Last of the summer wine

We had summer early this year. Glorious and warm, followed by many, many damp days!

I hope you had a good one nonetheless. I was so glad to see some rain after a long string of hot, dry days in June. And then came the rains, I clearly tempted fate too soon!

Although summer is officially over, there’s no need to swap your summer outfits for woolly jumpers yet as Met Éireann is promising an “Indian Summer” next week, just as the kids go back to school. I can still remember sweltering in a scratchy school jumper that my mother knit for me, during those first few days of the new school year! The teachers insisted on us wearing the full uniform at all times, so we had to grin and bear it.

The subject of weather is a huge part of brand Ireland - we have a solid reputation for rain, mild temperatures, and lush greenness (thanks to the aforementioned inclemency!). And we never tire of talking about it. Fáilte Ireland leans into this in their promotion of Ireland as a holiday destination. You could say this is a negative re-packaged as a positive, which is true but what’s also true is that this is an accurate depiction of Ireland and is therefore consistent with the expected brand experience.

Staying consistent across your brand touchpoints is really important to avoid confusion and/or incongruence for your audience. September is a perfect time to look at your brand assets to check whether they have strayed off-brand, and correct course if necessary.