
· Importance of photography
· Ever get tired of it?
· Whose work do you admire?
· Process of taking a photo at an event to it appearing in print
· Tips/advice when briefing a photographer

Listen HERE

Latest Persuaders Podcast

2010-09-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

During the summer my absence from The Persuaders radio show was covered in great style by Roisin Ni Mhordha. I will be uploading a number of the shows she guest-presented for me. In this podcast Roisin has two guests...

Eoin Doyle - Founder and owner of The BrookLodge Hotel & Wells Spa, Macreddin, Co Wicklow
Discuss;
· Awards - Georgina Campbell Hotel of the Year 2010
· Armento Italian Farmer’s Market (Armento connection) on Sunday
· Strawberry Tree Organic restaurant
· 10th year anniversary - What’s the secret of your success?
· Wells Spa
· Evolving in a competitive industry

Ian Tucker - Co-founder and manager of The Exchequer, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2
Discuss;
· 1st year in business – setting up in a recession
· Awards – Best Gastro Pub Dublin & Ireland 2010 – does it/has it made a difference
· What makes The Exchequer the Best Gastropub
· Celebrities
· The future

Listen here....

Spot the Social Media Vision

2010-08-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Cadbury SpotsVsStripes campaign that has just launched has to be one of the most ambitious attempts anywhere to leverage social media for brand objectives. And today the company unveiled the brand new CHALLENGE BAR – a chocolate bar that they claim will get the whole country competing. I think this might just be a first where a company has created a revenue generating product solely on the back of a social media led campaign; something that will certainly be watched keenly by marketers everywhere. But as Joseph Jaffe pointed out recently, when commenting on the US based Old Spice one day YouTube campaign, the acid test will be to see if the campaign moves into movement mode. Compared to Old Spice, Cadbury certainly are taking the long road perspective, with a planned series of activity right up to London 2012 Olympics.
Oh, and I'm a Spot if you're curious.

Paul Hayes on Web entrepreneurship

2010-06-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

My good friend Michael Clyne from Path Pacific and I attended the pre Dublin Web Summit get together last week at the Bar with No Name in Dublin. I took my digital recorder and Michael the digital HD camera to record the excellent presentation by Paul Hayes from Beach Hut PR. Paul has worked with all of the major Irish gaming companies and had some fantastic and amusing anecdotes to share with the audience. Enjoy.

Guerilla Marketing on a ShoeString Budget - Paul Hayes - BeachHutPR.com - DWS - Video Presentation Produced by PathPacific.com from PathPacific.com on Vimeo.

Portfolio Night Dublin

2010-05-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to receive an invite to the inaugural Irish Portfolio Night held on 20th May 2010 at the offices of Ogilvy Ireland. In what might be termed 'speed-dating for creatives', Portfolio Night Dublin is part of the world’s largest simultaneous advertising portfolio review event, which sees advertising’s top creative talents come together to review the portfolios of students, emerging creatives and freelancers. The Portfolio Night Dublin leg was hosted by Ogilvy and featured sessions with some of Ireland’s leading Creative Directors.

I've uploaded a podcast of interviews I conducted at the event, including

JP Donnelly, Group Chief Executive, Ogilvy Ireland.

Eoghan Nolan, Freelance Creative and

Jerry Kennelly, founder of Stockbyte and serial entrepreneur.

And you can here it HERE.

AIM Marketing Awards hit by Meteor shower

2010-05-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all the winners at last night's Marketing Institute of Ireland AIM Marketing Awards. I was a judge myself in the Market Research category and, as previously, really enjoyed the opportunity to witness the excellence of so many Irish marketers, and to gain an insight into so many sectors. I will definitely be trying to line up some of the winners for future shows. Meteor won the award for Market Research, and also picked up the accolades for the Sponsorship and the Direct Marketing award - I think this is the first time that anyone had a hat-trick of wins so well done indeed to all at Meteor especially Meadhbh Quinn, Head of Marketing Communications, whom I had the pleasure of meeting on the night.

Here'e the full list of winners...

New Product / New Market Award: JCDecaux

Gradam Gnó As Gaeilge: Independent Newspapers

CRM / Customer Care Award: Roche Products

Brand Campaign Award: Kerry Foods

Direct Marketing Award: Meteor

Market Research Award: Meteor

Marketing Team of the Year Award: Aviva Health Insurance

Sponsorship Management Award: Meteor

Public Relations Campaign Award: Largo Foods

International Marketing Award: Irish Dairy Board

Marketing Innovation Award: Largo Foods

Integrated Marketing Award: Tesco Ireland

Corporate Social Responsibility Award: Glanbia Consumer Foods

Small Business Marketing Award: Dycon

eMarketing Award: Bord Gáis Energy

Advertising Campaign Award: McDonalds

All Ireland Marketing Champion 2010: Patrick Kennedy, CEO, Paddy Power plc

New John Lewis ad, sentimentally good.

2010-05-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

The new John Lewis advert just aried in the UK is, as Marketing Week said, nauseatingly effective. Maybe it's the times we live in but there's a real appetite for nostalgia and sentimentality that the marketing team at JL have certainly tapped into. The concept of tracing someone's life and putting a brand centre-stage in such personal evolution is certainly not unique, but I do think that the execution has a little extra. In one of the comments on a YouTube channel showing the ad one of the contributors confesses that he and six mates attending a soccer match were stopped in their tracks when this ad came on during the half-time break. When the lads market appreciate such an treacle-like dollop of sentimentality, you know you're onto something good.

Marketing through blogs: blog marketing

2010-05-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

The latest Persuaders Marketing Podcast is a special dedicated to the topic of using a blog as a primary means of income. In studio I interviewed two bloggers who have been very successful at turning their blog into a commercial proposition.

Liam Daly is an award-winning blogger who has a number of blogs. He has been very successful in selling his artwork online and has been able to capitalize on his creative skills with a background in computing. His main blog is Bicyclistic where he tells the stories of painting, of cycling, and the things he thinks of while standing at bus-stops, and it's also where he posts any upcoming sales of paintings.

Amy Dillon is behind the MakeUpandBeauty.ie blog where she has successfully integrated copy and video in a blog that's had both an Irish and international following. Her YouTube channel is Dazzledust25.

Also in this podcast is show producer Monica Harkin who will give some insight into the more popular blogs here and internationally.

Specsavers Ad

2010-04-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

I'm loving this new parody of the Lynx Effect advertisement from the team at Specsavers. Personally I prefer the 'old couple on the roller-coaster' ad, but perhaps this advert better tries to position the brand in terms of its style credentials, rather than the techincal service they provide. On a small point I think also that it reads funny because they should put the words 'should have gone to Specsavers' in italics.

Enjoy.......

Underground Guerilla Marketing

2010-03-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was in Paris and whizzing through the Metro station at Opera I came across this brilliant example of using one's product in experiental marketing. And the billboards behid the sofas were used to compliment the marketing idea.Not surprisingly the IKEA props came with their own security personnel making sure that the merchandise did not get too much abuse.

Audience Measurement in the Digital Age

2010-03-12T03:19:00.000-08:00

The Persuaders Friday 12 March ...1pm, 103.2fm.

Audience Measurement in the Digital Age - interview today Friday 12th March with Andrew Green, Chief Marketing Officer, Ipsos Media who has just written a new book "From Prime Time to My Time". Have you a question??

Andrew Green is Global Chief Marketing Officer for the Media, Content & Technology division of ipsos. He has written or contributed to two books on broadcasting in Asia including Television in Contemporary Asia (Sage, 2000) and From Mao to the Millennium: Chinese Broadcasting in Transition (BMRB, 2001). He is a frequent contributor to industry magazines and journals and sits on the executive board for the International Journal of Market Research

The Power of Now

2010-03-04T05:34:00.000-08:00

There's a great video just posted today by iMediaConnection where Kevin Ryan interviews many of the delegates at the iMedia Summit. Among his door-stopped victims is Joseph Jaffe who has some interesing things to say about Twitter. From a perspective where he was a cheerleader of Second Life, he's much more sanguine about Twitter. And when someone as bullish about all things new on the internet says that I take notice. Personally I have found the utility I get from Twitter has gone somewhat, but as Jaffe notes, it has opened our eyes to the powerful opportunities to market in real time, to research in real time, and ultimately to build brands in real time.

Getting to 100% response rates

2010-02-08T02:08:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I met with Dr Martha Rogers who was speaking at a seminar hosted by SAS and the Irish Direct Marketing Association (IDMA) in the Merrion Hotel.

Rogers was quite persuasive in her assertion that crisis of short-term thinking is damaging business at the moment - she made a very interesting point I think in asserting that we should be carefful when we use the term response rates. Typically when we hear a report of a DM campaign we hear figures of targets for response rates from 2-50% but, as Rogers correcly points out, all campaigns have a 100% response rate - it's just that sometimes we only see part of that response. We need to pay equal attention to those that exhibited indifference or indeed hostility to our message as these may inflict more damage to the bottom line ultimately than any perceived short-term success. I got a chance to interview Dr. Rogers and will be including this in a DM special soon on The Persuaders Radio Show.

Hotel Branding

2010-01-30T09:23:00.000-08:00

This weekend I am visiting Paris where I will be speaking at the Worldhotels EMEA conference. I got a chance to interview Robert Hornman the CEO of the group ( will be on the radio show in due course). We'd an interesting discussion on the role of the brand today. Hornman was of the view that there's been a big increase in 'de-badging' as its termed where hotel owners shed the international brand affiliations they've had. Cost has a lot to do with this argues Hornman as owners in a recessionary climate demand more accountability and ROI from the brand proposition. Certainly I have seen in Ireland several high profile instances where the big chains have been dropped by independent owners, though sometimes one had to wonder about the marriage in the first place. Seems that many domestically oriented properties are tagged to brands that undoubtedly have an appeal to international markets ( especially business travelers )but may not connect with local audiences.

Building Trust from the Bottom Up

2010-01-26T02:28:00.000-08:00

This morning I attended the Edelman Ireland Trustbarometer presentation at the Westbury Hotel. Organised in association with the Marketing Institute it's an annual chance to feel the pulse of the general public when it comes to trust in a variety of institutions. Not surprisingly Ireland has become the 'New France' as one of the speakers put it in terms of our cynicism of institutions. I think speaker Eamon Gilmore did make a very important point when he said that even though trust in institutions has broken down, on a one-to-one basis we still trust our local bank staff, we still can eulogise about our local TD etc - this point I recall was made also by Martin Thomas, Author of Crowdsourcing when I interviewed him at the MII Conference. Strikes me that we need to harness social media in particular to build trust from the bottom-up. Today as individuals in business, politics and the media we've an unparalled chance to use blogs, videos etc to re-connect with the public and start the rebuilding process.

Between the Llines

2010-01-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

For my radio show I've been experimenting with using social media as a tool to both build a community but also to help solicit ideas for the show. It makes sense to leverage the undoubted expertise and insight of my listener base to create a valuable stream of news and issues that I can air. Ari B. Adler in a recent Digital Pivot post has an interesting discussion on a poll from Cision into how journalists are using social media as a means of researching news stories; Adler is reassured by the finding that most journalist continue to exhibit a healthy skepticism about the validity of the information from social media sources. For me though I sometimes think that the 'Wisdom of the Crowds' can prove a useful indicator, if not confirmation, of a commentator's bone fides. I find when researching a story that often my line of questioning is aided significantly by the comment streams that are attached to blog postings in particular; I know that some people might accuse me of lazy journalism, but au contraire, I think that the internet allows for a broader canvas of opinion; a canvas that in turn I try to call on in my show.

Target Marketing?

2010-01-20T04:20:00.000-08:00

While pondering an example I might use with my students for undifferentiated marketing approaches, I stumbled across this chap earnestly entreating people to take his copies of the CityAdsWeekly freesheet. It's not a bad analogy for the interruption marketing model that we hear derided so often I think.

Music That Made The Ads

2009-12-31T03:49:00.000-08:00

Today to celebrate the end of 2009, I'm hosting a special edition of The Persuaders on Dublin City Fm 103.2 fm from 3.00pm - 4.00pm GMT - you can also listen online at www.dublincityfm.ie

I'll be playing from the following playlist. If you get a chance do listen in, drop me a line for a dedication, leave a comment on your favourite piece of music in a commercial.

Playlist - not all of these will necessarily be played, and I am open to a suggestion or two.!

Carol of the Bells – Ukrainian 2’13– track from American Bellchoir.

Stand by Me – Ben E King – 2’58 Levis 501 Advert from 1988 – Black Jeans getting entrance to nightclub – Eddie Kidd

Marino Waltz – Dubliners – 2’40 Bord Na Mona 1986 – various scenes around the fireside.

Here come the girls – 3’06 Ernie K Doe Boots 2007 – Spice Girls

Don’t Stop the Rock – 5’31 Freestyle Express – Cadbury

Heartbeats – 2’40 Jose Gonzales Sony Bravia 2006

I Heard it Trough the Grapevine 3’18 – Levis 501 Marvin Gaye, Nick Cayman, 1987 Lauderette advert

Time is on my side – Rolling Stones 2’59 – Bulmers

Music to Watch Girls go By – 2’35 Andy Williams – Fiat Punto

Cranberries 4’15 – Dreams – Tourism Ireland

Going Back 3’10 ‘Dusty Springfield

Symphonie no 9, from the New Work, Dvorjac 5’09 ( Hovis )

My Sharona The Knack ( 1979 ) 4’56’ ( Oatabix )

Nutcracker – Dance of the Reeds 2.25 ( Slovak Philomaonci )

Sharing the love

2009-11-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Pretty much every conference speaker I hear talking about social media as a marketing tool stresses the need to ensure that 'sharability' is to the fore in the strategy. And sure enough we're seeing the increasing use of Twitter and Facebook apps on blog sites that enable readers to share content. Another growing area are websites that allow people to share their collection of favorite websites and links. I guess that Digg were to the fore in this but more recently we've seen the emergence of players that enable users to create a web-page to condense all their favourite blogs and share them.

One that's caught my eye recently is Alltop.com - if you click HERE you will be taken to The Persuaders Alltop selection - I hope you may find it useful and one that you can share with others. Why not create your own page and do send me the link too - happy to promote it.

World Travel Market WTM 2010 London

2009-11-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

It's almost ten years since I last visited World Travel Market ( WTM ) in London. On that last visit I was accompanying a group of about 25 students taking a degree in tourism marketing from DIT, so my duties in chaperoning took somewhat from my ability to peruse the vast array of stands in the Earls Court exhibition centre. The WTM has gone from strength to strength and today is in residence in the EXCEL centre in the London Docklands area. To celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, the organisers have produced a great little video to chart the changes that have taken place in global tourism and the role that WTM has played in the sector.

