Posts Tagged ‘Fuzion’

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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 »

Exceptional Choices

January 13, 2013

Bridge in BallincolligAs usual we headed off for our early Sunday morning walk with the four legged one.

Just around the corner from our house we passed a hard working volunteer from the Ballincollig Tidy Town Committee who was busy, head down engrossed in the job of picking up bits of rubbish from the side of the road.

This always amazes me …this man and all the other dedicated volunteers get up on a Sunday morning and they pick up rubbish that other people have left behind.

“Well done” I say to him, just to acknowledge that I think what he is doing is great.

I can’t get my head around the exceptionally great and selfless choice that these people make every Sunday.

CouchWe continue our walk and take a route that runs alongside the river.

Just as we are walking over a gorgeous old bridge I notice an old couch that someone has just thrown over the wall. On closer inspection I notice that an old TV is on the ground next to the couch!

Can you get your head around how anyone could make such an exceptionally selfish and awful choice to just dump something in such a gorgeous spot, how someone could dump their stuff anywhere. How could they?

Why is it that the exceptional choices by great people are needed just to deal with the exceptionally bad choices of others.

Imagine how special our world would be if all exceptional choices were great ones..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Motivation, Personal development, Tourism | 2 Comments »

Those Days are well and truly gone

January 11, 2013
Apple Umbrellas

Handy brand ?

“Those days are well and truly gone” she said with a nod that demonstrated clarity and conviction around the topic. Around the table everyone nodded their heads agreeing with the wise statement and more importantly the sentiment.

We were working on an event with some very high profile, weighty organisations. This was a planning meeting and the marketing representatives from each organisation were in attendance. The event was very progressive and was targeting attendees that were perfect for each of the participating organisations.

It sounded like a blast from the past when someone around the table suggested a “goodie bag” for the attendees. I hate that description – I immediately think of a branded plastic bag with some literature and a few bits. However I always saw the absolute sense in the “right” branded item that helps make your brand connect with the attendees.

If it is the right item and is useful and durable your brand could appear in all sorts of places being used over and over by your target audience – how bad?

The big danger is that we sit and discuss and because of the “economic climate” we too easily reject things that could make total sense without thinking properly about our objectives.

Why did we do this “stuff” before – was it because we had loads of money and we wanted to chuck it away or was it because it was simply a great idea ?

It”s pouring outside and I grab my really decent umbrella with that “logo” on it ….that brand has done a lot of travelling since the event I got it at!

A lot of what we did before made sense – those days may not be gone after all!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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

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Posted in Direct Marketing, Marketing, Positivity | 9 Comments »

Me and Kim Kardashian splashing in the sea!

January 11, 2013

Kim Kardashian “Why is it so hard to build followers on twitter?” I get asked frequently by clients and at my courses.

Kim Kardashian has over 17 million followers on Twitter. Maybe she holds the answer to that question?

What’s the magic? Does she say incredibly inspirational things, is she really interesting, does she have unique insights into the mysteries of life?

A quick peep at her tweets over the last few days ..not a whole lot going on really except a few posts with links to some old pictures of her (very nice!) and some articles that she is featured in.

She’s obviously one of those A-List Hollywood stars, famous from the “Keeping up with the Kardashians” reality TV show, she has a colourful life and of course she looks really well !! In 2011 she was the celeb who was searched on Google more times than anyone else.

While Kim is extremely popular on twitter she isn’t too bothered about what other people are saying – she follows 160 people on twitter, a mixture of her own fan sites, some beauty and fashion brands, designers and even Sylvester Stallone gets a look in!

Apparently on twitter Kim just has to open an account and the numbers of fans will flock to her..

Then there is me and you!

For some reason us mere mortals don’t have the exciting lives and magnetic lure that Kim has, so when it comes to gathering followers on Twitter we need to sweat a little harder to gain some followers. It’s not going to happen for us by sitting back, posting the odd nugget of wisdom and waiting for the hordes of followers – nope!

We have to do the leg work, we have to start following others, we have to do the interacting, we have to reply and comment on posts, we have to do some re-tweeting, we have to start posting really clever things, we need to be funny, we need to be genuine, we need to be helpful and nice, we have to build rapport, trust and visibility so that we will first get noticed and then followed – we have to jump into the sea with everyone else and start splashing!

Let’s face it ..I’m not like Kim and it”s highly unlikely that she will ever swim in the sea with me but if I want to get noticed I’ll have to start splashing!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Greg is a social media expert who provides Social Media Consultancy and training in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Social Media, Twitter, Web Marketing | 17 Comments »

Christmas Interruption ..

December 28, 2012
interrupting christmas

Spend time with your loved ones!

“60% off nearly all stock tomorrow”

When someone likes our Facebook business page, follows our business on twitter, signs up for our newsletter or follows our company blog  in effect they give us permission to send them updates, news about our business and general communication. When they “sign up” they can’t control when we might interrupt them ..when it happens, about what or how often.

