“The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.”

Nearly two weeks we had a fantastic night at the highly anticipated launch of the iconic Oyster Tavern, in Cork, just alongside the just as iconic, English Market. The launch welcomed a sea of famous faces and the ‘who’s who’ of the Irish social scene and sports world descended on Patrick Street to toast the new bar.

Stars such as Pippa O’Connor and her husband Brian Ormond and rugby legend,  Peter O’Mahony all donned the red carpet on the night and enjoyed an evening full of surprises as the new Oyster Tavern was finally revealed after a €1.5 million makeover.

However behind every fantastic event is a truck load of hard work, which at the time can be stressful and overwhelming but when it pays off, it is so worth it.

The last two/three weeks in the lead up to the highly successful event there was a huge amount of organisation and to-do lists to be completed and it meant that it was all hands on deck in the lead up to the event and on the night.

I really really enjoyed working on the event with the Oyster Tavern team (what a great team of people) but I couldn’t have done it without the help of my own Fuzion team.

We do event management day in, day out, from large scale high profile events such as the launch of The Oyster Tavern, the launch of One Albert Quay, the launch of Dunnes Stores, Simply Better Cook with Neven range and the launch of Nano Nagle Place to smaller scale ones such as the Summer Food & Craft Fair in Manor West Shopping Centre & Retail Park and the Official Public Dedication of the Kindred Spirits memorial with the Choctaw Nation.

In order for these events to run smoothly there is normally an account manager who takes the lead (which in this case was me) but we do depend heavily on the rest of the team to jump in when necessary and I have to say the team here at Fuzion had my back every step of the way with this launch.

They helped with invites, planning, media, and event management not to mention endless cups of tea, and on the night they came out in force to support the event and support me with any help I needed.

It was a night I felt proud to be part of such a solid and fun team.

“The strength of the team is each member. The strength of each member is the team.” Phil Jackson

Edel

Edel Cox is a PR Account Manager with Fuzion Communications who are a Marketing, PR and Graphic Design firm with offices in Dublin and Cork

The perils of opening a new business and great neighbours

Opening a new business is one of the most exciting and scariest things that you can do!

In my earlier life I opened many new businesses including fast food restaurants and music stores in different parts of the country. In each case you put your heart and soul as well as money into the new venture and you literally cross your fingers and toes that all of your assumptions about the ‘gap in the market’ are correct and that when you throw those doors open it is a success.

Of course you do your utmost beforehand to assess the opportunity but in truth from my own experience it is only when you actually open those doors that you discover if your venture will be a success or not.

I will admit truthfully that not all of my ventures have been successes – some of the businesses I have opened had to be shut within a year or shorter. In some cases external circumstances dictated against them but in others I just got my assumptions wrong and I overestimated the demand resulting in a loss making scenario. Thankfully I had other profitable ventures to carry these losses but it is very costly, painful and frightening when something doesn’t work.

When this happens it dampens your entrepreneurial spirit, you tend to become risk averse but after a time the true entrepreneurs will dust themselves off and try again!

These days in Fuzion I and my team are in the privileged position of helping many new businesses in Ireland open their new ventures. It’s exciting but as we all know only too well there is no guarantee of success.  All you can do is give yourself the best chance of success – ‘Prepare to win’ is a phrase my good buddy and ex-Cork City FC manager Pat Dolan used use frequently.

Every time I see a new business opening it thrills me as it captures that adventurous entrepreneurial spirit – another brave soul who believes enough in what they are doing to take a risk. We need to celebrate this and take it as a big sign that confidence is recovering in our economy.

Just two weeks ago it was fantastic to see the doors open of a new fish restaurant, Quinlan’s in Princes Street in Cork – things are definitely improving in Cork when you see people having the confidence to open new places.

Something even more fantastic was the little sandwich board that I spotted outside Nash 19, one of Quinlan’s neighbours.

Instead of listing the specials for the day “Welcome to our new neighbours” it read, which was a very generous gesture from another restaurant, who effectively would be a competitor of sorts of the newcomer.

This gesture must have been hugely uplifting and encouraging to Quinlan’s who were about to find out very quickly if Cork was ready for their new restaurant.

As usual I like to tweet when I see a new business opening and very cleverly Quinlan’s responded to my tweet by inviting me and the Fuzion gang in for our #FuzionFriday lunch, which is our team tradition, one that we have kept going for 15 years.

We duly accepted the invitation and enjoyed a really great ‘fish and chips‘ lunch (and some vino!) at Quinlan’s and when we were there I had a great chat with their owner, Liam Quinlan, a Kerryman from Cahirciveen.

The first thing he mentioned to me was the fantastic support and welcome he had received from his new neighbours, many of which would be competitors. He spoke about the welcome from Claire Nash and the Nash 19 sandwich board, he mentioned Ernest Cantillon from Electric, Salvatore and his mum from Rossini’s, some of his other close neighbours and some of the traders from the English Market who all popped in to wish him the best. He had been warned beforehand that an ‘outsider’ like himself would be ‘up against it’ in Cork.

This welcome has made all the difference to him – he explained to me how he has been months getting the place ready, which has resulted in him staying away from his young family a few days a week and at the same time he has an existing business to run. Getting the doors open is a colossal task but in truth that is only the start of it as you need to work hard to build a business so it is a success. Despite the excitement it can be an exhausting and lonely time for a business person. Why do we do it? ..we just do!

Personally I was absolutely thrilled and proud to hear about the genuine warm ‘Cork’ welcome that some of the business people in our fantastic city have given to Liam and his team – well done to everyone involved. Hopefully the word will spread and even more people will open their ventures in our fantastic city, creating jobs, filling those empty units and providing more choice to Corkonians and visitors alike.

We live in a competitive world and one where we have to focus practically all of our energy on our own business. It is too easy to forget about good manners and making a little effort to be nice and take a little time to offer a genuine welcome to another business person trying to make something positive happen. Even better buy some delicious fish and chips!

These small gestures can make a huge difference.

The really great thing about giving a warm welcome is that it speaks volumes for those who offer it – being a great neighbour is actually great for business and our great city.

Well done Cork!

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

Searching for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur

Fuzion are delighted to be working on two great initiatives that have been introduced by the Government and are being operated by the Local Enterprise Boards.

The first of these is Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur, which was recently launched by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

It is a new competition to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur, with a total fund of €2 million available to invest in winning businesses and entrepreneurs in every county in the country.

The competition is being run by the new Local Enterprise Offices, and the winners at county level will be eligible for an investment in their business of up to €25,000, while the winners at national level can receive an additional investment of up to €50,000. Investments in the winning businesses will be determined according to business prospects and investment needs.

This is really encouraging to see as it recognises the importance and encourages entrepreneurship in Ireland. The competition is applicable to anyone aged 30 and under with an outstanding idea/commercial venture for a start-up or existing business.

Almost any young person with a business idea can enter the IBYE competition.

It doesn’t matter what their background is and it encourages anyone who has researched a business idea, anyone who is itching to be their own boss, or an existing young entrepreneur, who has an idea to improve their existing business.

It also includes anyone who wants to return home and set up their own business in Ireland. Getting some of Ireland’s best talent to return and set up a new business would be fabulous for our economy.

The competition falls into three categories including Best New Idea, Best Start Up and Best Idea by an Established business.

If you know anyone who fits this bill then please encourage them to enter the competition, which has some great prizes including financial and other supports.

In Cork the campaign will have a distinctive Cork flavour ‘Just Do It.. Like’ (we couldn’t resist!)

Young entrepreneurs can apply via the IBYE website.

Any initiative that encourages, supports and celebrates young entrepreneurs must be applauded – well done!

The Fuzion Crew ..

