Why is having a sense of purpose so important?

Why is having a sense of purpose so important?

What is ‘purpose’ and why is having one so important? Purpose can be described as the reason for which something exists or is done, made, or used.

To me, I don’t think anyone has a set purpose for their whole life, I think it changes throughout our lifetime, naturally changing as our life ebbs and flows. I see purpose as both striving to achieve a goal and a specific outcome but also enjoying the journey while you’re on it, working towards something but enjoying what you hope you will someday achieve.

Working on your ambitions and personal goals while also potentially changing the lives of other people, is one of the reasons I enjoy what I do. Feeling like the work you do has a purpose and a meaning is one of life’s greatest joys.

I’m a strong believer in manifesting what you want in life, and last year, when I began my journey with Fuzion I wrote down a goal of mine; to work with a mental health organisation. Being a big advocate for mental health myself, I wanted to feel as though I was doing some good and helping others as much as I could in my day-to-day life; any little part I could play.

When we got to pitch to work with the IACP I knew it was an account I had to work on.

Working alongside them last year and launching their national ‘Look After Yourself‘ campaign was one of the highlights of my year. From team brainstorms to reaching out to strangers, with notes in their door to see if we could put a mural on the side of their house (we’ll do anything to get the job done, us PR folk!) to reaching out to Joe Caslin and seeing his vision of the campaign come to life in a mural on Montague Lane in Dublin was an exceptional moment for me and no doubt my Fuzion colleagues too.

This campaign sought to shine a light on men’s mental health, to break the stigma surrounding toxic masculinity and to encourage young men to see therapy as something they shouldn’t be ashamed of doing, and instead encourage each other to seek help if they need it.

There is no shame in asking for help, and although there is still a lot of work left to be done to break the stigma of therapy, we do hope this campaign started a conversation and even encouraged one person to seek help.

Not only did this campaign, I hope, help others but it also helped me achieve my sense of purpose. I would consider working on this campaign not only a highlight for me but the most noteworthy moment in my career thus far and I plan to be talking about it for years to come!

Michelle

Michelle Harrison is part of PR team at Fuzion Communications, working from our Dublin office

Some Instagram changes for the better?

In my training sessions, I always start off by saying that Instagram is the platform where you show your best side.

From amazing pictures of products to great pictures of your team, it allows you to build your brand aesthetic and show your story.

Most personal users use it this way too.

They only put up their best pictures – pictures of themselves, their holidays, great nights out. Due to this behaviour, Instagram has become associated with many negative effects like bullying, self-esteem, anxiety, depression and body image.

Other social media platforms such as Facebook & Twitter are full of the plague of fake news and Instagram was the one positive place where this fake news epidemic hadn’t reached.

However due to the perfect image that Instagram is meant to present, it has been a breeding place for low self-esteem and bullying. Teenagers will take down their posts if they have less than a hundred likes, due to a fear of other people seeing and judging their likes, or lack of, and also because they’re conditioned now to base the effectiveness of their social media activity on likes.

None of them are just posting a picture to Instagram any more just because it’s a nice picture.

To combat this, Instagram has introduced a number of anti-bullying features including comment warnings and restrictions. The comment warning is meant to detect offensive content as it’s being typed and prompt the poster to reconsider before they post. The restriction setting allows users to identify their bullies without blocking them but giving the user the opportunity to review their comments before they go live.

This protects the user in that their bully thinks the content is live but it gives the user the ability to review it before the rest of their followers see it.

The other new feature, which isn’t technically an anti-bullying measure, but can be seen as one for those teenagers that are judged on their likes, is a new test that will hide the display of the number of likes on a post.

This is currently being tested on some users in Ireland after being previously tested in Canada.

Instagram have said, “We want your friends to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get. You can still see your own likes by tapping on the list of people who’ve liked it, but your friends will not be able to see how many likes your post has received. We’re looking forward to learning more about how this change might benefit everyone’s experience on Instagram.”

It will be interesting to see how this change effects how Instagram works, from businesses judging their successes on post engagement to influencers building their whole career on the amount of likes they get.

The important part to note about this change is that users will still be able to see the amount of likes they are getting and will be able to continue to monitor their insights. It’s only that your audience will not be able to see how many others have liked your posts.

Whether this affects the amount of likes a post gets remains to be seen.

