Carmel Breheny

Carmel Breheny has over thirty years’ experience and is a marketing professional at senior management level most recently with Cara pharmacy group and Marks & Spencer Ireland and UK. She has a successful track record of managing multi million budgets to plan and deliver projects and events across marketing, brand and public relations. She has developed and mentored teams during her career and continues to do so with SME’s based in Ireland. Carmel has strong negotiating skills and is forensic in attention to detail. When joining M&S Ireland in 1999, Carmel was very involved in growing the store locations from 4 to the 18th opening in 2017. Through her strong networking, Carmel grew brand awareness and share of voice whilst managing external agencies resulting in exciting and ground- breaking marketing and PR initiatives. Carmel was very integral to the strategic growth of M&S Ireland and has a strong commercial acumen honed through sales development roles in M&S Europe whilst based in London. She has successfully managed large end to end projects throughout her career, bringing all agencies together to achieve results. Carmel is an established influencer and networker and currently works with a diverse client base who benefit from her extensive knowledge. Carmel most recently achieved a Diploma in Digital Marketing Strategy (2018) and a Diploma in Radio and Podcast production (2019). She is a member of the Institute of Directors, Marketing Institute of Ireland and Public Relations Institute of Ireland. She also holds Diplomas in PR, Marketing, Advertising and Sales management, Business French and Psychology.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

  • Strategic planning of complex projects.

  • Financial and budget planning.

  • Media planning including social media.

  • Excellent leadership skills.

  • Excellent communication skills.

  • Coaching and mentoring individuals and SME’s towards personal and professional development & achievement.

PROJECTS/HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Developing and implementing strategy for marketing and PR for M&S Ireland

  • Building and launching M&S Ireland Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in line with UK strategy.

  • Led steering group for building and launching M&S Ireland website- grew from zero to over 500,000 subscribers in 4 years generating additional millions of Euro in sales.

  • Built a B2B and B2C database from zero to over 100,000 through networking, this generated millions in revenue and provided strong base for website launch engagement.

  • Successfully moved M&S Ireland from price parity (sterling/punt) to pricing strategy for Euro launch smoothly and compliantly.

  • Planned marketing and PR for 16 new M&S stores in Ireland as well as many other developments e.g. store extensions, new business within store locations.

  • Built a successful CSR model aimed at creating diversity and inclusion by working with and supporting Belong To, CARI, Downs Syndrome Ireland, Lust for Life, Marie Keating Foundation, ISPCC Childline anti bullying campaign.