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Nothing like that here

January 18, 2013

London CallingI was 14, it was the summer of 1979 and my dad took me to London for the day to shop for records!

We took the ferry from Cork to Wales and a coach to London. We were supposed to arrive late at night, book into a hotel and then get up early for a days’ shopping – the poor coach driver took a wrong turn as a result of road works so we ended up pulling into London at 5 am

…there was no point booking into a hotel so we just grabbed a breakfast and wandered the streets until the shops opened.

We went to London quite simply because the music stores there were incredible – there was “nothing like that here“, just a few limited shops (Eason’s, Lee Records and Woolworths) with a tiny selection of records.

I’ll never forget that scorching summer’s day with my poor dad standing  patiently at the door of HMV and Virgin as I spent hour after hour browsing these mega-stores, shelf by shelf.   I can still remember the excitement in those stores – packed with possibility, undiscovered gems, fabulous artwork ..it was theatre.

HMVI eventually purchased over 20 records, rare items, bargains and basically music that I just couldn’t buy in Ireland.

Another memory of that day was the huge amount of women walking around London wearing no bras!! It must have been fashionable but I had never seen the likes of it before and I can promise you it made a big impression on this impressionable 14 year old … between the lack of sleep, the intense heat and the “scenery”, I remember feeling quite dizzy!

As we know Ireland gradually caught up with London and even in Cork we ended up with Golden Discs, HMV and Virgin. My own love for music resulted in me opening my own stores …the dream of a 14 year old!

Despite all of our progress and advances in technology we are very close to a situation where there will be “nothing like that here” and even worse “nothing like that there” – HMV are nearly gone and the others are not far behind (I sold my stores a number of years back and the crew that bought them have since gone out of business).

Browsing for recordsWe can thank unsustainable rents, record companies who handed their Top sellers at big discounts to supermarkets, record companies who switched to digital technology that it couldn’t manage and music stores who lost their passion for music, for where we have ended up today.

That incredible feeling of browsing for magic in the shelves of music stores was one of the special things in my life that has brought me so much pleasure..

Progress?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Customer Care, Holidays, Irish Economy, Marketing, Retailing, Sales | 14 Comments »

Making your street my route

September 9, 2012
shop front

Love your shop !

I love my coffee!

On a typical work day at some point I will pop out of the office for my daily fix – there are one or two coffee shops that I normally go to, each a few streets or blocks (for the American readers!) away.

To get there I can take a number of different routes with a choice of side streets to pop down along the way. I normally work out of our Cork office which is located on the main business street, which backs onto a city centre retail area.

When I think about the route I normally take, the choice of streets that I walk down is totally dictated by those that are the nicest, the most colourful, the most interesting and the most inviting.

On my route I pass shops with colourful windows, pubs with attractive frontage, flower shops with colourful displays, book stores with interesting books in the window, clothes shops with fashionable displays, sweet shops with enticing treats, buildings that are bright, and streets that are clean and welcoming.

There are always alternative routes – make sure you and your street work together to merchandise those windows, paint up those buildings and make customers choose your street as their route to wherever they are going.

Eventually they’ll pop in and buy something!

Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion

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

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Posted in Customer Care, Marketing, Positivity, Retailing, Staff training | 4 Comments »

What are we teaching our young workers?

February 28, 2012
Young workers

Happy Workers?

My young friend of mine rang me last week all excited – she had been offered a full time job in a sports store in the city.

While she was thrilled she was a little bit upset because she would have to leave her current job, which was also in a sports store. She is a loyal creature, she liked working there, she had made good friends and it had been a real confidence booster for her.

Each week she was one of the best performers in the store, beating her weekly targets consistently and selling well above the other staff members.

So, why was she leaving ?

The store have one of these short sighted recession led policies of restricting  all staff members to just over 20 hours a week so that it would save money – I’m not sure if this was down to saving on breaks or savings due to PRSI class. Either way someone in the organisation set a policy of maximum hours per person to save money.

This money saving was deemed as being better for business than allowing your best people have the most hours – the difference in performance between the different sales staff was thousands of euros consistently each week. Who’s saving money?

Eventually my young friend was left quite demotivated, the penny dropped that no matter how well she performed it would make no difference to her hours or career prospects so she decided to shop for a better position.

