Q&A with Gillian Horan from The Pudding

For this week’s Q&A Kehlan talks with Gillian Horan from The Pudding about brand management and what it really means    

Can you explain what The Pudding is?

Well, The Pudding is a brand strategy agency and we’re very true to our name. For us, it is really important that if you invest in a brand you should get that back. So, a lot of what we do is to look at not just the logo but also the company as a whole brand. That means looking at a company, or business, and developing a strategy that encompasses everybody from logo to employee to management. So, if you work on improving a brand it should come through in your bottom line figures. Hence, the proof is in The Pudding.

You’ve been hiring over the past few months?

Yes, so far it’s been a fantastic 2015 for us. We’ve been really busy and are starting now to break into the UK with clients over there and even the possibility of an office there a ways down the road. Here, in Limerick and in Dublin, we’re expanding our team and our offerings to clients. As part of that, we are also practicing what we preach and making sure that our brand is one that provides the most to customers. That means hiring people with particular skills and experience so that we can maintain our quality as we grow. It has also worked in terms of me being able to delegate so I’m not under pressure to be everywhere at once. That has allowed me to focus on developing our business and that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been able to step into the UK market.

That expansion into the UK has also brought an expansion in technology?

It has, because I was away in New York for a series of conferences around brand and marketing subjects and one of the main points that came from them was that clients want a more defined result from brand strategies. So ultimately, like I mentioned earlier, this means bringing custom in and maximising profits for the companies we work with. The new technology will be something we will be able to offer to customers for free as an add-on to what we do and also something extra to set us apart from the competition.

So, when a company talks of a brand they should talk about everything in their business?

Absolutely. Brands are no longer logos on walls. Everybody who works for you is part of your brand and your brand ethos. That means greeting customers, sending e-mails, networking; and your customer service has to reflect what you are as a company. If you spend lots of money on branding yourself to your market then you need to live what you tell people about. People do business with brands they trust and that means everything from how they purchase a product to how it turns up at their door, needs to be who you are. That also means articulating that brand to your staff. They need to understand what the brand is about and why it exists. To me, it’s the responsibility of the owners and managers to make sure that brand is brought to the staff. There also needs to be a constant re-evaluation of what the brand stands for. Brand strategies are not set in stone and should be flexible enough to meet the demands of however your sector or market changes.

For more information go to www.thepudding.ie