21 Questions with…Lolly Cleary

welcome to the seventh of our Fuzion Friday series, where we put 21 devilishly difficult questions to a team member, giving you an insight that Freud would be proud of.

Next up is Metallica and Alexander McQueen fan…..Lolly!

1. Tell us something about you that nobody else in the team might know.

I had a brush with death 1 month before my 18th birthday, when I went through the back window of a car.

2. What film have you watched more than five times?

Moulin Rouge

3. What work are you most proud of in the past year?

All my work with Fuzion

4. Dream job?

I love baking – something to do with that maybe?

5. Favourite brand? – Why?

Alexander McQueen – I think this is fairly self explanatory.

6. Favourite Holiday Destination?

Lisbon was my favourite holiday ever.

7. Best lesson from your career?

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or look stupid – it can save you a lot of time and hardship in the long run.

8. Eurovision or World Cup?

Wimbledon / Masters / F1.

9. Who is the joker on the team?

Michelle.

10. Recommend a podcast.

Win Happy by Greg Canty – Obviously!! ….or…. the Tommy, Hector and Laurita Podcast.

11. Reality shows – Love or Hate?

Hate – They are chewing gum for the eyes.

12. Dinner party with 3 people – dead or alive – who do you invite?

My uncle John who has passed away / Phil Lynott / my good friend Martina Sartor who I’ve not seen for about 4 years.

13. If you could be anywhere in the world – where would you be & what would you do?

Cuba – absolutely nothing.

14. Who is your role model?

No one in particular.

15. What was your first job?

Answering phones for my dad.

16. Death Row meal?

Rick Stein’s Sweet Potato and Chorizo Quesadillas with guac / pico / sour cream etc, ice cold beer.

17. Favourite book?

Harry Potter.

18. Your a grammar nazi oar not?

I thought I was until Ciarán joined the team.

19. First album you bought or downloaded?

Metallica – …And Justice for All.

20. Work from home – or office?

Mostly home, but sometimes office.

21. Most memorable ad slogans – why?

A sarcastic “Cool story”.

Lolly Cleary is Head of Design at Fuzion Communications, full service marketing and PR agency, with offices in Cork and Dublin.

The Dig Deepers

Everyday when you rock up for work you make a choice about who you are – could you be a dig deeper?

To not treat work as just a job
To go above and beyond what is expected by your clients
To look out for the other guys in the team and help them out when they need it
To not worry about the clock when there is more to do
To think and watch out for your clients 24/7
To bring your clients something unexpected because you were watching out for them 24/7
To take responsibility for your clients as if it were your own business
To learn as much about your clients industries, issues and challenges as possible
To be a true partner with each of your clients
To be the one that is called by your clients when they need support at any time
To be an invaluable part of your clients team

When you dig deep career success follows..

Greg Canty 

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

Big Brands and the Shopping Centre Test

We pop the boot open and the usual process of fishing out a bag or two to do our shopping starts.

I really hate having to do a big ‘weekly shop‘ so most of our shopping is done as required. The store we normally find ourselves at is Quish’s SuperValu where the staff are really friendly and it is the closest one to our home. While the selection of stock isn’t always too hectic it is a handy store for us and shopping there never feels like a chore.

When I pop the boot open I have to quickly grab a bag or two and I’m surprised how this simple exercise shows me how I feel about the different retailer brands and the ones I align with most.

My first choice is the SuperValu bag – after all, thats the shop I am going into and I feel its a good thing to bring a bag from the same store with you. It must drive a store manager nuts to see shoppers entering or leaving their store carrying a competitors shopping bag with them. I know it would really irritate me if a client came to us with some POS or other material from a competitor.

I also love the SuperValu franchise model and I feel this owner operator ethos leads to friendly community orientated stores often including a support and buy local agenda.

My next choice is the Marks & Spencer bag. This surprises me as I always like to support Irish but I do admire their dedication to quality food and I guess I am happy for that to be part of ‘my personal brand‘ as I do my shopping.

The M&S choice probably makes me look like a snob but my next bag choice would be either Aldi or Lidl. To be honest I can’t differentiate between either of these brands and regularly get them mixed up. I really don’t enjoy the shopping experience in these stores but I admire the simple value proposition and huge strides seem to have been made with quality and there seems to be a genuine effort to buy Irish. The adverts are working!

My next choice is Tesco. As a brand it still leaves me cold, with no stand out proposition but I do admire their Irish producers programme in conjunction with Bord Bia. Even though their share performance has been suffering they seem to believe that the Irish producers strategy will play a big role in winning in Ireland.

They are doing some great work with Irish producers improving their operations so they can do more business with Tesco.