Permission to interrupt is a precious gift that we should respect.

In this “social media” age it’s become part of our ritual to check Facebook and Twitter , even on Christmas morning to see what our on-line buddies are up to, including friends and family – it brings us close ..I’m looking at friend’s children open their Christmas presents, I’m watching other friends having fun pictured in their new Munster Rugby Jerseys, I’m watching family pictures, I’m watching family reunions, I’m watching my “circle” cracking jokes and enjoying their precious family day ..

In between all of this I’m also watching supermarkets,coffee shops, gift shops, hotels, breweries and APP suppliers pitching in …in fairness most of them are wishing me Merry Christmas but a few are way too enthusiastic trying to sell, announcing their sales or offering special deals.

Most of these posts will have been scheduled in advance while their social media personnel were at work before the holidays and definitely not on Christmas day!

For everyone in business …with social media there is a time to interrupt and a time to definitely not interrupt. Christmas day, is a day when it is better not to say anything even when you think you have permission …you don’t!

Merry Christmas!

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

Fuzion provide social media consultancy and training from our offices in Dublin and Cork

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Posted in Customer Care, Facebook, Holidays, LinkedIn, Twitter, Web Marketing | 4 Comments »

Looking for Anna

December 25, 2012

Ellen Canty - coffee

My daughter Ellen is in great form …I am so thrilled for her that life is going so well. She is enjoying her job, she is doing really well in a beauty course that she is doing at night and personally things seem to be fitting into place.

“You’re doing great” I said to her early one morning when she grabbed a lift from me to get to work.

“I am” she admitted, “I’m in great form”

As usual, not leaving anything alone I probed to see why life was so good and it was a mixture of everything that was going on in her life.

Coffee Pod, Winthrop StreetOne tiny but huge factor she attributes to her daily happiness is Anna – every morning before work she grabs a coffee at the Coffee Pod on Winthrop Street in Cork and Anna always sets her in great form with her cheery manner and warm greeting …isn’t life simple ?

Well done to Anna and all the other Anna’s out there, who put us in good form every day by the little, but huge things that they do …. I’ll be calling to the Coffee Pod soon to look for Anna to say thank you.

The small things we do can make a huge difference..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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

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Posted in Brand Loyalty, Customer Care, Hospitality, Staff training | 6 Comments »

I had a Great 2013 because ….

December 18, 2012
Diary entry

I has a Great 2013 because ….

Well – how did you do?

Did you achieve what you set out to achieve in 2012?

Did you make ambitious plans and fall short of them or did you make any plans at all? – If you did, well done!

I don’t know about you but making plans and actually achieving them is always challenging and at the start of the year I find myself at the start of that loop all over again making promises than often will never materialise!

A few years ago I wanted it to be a little bit different and I had my own creative and quite practical idea, which was inspired by a book I read called “The Art of Possibility” by Benjamin and Rosamund Zander (a really interesting motivational book by the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and his wife who is an executive coach).

This idea is rooted in the power of visualisation – the principle behind this is that if you visualise what you want to achieve then there is a much better chance of it actually happening (unbelievers ….stop reading now !!)

Here goes ..

Take a pen and paper and simply write your diary entry in advance for your last working day of the year to come..

Imagine just before you switch off the lights in the office, before you head out the door to do some last minute shopping and enjoy a well-earned rest, you quietly write your diary entry.

It might go like this..

23rd December, 2013

Wow, that was some exciting and really fulfilling year!

It was a great year because I really achieved what I set out to both personally and professionally and even more besides because of those opportunities that cropped up that I wasn’t even expecting. At least I had my eyes open and when they occurred I spotted them and grabbed them.

I started the year with a few really clear goals including (go for it, be specific – list at least 5!)

I thought these goals were going to be really challenging, but I achieved these as I made a few important changes in my life that were necessary such as (be honest – what needs to happen for you to achieve those goals – your conditions for success).

It wasn’t all plain sailing and I had a few setbacks but I kept a clear focus on my goals, I kept a positive outlook and by digging deep and having a clear belief in myself and my abilities I managed to achieve them all in the end.

I’m glad I kept a positive outlook and kept my eyes open for those genuinely unique opportunities, which I know will only present themselves in this challenging economic climate – it made a huge difference to my business this year, which I wasn’t expecting.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,  2013 – Bring it On!

Your signature (make sure you do this)

Put this in an envelope, place it in your top drawer and have a peep at it on the first day of every month (set a reminder in your computer to do this) and see what happens.

We did this with our full team at the end of 2010 and 2011 and I can tell you it worked out quite well, thank you very much!

We will do it again this time round – I’ll let you know how we got on in about 12 months’ time.

By the way I’ve just spent a year driving a really nice new car – guess what was on my list at the start of 2011!

…what are you waiting for?

