INTERVIEW:Fionn Dolan, Bright Promotions
IN HIS business as in his sporting life, six-time All-Ireland champion cyclist Kevin Dolan always had a formidable work ethic – daunting enough to convince his teenage son, Fionn, that the world of commerce was absolutely not for him.
“He was at the height of his cycling career in the ’60s and ’70s at the same time as starting to build his trophy component manufacturing business into one of the largest in Europe, exporting as far as Japan and Australia,” Dolan (32) recalls.
“He and my mum, Teresa, had the same appetite for hard work, and we were expected to follow suit, so I can’t remember a time when I didn’t work in the business. I really appreciate that work ethic now – but at the time I hated it.”
So determined on his independence was young Dolan that he decided to become a musician – opening a live music venue called Rock The Planet in his native Dundalk in 1996, at the age of just 19, and spending a lot of his time gigging in Germany.
But just over a decade later, you’ll find Fionn Dolan in Navan, Co Meath, running his own business, Bright Promotions, a busy merchandise company with a turnover in 2007 of just over €2 million.
“Yes, I decided to leave the family business, but I suppose I never really left in the end,” he laughs.
What happened, admits Dolan, was that while he tended to spend a few months in Germany followed by a few months at home, he found the musician’s life of late nights, hotel rooms and endless travel increasingly wearing.
“Because I was at home so much, it was the habit of a lifetime to help my dad with the new promotional merchandise side of the business – which then sort of became my baby.
“It grew more than any of us expected, and eventually we agreed that I’d make it my own, and I separated it out and set up Alpha.ie in 2001.”
Like his father, Dolan developed such an aptitude for business that in 2006 he took over Alpha’s main competitor, Bright Promotions, which he now runs.
“Bright was considerably larger than Alpha.ie, and it had a very strong brand name,” he explains.
“So we were acquiring that brand name, we were acquiring their customers, and the two companies combined have given us a lot more buying power,” he adds.
Dolan himself describes Bright Promotions as “a sourcing house” for promotional merchandise, everything from key rings and diaries to pens and T-shirts – anything, in fact, you can put a company name on.
“We try to source as much as we can in Ireland, but a lot of the merchandise comes from Europe or the Far East.
“Typically, anything that’s labour-intensive is a lot cheaper to have manufactured in China or the Far East, while things that are machine-made and automated tend to be as cheap in Europe, once you take taxes and transport costs into account.
“One drawback about the Far East is that anything that comes from there tends to be shipped by sea freight, so it takes up to three months to arrive. And we find that a lot of clients need the merchandise tomorrow or next week . . .”
Like everyone else, Dolan has been positioning Bright Promotions to cope with the downturn in the economy, cutting costs, reviewing pricing and increasing marketing and advertising.
“We expanded the business in 2007 and continued to do well right up to Q3 2008. But the downturn in Q4 caught us by surprise because we hadn’t expected it until the start of 2009. Over the past six months we’ve seen a huge downturn in the whole advertising sector.
“It makes you sit back and take stock. For example, we’re now working more closely with our customers. We sit down and ask them exactly what they’d like us to do, whereas a few years ago we’d probably have started off telling them, “We do this and we do that . . .”
On the record
Name:Fionn Dolan
Company:Bright Promotions
www.brightpromotions.ie
Job:Managing Director
Age:32
Background: After a two-year stint at DIT Cathal Brugha Street, he set up a live music venue, Rock The Planet, in Dundalk, in 1996.
Set up promotional merchandise business, Alpha.ie, in 2001, and in 2006 took over its main competitor, Bright Promotions, of which hes now managing director. Turnover in 2007 topped € 2 million. Cutting costs, reviewing pricing and increasing marketing to deal with the downturn.
Inspired by: The founders of Setanta Sports, Leonard Ryan and Michael O'Rourke. "Setanta has been one of those fabulous success stories, growing from nothing to take on the big boys like Sky – and even win occasionally."
Challenges:"Apart from the recession . . . trying to get my two-and-a-half year old son Cillian to stay in bed for a few more hours on a Saturday morning!
Most important thing learned so far:The importance of honesty. "We're all human and we all make mistakes. It's always best to be completely up-front with clients and suppliers."