My very last choice is the Dunnes Stores bag. Why is an Irish company, the one I should logically have an allegiance to, be the one that I connect with least? I really don’t get their brand proposition, I don’t understand it, I don’t see them connecting locally like SuperValu and nationally I don’t see any noise about supporting Irish – they could be the best at this but if they are I don’t know about it.

I know this is just my view and that my simple ‘picking a bag from the boot‘ analysis isn’t very scientific but then I look at the latest market shares in Ireland published in May 2014 and reported in the Irish Independent and see how closely aligned the reality is to my feelings.

“German retailers Aldi and Lidl have continued to snap at the heels of Dunnes Stores, with the pair now commanding a combined 17.1pc share of Ireland’s multi-billion euro grocery market”

“Tesco retained its top ranking, but remains under pressure. Its market share fell 4.1pc to 26.3pc in the latest period, while Dunnes Stores also saw its position further weakened. Its share slipped 1.3pc to 21.6pc”

“SuperValu the chain controlled by the Cork-based Musgrave group – continues to snap at Tesco’s heels. Its share of the market, which includes its now rebranded Superquinn chain, rose 0.5pc to 25.1pc, confirming its second place in the supermarket wars”

“Industry insiders said the latest figures will be another wake-up call for both Tesco and Dunnes Stores in particular”

Maybe Tesco and Dunnes Stores should do the shopping bag test?

How do customers feel when they pick up a bag from your store?

Greg Canty

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

 

 

 

Sometimes just saying no is best

Give him what he wants?

I have a five-year old boy.

I wish I’d had one at the start of my career – I’d have been so better equipped to deal with clients! ..Now, I’m not saying that all clients are like five year old boys, it’s just that sometimes dealing with one can be like dealing with the other…

My son sees something on TV, or in the hands of another child and he has to have it. “Please daddddddyyyyyyy. But I want it.”

And I say “no”, as a parent should. He doesn’t need it. It’s expensive. He’ll be bored of it in 5 minutes (unless it comes with packaging – then the whatever it is has no chance – my son loves playing with his packaging!).

Sometimes a client can put me in a similar spot. The client sees something, has an idea and he wants it. What the client wants, the client gets as they say, but I try to use my experience and knowledge to steer them clear of wasting their time or money.

The best example I ever came across of this was when I worked for a large agency in Dublin.

The client was a big, big account and they wanted their radio ads written in a certain way. Fair enough, but we all knew in the agency that this wasn’t what was in the the client’s best interest. We’d written and presented much more effective adverts for the client but he wasn’t interested, so the Account Director simply said let’s run what he wants.

And 99% of the time in that agency that’s what would have happened. But our Creative Director said no. Absolutely no. The better ads had to be sold. It wasn’t just the client’s reputation but also our own that was at stake.

So instead of trying to sell the preferred ads the Group Account Manager appeared and asked politely could we run the client’s ads -Again.. NO!

No ad could go into production without the Creative Director’s sign off so we were in stalemate. Finally the Agency Group Managing Director waded in and put the pressure on but still the answer was no.

The client was wheeled in then and after a very heated exchange our Creative Director got his way. But the account was on the line and people’s noses were well out of joint.

The ads ran..

The client sold more than ever before! We didn’t lose the account and we used the quality of the ads to win more business. It all ended happily ever after.

The big thing that I took out of this was that an ad, a design – anything we produce not only reflects on our client but on us. And that you’ve got to be able to stand up to the pressure and make the tough calls when it happens.

The other thing that changed is that our department took a lot more pride in what we did from then on – we were determined not to let ourselves down, nor the client.

I later asked our Creative Director how he had felt about all the pressure and the fact that the account was on the line.

He had a simple answer, “It’s always on the line so why not always fight to do work you are proud of?” It works for clients and so far on my five year old…

Kevin O’Shea is the Creative Director of Fuzion

Fuzion provide Design and Creative solutions across all media from our offices in Dublin and Cork

Ronseal – What does your tin say about you?

It does what it says on the tin?

At Fuzion we always use the fabulous line made famous by Ronseal, “It Does What it says on the Tin” as part of our work with clients.

PR is about your reputation and before we spend a lot of time, effort and resources bringing attention to our clients we try to make sure that they “look the part” before this happens.

It is really important that your logo, your printed materials and your whole on-line presence including your website, facebook and twitter accounts all reflect your business properly.This even comes down to the photo you might use for yourself on your profile pictures on your website or LinkedIn.

It is frightening how quick a prospective customer will judge you and your business based on initial impressions formed from your website or other materials.Your website is like a silent salesman, with prospects entering this “showroom” except here you don’t see them or get a chance to watch their reaction and influence them.

Before choosing to use a supplier do you check their website or make a quick judgement about someone based on their business card? The scary thing is that someone could have you fully assessed without ever speaking to you – and you knew nothing about it?

Is it time to have a good look at your tin?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications