Trinity Today 2014

Page 17

Trinity Today Empire State of Mind

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effectively; companies can identify exactly who their audience is, where they are and whether they are following a campaign or not. Two aspects of advertising appealed to Cloonan when he began his career. It allowed him to express his artistic and creative side, and to apply business strategy and rigour. Brands are all around us, he notes. “Why did people vote for president Obama? They voted for him because he projected this brand of hope and ‘Yes we can.’”

applicants annually. To increase his chances of getting the fellowship he set up a blog called Tall Irish Leprechaun. An early post was entitled, “I’m a wannabe WPP Fellow, 2010,” and in it he wondered, “Am I a little odd for creating this blog almost a year before the application process begins?” But the blog helped him get an interview. And although the interviewers told him they were unsure whether he was “passionate or psychotic,” they offered him a place, giving Cloonan a ticket

Connected Generation At 29, Cloonan is a so-called millennial, part of the coveted 18 to 34-year-old demographic. Also known as Gen C, or the connected generation, its members spend much of their time online and using social media. While at WPP, Cloonan has worked with Vice.com, a media company self-described as “the voice of global youth culture.” Online video is Cloonan’s current focus. “It’s a huge platform that I believe is only going to get bigger,” he says. “There is a huge emphasis on YouTube right now, and on YouTubers.” Because many of the YouTubers – people who build followings by making and posting videos – and his entertainment clients are based in LA, Cloonan, Interviewers told him who lives in Brooklyn they were unsure whether Heights, finds himself flying he was passionate or frequently to the West Coast. His work takes him to psychotic other parts of North America too; the week after we spoke, he was heading for Detroit and then Toronto. Despite a busy to work for WPP in London, schedule, he stays in close touch Singapore and New York. with the friends he made at Trinity, though economic circumstances Math Men have flung them far and wide. “We’re Advertising today is rather all over the place. With the recession different from the world of Mad people are in Sydney, Toronto, Men and Don Draper, according London, New York, everywhere. But to Cloonan. “I always say we’re it’s great to check in with them.” Math Men,” he says. Advertisers Cloonan says he may return to still want to identify human Ireland sometime in the future, but desires and emotions but digital for now he calls New York home. and social technologies are now After so much travelling, both across central, rather than afterthoughts, the globe and in the US, he is glad to to campaigns. Big data lets have a base here. “It’s very, very, very advertisers use information fast-paced!” Cloonan says. “But I get and statistics about customers a kick out of it.”l to target their messages more


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