Her very last experience with her existing employer was when she handed in her required two weeks notice. True to form she was punished and her hours were slashed in her last two weeks.

I have encouraged her to hold her head up high and to finish off her last days there professionally. Unfortunately she has been left a little disillusioned by one of her earliest work experiences in one of Ireland’s biggest retail chains. I know myself that all of these early experiences play a huge part in forming your attitude towards work and your employers.

What are we teaching our young workers?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion PR

(p.s. I have written to them out of curiosity to see what they have to say)

Update 

This post was actually about my daughter. She started her new job in another sports store and can’t believe the difference it is. They look after their staff really well and from the very first minute she was made feel really welcome and appreciated.  She is lucky to find such an employer and thankfully she is now learning more positive “work lessons”.

I was really annoyed about how she was treated by Lifestyle Sports so I wrote to them hoping for a response but also hoping that they might take the lesson on board. I never received a response to the email that I sent. Maybe this is a reflection of the culture that exists there or maybe it is just a coincidence?

Email to Lifestyle Sports: (career@lifestylesports.com) – see copy below:

Hi ,

I am writing to you to both thank you and express my disappointment with you as an employer.

My daughter has worked with you for nearly two years in a Cork store and despite being one of the top performers in her store with her targets etc she has been held back to the minimum amount of hours each week.

I understand this is a policy to minimise costs – this is a foolish policy when the net result is employees that perform well getting disenchanted as they lose out on hours to other staff. These are foolish savings that are costing your business money and are also demotivating to staff. Too many accountants (I started off life as one) getting their way!

Eventually she managed to secure a full time job with a competitor where she is starting off soon. I was thrilled for her when she was offered the post but she was upset as she had built up a loyalty to Lifestyle Sports.

The last bitter pill was when she handed in her required two weeks’ notice and her store manager “punished” her by slashing her hours..

What kind of spirit are you nurturing? Not only have you really upset her in her last two weeks but you have also upset her colleagues that she works with.

She will freak out when she knows I wrote this as she is frightened she won’t get a good reference.

I trust you will not let this email affect her reference.

As I said at the outset ….. thank you for employing her for the last two years but please, please review your internal policies. You are getting rid of and demotivating performers and undermining the excellent training you give them.

I would like a response to my email.

Regards,

Greg Canty

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Posted in Customer Care, Irish Economy, Personal development, Retailing, Staff training, Teamwork | 23 Comments »

When Great Products can mask over Poor Service

October 15, 2011
Butlers Chocolates

Great Coffee - Not so great service

I found myself in the queue of Butlers Chocolate Coffee Shop for about the fifth time in the week for my ritual morning treat and I just decided that I had to leave and search the streets of Cork for another alternative outlet that might serve coffee as good because of what I witnessed the previous day(Cork Coffee Roasters on Bridge Street is a little too far away).

Unfortunately I didn’t find a better cup of coffee anywhere so I just have to try to solve my dilemma by blogging about my experience in the hope that Butlers might notice.

Butlers Chocolate Coffee Shops do great coffee but at times the customer service is just appalling (my social media contacts will have seen a zillion posts about this from me). Some of the staff are very friendly and some are really quite the opposite. I find this incredible – I go in there at least three or four times a week, I buy a few coffees each time and some of the regular staff would neither smile, make small talk or even make eye contact.

There is also a very definite policy of preparing the coffee for the customer and leaving it on the counter and then “shouting” out the order until the customer hears and collects. You could be in there on a quiet day, sitting having a chat while waiting for your coffee , just feet from the counter and the staff will still “shout” your order instead of popping it over to you – I must admit this drives me nuts!

This must be how the staff are trained and I feel it also probably lends itself to a culture whereby a “no smile” scenario is quite acceptable as well. I can see the logic around staff overhead but this policy needs to be applied with some intelligence and “cop on”.

Hilariously they recently introduced a new electronic loyalty card system called a “Happiness” card and for the few weeks around it’s introduction all the staff had t-shirts with “Happiness” written boldly across them. With the card you earn your usual one in ten coffees free but you also earn loyalty points – all designed to have you coming back. Now there’s a good promotional idea!

This week I witnessed the very worst customer service incident, which motivated me to eventually write – A woman with a young kid and a new born baby around her neck in a little sling ordered a low fat latte. She seemed under pressure as she sat down while waiting for her coffee – the “shout” duly followed by the staff member: “low fat latte” to be followed by an even louder and more impatient “low fat latte“.

