Toronto, Canada
Eoin Weir
Meet Eoin! Eoin spent his first 2-years on the programme in Mumbai, India before moving to Toronto, Canada for his final year. He is a DCU graduate with a BSc in Marketing, Innovation & Technology. Click the link in our bio to read his blog about his time on the programme.
Thinking about when you first arrived in the city you are now based, what were your initial thoughts when you arrived?
It’s a world away from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, but that’s not to say Toronto is quiet – far from it. The 4th biggest city in North America, Toronto has a population of about 6 million and is one of the most multiculturally diverse cities in the Western world. Between, Little Italy, Little Portugal, Koreatown and Chinatown, so many nations’ expatriates have woven themselves into the fabric of this ever-diversifying cultural melting pot.
After the people, the next thing that caught my attention when I landed was the skyline. Downtown Toronto is a concrete jungle with one skyscraper after the next. Despite being over 50 years old, the CN Tower still stands out the most, but all the buildings around it look brand new, as if they popped up only yesterday.
Thinking about when you first met your team, what was this like?
I was very fortunate that 2-days after I landed, the entire marketing team was going on their annual marketing offsite to Montreal! This made for a great opportunity to introduce myself to everyone in a more informal environment and get to know people through various team-building exercises.
The team in my office is actually quite young and it was also nice to see that there were three alumni from the graduate programme working in the office in full-time positions; 2 as Brand Managers and 1 as the Vice President of Marketing. Everyone has been extremely welcoming and just like the teams in Ireland and India, there is a real culture of conviviality – one of the core concepts of how we work in Pernod Ricard.
Looking back now what did you learn from that first month in your new city? What has it taught you about yourself?
I’ve learned that some things only seem difficult because you’ve never tried doing them before. You’re never going to get something absolutely perfect on the first try, so I learned to not put so much pressure on myself to know exactly what to do in every aspect of my new role right away. Making mistakes is never a bad thing, as long as you learn from them.
As there is such variety in the Brand Ambassador role, every day I feel I’m learning something new and getting better at things that only a few months ago would have seemed difficult. For example, back in November I could barely name 5 cocktails and now I find myself consulting with bars on what the drinks menu should look like for my bar takeovers!
What are you most looking forward to in the months ahead?
A great thing about the Brand Ambassador role is the autonomy over how you achieve your goals for the year. You’re really given the opportunity to focus on areas where you can add the most value to the business and there’s some really exciting bar community events on the horizon that I’m looking forward to being part of and putting my stamp on.
What are you most looking forward to in the months ahead?
A great thing about the Brand Ambassador role is the autonomy over how you achieve your goals for the year. You’re really given the opportunity to focus on areas where you can add the most value to the business and there’s some really exciting bar community events on the horizon that I’m looking forward to being part of and putting my stamp on.
Any tips for anyone applying for the role of Brand Ambassador?
My best tip is to be yourself and communicate to the Irish Distillers team what your best skills are and how you think they would help you in the role.
For example, I was a class rep during my time in college and I enjoyed organising events for classmates. In my application I made sure to note the various activities I was involved in organising over the 4 years of my degree and highlighted what it was about organising these events that I enjoyed so much. Make sure you speak about times when you’ve worked on your own, taken on lots of responsibility or overcome a challenging situation.