Profile
I am a commercially and creatively astute senior executive with over 11 years’ experience in all aspects of marketing operations and have an honours Business degree. I have excellent leadership ability, coupled with proven skills in innovation, strategy, commercial understanding and attention to detail. I regard myself as highly motivated, forward thinking individual with a ‘can do’ attitude to work and people.
Professional Experience
November 2012 – Present
Topline DIY – Head of Marketing
Topline DIY is Ireland’s largest DIY retail Group with 168 stores in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and has retail sales of over €400 million.
As Head of Marketing for the Group, I am part of the executive management team, reporting directly to the CEO and Board of Directors, and have full autonomy & ownership for all marketing and communications activity (Strategy, ATL, BTL, Digital, NPD) including budget management and mentoring the marketing team. This role is both B2B (dealing with our store owners) and B2C.
Key achievements include:
• Established, implemented and owned our initial 3 year Group marketing strategy and developed the new 5 year Group roadmap strategy through a large scale research project.
• Project managed the concept, design and launch of our website www.topline.ie and 68 individual store websites – these websites now command over 150k visits each month.
• Project managed the creation of unique information for almost 30k products and over 300 pieces of original consumer content for our 69 websites, stored in a custom built CMS.
• Developed & implemented our strategy around more regular, defined national promotions using the 360 degree/omni-channel marketing model (TV, radio, print catalogues, PR, direct mail, in store, website, newsletter, SEO, PPC, social media and mobile marketing)
o I have project managed over 15 major national promotions to date that have generated over €60m in sales at retail.
• I have run numerous national and localised promotions with established DIY brands in the industry
• Project managed from concept to shelf the launch of 2 new branded product ranges – Sirocco Fireside range and Mammoth BBQ range (30+ SKUs in total) which have led to over €12m sales.
• Project managed the concept, design and launch of an on-line tool www.promoteourstores.com to help stores promote locally, which has led to over 300 individual local promotions.
• Independent of www.promoteourstores.com I have managed numerous local marketing campaigns including store openings, promotions and product launches.
• Launched an online digital learning centre which allows our stores to undertake modules and webinars aimed at showcasing best practice digital activity (web and social).
• Worked extensively with the retail team on the revamp of 15 stores – 1 of which won retail recognition from Retail Excellence Ireland as 1 of 20 must visit stores in 2015.
• Leading the integration of our in-store technology strategy, creating instant, personalised experiences for shoppers on their smartphone, online and in stores. This technology includes tracking shopping behaviours while in store, buying directly from the shelf, mPOS integration, personalised offers, personalised messages left by one consumer for another consumer when they visit the store and facial recognition software. This will be launched in conjunction with our new rewards scheme.
• Managed a social media only campaign that gave our brand 15k relevant likes in 9 days – a case study of this campaign highlighting best practice will be published in the upcoming book by London Digital Marketing guru PR Smith.
• Added 50k consumers to our database through in store and digital initiatives.
July 2011 – November 2012
Boyne Valley Foods – Senior Brand Manager
Boyne Valley Foods is an FMCG company and are market leaders in Ireland with annual turnover of approx. €200million. As Senior Brand Manager, I worked on the product portfolio of Don Carlos, Homecook, Lakeshore, Boyne Valley Honey, Gateaux, Splenda, Harvest Fare and Killeen amongst others. For these brands, I managed all ATL, BTL, Digital, NPD/EPD and POS projects, supported by a €5m annual marketing budget, while also regularly analysing consumer and trade research to maintain awareness of market trends and competitor activity.
Key achievements include:
• Managed from concept to shelf the launch of 16 products including the Lakeshore Rapeseed Oil range (7 SKUs), Homecook Cake Decorations (4 SKUs), Homecook Pancake Mix and Harvest Fare range extension (4 SKUs), totalling over €4m in new sales.
• Managed the launch of Lakeshore Rapeseed Oil, using multiple marketing channels including print, PR, in store POS, stand-alone website, social media and various food blogs.
• Had full ownership of TTL campaigns for Don Carlos (Come to Spain and meet Don Carlos), Splenda (Have a Splenda Time in Kilronan Castle) and Killeen (Guinness World Record Attempt for largest Sack Race). These campaigns where supported through TV, radio, in store POS, print, PR, website, social media and newsletters.
• Created and managed a secondary school competition in association with the Home Economics Association called Baking Olympics – encouraging kids to get more involved in cooking and baking. This campaign was fronted by Kevin Dundon and was promoted via competition packs sent to Home Economic teachers throughout Ireland along with samples of Boyne Valley products.
• Managed the complete brand re-design for the Homecook, Killeen and Harvest Fare and educated the consumer of the change through in store POS.
• Managed the creation of the new website for Homecook.
• Complete ownership of qualitative and quantitative research undertaken on the then Premier Foods brands acquired by Boyne Valley (Erin, Gateaux, Chivers and McDonnell’s).
• Ran 3 national tradeshows including National Ploughing Championships.
