Business Post : How I Made It

Business Post: 11th June 2025

Author: Emmet Ryan

Islandbridge Brand Development, a Dublin-based brand consultancy, expects turnover to grow by 15 per cent this year as it takes a targeted approach to scaling its business offering.

The firm was founded by Gerard Tannam, who is the sole full-time employee in 2004, with Tannam working with a range of contractors. Its clients include businesses in a wide range of sectors, such as SAP Landscapes, Roundtower Capital and Navio Engineering.

“Our focus is on the relationship between a business or organisation and its customers. Every business tells you the most important thing they have is their customers. I’d go further and say the purpose of a business is to make customers and the most important thing is their relationship with those customers,” said Tannam.

“The way you do that is by having a product or service to provide. I work to understand the nature of the relationship with customers to help companies get more of them.”

Typically, Tannam will first survey a business to work out the key aspects of the relationship to focus on. This process begins with getting the client to outline what value their customers bring them and, in turn, asking the customers a range of questions about what they get from the business in return. From there, Tannam develops a plan for the client.

He developed the idea for the business after a rather varied career. he worked as a police inspector in Hong Kong in the 1990s, where he was also working part-time as a musician. It was through the latter that he had to start learning more about marketing and promotion.

“I was ingaging with venue owners, concert halls and other organisations (such as sponsors and partners), and I established a business to manage that. Out of that I developed a business that grew, ” he said. “By the time I left Hong Kong in 1998, I owned my own event management company and ran an art gallery along with a number of festivals.”

After returning to Ireland, Tannam initially ran several events, including the ESB’s Millennium celebrations and the seminal Fly The Flag Road Safety Campaign, before taking on a strategic planning role with Alexander Dunlop, and then branching out on his own with Islandbridge.

“I’ve always believed that business should be good for the community. That’s been my driver. Over the 20 years, I’ve always tried to focus on customers who are doing a good job for their customers,” Tannam said.

“Part of the work I do involves being somewhat of a broker between the buyer and seller. A good customer wants my client to do well, not necessarily at their expense, but they want them to thrive and develop.”

Tannam’s hopes go beyond his own company, as he wants to spread his philosophy on business beyond Islandbridge into the customers he works with.

“To me that’s a healthy way to look at business. I want to enjoy what I do. My hope from an Islandbridge point of view and at large really, is that we’ll continue to focus on relationships and connecting people,” he said.

“Ireland is resilient. It’s something in how we’re made in that we’re always looking to connect with others.”