November 8, 2011
Drogheda, General Marketing, Retail
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Our MD, Denise Fay posted this blog about the Local Heroes - A Town Fights Back earlier on Working Words by Denise Fay but we thought it was very much a marketing post.
Rebranding a Town….Local Heroes Style
A company’s brand is more than a logo. It’s a story; it’s a process that enables you to stand out from your competition and influence choice.
As a marketer, I firmly believe that branding is incredibly important. It is visualised as a logo but is more than that. It signifies what is unique about your business; it shows the ethos or vision of your company.
Often times a company needs to rebrand. Sometimes it’s to re-engage with the market; other times it’s to shed a negative image. But the goal of rebranding is to develop a new position in the mind of competitors, customers and it’s publics.
Rebranding involves changing the marketing strategy, the logo, the adverts, the branding strategy and maybe even the name.
It is all about communicating a new message for a company.
Rebranding a town
The same logic of branding and rebranding can apply to a town. Drogheda was selected by RTE as town in crisis. RTE created a new programme called ‘Local Heroes, A Town Fights Back’ and chose Drogheda as the town to help.
As part of the RTE public service remit, they asked a number of production companies to come with concepts that could help turn a community suffering the brunt of the recession. Animo productions won the tender and Local Heroes project was born.
One of the key projects to Drogheda’s rejuvenating project was the creation of a brand. Internationally renowned branding consultant Noel Toolan and a team of local designers and creative consultants developed a brand strategy, which is typified in a stunning new logo.
The rebranding is aimed at placing Drogheda back on the Irish tourism map. Quite rightly as Drogheda is rich in heritage, history and culture.
As I said earlier, branding is all about a story. It brings together the story of a town (in this case!). The symbol consists of elements suggesting the three pillars of Boyneside, Heritage and History and Live Culture.
Here is the logo:
A few things to note:
- The overall shape of the symbol is a uppercase ‘D’. It also forms the shape of a boat showing the sail and mast.
- The 8 pointed star is a link to Drogheda’s heritiage. The town’s oldest symbol is the Star & Cresent
- The water splash represents our relationship with the river. It is also suggestive of the arts
- The spiral represents our links to Newgrange and the Boyne Valley.
If you’re town needs rejuvenating or rebranding, here are a few steps to take:
1. Get outside help
While your locals and residents know about the beauty of your town, sometimes you need someone to come in and state it to you. The sense of pride that you have is doubled, trebled when an expert comes in and agrees with you - and suggests some improvements.
2. Get the townsfolk behind you
You need to get as many of the residents - families, business owners, school going children, community representatives, politicians - together and get them talking. I went to the ‘Ideas Summit’ that we had and I saw people turned away because the room was full to capacity. That’s a great sign (and yes, the people turned away were talked to and their contact details were captured).
3. Set up a central location
You need a physical (and virtual) place that people can visit - to pick up information, to contribute help to and talk to the organisers. A place in the centre of your town shows commitment to the general public but also acts as a hub of activity.
4. Create a brand
As mentioned above, branding is more than a logo. It’s a story - it sets you apart. Engage a branding team who will work with locals for research and designers to create the visuals. In Drogheda, we are very lucky to have fantastic designers and creatives - but so many other towns do too. Get them all together, get them to brainstorm ideas, colours, designs. It might be a busy time with so much creativity but you’re guaranteed to get the best brand created.
5. Create supporting documentation
As a marketer and copywriter, I firmly believe in creating engaging documentation. Create documentation - tourism brochures, posters, flyers, retail maps, local magazines - all with the new logo. Use positive words that engage and keep the buzz of the brand and town.
6. Organise events
In every town, there is a key group of people involved. Then there are people who are less involved but every bit as committed (just without the time element involved). Then there are people who are somewhat aware of the new initiative and then there are people who are completely unaware of what’s going on. By having different events around town as part of the rebranding, you make more people aware of what is going on. The more people who can get engaged, the better.
7. Build upon the successes
In Drogheda, there have been many activities - the Halloween festival, the re-emergence of the Bonanza festival, the new brand, the tourism documentation. It’s time to build on all that success and celebrate the success of getting so much done in such a short time. Likewise, with your town, embrace the successes and celebrate them. Sometimes things get done and it’s great but to truly celebrate them, you need to stand back and pat yourself on the back.