The poor lady who was sitting down and a little under pressure with her toddler and baby responded “I’ll get it when I am ready“. At this stage practically every customer in the coffee shop had heard the awful interaction and were trying to figure out why none of the three staff on duty could make an exception and walk the few feet over to the woman with her coffee.

I was chatting with a buddy of mine and I was about to collect the coffee from the counter and bring it over to the woman only to be beaten to the punch by another customer.

Incredible!

The product is great so we keep going back but at some point a new coffee shop will open that will know the value of smiling and the even greater the value of bringing coffee down to a customer in extreme or not so extreme situations .. I look forward to it.

If you have a great product be careful not to create an opportunity for poor service to creep in.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Care, Ireland, Marketing, PR, Retailing, Staff training, Uncategorized | 30 Comments »

Making the Sale or Changing the Customers routine?

July 31, 2011
Cafe Chico

What would make you change your routine?

I admit it … I’m boring!

Every Sunday morning myself and Dee go for a walk with our four legged creature, Bing to the local park with our good friends Tommy and Joan and their four legged creature, Tammy.

This routine was so predictable – walk to Ballincollig Park, lap of the first field, walk alongside the river to the lower fields, cut up through the Gunpowder mills and the GAA fields, into the village, stop for coffee and scones at Nosh and Coffee, chat, walk through the village and home. This as I mentioned is what we do pretty much every Sunday.

A few months ago a very cute little mobile coffee kiosk moved into the car park at the start of the park serving coffee and buns and they even have a few very neat tables and chairs outside their unit complete with flowers in vases. Now, this didn’t really suit our break “routine” as the location of the kiosk was at the start of our walk and not in the middle so even though it was a really nice set up it wasn’t quite right for us (its a big deal changing people’s habits!).

Recently we did our usual walk but some of the “crew members” were a little hungover so having completed stage one of our walk we double backed, cut the walk short and went back to the little kiosk, “Cafe Chico” (the owner called the kiosk after her dog, who she brings with her for company each day) for some very welcome refreshments.

The woman working in the kiosk was really friendly, the coffee and home made scones were perfect and to top it all she offered us biscuits from a tin especially for the four legged creatures – Wow! this woman knew and understood her customers really well.

Officially we have changed our routine! Now the first leg of our walk is the same as it was before but now we do a few laps of the lower fields, double back along the river to lap the first field again and then return to the beginning to enjoy our coffee, scones and chat at Cafe Chico!

I know.. exciting stuff!

Why? She runs a great little friendly business, she understands her customer and she goes a little further than you would expect but fully appreciate.

Are you making a sale or are you changing a customers routine – which is worth more?

While we can look after your PR needs, your reputation starts with what you do yourself.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Care, Marketing, PR, Retailing, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Have a Positively Fabulous Easter!

April 14, 2011
Retail tips for Easter

Positivity? - Why Not !!

Budgets, bad weather, IMF bailouts, things are tough, sales are bad, wages are down, burn the bond holders, senior bond holders, junior bond holders, any bond holders – Oh my God, my head is bursting ! Enough is enough ..

In business all the marketers will tell you about the importance of having a Unique Selling Point, a USP. It is that element that is unique that makes your business special and makes you different to your competitors. In a busy marketplace that can be hard to achieve. In the current climate it can be even more difficult as everyone is afraid of mistakes so we end up playing it very safe, even boring at times.

Now go back to my first paragraph, read it again and then read further on and let’s discover a really simple way to make your business stand out this Easter.

Here goes..

This Easter draw a secret line around your business and make it a haven for all those who enter or deal with over the phone or on email – you are going to give them a gift, something that is quite unique, something that are not getting in most other places. When anyone crosses that secret line they are going to experience nothing but positivity – yep, that’s right simple positivity.

That’s all well and good but how do we do it? – Here is my 10 step plan!

1.       Yourself – You start! ( “Good morning, Greg”)

2.       Your Team – Tell them that negative talk is banned, you want them cheery and bright with customers – watch what happens (have a negative jar instead of a swear jar!)

3.       Bright – You want to see bright merchandise in the windows, bright visuals on your website, bright stock in the stock list, bright clothes on the staff. Buy flowers!

