Today we had an amazing opportunity to visit with the Tyrconnell Tribune and McNutt’s of Downings and hear about their respective businesses. When we were at the Tribune, we heard about the importance of maintaining the connection with each community in the area. The newspaper focuses its efforts to include something special and important events happening in different towns within the County. The Tribune has been around for years, and it is common for every family to have at least one copy of the paper from that week. The paper prints a few hundred copies every week and is run by a six-person team that writes, prints, and delivers the papers weekly. There is a major focus on the community aspect within the paper, and they offer a place for businesses to advertise as often as they would prefer, for a small fee. The paper maintains its reputation of trust within the community through years of service and proof that their actions match their promises.
On the other hand, we also had a wonderful opportunity to hear from the owner of McNutt’s of Downings. We heard about the story that led to the popular brand, that has regained its success. The original McNutt’s of Downings had closed in the 60’s but was reopened in the 80’s by the current owner and his brother, there was a period of time after its reopening that they outsourced to other countries and focused on selling their textiles in major stores in areas like the UK and the US. Later, McNutt’s went through a rebrand, and it focused on the truly Irish part of the company. Today, the textiles are all manufactured in Downings and are primarily sold in the McNutt’s of Downings store, or in smaller local shops throughout Ireland. We can see that the branding and marketing of McNutt’s is very different than that of the Tribune- the size of the company, the target audience, and other factors vary slightly, so their efforts to maintain community ties are different. McNutt’s offers job security and a factory right in Downings, and the Tribune offers something from every town every week within the County- both are important, but they are important in different ways which we can see through their shared rural location in Donegal which serves as a core element of their respective brand identities.