8. Acknowledge mistakes
In everything that everyone does, mistakes happen. So the same thing will happen with rejuvenating a town. With so many people involved, you don’t want to hold onto negativity. The blame game is never good. So acknowledge it, assign no blame, learn from it and move on.
9. Communicate, communicate, communicate
At the heart of every good relationship is communication. It is key that you communicate with everyone involved - use social media, use email, use the local media - but just keep communicating. Tell people what’s going on, inform them of what has happened and keep sharing the events or activities that is a direct result of the rejuvenation.
As I walked across West Street (the main thorough-fare in Drogheda) yesterday, a wave of pride swept over me. Many of the once vacant shops now have tenants. A new coffee shop, a new sweet shop, a newsagent, a flower shop, a facial skincare shop, a polish shop have all opened in the last few weeks and it’s a delight to see.
It’s Drogheda’s time to shine…and it’s sparkling beautifully.
April 8, 2010
Awards, Drogheda
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During Louth Enterprise Week, the Drogheda Chamber held the ‘Women of Worth’ Awards celebrating the achievements of business women in the Drogheda & District Area.
You can imagine my surprise when I got a phone call from Marian Caddell, Office Administrator Extraordinaire at the Chamber to congratulate me for making it to the short-list. I didn’t even know that I was nominated!
There were four categories and I was short-listed in the Professional Category along with some very strong local women:
Marion Coll Bradley, Drogheda Grammar School
Sheila Cooney, Patrick Tallan & Co Solicitors
Sharon Gilmartin, Anu Therapy
Among the other finalists were Marcella Bannon, Droichead Arts Centre Director and Orlaigh Carmody Duffy of Aerga Productions in the Creative Arts category.
Karen Devine and Marian Caddell celebrating with short-listed WOW Denise Fay and Marcella Bannon
The other finalists, in their respective categories were:
Creative Arts
- Orlaith Carmody-Duffy, Aerga Productions
- Marcella Bannon, Droichead Arts centre
- Els Borghart, Nexus Arts project
Community
- Isabel Sanroma, St. Patrick’s Day Festival
- Anne Tracey, Gary Kelly Cancer Support Centre
- Phil Conyngham, Samba Festival
Entrepreneur
- Laura Armada Buch, Labfitness
- Gemma McGuinness, Jacquis Fashion Boutique
- Carmel Riggs, Essential Magazine
- Gwen Fearon & Orlaith Callaghan, Stockwell Artisan Foods
Night of the Awards
The awards were held in the four star d Hotel and the guest speaker for the night was a woman of worth in her own right, Ms Terry Prone. Terri expressed her support for the WOW initiative in her inspiring speech.
It is not very long ago that women could be sacked from their employment simply because they were women and I have known that experience myself, it is incredibly important to acknowledge and celebrate the successes of women in business and there are some excellent examples to celebrate here tonight.”
Before announcing the winners, Chamber President Patricia Rooney congratulated each and every nominee, saying that the Chamber received an overwhelming number of nominations and the judges had a hard job whittling it down to the finalists. “The calibre of the women who were nominated was really impressive and the judges reported it was a real challenge to decide on one winner for each category from such a wealth of talented and deserving candidates.”
Even though I didn’t win, I had a great night. It is always good to get nominated and who knows what could happen over the coming year. My sincerest congratulations goes to Sheila Cooney who won in the Professional category and all the other winners on the night.
Photo: Cowley Photography
March 30, 2010
Drogheda
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Earlier in March, the Drogheda Chamber organised a public meeting and invited business owners and managers aswell as local representatives from the Drogheda & District area.
Over 240 people attended the meeting in the newly opened Barbican Centre. The meeting was chaired by Patricia Rooney, President of the Drogheda Chamber and Padraic Kierans, Finance Committee Chairperson.
The minutes of the meeting are HERE.
Prior to the meeting, the Drogheda Chamber undertook a survey and the results were announced at the meeting.
