Tag Archive for: Content marketing

On the Move….

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We’ve had a busy few weeks travelling up and down the country hosting test-drive events for Volvo dealerships. We’ve hosted pop-up events in Castle Dargan in Sligo and Castle Leslie in Monaghan for McGinley Motors’ Volvo and The Johnston Estate in Meath for Finlay Volvo Naas.

 

 

We leveraged local media with outside broadcasts from Ocean FM and LMFM and social media was a key driver in securing test-drives on the day and generating leads for the dealerships.

 

 

Representatives from the dealerships used the event to capture data and tailor the test drive experience for each customer’s specific needs. Watching them work was a good reminder that, while online is a great tool for research, the face to face engagement at events likes this is what turns test drivers into buyers.

 

 

Customers were also able to test-drive and learn more about Volvo’s latest electric vehicles. The Swedish brand is at the forefront of electrification and the efficient power from its pure electric cars, plug-in hybrids and mild hybrid technology will change the way we move forever.

Savouring Kilkenny….

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We had the great pleasure of spending the October bank holiday weekend in Kilkenny for the 13th annual Savour Kilkenny food festival. Upwards of 50,000 people descended on Ireland’s medieval city last weekend to celebrate Kilkenny’s finest local artisan producers and their produce. Joining them was a host of Ireland and the world’s most innovative celebrities and opinion makers in the world of food.

 

 

International visitors for this year’s festival included best-selling Australian author and national TV star, Kim McCosker who brought her 4 Ingredients thinking to the Savour stage. Kim is pictured below taking some time out of her busy schedule to chat to host Edward Hayden on KCLR FM.

 

 

Other familiar faces included homegrown Irish stars Paul Flynn of The Tannery, Dungarvan, Clodagh McKenna, Catherine Fulvio, Rory O’ Connell, Roz Purcell, Darren Kennedy and Mount Juliet’s Ken Harker and John Kelly.

 

 

As well as the KBC Wellness Stage and food and fitness bootcamp with Kathryn Thomas, other festival highlights included tented food and beverage stands, a Medieval Banquet at the Medieval Mile Museum, cooking demonstrations and talks, and kids fun and dining events.

 

 

Roz Purcell hosted a vegan night and also demonstrated how to cook vegan to a packed marquee. This year also saw the introduction of the new Food Provenance award in partnership with Kilkenny LEO and KCLR where local eateries were recognised for the focus they place on local and regional producers and seasonal cooking.

 

 

It was wonderful to experience the very best of Kilkenny’s vibrant food culture and to witness the city and county’s core commitment to supporting local growers and producers and local cafes and restaurants. See savourkilkenny.com for details of next year’s festival.

 

 

Outreach Visit with Governor of the Central Bank

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We were delighted to work with the Central Bank team on an outreach visit to Donegal last week. Governor Lane, Gráinne McEvoy (Director of Consumer Protection), Kevin Mullen, (Head of Asset Management Supervision) Geraldine Hannon (Head of Banking Supervision) and Claire O’Gorman (HR Business partner) visited the county as part of an extended outreach visit to build understanding of the Central Bank and listen to a range of views from the northwest.

 

 

We brought Irish Independent journalist and broadcaster, Richard Curran, on board to curate an evening event in Letterkenny with representatives from a cross-section of the local community. Questions on the night covered a broad range of topics including Brexit, SME lending, Credit Unions and competition in financial services.

 

 

The following morning, Wednesday 13 March, the team visited Errigal College, St. Eunan’s College and Loreto Secondary School. This presented an opportunity to hear views from the next generation and answer questions on the Central Bank’s work in Europe, bond rates, the next economic recession and careers at the Central Bank.

 

 

Regulatory technology and governance were topics of discussion when the Governor addressed students from Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) later that day. The visit ended with a tour of the CoLab, Letterkenny IT’s innovation and incubation centre and an introduction to some of its 60 technology-based enterprises.

 

Planning for 2015

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As is customary for marketing heads at this time of year, we’re looking ahead and planning for 2015 to get some idea of what we can expect from the coming year. The good news is that there are lots of positives to take us into the new year and here’s our top 15…

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1. Ireland will continue to be the fastest growing economy in the European Union as Irish and foreign-owned companies start to invest again

2. Business and consumer confidence is set to increase even further than it did in 2014 

3. Retail sales are on a firm upward trend – meet your customer in 2015 (albeit a US one!)…

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4. Private consumption growth (year-on-year) turned positive for the first time since 2012 and this will continue into 2015

5. Unemployment (though still too high) is set to fall to 8% in 2015

6. Sustained growth is set to continue next year at around 3.6%

7. We get to celebrate some cool milestones like the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of our cultural icons, Nobel Laureate W.B. Yeats

8. Our current creatives continue to shine on a world stage, from musicians like Hozier (who played the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show earlier this month) to brilliant Irish designers like Don O’Neill, Simone Rocha and Emma Manley

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9. The Web Summit will be bigger and better… already a massive success this year and that’s without decent broadband. Imagine what it will bring in 2015, when hopefully (and we’re optimistic) the RDS will have sorted out its WIFI issues

10. Ireland is set to become a new technology hub for central and Eastern European firms looking to access the US market – that’s according to PwC

11. It’s set to be a good year for food lovers – 2015 marks the anniversary of the world’s first restaurant, which was opened 250 years ago by Mr. Boulanger in France. We suspect there’ll be lots of restaurants celebrating this milestone in their own unique way…

12. Content marketing remains king – more and more brands will become publishers of useful content that customers will actually thank them for. Writing is where it’s at…

13. Travel becomes more ‘local’ than ever and Ireland is perfectly placed to deliver the kinds of authentic experiences tourists are looking for

14. Our food scene is bustling and set to thrive even more next year

15. Ireland is open for business in 2015 – Are you? Now is the time to get your business ready and we are here to help…

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Where We’re At…

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Well, it’s all go at The Right Angle. We started small, but in the past two months, we’ve doubled our team and quadrupled our client base. All of which is not too shabby… but it begs the question, where are we in terms of the recession? As is often the case, the PR and marketing business was hit particularly hard in the economic downturn.scissors_cutting_euro_not_450

But once again, as an industry, we’ve proved our worth and those who know a thing or two about business (and consumers) know that cutting PR and marketing spend to the bone is never a good idea. That’s because it very quickly becomes a self fulfilling prophecy: fail to market your business correctly, and more often than not, your business will fail. So what about the road ahead?

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Well, our managing director started her career in Murray Consultants, so to give us an overview of where we’re at, it’s  fitting that we’re referencing research commissioned by MCsquared  (the consumer and brands’ division of Murray’s). Conducted by Amárach Research and carried out among members of the Marketing Institute of Ireland (MII), the report shows investment in brand communications through digital channels is continuing to grow strongly.

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Almost 60% of those surveyed plan to increase their digital marketing budget in 2014 and digital currently accounts for almost one quarter (24%) of marketing spend. And because the role of the marketer is ever-evolving, here’s an interesting piece on new skills marketing professionals would be wise to learn.

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So, the marketing outlook for this year is more positive than at any time over the past six years and that’s certainly been our experience since we launched. And while companies still struggle to find balance between in house resources and what to outsource to agencies, digital and content marketing are set to benefit most in the next two years – but relevance remains king. This video has lots more useful data…