JOHN DONOHUE, managing director of aereps.ie
I SET UP Aereps.ie six years ago. We represent NYC & Co – the New York City tourist board – the Las Vegas tourist board, a number of airlines and SeaDream, a five-star cruise company.
I live a five-minute walk from the office on the Grand Canal Dock in Dublin and start at 9am. While the coffee is brewing I’ll check overnight emails. Both New York and Las Vegas work late into our night time because of the time differences.
Typically we work on PR and marketing plans three to six months ahead so I’ll start with my current projects to move items forward, then I’ll have a quick get-together with the team. There are four of us in the office and we research relevant news relating to our clients so that we can get it out to the Irish travel media as quickly as possible.
I’m just back from a press trip to the US so there is plenty of follow-up to make sure everybody has the info they need for their features.
I love New York because, even though it’s such a big city, it has so many different smaller spaces so everyone can find a favourite.
If I don’t have a business meeting for lunch I will go for a walk to pick up a sandwich. I like to get away from the computer screen for a bit so the walk is a welcome part of my day.
After lunch I’ll check in with my team here about specific projects they are working on. The email starts to get pretty active just after 2pm because that’s 9am in New York City.
I’ll have calls to make to colleagues there, or to hoteliers or the management of NY tourist attractions to talk about marketing activities for the Irish market.
Around 5pm our colleagues in Las Vegas start their day, because it’s eight hours behind Irish time. It means I have to schedule conference calls between 5pm and 7pm Irish time.
What I love about Las Vegas is the “wow” factor. It’s a place to celebrate and a place to forget daily life. It’s why they have no clocks there and you have to root to find a newspaper.
Once my conference calls are finished I’ll head home, stopping at the gym if I can.
We have a rule at home that dinner is dinner, so no Blackberries allowed at the table.
For the rest of the evening however I will “throw a glance” over emails coming up until 1.30am. It means I have a good idea what’s required the next day before I start.
The hours are long as a result but I think I’m really lucky: travel has always been a huge hobby of mine and I’ve been able to make it my work too.