4.       Sales – Increase your sales targets. We all know it’s not easy but tell the team you are budgeting for an increase (let everyone else do the opposite, prepare for the negative it and it will definitely happen)

5.       How to? – Ok, while you are positive you are also realistic. You want positive plans from your team as to how the sales targets will be achieved

6.       Bonus – Promise bonuses for those who succeed, win/win if you make it

7.       What to do with that bonus? – Get everyone in the team to write on a piece of paper what they will do with their bonus (put their private responses in an envelope with their name on it – keep it for them)

8.       Drinks/dinner/chocolates/coffee – When the sales plans are done and the bonuses are decided on do something as a team. Bring chocolates or buns into work.

9.       Customers – treat them really nice, offer them coffee, offer them biscuits. Tell them about the secret line if you have to – they will think you are nuts but they will appreciate it

10.   The World – little enough that you can do about the other stuff, keep it outside the line!

Sorry I have one more tip – why stop at Easter?

Happy Easter!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Business Planning, Customer Care, Ireland, Irish Economy, Marketing, Positivity, Retailing | 12 Comments »

Another Crazy Christmas! – Some Tips for Retailers

December 10, 2010
Tips for Retail at Christmas

Tips for Retail for Christmas

Writing a piece about retailing at Christmas should be quite straight forward you would imagine, but writing a piece that it is really helpful for retailers that have been through so many of them at this stage is a little daunting I must admit!

With a backdrop of recession and cutbacks, getting customers parting with their hard earned cash will be more challenging than ever but presents must be bought so let’s roll up our sleeves.

As part of the preparation for this article I decided I should ask my good buddy Mr Google for a little help and see what extra nuggets I could find that would definitely impress the experienced retailers out there.

If you Google “Tips for retailing at Christmas” you will be quite surprised with what you will find! My search actually took me to a website called www.christmastipsforretailers.com – can you imagine a website designated to just that topic!

In a way it’s not at all surprising seeing as the Christmas period accounts for a huge % of peoples revenue as well as a huge % of footfall. Even more important the festive period will bring a large number of “new” visitors who could well be trying out your store for the first time – what an incredible opportunity if you really think about it.

I will look at the tips under four broad headings:

Attract the customers into your store

Customer loyalty is as a result of the good work you have done throughout the year and will determine where customers will do their shopping when it comes to Christmas. However you have to do your utmost to attract them in and compete for their attention.

Database Promotions – this is where you use your databases, your invite lists, and your Facebook page for special offers, special customer nights and even Christmas cards as gentle reminders that you are open for business.

Wow Window displays – Christmas windows are really special and if possible push the boat out and really build attractive displays that grab customer attention. (I always get blown away by the window displays in London at this time)

While having an attractive window display is critical, remember that people need complete “solutions” with either their outfits or their gifts – be sure to put your best foot forward at all times with your most attractive and available stock.

Fresh – Have new merchandise arrive throughout the whole festive period keeping your store fresh and if not refresh and rotate the key displays so that the store feels new and vibrant.

Offers – Make sure your promotions are well displayed but in a tasteful way and in keeping with the overall store look and feel.

Clean and tidy store – Allow extra staff time each evening for cleaning, tidying and rearranging so that the store is looking the best as much as possible.

 

Look after the customer really well when they get there

Research has shown that at Christmas 60% of purchasing decisions are made within the store – once they come in your door make sure that happens.

Christmas is a Floor Show – One of the sites I visited referred to retailing at Christmas as being a “Floor Show”. The game is won and lost on the sales floor and this is where the staff and managers should be spending their time looking after customers, making sure that the part time staff knows what they are doing, spotting trends and sorting out issues – plenty time for the office work in the New Year!

Happy Team – Keep your team motivated and upbeat. Christmas is a happy time and cheery staff are vital for the business. It is your responsibility to keep them happy, plan a Christmas party, bring them coffee and treats and make sure you rotate them so that they don’t get too jaded as this will result in lost business.

Happy Customers – Make sure there is a good atmosphere in the store with nice scents and festive but not “too” typical music. Offering a festive drink or some sweets or treats can put the shopper in a very good mood.

 

Give yourself every chance of selling to customers and as much as possible

Once you have done the hard job of attracting people into your store you want them to do a lot more than browse and say thank you!