Why the Meeting was Called
Padraic Kierans informed the packed auditorium that the Drogheda Chamber had been forced to call the meeting due to the seriousness of the situation businesses in the area are currently facing. He went onto say that he noted that increasingly businesses were under severe pressure and sadly as we all knew many had disappeared in recent weeks, highlighting the difficulties for large, medium and small business have incurred since the summer of 2009 – who took on large loans to facilitate growing their businesses, or negotiated expensive leasing arrangements which are now crippling them and they are struggling to cope with these and many other cost elements weighing down their businesses but cannot escape these burdens.
Positive Suggestions
This meeting was about acknowledging the situation and seeing how, as a group, positive actions could be taken. Suggestions were encouraged from the gathered business owners, almost a rising tide raises all ships.
For my end, I was delighted to see some really positive suggestions coming from the business owners of the town. I know that the Chamber is putting together an action plan and many of the suggestions are included.
If you don’t get time to read the minutes, here are the many positive suggestions:
- Busking Licence / encourage Buskers
- Survey the shoppers to see what they really want
- Write to banks and let them know the real story
- Get a central tourist office
- Clean up Battle of the Boyne site
- Free parking at certain times/ special rate / discounted rates
- Bus Park especially for Tourists
- Booklet of offers / coupons for shops and hotels
- Erect multi story car park on unused land
- Let artists use unoccupied space/windows to bring creativity into town
- Use pavement on West Street for Saturday Market - certain stalls
- Involve West Street more with Arts Festival
- Market Drogheda more to other regions – churches, historical religious monuments – Town of spires
- Enclose Food Market ala Georges Market in Belfast (6days)
- Walking tours / audio enhancements at hotels
- Reduce Letting Rates / Water Rates
- Remove Toll into Drogheda
- Motor Home park
- Package Drogheda as a place to relocate companies to – 4/5 key points to present to IDA
- Educate Drogheda people about benefits of shopping locally
- Drogheda business owners to support Drogheda Suppliers
If you are a business owner, why not suggest some actions yourself - you can either post them here or email enquiries@droghedachamber.com directly.
November 10, 2009
Drogheda, General musings
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Yesterday I had meetings in Drogheda and I met with some business owners. Well the beat on the street is certainly one of excitement.
As this is my first year as a short-listed company, I can certainly share in the excitement. And I have two clients in for awards aswell.
The Drogheda Excellence Awards will be held on Saturday night at the 4-star City North Hotel and over 300 guests will gather to celebrate the short-listed companies and winners of 10 award categories.
I spoke to five companies short-listed for various awards and the excitement of the awards coupled with the nervousness of interviews is palpable.
Today I’ll have to spend time preparing for my interview. These awards should be recognised in itself. A completely impartial judging panel of 6 judges adjudicate the written award application forms. Size does matter because the form is only four pages long with six questions asked. It doesn’t allow for long-winded answers. The form makes up 70% of the award with the interview or mystery shopper evaluation making up 30%.
Best eat that frog - and print my application form.
If anyone has any tips on how to overcome nerves in an interview talking about your company, please feel free to share them. Many, many thanks!
June 8, 2009
Drogheda, Networking
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OpenCoffee Club Drogheda is off the blocks….and both Mary Carty of Spoiltchild and I are delighted. This idea started last year as we went for an evening stroll to catch up. We’ve constantly talked about it but as this the year of Innovation & Change for Achieve Marketing - taking action was the most important step.
Mary was on the ball and found out what locations had free wi-fi and were open at 9.30am! Very and far between we realised in the Drogheda area and decided on the d hotel and on a date - Friday, 26th May. Thereafter we send out the word.
A great bunch of people from many different backgrounds turned up. Our group was hard to miss with dramatic, large foam Open Coffee cups emblazoned at each table, commissioned especially for the event by Made in Hollywood.
The coffee (and scones!) and location was good and spirited conversation and networking ensued. Among the attendees, other than myself, were Alan O’Rourke, Campbell Scott, Sian Maloney, Shane Cowley, David Behan, Raul Dore and Richie Bowden.
Thanks to the trusty iPhone belonging to Alan (O’Rourke), we managed to get great photos of the event. (and thankfully he managed to grab a coffee as well!).
Check out the gallery of photos on the OCC Drogheda website.
In all, 15 entrepreneurs supported the event and made connections with others from Drogheda, Ashbourne, Skerries and surrounding areas. Hopefully in true OpenCoffee spirit, these links will continue to grow and flourish and provide us all with opportunities.
