Social media agency Simply Zesty wins four new international clients

Niall Harbison and Lauren Fisher founders of Simply Zesty

JOHN COLLINS

DUBLIN-BASED social media agency Simply Zesty has won four new international clients and employment at the firm has increased to 25.

The new clients are pan-European online travel agency Ebookers; data analytics firm Teradata, Russian anti-virus software specialist Kaspersky Lab; and Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.

Simply Zesty co-founder Niall Harbison said growth at the firm, which was founded in 2009, was being driven by a “combination of factors”, including changing media spending habits.

“Budgets for media spend are shrinking and clients are looking for a better return on their investment so they are turning to social media,” said Mr Harbison. “It’s also more measurable than other media.”

The agency, which will soon outgrow its third office in less than two years, provides a range of services to clients including creating Facebook apps, producing and promoting viral videos and monitoring what is being said about organisations online.

Simply Zesty has worked with brand names such as Sony, Universal Music, Vodafone, ESPN and News International. However, Mr Harbison said not all of the agency’s work was with big names as it also provided training for smaller firms on how to handle their own social media presence.

Jaded by attending technology conferences and meeting the same lawyers, accountants and advisers seeking to drum up business, Mr Harbison decided to invest time in Simply Zesty’s corporate blog, which comments on social media issues. It now has more than one million visitors a month and has attracted business inquiries from Germany, Sweden and Russia.

Last year, Simply Zesty hired Ken Fitzpatrick, a former chief executive of Denis O’Brien-backed recruitment firm Saongroup, to take over the day-to-day running of the agency from Mr Harbison and his co-founder, Lauren Fisher.

“From his experience with Saongroup he’s been a great help in scaling the firm,” said Mr Harbison.

Mr Harbison, a former chef who came to prominence when he pitched his idea for an online recipe site on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den, now spends more of his time engaging with social media, writing the company blog and expanding the agency’s range of products and services.

Simply Zesty took a €500,000 investment from market-research firm the Oxford Research Agency last year but Mr Harbison said the company was profitable.

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Grandmaster Howard talked about his promotion in North Korea and showed that at 73 he’s lost little of prowess. Some of his younger more nimble students did the more complicated kicks and punches including a smashing of brick with one punch and the breaking of up to ten tiles with flying kicks. They were even able to break tiles just with their wrists, thus proving that any part of your body can be used to defend yourself.

Sybils was a great sport and even held board as it was broken by Grandmaster Howard’s seven year old grandson Finn.

Please click here to view the TV3 feature

Here is an amusing piece that appeared in The Irish Daily Mail today.

The Irish Daily Mail (5th Sept) - click to zoom

Taekwon-do Grandmaster Robert Howard on The Tom Dunne Show, Newstalk

The school is my client and this a great example of a simple photo story that can be very effective. The idea for the photo was sold into the photo desk who sent out a photographer. The newspaper gets a great photo, the school gets great profile, the GFS get free PR and it takes a minimum amount of time from all parties to sort.

Traditional costumes at The King's Hospital School in Dublin (click to zoom).



The attraction of the King’s Hospital is it has a gymnasium above the main hall that has a glass wall so the photographer was able to look down on the exam hall and take photos unobtrusively so that he didn’t disturb the exams.

Please click on the photo in order to zoom in if you like to look in more detail.

The Irish Times (9th June 2011)

They recently sealed a deal with a utility company in Springfield, Massachusetts (US) called Springfield Water. The water provide has a number of treatment plants along the Connecticut River, which has flooded in several places over recent years. If their plants were to flood the treated water would become contaminated, leading to big headaches for Springfield Water, so in order to prevent this they’ve purchased the  Big Bag System.

Now when they get a flood warning they can put the system up along the riverside of their perimeter of their facilities and simply remove it when the flood threat passes. They call also deploy as many of the systems as they require to different facilities. It is much more flexible and cos effective system than erecting permanent flood barriers, plus they can be removed thus leaving no permanent damage to the environment.

Flood-defense firm awarded utility contract

SPRINGFIELD – Global Flood Solutions America of Boston, a flood-defense start up announced it has secured a $100,000 deal to supply utility company Springfield Water and Sewer Commission.
The contract is to supply the multi-award-winning Big Bag System, the flood defense and cofferdam barrier, for the water treatment facility in Springfield on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts. Delivery was made this week and the system is due to be in place shortly.

Here is a link to the article on The Irish Times’s website please click here or the full article is also below

The Irish Times – Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Roscommon firm seals flood management deals in US

COLM KEENA, Public Affairs Correspondent

A ROSCOMMON company has secured a number of deals for its flood management system in the US in recent weeks.

Global Flood Solutions (GFS) acquired export deals for its Big Bag System in Canada and the US as local authorities prepare for the spring thaw, which is expected to cause major flooding across North America.

The firm’s award-winning system was in action last week in the city of Medicine Hat, where heavy snow in the Cypress Hills is causing major flooding in the prairies of Alberta.

The Medicine Hat Engineering Department has signed a C$300,000 (€ 225,000) deal for several kilometres of the Big Bag System, the first delivery of which was put in place overnight last week to protect the town after the local dam on the Saskatchewan river was breached following the declaring of a state of emergency across Alberta.

South of the border in Massachusetts, GFS also signed a US$100,000 (€ 75,000) deal with utility firm Springfield Water to protect its treatment plants along the Connecticut river, which suffered extensive flooding last year.