Check out the other terrific initiative, Online Trading Vouchers which is designed to encourage and assist Irish businesses with eCommerce potential to get trading online and not miss the opportunity to expand their business. Vouchers of up to €2,500 are available to qualifying businesses. 

 

Does the “too good to be true” rule always apply?

Is it ok if I show this man around your office?” Frank our landlord asked (by the way he hates if we call him that – he prefers to say we are his customer and to be fair that is always how he treats with us).

“No bother at all Frank” – he wanted to see how we had laid out the office space, which had the same footprint as the vacant unit two floors down.

Frank introduced me to this English gentleman, Mr Cooper who was starting an airline, which was to operate from Cork ..interesting!

He would be needing Marketing and PR support and he also would need the services from our graphic design team. We had a quick chat but I had another appointment to get to – he wanted to tie things down quickly so he asked us to meet with him the next day for a full briefing.

This could be a very exciting project to work on.

Just before I ran out the door I did a Google search on this guy to see if there was some evidence of his existence online ..nothing!

On the way to my meeting I rang Frank to make sure I caught the man’s name correctly – I had.

“What do you make of our English gentleman?” Frank asked. He explained to me that he also popped into the accountants on the floor below us who were also going to do work for him. The following day they were to introduce him to one of the banks.

“Frank, is he too good to be be true?”

We both agreed that maybe it was wrong to be cynical and there was a chance that this well dressed, well spoken Englishman was the real deal after all.

He arrived the following day, a little later than organised but even more well dressed than the previous day. He apologised for being late – there were some technical financial details he was ironing out with the accountant about licences.

He took me through his project in detail – he was really looking for a marketing partner for this venture. He told us that he really liked and trusted us. He spoke to our really talented head designer, Jonathan about his brand and what he had in mind – we all agreed that while he was on a deadline, the work should be done properly.

Maybe this guy was a dream client after all?

After many years in business and knowing how hard you must work to win a new account, this guy had me suspicious. I was “on guard” for a sign, any sign that this was not going to work out.

He started telling me about the lonely childhood he had and now he was alone and did not have any attachments.. for reasons that we would understand. Hmm..where was this conversation going?

He had a request – he wanted to give us a shareholding in the business!

He wanted to embrace the true spirit of partnership – if this happened everyone would work together. He explained he would make the same offer to everyone that was involved in his project. He was doing this as he had no family and he wanted the business to have a “safe” home if anything happened to him.

While this was an outlandish tale maybe it was true? The alarm bell was ringing in my head at this stage but I was feeling a little sorry for this lonely businessman.

I politely told him that people might think he was “nuts” if he were to have that shareholding conversation with them – I advised him to keep that idea to himself and if he wanted to do something like this down the line, then maybe.

He had another request – until he had office space sorted out could he work from our offices?

He had noticed on the day that there were desks with no one working at them. A louder alarm bell started to ring!

That wouldn’t be practical I explained but maybe he should have a word with Frank who might let him use some of the available space in the building until he had a formal arrangement made.

He told me he understood ..

We had arranged to meet the next day when he wanted to introduce us to some of his team who he had already recruited..that sounds ok I reckoned.

Just as he left the office he patted his pockets ..”Damn, I’m a bit short and the bank is closed. Could I borrow €20?” Even though the alarm bell was shaking the whole building at this stage I found myself handing this guy who we hardly knew €20.

On the way home I bumped into Frank as we left the building.

“Well, what do you make of our friend?” I asked. He had told Frank that he was very impressed with Fuzion and the accountant and he just needed to finalise everything and get cracking. I told him the story (with a red face) about the €20 knowing already how the whole story was going to unfold.

What’s worse I told Dee the story about the €20 – “You big fool” ..she told me.

If this was going to end up going nowhere I’d prefer to kill it quickly. Before he was to arrive I would prepare a budget and insist on a % payment upfront before we committed any resources to the job – if he was not the real deal then this would flush him out.

20 minutes after he was scheduled to arrive I called him ..nothing.