Make it easy – Shoppers want to maximise their time and minimise their decision making so make it easy for them by bundling and coordinating products, labelling them clearly and having relevant accessories within easy access.

Have a Top 10 or Favourites rail – Display the popular lines prominently making it easy for the customer to purchase with confidence.

Show people what to buy – Create displays with the specific solutions in mind such as mother’s gifts, party wear etc

The right staff – You need the right quantity of good staff to maximise your income at this time. Bring part-time staff in during the lead up to Christmas in plenty of time so they are sufficiently up to speed for the rush.

Speedy Gonzales – Have your quickest people on the tills and on wrapping duty – remember Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) in the store in the movie Love Actually!

Exchange policy and vouchers – make it as easy as possible for customers to buy by removing obstacles such as “What if they don’t like it?” objections.

Gift wrap – for the guys this is an absolute must as long as it doesn’t take too long and interferes with sales. Pre-wrap fast selling items where possible.

 

Entice them to return in the New Year

This is the one area that for some reason wasn’t covered in any of the websites, which really surprised me.

Accepting that many new customers visit your store in the Christmas period and many of the other shoppers may just be customers for special occasions, give them a special reason for returning earlier than expected.

New Year Initiatives such as invitations to a special VIP Customer “sale day” or a unique voucher that can be redeemed with purchases in the New Year might achieve this. Brainstorm ideas with your staff to encourage early New Year visits for customers.

Running competitions can be another clever way of building a fresh customer database at this time as long as it doesn’t create delays at the till!

I hope the Christmas tips have been helpful and serve you well into 2011 when we have to do it all over again, Merry Christmas!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

 

 

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Posted in Customer Care, Marketing, Retailing | 8 Comments »

Buying with a PR Objective

October 12, 2010

When anyone in the retail sector is doing their purchasing they already have many objectives in mind such as:

  • The Margin that is available on the stock
  • Credit terms
  • Reliability of supply
  • Resulting Price points
  • Range of stock
  • Storage
  • Returns policy
  • Ability to compete versus competition
  • Will it sell!!
Buying with a PR Agenda

Buying with a PR Agenda

I know you probably have enough on your plate but (the famous but!), I would strongly encourage every purchasing manager to also include a definite “PR Agenda” as part of the criteria when deciding on which suppliers to buy from and which stock to choose.
If your purchasing is approached in this way then there will be opportunities for valuable Press Coverage, which will be terrific for awareness and for attracting shoppers into your store.

So.. what exactly do I mean when I say purchase with a PR Agenda? – I have a few tips that may help you as follows..

Look for suppliers that have a pro-active PR resource – what will they do to promote the stock you buy from them?
When choosing a supplier look for one that is actively engaged in PR, which when operated properly will result in your store being mentioned as a stockist in Press coverage that is achieved in your locality. Don’t be afraid to ask for evidence of this including copies of press clippings for other stockists etc (make sure your supplier also includes your details on their website as a stockist)

Choose suppliers that have timely press images available of the stock that you are purchasing
If the supplier does not have a PR resource the next best thing is that you are able to do your own PR in your locality and beyond. This will be made a lot easier if the supplier can provide you with timely, good quality, attractive (high resolution) images. With these you or your own PR firm can issue your own press releases. (another tip – include these images on your Facebook page)

Choose products that are exclusive and unique
When deciding on which stock to purchase, try to secure brands or ranges of stock that will be exclusive to your store. A second point here is to purchase “unusual” items that will by their very nature turn heads and achieve coverage. You may be tempted to play it very safe with stock and avoid unusual items that may not sell – take a risk here, even with a small quantity of “PR Stock”. Get this one right and the PR value will well exceed the cost of the stock purchased.

Frequency of PR
Try to plan your buying so that you have new stock and the ability to issue an interesting Press Release as often as possible during the year. The Press will write about your store quite often as long as you have a new story to tell.

National versus loca
Achieving PR is really valuable for your store as we have discussed – will your plan achieve local PR or is it possible to achieve national PR? Try hard to have something that will bring you attention with the press nationally. As discussed already this will be down to you being the “exclusive stockist of unusual items”

For example at Fuzion we have achieved national coverage for small stores as a result of them having quite unusual stock items in their range – this will generate curiosity with customers and press as well as a national reputation for your store.

