Prosperity. Happiness Works.

Claire Carroll, Digital Media Strategist, neo@Ogilvy

Company: neo@Ogilvy launched earlier this year as a centralised team of digital specialists to service the Ogilvy Group in Ireland.  Our approach differs as we consider the full digital mix on receipt of the client brief which involves working alongside client service, creative, planners etc. We see media and creative as being inextricably linked when it comes to digital and those considerations are what drive results. It’s the process and planning that allows us to do this successfuly.

Job Description: Digital Strategist. It’s a great  job and a very interesting role although it’s quite a broad spec! Essentially, it’s my remit to understand the many facets of the digital world and how people use technology throughout their lives.  My background in digital media planning plays directly into this area and is pivotal in terms of understanding consumption trends and behaviours . Luckily, I have a high degree of curiosity when it comes to the area of digital and the overall impact it’s having on society. The pace of the industry is fast so being nimble and adapting to change are prominent characteristics of working in digital.

Likes: There is a great vibrancy within the agency and the calibre of talent working here is excellent. It’s great to have good colleagues and managers where there is a real team spirit. Everyone is enthusiastic about how digital is evolving within the agency. What I really enjoy is the fact that we get to work at the cutting edge of the communications sector and have access to award winning teams through the global Ogilvy network.

Career Ladder: On leaving college I worked for Heineken USA in San Francisco and Miami  - a brilliant experience. I then returned to Ireland where I joined Pigsback.com which was a great place to work as regards the team and the development of the website. From there I joined Net Behaviour working in Business Development and I gained a significant amount of experience with that team. I then moved to Strategem where I was Head of Digital.

Qualifications: BA in Marketing & French from Portobello College. Diploma in Advertising & PR from DBS.

Working Hours: It varies a lot but I’m usually in for 8.30am and try to leave by 6pm!

Breaktime: The office is in Ely Place in the centre of Dublin so it’s a great location for a selection of places to eat or to take a walk in Stephen’s Green.

Social Media Credentials: I won’t list them all but suffice to say I’m immersed in the developments and tools within this area. You have to be if you’re responsible for advising clients on how to employ them.  I use the tools extensively and enjoy trying out new online networks, tools, apps  and seeing how they all interconnect etc.

To some degree I feel the term ‘social media’ is somewhat redundant as media is inherently social.  I think it’s also slightly misleading as it doesn’t really encapsulate the gravity of the technology, the adoption by users and how these tools are enhancing their lives and social connections.

News: The ongoing news and updates from the International Ogilvy network  are a fantastic resource. I stay up to speed with several other sources, a few of whom include: The Guardian, Mashable, NYTimes, Digital Buzz Blog, iMedia Connection.  Some of them I get on feeds via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn whilst others I’ll receive via email or an app across several devices: laptop, iPad, smartphone etc.

Onsite or Offsite: A nice mix of both.

Why do you love Mondays? Because on an ongoing basis I put a lot of effort into ensuring I review the status and progress of ongoing and upcoming work.  I try to plan and prioritise as much as possible. Doing that helps defuse the stigma often associated with Monday mornings (!) and allows me to get on with yet another week of diverse digital work.

Elaine Roddy, Director, Buzz PR

Company: I work for BuzzPR a public relations, marketing, event management and copywriting consultancy. Our modus operandum for our clients is to help create a ‘buzz’ about our clients’ business, service or product amongst the people they want talking about it.
Job description: I just started the company two months ago with my business partner Ronnie Carroll. As a Director, I help drive all sectors of the PR/marketing remit from developing the brief, strategy planning and implementation to client service, media relations management and evaluation. We also control the top end business management from corporate planning to business development and financial control.
Likes: I love the diversity. One morning I can be meeting a client to find out their needs then a couple of hours later I can be immersed in creative strategy planning. Another day I can be devoted to copywriting of proposals, scripts or press releases then find myself managing a photocall or TV appearance of a client. I also thoroughly enjoy the satisfaction of taking a campaign from the creative planning through to logistical and strategic implementation and finally seeing the results. This can be anything from media coverage, visual display (of a logo, corporate identity or presentation or simply the production of a quality publication for a client).
Career ladder: I have worked in PR for almost 10 years now in every aspect of the business. I have worked for PR agencies (McMahonSheedy Communications and Life Communications) and also in-house as the PR/marketing professional for companies. I also ran a consultancy partnership (Ro-Ro Consulting) some time ago before a lucrative opportunity to work for an agency again wooed me away! Before we started BuzzPR I also acted as the Director of the National Recruitment Federation for almost nine years. My experience in PR has transported me into a lot of industries from consumer and corporate to entertainment and charitable.
Qualifications: BA in Economics & German. Diploma in Public Relations
Working hours: There are no typical hours in PR and most definitely not when you run a company! I’m always working be it physically during the day or mentally going through things in my mind at night – I love it!
Breaktime: Sometimes I have a business lunch and regularly eat at the desk but I do try to get one or two actual breaks from the desk to have a casual lunch. I learned the hard way that it is important to take a mental break during the day. The rest is so much more productive when you do.
Social media credentials: I confess to being a Facebook and LinkedIn fan. It used to be purely personal but I have recognised the benefits in profiling either BuzzPR or our clients’ activities. I must admit to having to discipline myself in terms of time spent on them. They are a necessary evil for today’s savvy businesses!
News: Independent.ie and Prosperity!
Onsite or offsite: My job is a mixture of both.
Why do you love Mondays: I love Mondays because they are a fresh start to the week and there is so much time and opportunity ahead. Most people are focused on a Monday so you can get their attention. I try not to have meetings on Mondays so I can get stuck into the planning part of the week or copywriting. Mondays when in the office and at full steam I love…now Sunday evenings…that’s another story!