October 2008 – July 2011
Valeo Foods – Brand Manager
Valeo Foods is an FMCG company and are market leaders in Ireland with annual turnover of approx. €300million. As Brand Manager, I worked on brands including Odlums, Shamrock, Roma, Batchelor’s, Sqeez, Shamrock Foodservice and Odlums Ingredients. For these brands, I managed all ATL, BTL, Digital, NPD/EPD and POS projects, supported by a €5m annual marketing budget. In this role I also had ownership on all category management dealing with multiples and independents.
Key achievements include:
• Managed from concept to shelf the launch of 11 products including the Odlums Quick Baking Mixes range (5 SKUs), Shamrock Raisin Eddie Kids Fruit range (3 SKUs), Odlums Porridge Range (3 SKUs), totalling over €2m in new sales.
• Managed the brand re-design for the Odlums brand in 2 different categories and Shamrock across 3 different categories and educated the consumer of the change through in store POS.
• Managed full qualitative and quantitative market research for Shamrock and Odlums.
• From our research, I managed a full TTL campaign called Odlums Moments, which was supported through 2 separate TV ads, radio, print, in store, direct mail and website.
• Managed the annual “National Pancake Party” in association with the National Children’s Hospital, Tallaght. This campaign was promoted through radio, print, various PR outlets, in store and online.
• With our brand ambassador Catherine Leyden, I managed numerous BTL campaigns including a national baking roadshow, in store demonstrations, recipe book launches and recipe leaflets.
• Managed a full TTL campaign for Roma, which was supported by TV, radio, print, in store, direct mail, website and social media.
• Managed the creation of 3 stings for various TV sponsorships for Odlums and Roma.
• Complete re-design of the Odlums, Odlums Foodservice, Shamrock and Roma websites
• Managed the creation of our stand/branding at 7 consumer trade shows including organising to have TV3 live from our marquee for a full day at the National Ploughing Championships in 2010.
• Through PR and consumer trade show initiatives, I added 35k customers to our database.
• Through category management, I increased shelf space by 30% over a 2 year period and played a large part in having Odlums and Shamrock products reinstated in Tesco during the retailers “Change for Good” initiative.
• Through innovation, I have reduced spend on packaging costs of our Shamrock range by €25k in 2010.
September 2006 – October 2008
BABCO Europe Limited – Marketing Manager
BABCO Europe are an International Drinks company and are market leaders in Ireland in their categories with annual turnover of approx. €60million. As Marketing Manager, I managed the product portfolio of Mickey Finn and AGWA De Bolivia in the Ireland, UK, North America and Australia markets including managing all on trade and off trade promotions from concept to execution and management of our CRM system, used to monitor how external sales agencies were selling our brands in foreign markets.
Key achievements include:
• Worked with the MD on launching AGWA De Bolivia and Mickey Finn in the UK, Europe, North America and Australia markets – managed brand design and BTL campaigns including all off trade and on trade POS.
• Managed the launch of a new Mickey Finn flavour into the Irish and UK markets – this was supported in both on trade and off trade BTL marketing.
• Ran 2 Mickey Finn and AGWA De Bolivia St. Patricks Day campaigns in the Irish, UK and US markets – this include off trade POS (table toppers, menu cards, giveaway POS, shot glasses, long glasses) – this included managing a large scale POS fulfilment project across these 3 markets.
• Ran numerous BTL campaigns for Mickey Finn in the Irish market.
• Managed the packaging re-design for the Mickey Finn brand.
• Managed the website re-design of 3 websites for Mickey Finn and AGWA.
• Managed the Integrated the CRM system using Salesforce.
September 2004 – September 2006
MasterAir – Marketing Executive
MasterAir are an engineering firm specialising in purpose built air conditioning units, mainly for health care and hotel industries. As Marketing Executive, I reported directly to the Managing Director and managed all trade marketing, B2B advertisement, updates for our website, creating job manuals for each project completed and all other marketing administration.
Key achievements include:
• Ran multiple trade print and b2b campaigns to highlight new products
• Developed a quick and concise template for all job project manuals
Educational Record
1999 to 2003
Honours (2:1) Bachelor of Business Studies – I.A.D.T Dun Laoghaire, Dublin
I have achieved an honours Degree and was nominated by the accountancy firm, Deloitte and Touché, for the Student Entrepreneur of the Year award for my final year project.
IT Skills
Microsoft Office: Excel, Outlook, Word
Design Tools: InDesign, Photoshop
Presentation Tools: PowerPoint, Prezi, Powtoon
Category Management Tools: Spaceman
CMS Tools: WordPress, custom builds
CRM Tools: Intercom, Salesforce
Other Tools: Constant Contact, Facebook Ad Manager, Google Analytics, Google Docs, Mail Chimp, Survey Monkey
Hobbies & Interests
I play many sports including hurling and Gaelic football. I also enjoy playing music, which includes playing the guitar and piano, cooking, reading a good book and I am also a keen gardener with an interest in garden design.