One tip I’ll leave you with, which I always give in my training sessions, is to create content that is valuable to your business and shows your story.

This is why we’re all using social media and if you stay true to yourself and your business, your customers will react positively.

Alma

Alma Brosnan is part of the Digital Marketing team providing Social Media Consultancy and Training services at Fuzion Communications from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

 

Michael de Adder and “The Bigger Picture”

This weekend the prolific political cartoonist and author Michael de Adder was for all intents and purposes, fired from all newspapers in his home province of New Brunswick, Canada for creating a cartoon critical of America’s 45th President.

This contentious piece has since gone supernova, his third one-panel cartoon on the same subject to go viral in a week.

From Micheal de Adder via Twitter:

“The highs and lows of cartooning. Today I was just let go from all newspapers in New Brunswick.”

Michael says that while he wasn’t technically employed by the papers he was however “let go” from the contract he held with Brunswick News Inc., and thus the three newspapers in his home province.

All three of these are owned by the same company, Brunswick News Inc.’s parent company, J.D. Irving Ltd. – a huge oil and forestry company with trade ties to the US, wary of drawing the ire of its 45th President Donald Trump.

Trump is a man who punishes those in the press he deems to have taken pot shots at him by effectively encouraging his followers to take a literal pot-shot back. It’s so common a reaction of Trump’s that de Adder recently published a cartoon on the subject.

Cartoons from the past two weeks. #Trump

Cartoons from the past two weeks. #Trump pic.twitter.com/azKPtZFuHD

— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 30, 2019

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These were de Adder’s first two cartoons that went viral of Trump, a character so cartoonish in himself that it’s hard not to lampoon him.

Mr deAdder is well aware of where his termination of contract came from…

“The Premier of New Brunswick Blaine Higgs is a former Irving Oil executive, and any cartoon I drew that was slightly critical of him [Trump] was systematically axed. You want to know why I was let go? I wanted to do my job as an editorial cartoonist, and they wanted me to do their job.”
– Via @deAdder on Twitter

As insightful as those first two cartoons were, it appears that it was this powerful piece that caused de Adder’s employers to finally terminate his contract with immediate effect.

Cartoon for June 26, 2019 on #trump #BorderCrisis #BORDER #TrumpCamps #TrumpConcentrationCamps pic.twitter.com/Gui8DHsebl

— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 26, 2019

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The cartoon depicts Trump having disembarked his golf cart at the edge of the water, looking down at the bodies of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, who tragically drowned while trying to cross from Mexico into Texas last week (God love him and his daughter).

Their sad fate was captured in photographs which has further fuelled the fire of debate on immigration in the U.S.

This photo is perfectly evoked in de Adder’s powerful cartoon. Standing over them with an enigmatic smile, Trump’s apathy to human value and dull mimicry of social propriety is captured in his “Do you mind if I play through?”.

Taken together, this is an incredibly powerful and emotive piece, which was clearly too much for the oil company owners of the New Brunswick Times.

And Donald Trump doesn’t even matter. It’s a distraction from the big picture.

— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) July 1, 2019

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One can only assume that the oil company must have a financial interest in silencing any dissent against the most divisive character in the U.S.. This is dangerous, but not a precedent. Silencing and demonising the press is a familiar tactic from the late 1930s and early 1940s here in Europe. It certainly makes a case for significant oversight on media ownership.

With our own derisive characters clamouring even now for attention from the far right, it’s hard nowadays not to be familiar with their cry for protection of free speech – unless it’s something they disagree with.

It is hard to imagine why an oil company should be allowed such control over the press. It is even harder to imagine how they thought that cancelling Michael de Adder’s contract would silence dissent against the “bigger picture”.

Cartoonists capture our imagination by articulating often in only one frame what so many of us are thinking.

They can remind us, warn us, amuse us and educate us. They are often at the front lines of change and dissent and can pay dearly for it, as we saw in the case of France’s Charlie Hebdo and the ensuing Je Suis Charlie movement in 2015 where 12 people were killed by gunmen at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

Michael de Adder, has filled out his side of the story on his Twitter account (@deAdder).

He has detailed his account of the situation and is thankful for 17 years of his 20 year career honing his craft locally. He has stated that while he will miss working with his local papers he still freelances for some amazing newspapers and already had a book due locally in September.

At Fuzion Communications we wish him the best and every success and look forward to enjoying his work for many years to come.

