David McKernan says if he had introduced his range of coffees in plain silver foil packs he would have lasted three months. Had he chosen to open his Java Republic Roasting Company five years ago he says he would have lasted maybe six months. So the former Bewleys marketer seems to have got his timing and approach right.
The firm, which hand-roasts coffee beans in Dublin, is nearly two years old and employs 18 people. According to McKernan, it has a turnover of £2 million (€2.54 million).
This week he celebrates winning five medals for his coffees at coffee awards organised by the Guild of Fine Food Retailers in London. It's the first time an international company has won more than two awards in each category.
"We can't afford advertising but we have developed an aggressive style of exposing potential customers to our coffee," he says. Chefs and restaurateurs are targeted for tastings and often brought out to the roasting house.
The company has leaflets to educate potential buyers on coffee grades and blends. At 20 per cent more expensive than his competitors, he is obviously aiming at a premium market. "I'm adopting many of the marketing strategies used in the wine business, and that includes an educational approach to the product," he says.
The market for coffee in the catering or food service industry is estimated at £26 million and growing, as coffee houses and consumers help increase demand. It is dominated by Bewleys, but McKernan says he now has 13 per cent of the market.
He founded the company after a 12-year stint in Bewleys where he held the post of sales and marketing before his departure. The initial £1 million investment came from a mixture of private investors, Enterprise Ireland, a BES scheme and Bank of Ireland.
A smart marketing initiative is an offering of personalised coffee blends, and this has proved attractive to high-profile restaurants. McKernan has also invested in packing design, while his coffee bags have already won several awards, including design effectiveness awards for Brandinc - the design company involved.
The next step is to diversify into retail - McKernan plans to develop a range for supermarket distribution early next year.
He has also developed the name "Coffee with a Conscience" to cover the company's ethical purchasing policy, working with small co-ops in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Colombia to create a fair and consistent pricing structure.
bharrison@irish-times.ie
Global giant Omnicom, through its New York wing of TBWA Worldwide, has bought Irish brand architecture agency O'Malley & Hogan for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition represents a major coup for founders Damian O'Malley and Declan Hogan, because it means their communications concept, "brand architecture", has been recognised as an internationally applicable approach to branding.
O'Malley, who used to work for DDB in New York, and Hogan, formerly in Peter Owens DDB, founded the company in 1997.
It aimed to develop a branding strategy which incorporates elements of the problem-solving approach of management consultants with the core creative skills of traditional advertising agencies.
At the same time, Omnicom bought the Irish duo's New York-based partners, Weiss Stagliano, and the new company formed by the buyout will be called Brand Architecture International.
Marketing graduates have no trouble getting a job, but when they do, they feel they are often used for "donkey work" - a sentiment that is shared by their lecturers.
This is one of the findings of research carried out by the Marketing Institute, which discovered that graduates also felt they got little recognition in the workplace; that employers' expectations were often too high and that there was a pereption that marketers lacked substance.
Worried by the findings, the institute has established a programme with the self-consciously "youf" title of Marketing Uncovered, to represent younger marketing professionals within the institute.