Would you or a colleague like to feature in this section? Email ezine editor, Elaine Larkin Elaine@prosperity.ie with details or mention it to your consultant at Prosperity.

Tim McParland is Portal & Advertising Manager at 3 where he has worked since May 2010.

Company: I work for 3, Ireland’s fastest growing mobile provider. Operating one of Ireland’s largest high speed networks, 3 has over 500,000 customers and is the market leader in mobile broadband with over 200,000 subscribers. You’ll find all there is to know about our latest products and services on Three.ie.
Job description: Working with 3’s creative, tight-knit and uber-inspiring Entertainment team, I’m responsible for the merchandising and generation of advertising revenues across 3’s mobile portal, Planet 3.
Likes: For me it’s my colleagues, the day-to-day variety of the work and the opportunity to carry my online and digital media experience into the mobile space. As the industry develops from its widely-accepted 1.0 phase, my team’s challenge is to ensure 3’s customers get an unrivalled mobile web experience and to ensure we provide brands and advertisers the best possible platform for delivering successful mobile advertising campaigns.
Qualifications: As well as a couple of more recent professional certifications in Project Management and digital media, I hold a B.A. in Computer Science & Economics from UCD and a M.Sc. in International Management from Reims Management School and DCU.
Career ladder: Under the guidance of a couple of great mentors, I spent the first two years after my post-grad as a Commercial Analyst with The Irish Times and DigitalworX, its wholly-owned digital arm. I had the opportunity to work hands-on with some big name brands, getting a priceless exposure to the Irish media industry in the process. I was also lucky enough to gain a wide a network of friends and colleagues, many of who I still plague today (they’ll know who they are!). I’d change very little about my time there.
Working hours: Typical hours are 9 to 6-ish but these will vary according to deadlines and go-live dates. Away from the office and when I get the rare bolt from the blue or see a great campaign or new initiative I’ll always take note.
Breaktime: 3’s new Irish HQ on Clarendon Row couldn’t be more central so we’re duly spoiled for choice. I have a few friends who work locally so when the sun is shining and I’m not out with the team or ticking items off the proverbial to-do list, it’s hard to beat a sit-down sandwich and coffee in Stephen’s Green.
Social media credentials:
It really wasn’t that long ago that our J1 holiday snaps went up on UCD’s Netsoc servers so it’s amazing to see how far social media has come over the past five years or so. I use Facebook for personal use, my professional profile is on LinkedIn and I dabble with a couple of Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages.
News: Wired, Mashable and TechCrunch are all daily ports of calls list while I have a lot of time for the work of Simply Zesty, real pioneers of the social media space here in Ireland. The Irish Times’ monthly Innovation supplement expands beyond purely digital media but is always packed with brilliant content and I’ll rarely miss the Guardian’s TechWeekly podcast.
Onsite or offsite: Most of my time is spent at our offices on Clarendon Row but between training, off-sites and client meetings I’d spend a fair chunk of time on the move.
Why do you love Mondays? I love Mondays because it’s a new week full of new challenges, I’m always learning, there’s rarely a dull moment and fortunately I really enjoy what I do.

Would you or a colleague like to feature in this section? Email ezine editor, Elaine Larkin Elaine@prosperity.ie with details or mention it to your consultant at Prosperity.

Trish Murphy is Group Sales Manager at Hot Press which she joined in May 2010.

Company: I currently work for Hot Press, the bi-weekly magazine with an audited circulation of 19,387 and has been going for over 33 years. We also publish the Hot Press Yearbook which is known as the bible of the entertainment industry and Enterprise Magazine, the onboard magazine for the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise train and we also host the Music Show in the RDS every October.
http://www.hotpress.com

Job description: Responsible for the generation of revenue across all the titles and developing new relationships with clients.
Likes: I get to talk to interesting people all day long.