Another 10 minutes ..nothing.

A few minutes later I received a text from him saying that Fuzion and the people in Cork were the most unprofessional and backward that he had ever come across and he was going to set up in Belfast instead.

Needless to say I haven’t heard anything about the airline but I do wonder about the “dream client, Mr Cooper” who got away.

When it seems too good to be true it probably is ..the tale alone was worth the €20.

Mr Cooper …good luck with your venture!

Greg Canty is a partner Fuzion

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

Chasing “your” Dreams

Chase “your” dreams

A few months ago I found myself having a coffee in town on a Saturday morning chatting with an old school buddy who I hadn’t see in thirty years. We had connected on LinkedIn and it was as if those thirty years had disappeared in a flash.

I always thought he was “sound”, one of the good guys and in truth not a whole pile had changed – both of us had done a lot of living in between but we were essentially the same two school mates – we had a good laugh recalling stories about our teachers and football matches we had played in. I had a photo of our “winning” team in some school tournament and there we were the two of us in our red kit!

Both of us have done well in our varied careers and he was in the early stages of a new online project – by the end of the conversation he asked if I wanted to come on board with the project utilising our expertise on some type of a shareholding arrangement. In a few years the plan was to sell the business and we would all make good money. Hmmm ….sounded good.

After this me met a few times and got down to business and delved into the nitty gritty of his project and our involvement in it.

While his project was really interesting to my surprise I found myself not being as enthusiastic as he was about it. Why was this I was asking myself?

Like every great “driver” he was pushing me for our plans and input. I did this of course but I discovered his project wasn’t my No.1 priority. My clients and our own projects motivate me and this project just wasn’t having the impact that I was expecting.

It wasn’t a client and it wasn’t “my” project.

My buddy needs more than 1,000% from me and everyone else involved in the project for it to be a success. I realise this more than anyone.

Before we damaged our friendship we gracefully concluded our arrangement and that was cool with both of us. We’ll meet again for coffee soon – probably in about another 30 years!

It’s important that we spend our time chasing our own dreams.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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

Sometimes are you better off not saying the right thing?

Must be a great shop !

At this stage between the initial briefing meeting and the time spent researching and working on the plan we have spent well over a day’s work before we meet with the prospect and present our Marketing\PR plan for his business.

This is always a tricky stage for us – if you want to have a chance of winning the new account you have to punch in the time, put in the research, brainstorm and put all your best ideas and thinking into the plan.

We don’t get paid for this but we do obviously hope that the client likes what we are proposing and then engages us to execute the plan for them – Put your best foot forward if you are serious about winning the business.

We are two hours into our presentation and the prospect seems to be embracing the plan and it is all looking very positive. Our plans are always quite comprehensive and cover everything from being found on-line, a review of marketing collateral and website, a PR plan including ideas that should generate the right media coverage and a social media plan to accelerate all of these efforts.

At the end of the presentation, while everything seems to be going well there is one huge, risky issue that we wish to discuss.

“We feel your business name isn’t right” we gently explain to the prospect. This could be as delicate as telling someone you don’t like their child’s name!

“But what about my website, my branding, the money I’ve invested to date in advertising, pushing the name out there?” he asks.

“It is saying the wrong thing about your business, it is giving the wrong impression of what you are about” … he seems to be digesting and contemplating what we are saying , so we continue “we feel strongly that we would be doing a huge disservice to you if we drove on with a plan without first addressing the issue of your business name“.

After a few minutes he admitted that he always had some concerns about the name “fit” and we were the only (maybe foolish?) ones he met that had raised the issue.

We presented him with some alternative names that we felt more accurately captured the essence of the business offering and he seemed genuinely interested in them.

In truth we could have made life easier for ourselves and probably for him by just ignoring the business name issue and presenting a plan that was in keeping exactly to the brief.

He asked us to leave the plan with him to mull over while he went on leave and we are still waiting to hear…

Sometimes are you better off not saying the right thing?

