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Research Projects

Aaron Dolan

Current Research Masters Student

The Determination of how to build a Collaborative Regional Destination Brand in the Northwest of Ireland

Department of Marketing, Tourism and Sport

Aarons research consists of answering the title question the ‘Determination of how to build a Collaborative Regional Destination Brand in the Northwest of Ireland’

The aims of the research are:

  • To identify what are the key issues within destination branding.
  • To synthesize the various structures required for collaborative destination brands.
  • To articulate the relationship of what might work best to build Sligo as a regional destination brand.

The outcome of this research should help build more understanding of regional destination branding, while also assisting to build knowledge in branding, regional development, tourism, economy and public policy.

 Bio:

 Mr. Aaron Dolan is a Masters by Research Student at the Institute of Technology Sligo in the department of Marketing, Tourism and Sport (since 2021). Mr. Dolans research interests are marketing, economics and business strategy. Aaron’s primary research interest is branding and how businesses can use it to become more successful.

Before being accepted onto this research project Aaron successfully graduated with distinction from the Institute of technology Sligo’s level 7 course ‘Bachelor of Business in Applied Sport with Business’. During his time in this course Aaron had a specific interest in marketing and spent his work placement, working in a local marketing agency. Following the work placement Aaron found his career path and decided to follow it. To begin this journey he studied for a fourth year in IT Sligo and worked towards gaining a Bachelor of Business level 8 degree, which specialized in Marketing. Eventually graduating with a first-class honors degree and finishing top of his class respectively. Aaron is also a member of the Marketing Institute of Ireland having passed the Qualified Marketers Exam in June 2020.

Prior to beginning his research Mr. Dolan worked as the Marketing Manager for the Wild Roots Music, Performing Arts and Adventure festival (2020 – 2021). During his time here Aaron worked closely with the festival directors, artists, web designers and sponsors to develop marketing campaigns and initiatives. These campaigns were specifically designed to help festival goers feel confident about the brand and finding new ways to engage with consumers online. By leveraging the events highly differentiated offering the brand now has a platform that it can now build upon and compete with market leaders, Electric picnic, Forbidden Fruit and Sea Sessions.

The papers and conferences are TBC. It is proposed that the following routes occur:

Proposed Papers:

  • Academic conference paper (x2)
  • Peer-reviewed JournalArticle

Proposed Presentations/ Conferences:

Presentations

  • Poster presentation (x2)
  • Seminar with the Business Community

Conferences will include but are not limited to:

  • Irish Academy ofManagement
  • THRIC
  • European Marketing Academy(EMAC)
  • European Academy of Management(EURAM)
  • American Marketing Association(AMA)