Maggie's Ireland Blog: Day Three: PRII and Ogilvy & Mather

Today was our ad/PR day!

First, we met with the chief executive of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII), Gerry Davis. Considering he has no public relations training, he was very informative about the subject. I didn’t realize how badly the economy has affected the profession. Apparently, one of the first things the Irish president did in response to the economic crisis was cut funding for advertising and public relations by 50 percent. So if I ever wanted to get a PR job in Ireland, now is definitely not the time.

Next we walked to Ogilvy & Mather, one of the biggest advertising agencies in the world, and met with Jo Wood, an account planner, and Claire Carroll, who works with digital media. The company has made some really great advertisements; I really enjoyed their Ford print ads and their broadcast ad for Safefood. Even so, I did not enjoy their lecture as much. The speakers didn’t seem as enthusiastic and personable as Davis.

After the two visits, we had the rest of the day off! After a quick power nap at the apartment, I wandered around Grafton Street and Saint Stephen’s Green with Meagan and Ryan. We experienced more of the typical Irish weather of clouds and rain today. It was only sprinkling on and off for a while, but when it started to rain harder, I caved in and bought an umbrella since I forgot one. Of course, right as we were approaching the apartments it stopped raining. Maybe we’ll have better Irish luck with the weather during the rest of our visit.

For dinner, I ate fish and chips, an essential Irish meal, at The Bull & Castle. Our waitress at the pub was from Virginia and she’s staying in the country with a holiday work visa. It just shows how small the world really is!

Tomorrow, we’re getting up bright and early to have breakfast with Rosita Boland, a reporter from the Irish Times, followed by our meeting with Ambassador Dan Rooney. I’m so excited!