MAEVE GOVERNEY

Deputy Managing Director Walsh:PR

ACTIVITY We work with some of Ireland’s best-known organisations and brands, and each of them faced and continue to face challenges and opportunities. For example, home delivery services such as those offered by Glanbia through MyMilkman.ie, provided us with an opportunity to feature these local heroes through local and national media.

Gleneely Foods, who were totally reliant on supplying food services, found a way to continue trading by gifting luxury hampers directly to consumers, for which we gained them considerable media coverage.

Social media became the medium of choice for many brands, an affordable platform that made it possible to remain agile and to connect with and support consumers. With the public in lockdown, B2C communication moved mostly online. Tone of voice – through client messaging – became all important

REMOTE WORKING We’ve lost the direct, in-person contact with our clients but we are seeing and engaging with them a lot more, albeit via a computer screen. Gone are the days of multiple emails and faceless conference calls, which is a positive outcome.

OUTLOOK Feedback from our clients indicates that they are prepared to increase marketing budgets and learn from the valuable lessons on ways of working during the lockdown. And also the changing of consumer behaviour, as a result of same.

The rise of virtual events made it a lot more accessible for companies to host and for individuals to attend. We’ve incorporated numerous online events for consumers through clients’ social channels, e.g. cookery demonstrations, yoga classes and motivational talks. They were all very well received.

‘Socialmedia becamethe mediumofchoice forbrands’