Ireland

Ireland may or may not launch a large-scale communications campaign for Census 2027.

The Central Statistics Office is conducting a “market soundings exercise” to decide when to run a PR, publicity, advertising and bespoke website push to support the tally.

The upcoming count will provide the public with an online option for completing their census form for the first time.

Past counts were known as “de facto censuses,” meaning they took place on one “Census Night.” Everyone completed a form based on where they stayed that night.

In previous censuses, field staff delivered and collected paper census forms to and from every household in Ireland.

For Census 2027, staff will visit households to deliver forms only to those that requested them prior to the deadline.

Once the deadline date passes, field workers will follow-up on households who did not request forms.

The CSO envisions a two-part communications drive. The first will focus on recruitment of census field staff, and the second will promote awareness of Census 2027.

The PR component of the overall campaign will include identifying placement opportunities in print, broadcast, social and digital media; responding to media inquiries, managing potential crises; planning events, and monitoring the media.

Some elements of the outreach will require the use of the Irish and English languages.

If CSO decides to mount a Census 2027 communications campaign, a contract will be awarded either in the first or second quarter of next year.

Officials plan to hold face-to-face, video or teleconference sessions in Dublin next week to find out what interested firms have to offer. But the CSO stresses that participation in that exercise is not mandatory.

Keep an eye out for further news on Census 2027.

KKKandle

Bad PR misfire… Bath & Body Works has yanked its Snowed In candle product off the shelves after online critics complained that the label’s artwork looked a lot like the sheets worn by Ku Klux Klan members.

The image was meant to look like a paper snowflake. Social media, instead, saw a KKK hood with cutouts around the eyes.

A Bath & Body works spokesperson assured the Washington Post that any resemblance to a KKK hood was “unintentional.”

Good job in clearing that up.

In a statement, Bath & Body Works apologized to anyone it offended, and noted that it swiftly moved to remove the item from its stores.

The Klan candles are being resold on eBay for up to $425. Jars without the hood go for $22.

We live in such a screwed-up country.

Jargon Jamboree. When a company issues a 32-page financial release, one can be sure that things aren’t going well.

The Walgreens Boots Alliance’s fiscal 2024 report issued on Oct. 15 could double as a door stop. BTW, it posted a whopping full-year $8.4B loss.

The company isn’t just closing 1,200 of its stores over the next three years.

It is embarking on an “accretive footprint optimization program” as part of its “transformational cost management program.”

CEO Tim Wentworth views fiscal 2025 “an important rebasing year,” and expects 500 of those store shutterings will provide a nice boost to earnings and cash flow. Way to go!

Walgreens talks about comparable sales, which it defines as full-year store revenues without a closure for seven days due to looting, store damage, major remodeling or natural disaster.

The company, though, takes a pass on reconciling non-GAPP estimates to directly comparable financial measures for fiscal 2025.

“This is due to the inherent difficulty of forecasting the timing or amount of various items that have not yet occurred, are out of the company’s control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted.”

I got a headache after reading Walgreens release. I hope my local Walgreens has not been footprint optimized yet.