Career ladder: Following college, I joined Ulster Bank and worked in Human Resources for a number of years, then entered the recruitment world and worked for a number of different agencies. I then joined Whitespace Publishing Group in January 2004 and was Group Sales Director for a number of years with responsibility for such titles as Marketing Age, Irish Director, Owner Manager, www.siliconrepublic.com and business and technology titles in the Irish Independent.

Qualifications: Biochemistry!

Working hours: 8.30am until depending on whether we are going to press that week or not!
Breaktime: I’m back in town for the first time in years and too close to Grafton St shops for my bank’s liking and also catch up with friends for lunch.

Social media credentials: I catch up with friends on Facebook, use LinkedIn for work and haven’t got into Twitter yet!

News: I read The Irish Times.

Onsite or offsite: Both!

Why I love Mondays: As I said before – I love my job because I get to talk to interesting people all day long.

Kevin Finn is Creative/Director/Owner at Finn Creative where he has worked since 2007.

Company: I set up my design company—Finn Creative—in 2007. For seven years I had been Joint Creative Director of Saatchi Design, Sydney (part of the Saatchi & Saatchi network). My wife accepted a job in one of the most remote towns in Australia—Kununurra, Western Australia—so I left Saatchi Design and started Finn Creative, simply because there were no design companies in Kununurra and I had little choice but to start my own. Finn Creative has been in operation for just over three years.
Finncreative.com.au

Job description: I do everything! From strategic thinking to design, from production to project management, and from Accounts to New Business and Administration. It can be difficult doing everything, but it gives you a great sense of how the business is doing.

Likes: My passion is design. More specifically, my passion is ideas driven strategic design. I love to think and then to visualise that thinking.

Career ladder: I began my professional journey in Dublin with Visual Communications. Following this, I was offered a job with the hugely influential designer Steve Averill and was very honoured to work with people like Elvis Costello, among others, and to witness the design and production of the U2 ‘Pop’ album and related material. It was a fantastic time for me as a designer. But the most rewarding part of the experience has been that Steve and I became very close and he is a friend whom I hold dear to this day.
After a year and half working with Steve and the team, I decided to take a risk and travel to the other side of the world, specifically Wellington, New Zealand. (Any further and you’re in Antarctica.) In Wellington I was privileged to work at Designworks as well as the internationally acclaimed studio Cato Design. However, just under a year and a half later I decided to head back home — the long way — starting with Sydney. But Sydney is amazing, and I couldn’t leave. In fact, I stayed for eight years, seven of those as Joint Creative Director of Saatchi Deisgn.
In 2007 my wife accepted a job in Kununurra and I decided to take the risk of moving to a remote town with her to see if what we so often say is true: We can do what we do from anywhere. I discovered this is true — but it’s not easy. It was in Kununurra that I set up Finn Creative and spent a rewarding, challenging and adventurous three years living there before relocating to Brisbane at the beginning of this year.
While at Saatchi Design I also set up my own publication — Open Manifesto. It’s an independent and self-funded journal focusing on critical writing on graphic design and exploring the relationship design has with social, cultural, political and economic issues. Contributors include Edward de Bono, Noam Chomsky, Alain de Botton, Errol Morris, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher and Steve Averill, among many others. (openmanifesto.net)
Other than that, I have been incredibly fortunate to have received a number of prestigious design awards during my career, including a D&AD Yellow Pencil (UK) and a Type Directors Club Judges Choice (USA).

Qualifications: I received a Diploma in Visual Communications from Letterkenny Regional Technical College (3 years) and an Honours Degree in Design Communications from Limerick School of Art and Design (1 year, combined with my Diploma).

Working hours: Working hours vary, but generally I work from 8.00am to 6.00pm, five days a week. However, I sometimes have to do administration chores over the weekend, and I rarely stop thinking about design related things outside of work hours. I just love what I do…

Breaktime: For lunch, I usually watch re-runs of The Bill or watch ‘Question Time’ (a live televised broadcast of Parliament question time) if The Bill isn’t on. Other than that, breaks are filled with research or trips into town to check my GPO Box—and a bookshop or two. Films, galleries and other interests inspire me on the weekends or during the evening after work.

Social media credentials: I’m not a social media addict. I dip into Facebook regularly, but I am not a fanatic by any means. I have not succumbed to Twitter but I am a member of LinkedIn, though I’ve had some issues logging into this site, which is currently being looked at on my behalf. I very rarely access social media sites on my iPhone. If I do, it’s usually Facebook. Other than that, any social network sites I visit is during work hours.

Onsite or offsite: I’m usually based in my home studio. Suppliers visit me here, though I am beginning to arrange more supplier and client meetings outside of my home studio.

Why do you love Mondays? There is a lot that I like about what I do. I love learning, and every project brings new people, new experiences and new knowledge. I love thinking, and design involves a huge amount of thinking, figuring out and finding the connections between things. Put short, I’m a designer and I love design. Simple.