#RESIST

Mark Kenny

Mark Kenny is part of the Graphic Design Department in Fuzion Communications, who have offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

 

Show your brands personality just like ASOS did!

Recently, online shopping giant ASOS received a lot of applause for backing one of their customers who had been disrespected online by a stranger.

The lady, who was wearing a dress from ASOS, was told by the male who she was messaging that the dress was awful and that she should shop somewhere decent!!

He then told her to grow up before politely signing off, “Thanks. Hope this helps.”

 

 

Following this unpleasant remark, she decided to upload the conversation along with the picture of her wearing the so called “awful dress” to Twitter.

The Tweet, which has racked up over 100k likes and 9k RT’s, caught the attention of ASOS who decided to do something really great.

ASOS uploaded the photo of the lady wearing their dress to their website and in my opinion, she showcased the dress even better.

ASOS received a great deal of applause for uploading the photo to their website, showing their support for a more than likely loyal customer, who I can only imagine got a great boost from seeing her image featured on their website.

 

 

The situation, which was turned from a negative into a positive by ASOS, is a great example of a brand showcasing their personality and engaging with its customers.

In doing this, ASOS demonstrated their loyalty for their customers, while showing a caring but also fun side to the brand. With online trolling at an all-time high, along with the pressures of looking perfect on social media, ASOS really did a great job with this personal touch.

For all businesses, it’s good to show the personality behind your brand. Whether it’s supporting your customers like ASOS did, or showing the team behind the brand online, you increase trust with your customers leading to much better engagement.

Well done ASOS!

Saidhbh

Saidhbh Sweeney is a PR Account Manager with Fuzion Communications: PR, Marketing and Graphic Design, with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

Expressing what you think of others online

Sometimes when you make your feelings known about others it can end up saying even more about you than it does about them:

Be careful what you say online..

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications, a full-service agency that offers Social Media Consultancy from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

 

Defamation and your reputation

This week we had to deal with a potential defamation scenario for a client because of some of their online activity.

In this case they had received a solicitors letter accusing them of defamation because of something that they had posted in a personal blog post. This whole area is very interesting because it deals with the most valuable of assets,”your reputation” and it also had the element of online, which makes it even more intriguing.

Your Reputation

Your good reputation is one of the most precious assets that you have and it is in your interest to protect it at all costs. A good reputation is built up over time and it comes about from how you conduct all aspects of your business including the delivery of your products and services, how you treat your customers, your suppliers and your team and how you interact with the general public.

A good reputation will win you business, it will attract customers who will want to do business with you and it will give suppliers, banks, investors and landlords that necessary trust so they are happy to deal with you. If something does go wrong, as things often do then a good reputation will protect you because people will know that you are to be trusted and that whatever has happened you will sort it out.

A lot of the work we do with clients can be described as reputation management. We work hard to ensure that all the great things that our clients do are publicised and if potentially damaging incidents occur then we make sure that these situations are carefully managed so that any damage is limited.

A reputation often takes many years to build, but this can be destroyed easily in just moments by circumstances.

Defamation

Because your reputation is such a precious asset it is only right that their is legal protection available to you, should anyone ever defame you.

We have found that defamation can be quite a misunderstood term as many feel that it applies whenever someone ‘says something bad about you‘  which is certainly not the case.

A few elements must normally be in place for something to be deemed as ‘defamation’:

Precise information – You must know exactly what has been said or publicised about you and be able to demonstrate this.

Clearly identified – The parties claiming to be defamed must be clearly identified in the offending publication.

False statements – It can only be deemed as defamation if what has been said is largely untrue. You might not like what is being said about you but if it is true this is not defamation!

Publication – It is only deemed as defamation if the publication of the remarks was relatively wide. Being overheard by a few people would not be enough.

Online dimension

The online environment makes this whole area even more complicated.

Does a post on a blog or on someone’s social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn carry as much weight as an article in a newspaper, some other publication or a comment on radio or TV? If I have 6,000 followers on twitter and someone else has 100 is a false statement by me a bigger misdemeanour?

It’s all a question of distribution and how many people may have seen or heard the false statements and then someone has the tricky job of assessing how much potential damage has been done by the false statement.

Another tricky dimension with the online environment is that if others make defamatory comments about someone on your ‘platform’ (blog/discussion board) then you could be liable as you did not remove the offending posts.