(p.s. – We’ll let you know how this one turns out!)

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a PR firm with offices in Cork and Dublin

Watching the Mistake

“Guess who is selling his bar and buying a 5 star restaurant” Tommy, my Sales Manager said to me. I was the General Manager of Deasy & Co at the time, a subsidiary of Guinness.

“Oh My God, you can’t be serious” I said to him “That will be a total disaster“. “I know, we all know ….it will never work”

One of our loyal customers who was running a good solid suburban bar had done a decent job with the place and he was made an offer to sell up. The offer was “too good to be true” and our customer was going to make a clear profit from the deal.

His plan was to buy and run this very successful five star, fine dining restaurant whose reputation had been built around a well known chef. He reckoned he could manage the purchase with the windfall from the pub sale and even be in a position to upgrade the restaurant premises with some support from the bank.

The problem as we all saw it was that our guy wasn’t exactly Mr.Sophistication and in truth he was the last person that we could imagine operating this 5 star restaurant. He always did well in the pub but that was with a very different, country type crowd.

My buddy Tommy was really close to him – should he have a strong word with him and advise him against his dream?

Our customer was determined, full of enthusiasm so maybe we were the ones that were wrong – who were we to say anything? If Tommy said something to him it could backfire and damage the professional friendship they had.

Shortly after the restaurant opened under the new owner we went there for a meal to support him. Our worst fears were realised as we had a poor meal and you could see that our customer, who was a really nice guy just wasn’t able for this level of fine dining. Maybe he was on a learning curve and it would get better?

Unfortunately within a year the place was shut, the “fine dining” reputation in tatters, he had lost huge money and the building was handed back to the bank and our customer had lost everything.

The crazy thing was that we all saw it coming ….

Would you have said something ?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

When does a business start?

Deirdre Waldron or Dee as most of you know her, started the Fuzion journey many moons ago.

She will admit herself that the very last job she had before she started Fuzion was with a newspaper in Kerry and it was literally nearly killing her!

She will tell you quietly that there were days she was feeling so miserable that she wished for a small car crash that would put her out of action for a while (with only minor injuries of course!).

Can you imagine, someone that talented being that miserable in their job – whatever was going on in that newspaper they managed to squeeze the life out of her and she eventually quit.

Even though there was a lot going on in her life Dee decided it was time to try things on her own and Fuzion was borne.

When I met her first towards the end of 2000 I was well impressed by her determination, her tenacity and her willingness to get results for her first clients, which included the Kerryman newspaper and some other businesses in the Kerry region. Within no time she had taken on an assistant and I watched her close hand at events and dealing with the media.

I could see the results she was achieving for her clients as a result of her talent and this incredible work ethic that she had picked up in no small way from her formidable mother Joan, who was quite an able businesswoman herself.

As the Marketing Director of the Rose of Tralee I witnessed her skilfully dealing with the local and national press and I watched her protect the girls and the eventual winner with the media. She worked tirelessly on this project  – and this was a voluntary role!

I clearly remember one day en route to Limerick listening to her on the radio cleverly defending and promoting the merits of the Rose of Tralee to Ray D’Arcy on national radio (in later years he went on to present the event – I think she left a lasting impression on him!) . This Cork boy was very impressed with the Kerry girl who had no idea how good she was.

After some persuasion I convinced Deirdre of the attributes of  Cork and the opportunities that would be available to her and in late 2001 she packed her bags and Fuzion HQ had moved!

Since then I packed up my full time job and joined Deirdre in Fuzion and gradually we went from working from home to opening an office in Cork city and in the last few years one in Dublin. We carefully added more members and skill-set to the team despite it being a tough time for business and each of them have benefited from working with Dee in the same way that I have.

I have had an incredible journey and absolutely love the work we do in Fuzion and for that I have to thank Deirdre for making that decision to go it alone a long time ago ..

Thanks Dee, you’re a star!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion are a PR firm with offices in Cork and Dublin