Overall Review of your purchase plan
Once you have made the bulk of your purchasing decisions in terms of suppliers and stock sit back and review this to ensure that the plan has sufficient “PR Ability” applying the PR criteria as discussed above: PR Resource, PR Images, Exclusive Stock, Wow Stock, Frequency and National versus Local.

Maybe you need to make a few changes or add something into the mix to achieve your PR Objective?

Customer “Wow” & Word of Mouth
Not only will the unusual items of stock help you to achieve Press Coverage but they will also achieve valuable “Word of Mouth” with customers. Help this along by displaying unusual items prominently in your store and by distributing the images on your Facebook pages. Customers could well make the assumption that if you can purchase usual items in the store, then surely there will be a great selection of “other” stock?

At a time when budgets are very tight (or anytime to be honest!) bringing a PR “agenda” into your purchasing criteria could play a very valuable role in attracting new customers to your store as well as  building your reputation as being quite special.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Posted in Marketing, PR, Recession, Retailing | Leave a Comment »

Is it worth investing in PR in the Fashion Industry?

June 22, 2010
Fashion PR

Fashion PR

We just had a fashion client cut back on their PR activity, which has left us all really surprised and disappointed in particular seeing as they received terrific coverage around the country and nationally for their brands.

While trying to figure this one out internally we have to put ourselves in the client’s position and  ask ourselves the  simple question – If it was us would we invest in PR?

We use a simple criteria here – if you have access to strong, high quality current fashion visuals, in particular for a female brand the answer is yes, yes, yes!

I must admit that PR for a male brand is not quite as straight forward – you will get coverage but you need to work a lot harder to achieve the same result. Male fashion is not featured as much by journalists and is just not as sexy!! More imaginative solutions are needed here.

If you are a brand owner or agent make sure that you have a PR resource (internal or external)  in place so that the national fashion press and the local press where you have stockists can get their hands on the latest collections (press release & visuals). Make sure the stockists are mentioned in the local releases.

If you are a store owner and you know that the brand/agent are not engaging with a PR resource then take the matter into your own hands get those images from the brand and issue them locally yourself (or your PR person).

The print media absolutely love strong fashion visuals and if you have access to those for your stock then you will in all probability get coverage, which should build the profile of your store and brands with your existing and hopefully new customers.

Budget, budgets ..

I guess it all comes down to money and you need to decide how much can you afford to invest in this area.

If you have the quality material then don’t waste the opportunity for press coverage – if you can’t afford an external resource such as ourselves then try your best to allocate some internal resource to the task.

We do a lot of work in the fashion PR sector and once done properly you will achieve really good results.

Choosing brands for your store or agency?

In choosing what brands to stock in your store or what brands to take on in your agency it is worth considering –

  • Will the brands be supported by PR?
  • Will the PR extend to the local stockists?
  • Failing this will you have access to high quality visuals that you could use for your own PR drive?

This could be the difference between free coverage in the papers for your store/brand and none.

Choosing which product to stock in the store?

A little tip that we give everyone is to make sure when buying that you look for that item or that brand that is very unusual, which will create a talking point. The press love things that are attention grabbing and a little bit different.

So to answer my original question – would I invest in a PR resource ?

Definitely – If I couldn’t afford an external resource with experience in the sector I would make sure someone internally had PR as part of their role.  In the fashion industry it is the best value way of Marketing, achieving coverage and interest in your store or brand.

One thing you can be sure is that there are less people investing in PR than before so it is possible to make a bigger splash with less effort.

so .. another thing for you to consider along with all the multiplicity of challenges you have to face every day, as if you didn’t have enough on your plate already!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Posted in PR, Recession, Retailing, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Have we less to say to our Customers?

February 15, 2010
Billboard Advertising

Billboard Advertising in Ireland

I am amazed by the amount of empty billboards that I am seeing around the country at the moment.

In what I consider to be quite a good location quite close to where we live there are three billboards and they have been empty pretty much since the start of the year – eventually this weekend two of them were filled.

There are clearly huge cutbacks going on by the big mainstream advertisers.

Why did we advertise last year? The year before?

Is now a time for advertising less?

Is now a time for not talking to your customers?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Posted in Marketing, Recession, Retailing | Leave a Comment »

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