Defamation is a notoriously difficult area of law so even when all the elements are in place anyone considering a case in this area must have deep pockets and lots of time on their hands before considering legal action. (Check out some of the cases that have been tried in Ireland).

Our client

With the scenario that we had to deal with this week none of the critical elements were in place so our client had nothing to worry about and certainly nothing that would damage their own reputation – in fact it was quite the opposite.

In this case one of the people involved had written a blog post about the personal impact of an incident whereby they had been seriously wronged. They never once mentioned who the offending party were in their post and they were 100% truthful in what they had said.

Ironically the offending party ‘recognised’ themselves in the post and cried ‘foul’ and immediately ran to their solicitors who were happy to claim defamation, which it clearly was not. In this case the solicitor should have known better than to make such an incorrect and unprofessional accusation – is this a defamatory comment?

I’m always amused to see how it’s nearly always the ‘offenders’ who get most vigorous about protecting their rights!

Your good reputation is hard earned and it is a precious asset of huge value to your business. The best advice is to manage your reputation carefully so no one ever has a reason to say something bad about you.

If someone is making false, damaging accusations about you then you do have a legal mechanism but make sure that all the right elements are in place before going down this potentially costly and distracting road.

Your good reputation is everything.

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion who offer Reputation Management and Crisis PR services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

The Pencil is mightier than the Sword: Je Suis Charlie

The New Year has started with a strange turn of events, where moral and pseudo-religious outrage has turned into a horrific and tragic attack on not only the press, but free thinking and the right to believe differently.

Wednesday the 7th January saw an attack on the offices of the publishers of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine that has a track record of poking fun at authority, politics and religions. Much has been written by people far more eloquent than I am in regards to the rights and wrongs, the justifications and unjustifiable following the attack (and subsequent incidents in France).

My position on the writers, cartoonists and editorial team is simple, I believe that they were right to challenge, to fuel debate and to publish what they did. My stance on the attacks is that they are wrong.

What I would like to do, is draw attention to the manner in which the world reacted to the attack, in a collection of defiant and beautiful powerful messages. As someone who works in a creative industry, one where people differ frequently, where passion and commitment cross paths with opinions and counter opinions, I saw a unified movement, where once again, the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword was proved correct.

The powerful imagery that has emerged has been incredible, moving, supportive and full of emotion and empathy once again capturing our attention about these issues visually.

Reaction to the initial attack quickly moved from an informative/news based set to messages of support, loss, horror and disgust, and the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie began to emerge. Within three days it had been used over 5 million times, peaking at approximately 6,500 times a minute. But in my opinion, the most poetic and the strongest reaction happened by artists and cartoonists, the very people who the attempt to silence was aimed at.

Their dignity and solidarity was incredible, and it made the power of their message stronger through its absolute rejection of intimidation. The acts of violence are a stark contrast to the peaceful counter demonstrations, but I would argue that they are a more powerful and (hopefully) successful act, using nothing more than ink and paper to deliver a wholly defiant two fingers in retaliation.

Some of the images below are the ones that I feel best show the levels of emotion and defiance. It’s just a shame that such work has to be created in the first place.

Thank you for reading ..

#JeSuisCharlie

Jonathan

Jonathan Leahy Maharaj leads our creative Graphic Design Department in Fuzion with offices in Cork and Dublin, Ireland 

Bossy women?

It’s been bothering me…….

I’m forever promoting women and will go out of my way to help girls of all ages reach their full potential.  I think women are absolutely amazing and genuinely believe that if there were more of us in government, on boards and other positions of leadership and decision making, the country would be a much better place to work and live in.

I know Sheryl Sandburg, Facebook CEO (whom I adore btw) has a new campaign, about banning the “bossy” word when it comes to girls.  Sinead O’Connor (whom I don’t adore btw) has joined the campaign by renaming her new album “I’m not bossy, I’m the boss” – and she sure is, in the amazing photo-shoot that was released recently.

Sheryl Sandburg’s belief is that by calling girls bossy in the playground you can hinder their growth as future leaders – as being assertive can be seen as a negative trait for girls to have.

But you know what, based on my own experience as a woman in business, in this instance I’m not sure I agree with Sheryl or Sinead!

I do think there is a breed of women in business that feel they have to be aggressive or bossy to get ahead.