What marketers need to do now

2009-11-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

Last week I attended the Marketing Institute of Ireland annual conference. Among the speakers was author of Crowdsourcing, Martin Thomas who had some very interesting perspectives on how the marketing profession needs to adapt in a post-recessionary world. Here's a YouTube video I recorded with him....

Tourism Round Table Discussion

2009-08-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

On 16th of June I chaired the panel discussion at the THRIC 2009 Conference organised by the School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, Dublin Institute of Technology and supported by the Tourism Research Centre.

The panel discussed the theme...

"The recession creates more opportunities than challenges for the tourism and hospitality sector in Ireland and globally"

The Panelists were

Prof David Airey (University of Surrey)
Prof Jim Deegan (University of Limerick)
Mr Bobby Kerr (Insomnia)
Mr Aidan Pender (Fáilte Ireland)

Market Research and Consultancy overlap

2009-08-12T02:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got the chance to interview Fiona Czerniawska from consultancy Arkimeda as part of the run-in to the Esomar Congress 2009 where she is a keynote speaker. Fiona's someone who had some very interesting things to say about the parallels between the market research business and the consulancy sector where she works. Among the main observations that she has made is that the recession has served to bring both closer together; market research companies are increasingly being asked by their clients 'what should I do with the data' while consultancies are more acutely aware than ever of the need to base their proposed strategies on sound market insights. Interesting times and I look forward to exploring this issue more at Congress 2009. By the way the interview we did should be on a podcast very soon at the Esomar website.

Carroll's Irish Gifts - Spokespersons for Irish Tourism? No Thanks!

2009-08-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Nearly chocked on my lamb chops watching the 9'o'clock news report on the decline in tourist numbers ( see earlier posting ). Of all people to choose to interview they pick Ray O'Connell from Carroll's Irish Gifts who called for more investment in tourism marketing. All for it Ray, but for some reason I don't recall seeing your ads in overseas promotion - happy to let others do all the heavy lifting! Oh and while we're at it, I'd like to see the import content of their stock. I have taken the trouble to visit in-store and was surprised to see that much of their merchandise is actually sourced outside Ireland!

The Persuaders Guest Presenters - July

2009-07-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a ( well-deserved if you ask me) break for a few weeks from The Persuaders. I'm sure I won't be able to break away from my RSS addiction, but am off air. I hope you will consider giving your listening custom to the following on the next three Fridays on Dublin City FM at 1pm.

Friday July 10th, - Ron Immink and Yanky Fachtler will host a Bookbuzz special and will focus on a book from a marketing perspective.

Friday 17th and Friday 24th July - Ronan Kinahan from Vibe Marketing and Mark Byrne from Designworks will be doing an impression of a Marketing Ant and Dec show - they won't tell me what exactly they will be talking about, or who their guests might be - so long as you stay within the laws of libel, I'm cool, guys!

Digital Marketing School

2009-06-19T13:11:00.001-07:00

An interview with vStream founders Andrew Jenkinson and Niall O'Driscoll about a new initiative they are starting Digital Marketing School. The idea is that the site will become an educational portal for all digital marketing matters - a great idea I think and hopefully can help in positioning Ireland as a leader in digital marketing.

Latest podcast - The Big Switch campaign

2009-06-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

In this podcast two of the most prominent campaigns running in Ireland today are analysed. John Burns from Guinness is in studio to discuss the Guinness Signature campaign ( part of the wider Guinness 250 Advertising campaign ) and Nicky Doran from Bord Gais Energy tells me about the strategy behind the 'Big Switch' campaign, that has seen over 100,000 people make the move to the company for their electricity supply.

Guinness Signature Advertising

2009-06-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a great fan of Guinness advertising; in terms of Irish creativity I sometimes think that the artform that's advertising for the Black Stuff is often deprived of its rightful place alongside other manifestations of Ireland's creative talent. Sometimes the advertising has an almost iconic dimension to it; the Guinness 250 campaign that's been running since the start of the year has offered us all a trip down memory lane to revisit those campaigns that were part of our growing-up. Recently I got a chance to interview John Burns, Marketing Manager in Ireland for Guinness. The context was the very noble effort of the Guinness team to collect 1m signatures with the aim of reaching a target for the Arthur Guinness Fund of €2.5m. Take a look at a shortened version of the interview in this YouTube clip. I will be posting the full interview soon in the podcast edition of the show.

When is a sponsorship not a sponsorship?

2009-06-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

Seemingly when it's Ericsson's involvement in the Volvo Ocean Race we're talking about. Last week I was invited to facilitate the questions and answers session at the Global Marketing Showcase at the Volvo Ocean race which was visiting Galway. On of the speakers Ole Rembe Vice President Communications, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson was at pains to point out that the company do not even use the term sponsorship when referring to their huge range of activity. Have a listen HERE to my podcast which includes interviews with Ole among others.

Oh, and here's a pic of me on board the joint China-Ireland entry Green Dragon ( note the absence of shoes to protect the surface of the vessel).

SMILE Hotel Marketing Conference May 21st 2009

2009-04-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted with the line up for this year's SMILE Conference - and also with the themes that will be addressed - revenue management for hotels, digital marketing, distribution - it promises to be a great networking event too, and we've a new venue to celebrate also - One Kilmainham. I hope to see you there. Here's a video I recorded with fellow organiser, Cyril Mc Aree, publisher of Hotel and Restaurant Times.

RTE Player

2009-04-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

I'm really loving the newly launched RTE Player. As a news junkie it should not surprise you to know that the RTE website is my homepage, but this Player takes the 'on-demand' provision of news and drama to new levels. Sure BBC have had theirs for a while now, and I enjoy accessing their shows online when I'm in Belfast, but I think RTE have done a great job with it.

Rene good idea

2009-04-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend I'm in Vilnius to speak at the Best Western International European Spring Conference. It's about 10 years since I was last in Lithuania when I was helping to set up a tourism faculty here - indeed I think I can claim to have invited the first of the Lithuanian invasion to Ireland in 1998 when 6 attractive students arrived in DIT from Klaipeda University - they certainly created a stir around the place. I can say now that the tourism infrastructure has caught up with the natural attractiveness of the natives. There are lots of fine restaurants and international and local boutique hotels. On the first night I got the chance to eat at Rene's which is themed on a Belgian beer restaurant. Great service was enjoyed and the local beers hit the right spot. One clever piece of marketing they use is to ask guests their names and then reappear a few minutes later with a special pigeon delivery ( see attached photo). Actually the envelope contains no more than the utensils, but I give them full marks for creativity and it's got me thinking of how it might be employed in a broader sense.

Nationwide of the mark

2009-04-18T04:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes marketing campaigns take on a life of their own. It's as if the end sometimes acts as a smokescreen preventing a more dispassionate assessment of the climate within which the campaign is being launched. Well that's about the most benign explanation I can offer for the launch of a heavyweight radio campaign for Nationwide UK ( Ireland ) building society. With the risks of brand confusion with the Irish Nationwide all to evident in the clunky brand name, the marketing risks have be magnified in the current climate. I've no doubt at all that many listeners won't distinguish the UK entity from its Irish namesake ( or should that be nemesis) ; indeed there's surely a risk that many listening will see the campaign as no more than a putative attempt by Irish Nationwide to restore faith in its post-Fingelton era.

