Who are we?

The bigOmedia core team is small but we work with, inspire and are inspired by a huge pool of talent. We have 20 freelance contributing editors, copywriters, photographers and designers who work with us regularly.

Roisin Finlay and Vanessa Lawrenson are co-directors of the company. The girls met while working for Outsider magazine in 2006. In mid 2007, they teamed up in a management buyout and have since turned the magazine and company from a loss-making enterprise in the Celtic Tiger years into a profitable concern in the downturn years. They have achieved this through hard work, creativity and tenacity.

Gavin Lyons is the CFO, and Torquil Fleming-Boyd is our creative director. Heather Irvine is our PR specialist and Aidan Smyth is our web design specialist.

Find out more about us below…

Vanessa Lawrenson:
Areas of expertise: project management, web content management, interactive website design, new e-marketing strategies, search engine optimisation, e-learning, social media, web 2.0, streaming media and training.

Vanessa left an executive position at IBM to join the Outsider / bigOmedia team in 2007. Vanessa initially worked for IBM in 2001 as a web consultant advising clients such as Accenture and PWC on Web 2.0 strategies. She was the Irish IBM expert on IBM’s collaboration/social software and project managed the first Irish implementation of the IBM Workplace System in the HSE. Vanessa’s focus was always on the social media aspect of software and she worked on document management, web team spaces, e-marketing and instant messaging.

Since joining the team, she has become a director of the company and enjoys working with clients on integrated marketing strategies and on how to leverage the new media technologies to add value to existing web and print channels to market. Vanessa has worked very closely with the Fáilte Ireland web team, including the e-business team in Dublin and the content editors in the regions. She has enjoyed project managing the delivery of content for the discoverireland.ie suite of websites in 2009 and 2010. She was also responsible for ensuring the copy was written in adherence with best practice standards for search engine optimisation.

Vanessa has also overseen the redesign of the Outsider.ie website which was shortlisted for a Golden Spider award in the Best Sports website category in 2009. The focus for this website is to provide a central resource for adventure activity in Ireland, while leveraging social media such as Facebook, Twitter and You Tube. She has also produced corporate videos for clients such as Helly Hansen, Garmin, Discover Ireland, Columbia Sportswear and Electric Picnic. Today’s consumer expects a wide variety of content on a website. They expect engaging and snappy copy, web videos, podcasts, communities, trip planners and blog-style content. Vanessa has a deep knowledge of using digital media and content in a controlled manner on large corporate and consumer websites.

Client portfolio:
Ballyhoura Regional Development, Land Rover Ireland, Fáilte Ireland, Helly Hansen, Red Bull, Irish Healthcare, Outdoors Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Citroen Ireland, Columbia Sportswear, O2, Department of Heath and Children, Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, PWC, Northern Ireland government departments (ODMDFM and DFP), Kerry Foods, Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Bank, Ogilvy and Mather, IBEC and more.

Roisin Finlay:
Areas of expertise: Ideas generation, maintaining busy editorial schedule, producing top-class accurate consumer- and business-facing copy within tight time frames, precise editing, managing writing teams and revising and writing copy for the web.

Specialist topics: consumer-facing copy on topics such as adventure (Ireland and beyond), golf, surfing, events, culture, travel, eco issues, eco tourism, Irish businesses and more. Business-facing copy on topics ranging from compliance, Irish business and IT.

Roisin Finlay is the editor of Outsider where she is responsible for collaborating with a team of fantastic writers and editors to create fresh, energetic copy for Ireland’s leading outdoor adventure magazine, as well as constantly refreshing its popular website. Roisin also heads up the contract copywriting and editing side of bigOmedia. Clients have included Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Land Rover Ireland, Red Bull, Columbia Sportswear and Irish Healthcare.

Roisin first cut her teeth as a journalist at International Living . At this publication, where the worlds of travel and overseas property investment collided, she was managing editor of the print magazine as well as overseeing the extensive e-marketing programme. This included weekly HTML e-zines and daily e-postcards. Following this position, she worked with In-House Communications for two years where she wrote both consumer- and business-facing copy on a variety of topics. This company specialises in producing magazines for a variety of high-profile clients, including Bank of Scotland Ireland, Wyeth BioPharma, Green Isle, Glanbia and many more. Roisin’s time here made her a true multi-tasker and honed her skills in maintaining busy editorial schedules, driving idea generation, commissioning content, writing copy, liaising with key stakeholders and third parties to obtaining on-the-ground information, researching, editing and proofreading – all under tight time frames.

Roisin’s cutting-edge features and news stories have also appeared in publications as diverse as The Sunday Business Post (where she still writes a weekly column), The Irish Times, The Sunday Independent, Business and Finance, Magill, Village, Shop Talk, Abroad, Public Affairs Ireland, Image, International Living…and of course Outsider where she has been the editor for more than three years. Her article topics have been as wide ranging as adventure travel (home and abroad), golf, surf, events, culture, property, eco issues, eco tourism and Irish eco businesses.

Samples of writing:
Irish adventure – The New Wave:
Golf – Swinging in Style:
Culture – Painting with fire:
An introduction to adventure in West Cork and Kerry: (from Discover Ireland website)
Ethical investment - Front page business feature from Agenda:
Swashbuckler’s guide to travel: travel feature from Sunday Business Post:

Gavin Lyons:
Gavin Lyons began his career with Ireland’s original style bible – dSIDE magazine. Promoted through the ranks to the position of General Manager with this vibrant company, he was responsible for resource allocation, budgeting and maintaining design and print quality, as well as scheduling magazine production and photo shoots for blue chip brands like Saatchi & Saatchi, Virgin, Eircom, Diageo, U2, Boyzone, Brown Thomas, the FAI and Smirnoff.

