This Brand Forum event took place on Tuesday 13th of May from 17.30 - 20.30 hrs. The venue was the The Merrion Room, in the Members Club, The RDS, Dublin 4. The theme for the Forum event was ‘Branding Beyond Retail’. Presentations were made by Nicholas Ind, Brian Waring, Starbucks, and Aisling Walsh, Butlers Chocolates.
Nicholas Ind is a founding partner of Equilibrium, the international brand consulting partnership. Nicholas is the author of eight books including The Corporate Brand, Living the Brand, Inspiration and Branding Governance. He is also the editor of Beyond Branding and teaches on branding and communication at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Nicholas will present to the Brand Forum on ‘Developing Inspirational Brands’ and will outline how to innovate and bring brands to life.
Starbucks was set up in 1971 by three Seattle friends as a gourmet coffee shop and has gone on to open close to 14,000 coffee houses in 43 countries, with a number of openings in Ireland since 2005. Starbucks’ growth has stemmed from its philosophy of selling a ‘lifestyle’ not just a cup of coffee and one of its core strengths has been its brand consistency. Brian Waring, Director of Marketing, UK & Ireland, will give an overview of the Starbucks brand, how they have built the brand and the challenges of being a global brand and a multi-site retailer.
Aisling Walsh, Marketing Director of Butlers Chocolates gave a brief presentation on the results of an eMarketing service Butlers Chocolates carried out in conjunction with Bord Bia.
The Brand Forum event commenced at 17.30hrs with registration and a buffet meal. The presentations were followed by a Q&A session.