Cowen Budget Webcast

2009-04-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

For several months now Brian Cowen has been urged by many commentators to make a 'State of the Nation' speech; well it seems he has now, of sorts. Yesterday, in a three minute webcast first available on the FF website, he spelt out the challenges facing us as a nation. I am sure that many people will see the distribution channel chosen as proof positive again of what they claim is is "FF First and the country second" philosophy. But several parties have already chosen to use their own sites as a means of articulating their platforms. Why miss the perfect opportunity to get thousands of new visitors to your website? It's another example also of just how pervasive video will be in the business of enabling people to become part of the Persuaders.

Positive thinking

2009-04-03T23:16:00.001-07:00

On yesterday's edition of The Persuaders Radio show I got the chance to interview entrepreneur Donna Kennedy. Since 2004 Donna has been on a mission - to meet and network with some of the most popular and influential speakers in the world of personal development and growth. And I have to say she was a great antidote to negativity that so often passes for commentary these days.

She's helping to organise a seminar called Life Lasting Success taking place in Dublin from 8-10 May. The line up includes people as Victor Mark Hanson, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul. I've uploaded this video taken from my interview with Donna to tell you more about the seminar and you can also get more information HERE

A bailout we all agree with

2009-04-03T12:33:00.001-07:00

When it comes to the power of the blogosphere sometimes you've just got to go with the flow. So it was this week for Domino's Pizzas where the company had to give away more than 11,000 pizzas because a customer inadvertently stumbled upon a never used special promotional code ( presciently titled 'bailout ') which entitled them to a freebie. The speed with which the news of this spread through the web was astounding with thousands of people telling their friends about the offer before it was deactivated just 12 hours later. Fair play to Domino's for honouring the offer even though it was never officially sanctioned - now I am sure that there are further opportunities to turn a mistake to their advantage.

Europe's Hotel Marketing Malaise

2009-04-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

This week I found myself delivering a seminar to some hotel marketing executives at ESSEC in Paris. What was perhaps surprising was just how uniform was the view that marketing for this sector has hit a transformational moment where customer conversations are central to delivering brand promise. I can say that I learnt as much as they did.

Watching Me, Watching You

2009-03-28T03:01:00.000-07:00

I snapped this from my iPhone the other day when out and about in Malahide. It's the Google team in action with their high-tech equipment ( not so high-tech car though ) in their quest to map the entire city of Dublin as part of their Google Street View project. They are mapping some 25 UK cities at present also. While I can see the prurient appeal of this application, the marketing use of the technology has yet to be proven. I know that it would have appeal for house-hunters I guess, but given the rate of retail closures at present, one wonders how out dated the information would be by the time many people get to access it. I'm sure though that those clever folks in Google are one step ahead of moi in how it can be used. Any thoughts?

121 Marketing Network

2009-03-16T16:01:00.001-07:00

My most recent interviewee on the radio show was Karina Heavey who has established a very successful 121 Marketing Network. Karina is someone who really has been able to get under the bonnet of the social media engine and how to leverage it to build up a business proposition. I hope to get along to the next one on the 1st April and do some podcasting at the event.

Have a listen to my interview on The Persuaders HERE.

And my video with Karina also.

Interview with Mike Mc Mahon from Customerminds.com

2009-02-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Today I got the chance to interview Mike Mc Mahon, one of the founders of Customerminds.com - an Irish company which enables their customer base to use their platform to set up and analyse online marketing campaigns. Here's a -shaky - 5 minute extract from the interview which yours truly took while the interview was in train - there's no end to my multi-tasking ability. Next time though, I'll bring a tripod!

Understanding Digital Marketing Book

2009-01-30T18:42:00.000-08:00

On Thursday evening I attended the first Digital Tonic event of 2009 where Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones launched their new book - 'Understanding Digital Marketing' - it's a welcome addition to the discussion on where digital marketing is going. The book is well worth a read and I've already seen some great case examples that can help me in my business.

Here's a short introduction to the book by Damian filmed outside the Cocoon bar where the event was held.

Spotted lesser known 09

2009-01-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

Just in case you doubted their existence, I spotted this specimen yesterday in Mullingar. For me this constitutes my small 'shoots of recovery' statement. They do exist after all and should you be lucky enough to posess one drive it with pride I say.

Anyone for a pyjama party in D4?

2009-01-12T11:12:00.000-08:00

I was reading the online version of the Sindo yesterday and Niamh Horan's hilarous recounting of her visit to Ballsbridge Court ( formerly Berkeley Court hotel) on foot of the D4 hotels €20 a room offer. There's no doubt that no single marketing initiative has evoked such negative feedback here for a long time. As well as the lack of imagination it portrays, its capacity to dilute any brand values that might have existed is hard to fathom. Restoring the price to anything like a reasonable level will be nigh-on impossible when rock bottom has been achieved. The impact that this must have on existing clientele should not be underestimated either.

As Niamh recounts " a resident makes his way into the elevator wearing a bandana on his head and holding a scrunched up supermarket bag containing his belongings" - next thing you know the guests will be arriving in their pyjamas.

Whiter the Waterford Crystal brand?

2009-01-05T08:59:00.000-08:00

Today's announcement of the bringing in of the receiver to Waterford Wedgeford is of course devastating news for the people of Waterford. I've been struck by how many of the public representatives taking to the airwaves have made reference to the fact that its one of a very few Irish global brands. But it strikes me that while the brand itself does have a cache in the world of branding, it is not as inexorably linked to the location of its manufacture as would be the case with Guinness for example. On many visits to the US, I've often been struck by how many Americans don't in fact associate it with Ireland. They just see the Waterford brand as a symbol of luxury - an advantage for those seeking to get a buyer for the brand, but sadly cold comfort to those in Waterford itself.

Survive the Dive No. 1

2009-01-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

With the global, and especially the Irish, economies in nose-dive territories, I think that there's never been a more fruitful time for marketers to come to the fore in terms of helping companies 'survive the dive'. So in this blog, and also on the podcast, I think I'll give some more prominence to how marketers are trying to come up with creative solutions. Whereas in some respects the past decade has been characterized by a laziness in marketing, the current recession is paradoxically a time when creativity should flourish.

Irish Retail is predicted to be the next sector after construction to suffer. Before Christmas Gerry Harvey, Chairman of Australian furniture retailer, Harvey Norman stated that they were underwhelmed with their Irish stores' performances; but I note today that they are aggressively responding with a 24 months interest-free payments offer on their merchandise. I think this is a great idea given the cash-strapped nature of people today and given the time period will give people confidence that no matter how bad things are there's a long time horizon to pay it off. I'm old enough to remember when the television set was rented ( remember RTV rentals? ) - Maybe this is the time we'll see some more innovative financial packages.

If you're interested in more innovative retail concepts then I found the Top 10 Retail list from Dane Carlson's Business Opportunity weblog of interest - I'm sure some of the concepts there are just crying out for an Irish franchisee?

2008-12-31T06:12:00.000-08:00

Leveraging Social Media for Business

The following is an article I penned recently for the December special Golden Spiders edition from Business and Finance magazine.