“We received a call from Medicine Hat last week saying that flooding was predicted and they urgently wanted to buy the Big Bag System. Within 24 hours our first delivery had been flown up to Alberta and was being put in place,” said Shane Curran, a GFS director, and a former inter-county GAA football star.

“The worst floods in 150 years have been predicted in Alberta as the Cypress Hills gives up its heavy snow. A state-wide state of emergency has been declared and is expected to stay in place for well into May. Medicine Hat was protected and we received very good feedback to our response.”

The Roscommon start-up has now sealed three international export deals this year following their £2 million contract to supply UK company SG Baker, which was announced in the new year.

The major advantage of the Big Bag System is its concertina design of five robust polypropylene bags, which means it can be deployed faster than any other flood defence system and costs less per unit than more conventional sandbags. It is water repellent on the front side and has a unique filtration component on the rear side, which allows the rainwater to seep out. A kilometre of the Big Bag System can be deployed within a few hours, with minimum levels of labour required.

GFS was founded by Mr Curran and Gerard Brennan in 2009. The company’s team has more than 30 years of combined experience in innovation and engineering.

26th April, 2011; Roscommon, Ireland: Global Flood Solutions (GFS) has secured major export deals for their Big Bag System in Canada and the USA as local authorities there prepare for the Spring thaw after a winter of heaving snow, which it predicts will cause major flooding across North America.

The firm’s award winning Big Bag System has already been in action last week in the city of Medicine Hat, where heavy snow in the Cypress Hills is causing major flooding in the Prairies of Alberta. The Medicine Hat Engineering Department have signed a C$300,000 (€225,000) deal for several kilometres of the Big Bag System, the first delivery of which was put in place overnight last week to protect the town after the local dam on the Saskatchewan River was breached following the declaring of a State of Emergency across Alberta.

South of the border in Massachusetts, USA, GFS also signed a US$100,000 (€75,000) deal with utility firm Springfield Water to protect their water treatment plants along the Connecticut River, which also suffered extensive flooding last year.

“We received a call from Medicine Hat last week saying that flooding was predicted and they urgently wanted to buy the Big Bag System. Within 24 hours our first delivery had been flown up to Alberta and was being put in place” said Shane Curran, Director of Global Flood Solutions, and a former inter-county GAA football star. “The worst floods in 150 years have been predicted in Alberta as the Cypress Hills gives up its heavy snow. A state-wide State of Emergency has been declared and is expected to stay in place for well into May. Medicine Hat was protected and we received very good feedback to our response, and the effectiveness of the Big Bag System to keep out the Saskatchewan River.”

For a video of the Big Bag System being put in place (please click here)

The Roscommon start-up has now sealed three international export deals this year following their £2m contract to supply UK company SG Baker, which was announced in the New Year.

The major advantage of the Big Bag System is its concertina design of five robust polypropylene bags, which means it can be deployed faster than any other flood defence system and costs less per unit than more conventional sandbags. It is water repellent on the front side and has a unique filtration component on the rear side, that allows the rainwater to seep out. 1000m of the Big Bag System can be deployed within a few hours, with minimum levels of labour required. This speed is aided by the lifting capabilities of the bags within the system, which have been rigorously tested and has a 5:1 safety factor. This also helps the speed and ease of the removal and cleanup operation, leaving no permanent impact on the area.

The Big Bag System was officially launched by the Irish Minister for Housing and Local Services Michael Finneran in the Hudson Bay, County Roscommon in May.

For media enquiries please contact Simon Palmer or Republic PR on +353 (0) 851 341 761 or email simon@republicpr.ie

About Global Flood Solutions
Global Flood Solutions is a 100% Irish owned company based in Co. Roscommon, Ireland was founded by Shane Curran and Gerard Brennan in 2009. The company’s team has over 30 years combined experience in innovation and engineering. They are exclusive suppliers of the Big Bag System in Ireland, UK and many other countries throughout the World.

Shane Curran is a native of Castlerea, Co .Roscommon and best known in Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) circles as the former goalkeeper for Roscommon Senior football team and was a League of Ireland goalkeeper for Athlone Town Football Club. His career to date has focused on sales and marketing in the retail, construction and sport industries. In 2005 he was commissioned by the GAA to invent a new type of Gaelic Football kicking tee, which later became known as the Puntee™ kicking Tee, which is currently licensed and in use by GAA clubs.

Gerard Brennan who is from Kilteevan, Co. Roscommon has 17 years engineering experience. A graduate of Engineering from Napier University, he has worked the Laing O’ Rourke Group on railway projects in the South of England; looked after the building contract of the new leisure centre at the Camden Court Hotel in Dublin for the McEniff Group; whilst at Kilroe Developments he built and renovated homes for the likes of Michael O’ Leary (Ryanair) and Adam Clayton of U2; and was managed a number of civil engineering project within Castlerea Prison, on behalf of Glenbeigh Construction. In 2008 he took the role of Construction Manager on a multi-million contract for civil engineering company, the Dunne Group in Edinburgh, before returning to Roscommon in the autumn of 2009 when the major floods took place, to jointly set up Global Flood Solutions.

Shane Curran and Gerard Brennan have now also partnered up with Frank and Eileen McNamara in the Boston United States who run the US office of Global Flood Solutions.

For more details (please click here for Global Flood Solutions’s website)

Here’s the footage:

Medicine Hat was protected and the Canadians were very happy with the robustness of the Big Bag System and how it could hold back significant amounts of water. Crucially it was able to be deployed very quickly.

The State of Emergency in respect of flooding is expected to stay in place until the end of May.

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