I feel some act this way because they have an over inflated opinion of themselves; paradoxically others behave this way because deep down they are insecure about their own abilities – or perhaps they just act this way because they know they can get away with it.  Basically most feel they have to over compensate for being female by acting this way.

This is based on my own experiences which go back to the 1970’s when I worked as a very small kid in my parents’ restaurant back in Kerry.

I know even my colleagues when they come out of a meeting with a particularly tricky client/prospect, who is being difficult for no particular reason – nine times out of ten the tricky person will have been a woman.

In general guys are far less complicated, with far fewer agendas.  That’s my opinion!!

In the past year I have experienced some really unreasonable, aggressive and yes bossy women who want to push their perceived superiority onto other women – and I often find – this type of woman will bully other women but not men!!

In the company of men, eye lashes are fluttered; they take men’s opinions more seriously and treat men with more respect.

In fact these women are some of the most sexist people I have come across and do nothing to really encourage other women in business, at a time when we should as women in business be supporting and encouraging each other.

Some women have incomprehensible agendas going on – where they don’t want other women to get ahead, even resenting their ability and/or success!!!

On a real positive note, I know thankfully these women are in the minority.

Some of the most positive experiences I have had in my long working life have been around my engagement with amazing women in business, like the team I work with now in Fuzion – great and caring professionals who would bust a gut for their clients and their colleagues; my very best buddy, Ciara, who I met through work and is as close to me as a sister and so many really great friends that I have made through work.

My greatest business heroes are women – the trailblazing original “Mad Woman” Jane Maas and another New Yorker, Rose of Tralee founder – Margaret Dwyer.

I am also part of an amazing organisation called Network Ireland, for women in business and through this organisation I see first-hand women supporting each other, inspiring each other – even starting businesses together.

So what will we do with these bossy/aggressive women?

It’s not enough to ban the word – as it isn’t banning the women themselves!!!

First of all try not to take it personally – which is hard not to do when you are in the middle of a situation!

Kill them with professionalism; ever so nicely challenge them on their behaviour and finally try to have the least amount of engagement with them as possible.

If that fails – think Karma!

If you do bad onto others – it will probably come back and bite you in the ass in the future and when you least expect it!!

Deirdre Waldron is a Partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

 

Erin, Ciara and Cyberbullying

I remember being 13 – it was one of the years I enjoyed most in my life!

I was hanging around with a cool gang, I was discovering Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, I played football day and night – it was a time when we were gaining independence but without  too much responsibility and the “big” school exams were still  a few years away.

And of course there were the girls, the first disco’s (Highfield Rugby Club) …life was great!

How could the age of 13 end up being so different for Erin Gallagher in 2012?

I struggle to get my head around how she felt and how social media, something I enjoy so much could play a part in making her so miserable that she took a decision to end her beautiful life.

Just like Ciara Pugsley a few weeks earlier, taking her own life was her best solution to cope with what she was going through.

Social Media?

Of course social media isn’t to blame.

However social media unfortunately provides bullies (let’s face it – they have always existed) with more ammo, with a thicker skin and the ability to bully from a distance and often with a degree of anonymity.

This is why we have a responsibility to step up to the mark and go further than ever before to make sure that bullying is highlighted and that the bullies are stopped and exposed.

Parents & teachers

It’s no longer enough that we can plead ignorance and dismiss Facebook and the other social media platforms as being something for the young folk.

It’s no longer enough to ban our children from using the platforms – they will anyhow.

To protect our vulnerable children we need to jump in ourselves, learn and understand how these powerful and very useful social media platforms work, discover the risks and plan so that these can be managed and minimised.

Lead the way

We owe it to our kids to show them how to:

• Set up their personal accounts properly
• Maintain their privacy settings
• Connect with “friends” safely
• Think about what they post
• Post appropriately
• Spot and deal with inappropriate behaviour
• “Unfriend” and Block certain users
• Report Bullying

All of the functionality and procedures are in place to make this possible – learn about them.

Please download our “Safebook” poster , which is a simple aid for parents and teachers to help promote the responsible and safe use of Social Media and assist them in a bullying or inappropriate situation.

If our child is drowning they must know how to help themselves and must know when to ask for help.

We owe it to the memory of Erin and Ciara, their parents, friends and families to take responsibility and help to make our exciting new world a great place for every 13 year old.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion provide Social Media Training and Consultancy in Cork and Dublin