The Internet today represents a listening post to global conversations, millions of them daily. Word of mouth is now heard (read and seen, too) around the world. Much of this is facilitated through the new “social media”—social networks, blogs, vlogs, social bookmarks, twittering and more.

If ever business needed proof-positive of the arrival of social media as a driver of success then we need look no further than the ascendancy of Barak Obama to the White House. Nearly half of the record $639 million that the Obama campaign raised during the Presidential campaign came in the form of donations of $200 or less. Millions of supporters were galvanised by a sophisticated use of social media strategies. We had the Obama blog, the Obama YouTube channel, Obama podcasts, ads for Obama in video games, all of them reaching millions, at relatively low cost, and having at their core the capacity to engage the audience in a way that traditional media has failed to do. Obama’s campaign team’s use of social media demonstrated an insight into how the post-boomer generations are communicating in a different way, with a desire to converse with companies, coupled with a growing reaction against traditional ‘top-down’ forms of marketing communication. Traditional methods of marketing are being replaced by approaches that target consumers via social media - consumers who can be a powerful source of feedback and a driver of innovation.

A good example is the Starbucks coffee-chain’s Mystarbucksidea.com website where the company invites its customer base to ‘help shape the future of Starbucks’. Contributors can share their ideas, have them voted on and follow the progress of their implementation in many cases. As well as being the most cost effective form of idea-generation possible, Starbucks is generating a huge database of consumer to market to ( sorry, engage in conversation with! ). Other good examples of such consumer driven innovation are the Doc Martins ‘Design Your Own Boot’ campaign, the Walkers Crisps ‘Do us a Flavour’ and the Starwood Hotels Aloft brand which used the opportunity presented by virtual world Second Life to design an entire hotel concept with the input of their avatar clad customers.

Behind the practice of companies encouraging consumer-led innovation is a well established theoretical basis. In his book ‘The Wisdom of Crowds’, James Surowiecki wrote about the aggregation of information in groups, resulting in decisions that he argues are often better than those that could have been made by any single member of the group. The opening anecdote in the book relates Francis Galton’s surprise that the crowd at a livestock fair accurately guessed the weight of an ox when their individual guesses were averaged (the average was closer to the ox's true butchered weight than the estimates of most crowd members, and also closer than any of the separate estimates made by cattle experts). Consumers willingness to trust the crowd has been a powerful driver of the success of many social media sites. Tripadvisor is among the most popular internet sites; its millions of reviews offer putative travellers to hotels or destinations a more bias-free insight than the relevant company oriented websites. For businesses the implications are clear; firstly the product or proposition has to be sound and secondly there’s a need to engage and indeed stimulate the conversation rather than sit back and wait.

Social media also offers companies powerful opportunites to market their existing range of products and services. Podcasting is a good case in point. Digital technology has enabled the creation of video and audio content to be produced at a fraction of the cost previously. While YouTube is predominantly a host to consumer generated content at present, more and more companies are seeing the opportunity to engage with consumers using video and audio. In the United States more than 60 million people regularly listen to or view podcasts, many of them created by companies looking for a new way to engage with consumers.

Arguably it’s in the travel and tourism sector that we’ve seen the internet being harnessed for commercial purposes – sites such as aerlingus.com and ryanair.com have seen both airlines manage to drive more than 90% of their business online. So perhaps we can get a glimpse into the future of the relationship between social media sites and business from this sector. According to a recent Google survey some 80% of people consult videos or pictures of hotel properties before making a final choice. According to the Hitwise site some 10% of all traffic to company websites comes from social media websites. Understanding the buzz that surrounds brands has become big business with several companies springing up to provide a dedicated blog and general social media monitoring service.

Of course the development of sites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace has created the opportunities for marketers to directly target their users on these sites. These sites use sophisticated methods to serve ads to segments based on a number of demographic and behavioural bases. Such are the numbers of people using such sites that they increasingly feature on the media plans of advertising agencies here in Ireland. However the best returns, in terms of branding opportunities, will continue to be those that are organically created by individuals and groups, rather than by advertisers. Marketers can successfully build relationships and brand advocacy by nurturing and supporting these people. In Facebook, this means discovering Facebook Groups that already promote a brand, or those who might welcome relevant sponsors offering valuable content and resources, instead of just pushing product.

Guinness for example has some 90,000 fans on its Facebook Group. Using Facebook Events, an application allowing brands to host virtual events, Guinness have a landing page where they can use all the tools available in the social network (discussion board, wall, photos, videos, and links) to interact with invited friends, and build a community experience that enhances the brand and attracts users. A key tactic for marketers is to use the Facebook News Feed and Mini-feeds (news about or relevant to individual users and their friend networks) to enter users’ space the same way an individual friend might. And it’s free. Whenever a user interacts with a brand, Facebook reports it in the user’s mini-feed, which also feeds to the user's designated friends, which feeds to their friends. It’s this ability to stimulate people to forward the brand message – viral marketing as it’s termed – that’s the nirvana for marketers. While the Powerade Paul O’Connell video ( www.nevergiveup.ie) is a good example of such viral campaigns, one can’t help but think that were it more embedded in social media then the campaign could have been even better leveraged.

While many Irish companies have still to dip their toes into the social media pond, others are already beginning to benefit. While social media might have been thought to be the preserve of business to consumer brands, this is not so and sites such as Linkedin.com are increasingly being used to build business relationships as well as for professional networking purposes. There are very few businesses that cannot capitalize on the opportunities offered by social networks. The costs of blogging and podcasting are negligible, as is the technical know-how required – what is needed is, firstly, a genuine recognition of the need to continually interact with the customer and, secondly, the willingness to experiment with new approaches. It would be a great pity if contracting ad budgets were to hit the newly emerging channels offered via social networks. Hopefully the current downturn may be just the stimulus needed for Irish business to finally get on the social media train.

Javarepublic Roastery - the Persuaders on tour

2008-12-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

I seldom get a chance to take the Persuaders on the road but an invitation to see the Javarepublic Roastery in Ballycoolin piqued my interest. Founder of Javarepublic David Mc Kernan was my genial host and served me a great 'full Irish' in arrival - I was taken aback by the Roastery which has its inspiration in a similar venture David visited ages ago in California.

Have a listen to the podcast from the show by clicking HERE - in the podcast I mention the plan to have the next Persuaders Pudding Club in the Roastery and I can now confirm a DATE FOR YOUR DIARY - Wednesday 14th January at 6pm in the Roastery - wine on arrival, some finger food and a chance to interact with listeners and have David say a few words about the Javarepublic brand story.

If you want to be on the notification list drop me an e.mail to thepersuaders@mac.com

Marketing Institute of Ireland Christms Lunch

2008-11-19T03:15:00.000-08:00

Dublin - President's Christmas Lunch

Oliver Callan Comedian

Nob Nation

Thursday 4-Dec-08 12:30 PM to Thursday 4-Dec-08 4:15 PM

It's all in the wording

2008-11-17T15:29:00.000-08:00

Today's poll from Irish Times TNS/MRBI on the prospects for a re-running of the Lisbon Treaty has elicited some predictable reaction from the media, with some seeing it as a chink of light that a second running would result in a different result; but I'm not convinced- as usual there scarce parsing of the actual question asked. Instead the Irish Times reports that "in the poll, people were asked how they would vote if the treaty was modified to allow Ireland to retain an EU commissioner and other Irish concerns on neutrality, abortion and taxation were clarified in special declarations."

