Over the past number of weeks, the Irish Government has announced a number of measures to support businesses. From salary supports to assist with business continuity and growth advice there are now a number of schemes and initiatives that can help us all position ourselves as what has been called the “new normal”, becomes a reality.

With help and support, both financial and advice based, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation have gathered all of the information on supports available in one place, you can view this in full by clicking HERE.

If you haven’t taken the time to review yet, we recommend that you do so.

At Idea, we have worked with a multitude of these agencies over the years and we are currently working with many of our clients to assist them in the application process by providing guidance on how their businesses can benefit from and become stronger by using the resources offered.

If, after reviewing the supports on offer you believe there are opportunities for your business, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss how we can partner with you to drive your business forward during these unprecedented but opportunity-rich times. 

Follow us for the latest news and  Covid Updates

On Friday 27th March, An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, informed the country of the next stage in the national emergency response, announcing additional protective measures to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland. Workers must stay at home in all circumstances except where work is an essential health, social care or other essential services that cannot be done from home.

Idea staff are working remotely but we are still able to provide almost a full range of services to our clients. We can still work with our clients on all Strategy, Branding, Design, Digital Marketing and Consultancy projects. For print and delivery of physical marketing materials, this can only be delivered if they fall within the “Essential services” category as set out by the Department of the Taoiseach here, although we can still work on the design of these and deliver once restrictions are removed.

Now might be a good time for you to work on your Marketing Plan or Digital Marketing Strategy. If this is something you would like Idea to assist you with, or if you have a business idea that you want to discuss with us, we would be happy to hear from you- by phone or videoconference.

In the meantime, click here and have a look at some tips on how to survive and thrive during and after this period of uncertainty.

We will continue to monitor the situation and update this page with any changes to the current circumstances.

Our very best wishes to you, your colleagues, and your families at this time!

Please do not hesitate to contact us:

Ciaran Flanagan – ciaran@idea.ie – 087 2456321

Jane Dane – jane@idea.ie – 087 6738090

Ciaran Fox – ciaranfox@idea.ie – 086 7808797

Idea COVID- 19 Statement updated 31/03/2020

Businesses are in a constant state of change – and the employment market is no exception. People are the greatest asset your company holds but how can you grab amazing applicants in this fast paced world? Jenny Darmody, Careers Editor at Siliconrepublic.com advises “Looking for top talent to join your company? Making your recruitment process more fun might be the key”.

It’s About the Who and the How

Like most companies, Sherry Fitzgerald understand the challenges of attracting high quality employees. It is not only a challenge to attract high level surveyors, project managers and IT staff, but it’s also problematic to appeal to new graduates. Sherry Fitzgerald wanted to stand out at recent Graduate Fairs (where competition is stiff) to encourage new graduates to take property as a career. They approached IDEA to revamp their existing graduate video to reach out to a more informed audience to attract people to their Internal Professional Development Programmes for both their Residential and Commercial programmes.

Championing the ‘Sherry Fitz Way’

In order to appeal to this younger, tech savvy demographic IDEA designed an exciting online game that could be used at career fairs to engage with their intended audience and to attract high quality graduates to their professional teams. They were invited to leave their email address to enter a draw and to hear about future career opportunities. While at the stands potential employees also viewed a ‘talking heads’ style animated video produced by IDEA which highlighted previous graduates who had gone through or who are going through the ‘Sherry Fitz Way’ within the Sherry Fitzgerald and Cushman & Wakefield groups.

This recruitment approach showcases the new exciting, modern working environment within the estate agency area. Working with advanced technology such as augmented and virtual reality and the exciting use of drones would be seen as a huge draw. Other benefits were highlighted firsthand throughout the video – such as working within the exciting Sherry Fitzgerald teams and the social and educational benefits and opportunities that come with the “Sherry Fitz Way”.

The Who and Why’s

In this modern age it’s not just about what you are communicating with potential employees, it’s also how you communicate. By reaching them in a lively, stimulating way you can appeal to and attract top talent. This ensures your business’s people power – and ultimately your success and survival.

Are you looking for a marketing solutions for your business, why not talk to IDEA?

