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Business Breakfast 2010

Date: 05 Jul 2010

Dublin, Monday 5th July 2010: Mr. Eddie O’Brien, CEO of Topaz, today addressed the topic of Topaz’s success and its brand journey at the ESB Customer Supply business breakfast held in the Conrad Hotel. Mr. O’Brien was speaking to a number of Ireland’s business leaders from a broad range of industries. The breakfast was hosted by the Marketing Development Programme from the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, in association with ESB Customer Supply. This is the 19th business breakfast and the Marketing Development Programme is very proud of its close relationship with ESB Customer Supply due to its sponsorship of this event.

Mr. O’Brien illustrated his success story by discussing the journey of Topaz, proving that the decision to rebrand Topaz was based on economics and the belief that anything is possible. “Your ambition is the limit to your success.” With this sentence Mr. O’Brien started his presentation about Topaz’s success story. With over €50 Million invested in the company, over 1,600 employees and over 300 stations around the country, Topaz is number one in the Irish market. Topaz has added 10-15 new stations per year and now has a significant market share of approximately 25 percent.

When addressing the key brand values of Topaz, Mr. O’Brien explained the importance of having a vision. Topaz’s “Thinking Ahead” did not only include considering local communities but also specific customer needs and wants. “Everything we do is that bit better than our competitors.” Furthermore Mr. O’Brien explained that “everything Topaz is doing is customer orientated”.

When speaking to representatives from companies such as Ogilvy, Eircom, Deloitte, Hewlett Packard and UNICEF, Mr. O’Brien provided an account of the various ventures Topaz has implemented into its rebranding process. Ventures include rebranding the outdoor, press, online, TV and radio marketing activities. Furthermore he explained that this was the biggest brand communication investment in Ireland in over ten years.

When referring to Topaz’s communication platform, Mr. O’Brien outlined the importance of thoughtful leadership. He made reference to being first to market, thinking forward, being innovative, reflective and caring. “The little big things are most important.” Being committed to service standards and having a strong customer focused culture were key to developing Topaz and making the brand work. “We went from 0% to 87% awareness within two months!”, Mr. O’Brien highlighted.

Mr. O’Brien finally summarised Topaz’s future challenge by linking it to its previous success and saying: “Is it possible to develop a brand that will stretch from a great cup of coffee, a freshly made sandwich, to quality transport fuel, to your local home heat supplier… to whatever in the future?”