But even a year one student of marketing research text-books would see that this question transcends an error of methodology in that it's effectively two questions in one - namely 1 - are you in favour if we retain an EU Commisioner ( an objectively determinable outcome - either we get that concession or we don't and.... 2 - are you in favour if other concerns are clarified ( my emphasis ). This latter outcome is subjective of course and one person's clarification is another's smokescreen/mudpie etc etc. Mixing such objective and subjective outcomes makes any interpretation of the survey results hazardous in the extreme.

Pricing Paranoia

2008-11-16T13:47:00.000-08:00

Last week I attended the Marketing Institute of Ireland conference held in the Four Seasons Hotel Dublin.

One of the people I interviewed for my radio show was Professor Malcolm Mc Donald, someone who will be familiar to anyone who's taken a marketing degree this side of the Atlantic, from his prodigious output of text-books. Unlike many of the speakers, his presentation was more dead-pan in delivery but more deadly in impact, as he dissected the entrails of many a failing in strategic marketing. His sanguine discussion on the impact of going down the price-cutting route as a way out of a downturn was particularly relevant I think. One of his slides was a matrix showing the relationship between gross margin, price-cut and the consequent lift in sales volume needed to break even. For example if your gross margin is 25% and you cut price by 10% you need to sell a astonishing 66% more volume to maintain profit levels. I can't help but think that all too often us marketers shy away from this type of clinical financial based analysis when assessing marketing options - a reticence that's probably costing the profession dearly in terms of improving its reputation as a driver of business performance and a 'must-have' at the boardroom level.

In addition to my interview with Professor Mc Donald I got a chance to interview some other keynote speakers for my radio show and podcast and you can access that HERE.

Thanks

2008-11-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

A big thank you to all who voted for me at the recent IIA Net Visionary Awards in the Best Business Podcaster category. I am humbled to have won the award and thanks to all of you who have contacted me with their good wishes. It's only served to prompt me to continue to try to produce an interesting and valuable marketing resource.

Digital Marketing Video : Glue London

2008-10-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

Thought you might be interested to see the interviews I conducted at the recent Prosperity event in Digital Hub. The video clip features interviews with Prosperity director, Gary Mullen and Martin Bailie, Glue London who was the keynote speaker.

Net Promoter Score

2008-10-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

Even allowing for the reticence of Irish audiences, I was astonished that no-one at the Martin Bailie presentation in Digital Exchange acknowledged an awareness of the Net Promoter Score which Bailie laid much store on as a key ROI metric. Clearly the score is not in wide use in Ireland. First introduced in a 2003 article in the Harvard Business Review the concept is discussed at length in The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth written by loyalty business model expert Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company. Essentially the score is based on the number of people answering in the affirmative to the question ' would you recommend product X to your family/ friends'.

As Guy Kawasaki said recently 'this is a powerful question because it gauges whether or not customers like your product enough to put their own reputations on the line with their friends and colleagues.' Kawasaki contrasts the power of a question such as this with the sometime vagaries of traditional survey approaches to illicit real consumer insight.

The Glue that binds marketing

2008-10-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I spoke at the Prosperity organised digital seminar featuring Martin Bailie from award-winning UK digital agency Glue. On a future show we'll have extracts from his presentation to share with you. I was struck by Martin's insistence in drumming home the message that digital marketing initiatives have to be seen first and foremost in the context of meeting clear business objectives, even if the objectives are sometimes a bit wooly, such as his case study on Oasis soft drinks 'Cactus Kid' campaign who wanted to be loved. His perfect brief he confessed was the one he got from a nameless company who wanted to shave 30million in ad-spend and eliminate their call-centre! Unlike a lot of presentations today Martin shunned the obvious strategy of showing his latest digital toys to the audience, and left me with the impression of someone who wanted to educate more than entertain. You can download a copy of Martin's presentation HERE.

Media Show goes online ( Again!)

2008-09-11T16:17:00.000-07:00

The back-room boys in City Channel's web design team ( they're the ones with the ponytails) have been beavering away to create an all bells and whistles website. I think it looks great; I would say that though as they've started to put the Media Show online again. So check out the latest episode where Marty Wright from Gospel TM is my profile guest.

You can view it by clicking HERE

Latest marketing podcast

2008-08-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest podcast where I Interview Michael Wallace, Commercial Director for Loadzajobs.ie about the trends in online recruitment, plus Brent Koepke, Creative Director from Fareed, Zapala Koepke, an Orlando based hospitality marketing consultancy about the state of the creative sector in US advertising. Brent also shares with us some specific case-studies of best practice.

Thanks to Everyzing for the feed.

Verge Digital Summit

2008-06-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

My most recent podcast is a special edition recorded at the VERGE Ogilvy Digital Summit held on June 4th in Guinness Storehouse.

Among the interviewees is David Wheldon, Global brand director of Brand Vodafone. I was surprised to hear that David and his team are actually based in Dublin. I know that Kellogg's European marketing team are also based in Dublin. Maybe the Fair City will develop something of a reputation as a global marketing centre of excellence - time for a marketing hub?

Have a listen to the podcast HERE.

Marketing to 50+ Segment

2008-06-17T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well Dick Stroud's presentation went down very well on last Thursday's Pudding Club. As someone who seeks to convince us of the digital savvyness of the Over 50 segment, it's no surprise to find that Dick is a dab hand at new technology himself.

While The Persuaders Pudding Club is a strictly 'No Powerpoint' zone Dick did go to the bother of narrating a presentation for the benefit of those who could not make it along.

You can access the Flash version of the presentation here. And in case you missed my interview with Dick for my podcast you can listen to that here.

And do let me know any thoughts you have on marketing to the 50+ Sector.

Next Persuaders Pudding Club, June 12th

2008-06-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to confirm that my guest speaker at the next Persuaders Pudding Club will be Dick Stroud, acknowledged as a global expert on marketing to the over 50s.

The event takes place on June 12th, and I'd like to thank The Westbury Hotel for agreeing to host this event.

More details HERE.

Ireland's Wonderful West tourism marketing campaign

2008-05-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I got the chance to visit New York to report on the Tourism Ireland organised event to promote Ireland's Wonderful West marketing campaign.
The campaign was designed to highlight the many attractions of the Western regions from Kerry to Donegal, including ease of direct access from many gateway cities, the good value fares and inclusive packages available, as well as showcasing a range of compelling offers from local industry. Advertising, direct marketing, eMarketing, lifestyle and media promotions, publicity and co-operative activity with carriers, tour operators and industry partners all form part of the campaign. This will be additional activity over and above Tourism Ireland’s core overseas marketing programme for 2008. The new campaign focuses mainly on the US market which is the most lucrative in terms of spend and length of stay; €2.4m will be spent in the US. It will capitalise on the direct services to Shannon this year by four major carriers (Aer Lingus, Continental, Delta and US Airways) from six important gateways (New York, Boston, Chicago, Newark, Atlanta and Philadelphia). While direct transatlantic access into Shannon Airport will be reduced in peak season this year, there is still a considerable capacity of 6,700 seats per week to target. In the podcast I interview representatives from Tourism Ireland, Failte Ireland as well as Irish trade participants and attendees representing US tour operators who feature Ireland.

Here's my report courtesy of Podzinger.

