Many companies are prepared to put advertising developed outside Ireland on air, even though it fails to connect with Irish consumers, the new managing director of McCann Erickson has said.

Ms Orlaith Blaney (32) is one of the youngest managing directors in the advertising community. She is the only female managing director among the top 10 advertising agencies in the Republic.

With turnover of 42 million, McCann lists among its clients Heineken Ireland, Unilever, Coca-Cola Ireland, L'Oreal, Nestlé Cereals, Oki, Bord Fáilte, Bacardi, Mastercard, ESB (media only), Siemens, Vision Express, NTL, Nescafé and Glanbia.

Ms Blaney's comments are interesting because the perception in the ad business is that McCann knows more than most about booking space for international clients.

"There is an often-quoted external perception that McCann-Erickson Dublin are taking international ads and just negotiating the media space. Wrong," she says.

She says Irish clients are often faced with some real challenges when it comes to deciding what to do about running existing international brand advertising in Ireland.

She says that while some global brands are strong enough to sustain the same campaign everywhere (for example Levis or Nike), most are not.

"What if you're not a Nike or a Levis and you don't have the luxury of brilliant advertising that works everywhere?" she asks.

"Proctor & Gamble, Nivea and L'Oreal are strong international brands, with impressive market-share figures and significant media spends. They advertise on television, with creative ads, developed outside of Ireland, in Europe or the US.

"Some of these brands often change voice-overs, amend end frames and re-edit."

But she says companies need to be careful in this context. "Obvious dubbing of foreign voice-overs, which feels tacked on can disenfranchise and even distance consumers."

The key question for debate is does the P&G style of advertising genuinely connect with Irish consumers, she says.

"A highly talked about campaign, especially among the Irish advertising community, was last summer's World Cup campaign for Carlsberg developed by Owens DDB, in Ireland. The ads, featuring Jason McAteer were, quite simply, inspired."

This switch to Irish-context ads is going to increase and her agency recently developed the first Irish television commercials for the Sprite brand.

"You are either lucky enough to be working for Nike, and don't need to worry about whether or not the advertising will work in Ireland, or you face the challenge of deciding what to do, if you have to air commercials that look and feel a bit foreign, and just possibly, won't make a real connection.

"It is not about localising the advertising and making it Oirish, remember Irish consumers like Fair City and Sex and the City, and they like GAA and the World Cup," she says.

'Dublin Daily' sales

Recently launched newspaper the Dublin Daily claims to have reached sales of approximately 25,000 in its first few weeks of operation. Managing director Mr Colm Grealy said the paper was regularly reaching the mid-20s, although it was early days and the title had yet to settle down.

He said the paper had a three-year business plan and so far it was on target. He strongly rejected claims from some newspaper and advertising sources that the paper's circulation was nearer 8,000, at least on certain days.

Independent News & Media has been fighting hard against the new arrival and on Wednesday it publishes a supplement called Trader crammed full of classifieds. This is regarded by many as an attempt to see off the new arrival, which is also heavily into classifieds.

The new arrival would appear to be facing an uphill battle with some of the agencies however.

Mr Ciaran Shanley of Shanley Media Solutions said lower figures than 25,000 were being mentioned widely among agencies. "We have not received any clarity so far on figures. It is not enough to just say wait until the ABC figures come out later in the year," he said. "Bringing out the paper was a brave move, but it is hard to see so far what niche it fills. I think it would have been better as a broadsheet," he said.

However, Mr Grealy says readers are switching to the paper, which has recently signed another sporting sponsorship deal, this time with the Leinster IRFU, believed to be worth approximately 50,000.

Another property title

Despite concerns about the future stability of the property market, a new 80-page residential property magazine is entering the shops this week. The magazine, Homes, is being published by Douglas Newman Good (DNG) and costs 4.95.

The quarterly magazine will focus on DIY, lifestyle and property features, with contributions from a range of experts.

The print run for the first edition was almost 45,000.

According to DNG, the magazine is aimed at people who have bought or are looking to buy new or second-hand homes. Several advertisers, mostly home-improvement companies, have taken space in the first issue.