On foot of the positive feedback from those that attended, we have organised another meet up for the 26th June, 9.30am at the d Hotel. Come along and meet enthusiastic business folk for advice, support, coffee and a chat.
We have created a twitter account @occdrogheda so make sure to follow us. Post a reply and let us know that you can make it next time.
On behalf of Mary and I, we’d like to thank all that attended - and I know from emails that I’ve received, there will be more new faces around on the table on Friday, 26th June.
June 8, 2009
Good News Thursday
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After a bit of a hiatus as there was no good news stories coming into me, we’re back. We’re going every two weeks now until such time as we have too much good news to share and we’ll recommence every week.
Keep those stories coming!
1. Recruitment is still alive & well…..as Ireland announces over 2,000 jobs per month
An analysis carried out by the website, Econ-Optimist, to determine the level of employment created in the economy shows that over 17,000 new jobs have been announced in Ireland running from October 2008 to the end of May 2009.
April 2009 has been the busiest month this year for job creation with over 5,300 jobs announced. This burst of employment was supported by ESB’s announcement of 3,700 to be created over the next 3 years. The month of May followed rank in job activity with over 3,600 job opportunities created. In May, Aldi announced that 1,000 jobs will be created over the next 5 years. Figures for February and March followed respectively. More announcements are continually made on a weekly basis.
2. New Theatre Company Sees Crowds Attend Opening Show
Earlier in May, I was delighted to hear about a new theatre company opening in Cork. The Roundhouse Theatre Company opened Lipstick to the public two days ago and got a large attendance. Attendance is due to remain steady for the other nights. They open Spitting Love on June 9th.
Both plays are at the Granary in Cork - so pop along to see some great theatre in action.
Lipstick explores the absurd world of Jane and Archibald, a newly wed couple, who despite both traditional and modern pressure find a way to express their love. It comically describes the situations young lovers can find themselves in when the communication cord gets tangled with an interfering mother-in-law!
Spitting Love is a dark comedy about the trauma of losing a child. The play shifts through the inner world of Harry, as he tries to make sense of his loss. It portrays the transformation that takes place between the inner thoughts of Harry and the perception of the outer world.
3. Innovative Ideas to Beat the Recession…
This section shows the the entrepreneurship of Irish businesses. I love this section and hope it will continue to grow.
MediaContact - In Praise of Positivity
MediaContact launched a ‘green shoots’ campaign and it’s aim is very simple. If you’d like to grow a green shoot of recovery for the economy, do one positive economic gesture per day. So it might be paying somebody on time, sanctioning some much-needed spending you’ve been stalling on or bringing your staff out for a ‘well done’ lunch.
Jack and the team believe that if we all did one “green shoot” act a day, the economy would begin to recover. Imagine the goodwill you’d feel by getting paid on time, or getting that order you’ve been chasing for months.
If you want to join in, email your ‘green shoot’ gestures to info@mediacontact.ie and they’ll publish them in the next edition.
I’ll be keeping an eye on it myself for Good News Thursday!
4. Berry Good News for Strawberries
As this week is National Strawberry Week (1st-7th June), it’s berry good news for strawberries. The value of strawberry sales in Ireland reached €50million in 2008, an increase of 6% since 2007.
According to Gary McCarthy, Irish Soft Fruit Growers Association, “2008 was a great year for strawberry sales and we are hoping that 2009 will be even better. The signs are for a big crop of juicy sweet strawberries.”
Yum, yum - anyone for strawberries and cream - with a little smattering of chocolate flakes on the top?
5. OpenCoffee Club in Drogheda a Success
Over 15 people attended the first OpenCoffee Club in Drogheda on the last Friday in May. Business owners who work in photography, marketing, online retail, web design, web development, offline retail and technology consulting attended and engaged with all there.
A super thanks to Made in Hollywood who made foam cups (see separate blog post with pics) so it was easy to identify us at the right spot in the d hotel.
For all Drogheda/Fingal/North Dublin/East Meath business owners, we will hold the next one on last Friday of the month in the d Hotel, Drogheda. Free parking for all.
6. Achievements/Twitter News
This week I’m afraid I’ve nothing to report here. I’ve just been busy and haven’t engaged with my twitter friends. Shame on me but I’ll be better for next week!
***Ends until next time***