Scaling the PR heights

2008-04-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening I got the chance to attend the official opening party for the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in Dublin city centre. The Persuaders is already a committed fan, having hosted our second Pudding Club in the hotel's impressive Circular Bar. The big talking point of the night was the arrival in Ireland for the first time of the Dinner in the Sky concept. Perhaps it was the fact that yours truly was already well lubricated with the copious amounts of champagne, but I forgot my confirmed vertigo and strapped myself in to be hoisted into the sky. It really was a great experience, sitting alongside TV3's Expose crew as we dined and drank more champers. The guys at Host PR who put together the PR campaign must have felt like the cat who got the cream, as they got headline billing on all news channels. It goes to show how innovation in PR and conviction can pay big dividends.

Search Marketing World 2008

2008-04-03T14:34:00.000-07:00

Just back this evening from Search Marketing World 2008, the second year running that the event has been held. Hats off to Martin Murray and all the team at Interactive Return for a really excellent event. Speaking to many delegates it's clear that this is now a 'must-attend' on the search marketing calendar. I'll be putting together a podcast soon on the event, but as was pointed out to me by one of the panel chairs, Damian Ryan, the event clearly proved that Search has now passed a tipping point. Damian's attempts to get the speakers at the Advertising panel to pin their colours to the mast as to when digital would be the dominant form of media spend solicited a number of predictions, most agreed it's around the corner. Check out the Search Marketing Gurus blog where Liana 'Li' Evans ( pictured ) has done a great job in putting a very timely synopsis of the main speeches.

Clever safety advertisement

2008-04-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Persuaders was recently pointed it the direction of a new commercial for Transport for London, the body charged with enhancing the safety of the Big Smoke's streets. This commercial focuses on cyclist safety and is a clever remake of a video I have had occasion to show to students in my consumer behaviour class.

Interview with Albert Maruggi

2008-03-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Albert Maruggi started Provident Partners, a full-service marketing firm, to work with clients who want to communicate in different ways and actively build their businesses. The company holds as its philosophy - The thoughtful pursuit of being different, while relating to what’s common, is the art and science of business communications. In my interview with Albert we discuss how he is advising his clients on social media ( indeed if social media is a term that's relevant ) and also some other topical issues in today's multi-media marketing environment. My interview with Albert was facilitated courtesy of my latest toy - the Skype phone from Three mobile....if you've reason to call the States a lot, it's certainly worth investigating.

Listen to the interview HERE

Chip off the old block

2008-03-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

As one of those who emigrated to the UK in the depressed Ireland of the late 80s, I would often pay a visit to the Irish Centre in Reading to reconnect with the old sod. A real treat on any visit was the opportunity to buy some Tayto at the bar ( I think they were actually called King crsips because of some licensing isssue - point is we always referred to them as Tayto).

So for me Tayto is one of the few remaining quentissentially Irish brands out there, and one I therefore take more than a passing interest in. Tayto has a new Mr Tayto is Looking for Love campaign that's running on TV and has also some dedicated social media sites such as its own Bebo page. When I was interviewing Piaras Kelly recently on the radio show, he mentioned it a good example a good integrated campaign. It prompts the question though, of how much of the brand's values can actually be infused in the brand character, particularly when in a sense, everyone's relationship with Mr Tayto, until fairly recent times was an individually defined one.

Marketing from the Middle of Nowhere (tm)

2008-02-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

Marketing from the Middle of Nowhere - A series of case-based discussions between two international marketers choose a local successful small business; and then examine the how the respective businesses have excelled. A sense of "place" anchors the discussions: Ireland and Canada have similarities including mythic natural landscapes, sparsely populated geography, proximity to market-giant neighbours, and innovative small businesses. While international listeners and readers may not initially place, for example, Tralee (Ireland) or Edmonton (Canada) on a map of the world; they will think of these towns as wellsprings of off-the-beaten-path innovation, after hearing of the global marketing success of Stockbyte in the online photography industry, and Bioware in the video gaming world. The cases will demonstrate that, in an internet-enabled marketplace, a marketing-savvy small business can thrive and carve out a global market niche. In fact, running a business "from the middle of nowhere" can often be a strategic business advantage. Companies mentioned in this first podcast in the series are Cartrawler.com iStockphoto.com AbeBooks Wowjobs.com

Making the Media Show

2008-02-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

Once a month I record the The Media Show for City Channel. It airs on the schedule pretty much each day, and since it's got its own website has been getting a lot of viewers. Over the past 23 episodes I've covered a huge range of topics and interviewed a lot of top Irish marketing and media professionals. This weekend I set up a YouTube account and, having recently invested in a YouTube camera from Disgo, plan to make a series of short videos when I'm filming or making the radio show. I hope that these will complement the existing material and act as a type to preview for the television and radio show. So here's a very short clip of me in the making of the Media Show - thanks to Rachel for taking the shots. The clip shows my cameraperson, Philipa filming me in the middle of an interview with Susan Branchflower, head of marketing at Three mobile, for a forthcoming show.

Nuts about the Conversation

2008-02-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

These days my daily commute to work gives me a chance to catch up on some reading. At present I'm reading Joseph Jaffe's Join the Conversation. Joseph's publishers kindly gave me a copy for review ( which I shall honour in my podcast ). The central thesis of the book that companies need to get serous about customer engagement in all its dimensions is one that I concur with. The book has lots of practical examples of best practice and companies that struggled with genuine engagement. Appropriate therefore that the team at Shamrock Foods have alerted me to their foray into social media with the setting up of a site dedicated to identifying who you are Just Nuts About, to help promote their Just range of nuts. It's very early days, but the concept is one that has a number of interesting possibilities. Certainly the sector is one that does not immediately conjure up images of innovation and customer intimacy, so all the more creditable that this approach is being taken.

Ad skipping

2008-02-09T02:08:00.000-08:00

Just got the digital television service in from UPC a couple of days ago. Yes, I know that seem a bit laggardish for a marketer, but our area's only now been enabled. As part of the service I ordered one of those hard-drive recorders. Impressive stuff when you can pause live action and replay or catch-up with the action. I know it's only a sample of one, but the simplicity of this recorder has meant that invariably I've been pausing when ads come on to check out the other channels and, when returning, zipping forward through the ads to catch the action.

Now I have a real insight into the behaviour catalogued in the Big Media Research data in the attached image. Thanks to Joesph Jaffe's blog for the reference.

I love it yeah, yeah, yeah.

2008-02-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

This week saw the opening of the Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool. As if the bestowing of European Capital of Culture was not reason enough to pop over the Irish sea, who can resist the temptation to immerse themselves in Beatle nostalgia wrapped up with hospitality pampering. A great idea and an example of what I have been predicting for some time in terms of the increase in experience in the service proposition. While boutique hotels have long emphasised style and fashion - witness the Versace and Bulgari hotels - the use of iconic brands or cultural pillars has been less exploited. Now for the Guinness Hotel!

Tagline to success

2008-02-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Al Reis ( he of the Positioning: the Battle for Your Mind) writes a weekly column for Adage magazie. His latest column was inspired the battle of the slogans in the current Presidential campaign in the US. Reis is a big fan of the Obama 'Change you can believe in' tagline and quite rightly in my opinion asserts that first-mover advantage in this regard has given Obama squatters rights on the concept of change, despite Hilary Clinton's recent conversion ( witness her new slogan 'Countdown to Change' As he says, she begins to look like a follower in this context. Set me thinking of my favourite slogans. I would place greatest store on their capacity to create a clear positioning for the brand, and its longeivity. So for what it's worth my top 5 are:

The Ultimate Driving Machine ( BMW )
Every Little Helps ( Tesco )
That's Better, That's Tetly ( Tetly Tea )
We Try Harder ( Avis )
Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat

Spend your way out of recession

2008-01-31T06:10:00.000-08:00

Ad Age Magazine today report that Kraft Foods and Kellogg Co. said they will boost their ad outlays despite drops in net income.