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Motivation, Personal development, Teamwork | 2 Comments »

Thierry Henry and the Tender

December 12, 2012
Thiery Henry Goal v Ireland

Farce?

Remember that feeling after Thierry Henry handled the ball and everyone saw it..

We all knew when we got just 4 days notice for this tender that the whole process was stacked against us..

How in the name of God can you turn around a decent plan in just 4 days? – this request was challenging and it was designed to work against everyone except who was lined up to get it, probably who had the contract already?

This was the third year when this contract was out for “tender”.

Year 1 – we put what we felt was a really good plan together – we put huge effort into the proposal. In any normal pitch situation we will be invited in for a briefing where we can probe the client, get an understanding of the issues and put a decent plan together. In a tender situation you don’t have this opportunity.

We weren’t even invited to present …hmmm, that’s unusual – the plan we submitted was really strong and priced competitively. Maybe the other plans were so much better that we didn’t even deserve the opportunity to present?

Year 2  – let’s dig even deeper. Our plan was really strong, priced competitively and once again we didn’t even get a chance to present. Hmmm.. that’s unusual, were we that far off the pace again? I was surprised so this time I carefully monitored the event and the media coverage to see what “magic” was delivered to the event that we were not able to provide – to be honest it seemed to be more of the same as every other year, no new ideas and more of the same formula repeated.

Ok ….this time, lets request a meeting in advance of the tender process so we can meet the team and have that opportunity to get a proper debrief. This meeting went well and we seemed to actually address all of their key issues in our previous plan – there was no point pointing that out! It was clear from this briefing meeting that the whole project had gone stale and needed a shake-up. We stated clearly that we wanted a fair crack of the whip this year.

Year 3 – We get four days notice, and they are operating to a tight budget …hmmm, that’s unfair and the launch date is nearly here.

Let’s make a choice – do we bow out (making it easy for whoever) and not accept the challenge or do we drop what we are working on, dig deep and ask the team to put everything into turning around a plan within the few days? Let’s go for it..this is a contract for a project we really wanted to work on.

We put everything into this plan, give a great price well within the stated tight budget and sure enough we get the “Dear John” letter and  once again not even the opportunity to present.

Was our plan that inferior?

I’m not bragging but when Fuzion get a fair crack of the whip we win more than our share of accounts – here we weren’t even worthy of a “look-in”. We are really busy, we have grown our business winning lots of great new contracts from Irish and international clients but this is a particular one that we were determined wanted to win.

While we pretend to be following guidelines and giving everyone a “fair” chance a lot of this appears to be window dressing and the usual suspects normally end up getting these contracts, because they always have ..this right must earned fairly.

How was that for a rant !!

Must make a cuppa, forget about Thierry and put my head down .. I have way too much to do!

A late addition to the blog post compliments of Brendan Palmer – this is a great YouTube clip

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Irish Politics, Politics | 13 Comments »

Is that your best shot?

December 8, 2012
Ghost Estate

Creative Solutions?

Is that your best shot?

I’m not sure about you but I felt a huge sense of the inevitable about this years budget – it was a huge nothing, not in terms of what will be taken from the “easy suspects” , which is wrecking our domestic economy but it was a nothing in terms of the “solutions” , initiatives, incentives to try to revitalise and generate growth in areas that badly need it.

I was deliberately ignoring all the “headlines” on budget day but I did manage to accidentally tune into Michael Noonan being interviewed on the radio – he was declaring it a budget “for” SME’s and designed to help jobs and growth..

That was interesting – I eagerly started looking for some of the budget detail. I am a little confused as to what is in place to make it a budget for SME’s and for generating jobs and growth. Nothing!

Our government who admittedly have  a really tough job in a tough economic climate had a lot of time to work and prepare for this budget – considering the job creation issues and the huge challenge with sectors of our economy it was a huge nothing.

This budget was lazy and unimaginative, it did nothing to stimulate our economy and most significantly it did nothing to restore confidence or any spark that would encourage you to drive on and start “making things happen”.

What is sure is that the budget won’t beat us and we will drive on and create our own future … As I have said to our own team “F**k the budget“.

Is that your best shot?  Unfortunately, it probably was …..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Ireland, Irish Economy, Irish Politics, Taxation, Uncategorized | 10 Comments »

The Widow, her two coins and the 2012 Budget

November 24, 2012

The Widow's two coinsI found myself in church recently (it happens very rarely!) as part of the Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial weekend and the very contemporary Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles John Brown from the US presided over a special mass in honour of Hugh O’Flaherty, Ireland’s World War 2 Hero.

I thought the gospel (bear with me guys, this is going somewhere…) was very relevant with our Budget coming up soon –

Mark 12 – The Widow’s Offering

Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

In the budget our bunch need to make sure they grab the nettle and take what is required from those who can afford it and where there is genuine excess they need to cut it out and please, don’t expect to take the two coins from the widow and all of those like her.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion

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Posted in Irish Economy, Irish Politics | 9 Comments »

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