Ciaran Flanagan, Managing Director

What does your vision of the future look like? We went along to Dublin’s latest conference “The Future” which celebrates the innovators in design, media, creativity and culture, and acknowledges the role they play in the future of society, business and the spaces in between! We were awestruck by the speakers, insights and speeches. Here are our 5 key learnings from the event:

1. Robots Will Never Replace People!

While Gartner has predicted that people will have more conversations with a bot than with their partner in next 2.5 yrs, Leila from Platform 13 reminds us that bots don’t write like people! So while we are entering a robot renaissance she reminded us not to forget the basics. However advanced they are, robots will never write like humans.

2. Consumption is Changing, but Keep Quality Consistent

One of our favourite discussions was during ‘The Future of Storytelling’ on Friday where the concept of changing consumption was raised. We were reminded that people now consume content – on a 70/20/10 sliding scale. So 70% of content is consumed ‘on the go’ – therefore most of the content we produce should be in scannable ‘bite sized’ formats. The 20% refers to consumers having slightly more time to read/watch such as at lunchtime etc. The final 10% is when consumers are at home where they can indulge and spend longer consuming media. The take-home point? Be wary of where you content will be consumed – always keep this in mind! So why not produce a shorter version of your promo video, a shortened case study with top line points or even an infographic instead of a financial report?

A second key point was that content should always resonate with your audience – it must work for both the brand and the audience. So get creative!

Rob Alderson from We Transfer illustrated this point about content and audience wonderfully! His company regularly produces interesting content which resonates with their customers. They recently worked with artist FKA Twigs to shoot a documentary about her work – it’s a win-win for all involved!

3. Create Experiences Not Things!

We were constantly reminded throughout the 2-day event to create experiences, not things! Stefan Sagmeister’s talk titled ‘Why Beauty Matters’ explained that objects can be both beautiful and functional – and that we should make things more beautiful than they have to be. On Saturday Kathryn from Slater echoed describing how we should create an experience, not just a logo – we must aim to create an emotive reaction with our design work. As Astrid Feldner from Bleed explained, “people won’t forget how you made them feel!” So go forth and design beautiful experiences!

4. Go Back to Basics

Astrid from Bleed had more resonating advice. She explained we should make moral decisions when working with design and UX. Don’t make people addicted to screens – our design decisions impact people’s lives! She urges us to make a good impact on the world.

As expected during Paula Scher’s talk there were more people than seats, no one wanted to miss this design legends’ lecture. Paula had some wonderful lessons including changing people’s expectations instead of alienating them. She also shared an interesting learning point that she had only recently been reminded of. When a recent job to design beach pods wasn’t received as well as expected, she had to question why. Paula realised she wasn’t fully understanding who was consuming them and so changed the dreary grey colour to a brighter one (people going to the beach loved the bright lifeguard huts, and a dull grey appearance wasn’t keeping with this expected aesthetic). It was refreshing and comforting to know that even the greats have to reassess and rethink their work! She also urged us to remember clients are people too – something that can be lost during the design process.

5. Change Your Thinking!

Activations agency ‘Guns or Knives’ delivered one of the most interesting and useful workshops of the event. Speakers Darius and Catherine realised they were drafting the same briefs for clients, they concluded everyone is now thinking the same way. We are consuming the same media, reading the same newspapers, and scrolling on identical timelines. As 90% of us will not move past the first page of a Google search we are collectively looking at the same information – so how do we break away from this tunnel vision? The workshop helped to drive home several key tools and new ways of thinking:

• We must allow our unconscious to break free have a beginners mind! The Japanese call this ‘Shoshin.
• Get distracted – allow your unconscious mind to break free! Break up with routine, take a different walk to work, read a new magazine – take up a new stimulus …you never know where it will take you!
• Don’t be afraid to be bored – the group were urged to put their phones and pens away and to sit and “get bored” for 1 minute! It felt strange but very striking!
• Develop a rich empathy for things- try to understand why they are they way they are. Keep asking ‘why’ it will take you on an interesting journey and help you creatively!
• We were urged to learn the difference between facts and assumptions, in a world of click bait and fake news this can easily happen!
• Check your cognitive bias – keep questioning and don’t make assumptions about situations!
• Finally we were urged to be ok with making mistakes – don’t let fear impede the creative process!

A huge thanks to The Future and all their wonderful speakers. It was a powerful reminder to stay curious, to not forget the basics and to keep our mindsets magic!

Rachel Hegarty, Digital Marketing Executive

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