Kellogg CEO David MacKay said his company's loss (net income declined 3% in the fourth quarter) was stemmed by its increased ad spending. In the recession of the '90s the company was equally determined to increase its share of voice as all around them the sounds of panic ensued. This seems to make sense to me...in a more nervous era marketers can extract excellent media deals to get the most effective spend on their budget, continue to garner good relationships with retailers and, most importantly of all, continue to engage their markets. Long live marketing enlightenment!

Tourism Blog

2008-01-30T05:07:00.000-08:00

My colleague in the library here at DIT Faculty of Tourism, Brian Gillespie, has made a foray into the blogosphere with the excellent, DIT Library Tourism and Food Library blog. While the branding of the blog may be a little staid for my marketing mind, there's no mistaking Brian's nose for an interesing tourism related story. Boomark it today if tourism's your thing.

The end of Radio?

2008-01-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

Joseph Jaffe, podcaster of Jaffe Juice, is back on air after his recent soujourn in South Africa. As listeners to my show will know I'm a great admirer of his take on new marketing. Speaking on his most recent Jaffe Juice podcast he was discussing some predictions of one of his callers that Radio would be the most threatened 'old' media. Joesph mentioned the increasing tendency of motor manufacturers to pre-install MP3 players in their cars as a real threat, and I agree. As someone who's currently shopping around for a new set of wheels, a factor in my choice will be wheter I can easily plug my iPod into the dashboard. Yes, give me flexibility to listen to what I want, when I want, in transit over most other factors. I have been pleasantly surprised at the choice that is in fact available to me. Strikes me that I won't be listening to that much traditional radio in my car in the near future, and that means I won't be listening to much radio at all!

A related example, I stayed at the sumptious Ice House Hotel in Ballina, Co., Mayo, Ireland's first hotel to have Apple TV installed in every room. Thousands of music tracks from every genre of music available. Do you think I watched much TV or listened to the radio?

MacBook Air Marketing

2008-01-15T22:17:00.000-08:00

As an ardent fan of Apple, I was wating expectantly for Mr. Jobs latest revelation. And so it came to pass yesterday when Apple unveiled their entry into the notebook sector, the MacBook Air. Targeted unashamedly at the road warriors, it's ultra light and, as one would expect from Apple, beautifully designed. The designers have made this wireless only, having eliminated an ethernet connection - a brave move, but also one that indicates just how fast Apple anticipate the wireless connectivity to increase. To find out more about MacBook Air have a look at an interview for the Wall Street Journal conducted with Personal Technology columnist Walter S. Mossberg discusses his early impressions of the ultra-thin Macbook Air. Click HERE.

Hearing that Apple shifted 4 million iPhones in just 200 days, who would bet against MacBook Air being an equally big success?

Social Media and Tourism

2008-01-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

Last week I was invited by HSMAI in Norway to speak at Moteborsen which is an event where hotels and other suppliers can meet with potential buyers such as association planners and travel managers. I also had the pleasure of attending the annual prize awards for sales and marketing excellence. The grand prix was awarded to Flytoget, the company that run the superb express rail service from the oh so modern Oslo airport to the city centre ( 40 kms in less than 20 mins!) I will post more on this campaign soon and also hope to interview the marketing director on The Persuaders soon. I've uploaded the presentation I made at Moteborsen - I would welcome your comments.

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Marketing Institute Podcast

2008-01-12T00:53:00.000-08:00

In case you were not aware of it, I have recently been asked by the Marketing Institute of Ireland to present the Marketer's Chair series of podcasts. The idea is that each month I conduct a detailed interview with a senior figure from the world of Irish marketing. In addition to discussing their individual career paths, I tease out some of the major issues in marketing and how they view them. The first two interviewees in the series are Michael Carey, Executive Chairman of Jacob Fruitfield and Damian Davaney, Marketing Director of 02 Ireland. If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it. You can access the podcasts HERE.

Radio Advertising Awards

2008-01-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

Attending the Sharks last year, the dearth of good viral campaigns was commented upon. So I'm delighted to see this campaign recently aired to promote Ireland's Radio Adverising Awards - it deserves to get a good 'pass along' factor. Do you recognise the actors?

See it by clicking the video below....

Christmas Advertisements

2007-12-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

Utalkmarketing.com has just published the results of a poll where they asked their subscribers to vote for their all-time favourite Christmas advertisements. Bearing in mind that it's a UK site the results were:

1. Coca Cola ‘Holidays Are Coming’ (1996) 22%
2. Irn Bru ‘Snowman’ (2006) 17%
3. Marks and Spencer ‘Ice Hotel’ (2006) 13%
4.Andrex ‘Christmas Goose’ (1996 10%
5. Guinness ‘White Christmas’ (1996) 8%
6. Ferrero Rocher ‘Ambassador’s Reception’ 7%
7. Mastercard ‘Keeping Your Promises…Priceless’ (1999) 5%
8. Quality Street ‘Magic Moments’ (1989) 3%
9. Tesco ‘Spice Girls’ (2007) 2%
10. Other 13%

What was interesting to me was how old many of the favourite campaigns are. These ads are unlike many others as there is a permission from the audience to air them over several years, partly because there is less fatigue as it's only once a year, but on a more profound level perhaps these advertisements can be said to have entered the realm of part of the tradition and folklore of the season. For me now when I see the Guinness White Christmas ad, it is one of those moments when I say to myself, 'It's Christmas!'.

Nokia Glimpse of Next Episode study

2007-12-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

Nokia’s latest study, ‘A Glimpse of the Next Episode’, predicts that within five years a quarter of all entertainment will be created, edited and shared within peer groups rather than coming out of traditional media groups. Nokia also used information gathered from its 900 million customers and views of leading industry figures to reach the conclusion that you will control 25% of the world’s entertainment by 2012. On more than a few occasions this year I have heard ad agencies blithly assert that their creative role will remain undiminished as they provide the real content that drives consumer interest...this study provides more than enough ammunition to shake that complacency.

Pudding Digested

2007-11-23T16:12:00.000-08:00

The Persuaders Pudding Club event took place last Thursday evening in the funky Circular Bar at the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel and was another great success. John Kearon's informal presentation hit exactly the right note in tone and his injection of humour was much appreciated. Earlier in the day John presented a more academic type analysis to my students in DIT. In his presentation to the Pudding Club attendees, John focussed on debunking some commonly held marketing truisms. Among these was the commonly accepted view that much of our response to communication was somehow rational - indeed the 'hierarchy of effects' model of advertising response is still the most commonly taught in business schools. And this perspective is reflected in mainstream ad research techniques, with their emphasis on awareness and comprehension testing. John introduced the audience to some of the techniques his Brainjuicer company are using to garner a deeper insight into the emotional response to advertising that propels subsequent purchase behaviour. I have received many favourable comments on his insights and some of the attendees have taken to the blogosphere with their own reflections, such as this commentary from Turbulence Ahead.