Expanding to become a thriving contract publishing and design agency which created magazines and brochures, the company won illustrious contracts to design and produce the official U2 fanzine Propaganda and MCD’s magazine for the festival Feile as well as titles for clients as diverse as Boyzone and Brown Thomas.

At dSIDE Gavin was responsible for the company’s web strategy. Unfortunately he was completely ahead of the curve and the bandwidth-hungry, media-rich web 2.0 strategies implemented took far too long to download back in 1997. Undaunted, the digital focus went onto the production of the magazine titles and dSIDE became the first Irish consumer publication to implement a fully digital workflow. This speeded up the production process and resulted in considerable cost savings for the company. The end result of this process was the winning of the gong for Best Printed Magazine at the 2001 Irish Print Awards.

Looking for a new challenge he then was appointed as Business Manager for a start-up medical device company Andrews Surgical Innovations. This work involved product development, market quantification and ultimately the writing of a business plan to present to banks, Enterprise Ireland and potential investors.

Realising that he was missing a vital skill in his toolbox Gavin started to train as a management accountant and took on a position with the Irish Landmark Trust as Finance Officer. While there he was responsible for a ground up rebuild of their internet booking engine which needed to provide ease of use at the front end coupled with giving detailed financial information from the back end.

Since then, Gavin has worked as an independent consultant, teaming up with companies to advise them on financial and media strategies and project managing ventures. He started working with bigOmedia in the capacity of a consultant but became so engrossed with the team that he because a permanent fixture in early 2010. Gavin provides additional and complimentary expertise in the areas of resource allocation and time management for photography, filming and copywriting projects.

Aidan Smyth:
Aidan Smyth has spent eight years in design and web development for various clients and companies. Over the years Aidan has worked for bigOmedia as the in-house design manager, a freelance web designer/developer specialising in a wide range of content management systems (drupal, joomla, wordpress and textpattern, among others), SEO strategies and media rich websites. He has also worked as full time designer/developer for France Telecom’s online gaming service, GOA Games Services.

France Telecom’s GOA has since closed so bigOmedia was delighted to lure Aidan back onto its team. Aidan has done advanced training on using Google for user tracking and analytics. And his GUI design, front-end design and coding, and social network integration skills have made him an invaluable member of the team.

Aidan’s focus is on standards compliant design/development, social media integration, and media-rich websites. He likes to keep up with current web technologies and enjoys trying anything new, like augmented reality across print and web design. Aidan designed and developed Outsider’s website which was shortlisted for a Golden Spider award. This website is integrated tightly with Facebook, Twitter and You Tube, and leverages these technologies extensively.

Heather Irvine:
Joining the bigOmedia team as web content and social media assistant, Heather spends her days writing and updating content and images for the Outsider website using WordPress CMS. She’s also becoming a dab-hand uploading videos to You Tube and working with PhotoShop – editing, resizing and save images to the correct DPI for web. Heather also keeps Outsider readers entertained with her clever, concise updates of Facebook and Twitter. Having recently finished a postgraduate diploma in public relations, she brings fresh new ideas in the realm of social media to bigOmedia. She enjoys managing  accounts for clients such as Columbia Sportswear, Garmin and the Skicentre, as well as helping event promoters reach their target audiences.

Torquil (TQ) Fleming Boyd:
Areas of expertise: photography, filming (all formats), producing, directing, editing, setting up shoots, lighting and aerial photography.

Torquil joined the bigOmedia team in July 2007 as result of the growing demand for on-location photography and web videos. Recently he has worked on videos and interactive content for Bord Gais, Truivo, Mars Corporation, Columbia Sportswear, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Failte Ireland.

Torquil was born in Glasgow in 1966 and started working in the motion picture industry in 1983 as a camera assistant, working his way up through the ranks of the camera department to become a director of photography (DP) in 1992. Since becoming a DP, Torquil has worked on numerous movies such as ‘Pilgrim’ starring Ray Liotta, ‘The Bruce’ starring Oliver Reed and most recently ‘Iron Cross’ starring Roy Schneider and Helmut Berger. He holds an MSc in cinematography/film production from Napier University, Edinburgh.

Torquil has also worked extensively worldwide as a front-line FPA cameraman/photographer for international press organisations such as AP, AFP, BBC, CNN, CH4, ITN, NTV, SNTV and WTN, covering various conflicts such as Kosovo, the Afghan War, 9/11 WTC, the Gulf War, the Pakistan earthquake, and the Lebanon/Israeli War. Documentary and reportage photography are a passionate part of Torquil’s work. His interest in extreme locations, humanitarian and environmental causes, as well as his professionalism give Torquil’s photography and filming an exciting edge. He is equally as happy behind a stills camera as he is operating his motion picture Steadicam, and his wealth of experience behind the lens brings a depth to any image which often belies the budget available.

In 2008/09/10, he was responsible for producing a portfolio of photographs and videos for the Discover Ireland suite of websites ranging from family fun to kitesurfing to crowd scenes at GAA matches. These photos were taken with the direct requirements of the websites in mind, such as the need for specifically shaped banner images etc.

Since his arrival in Ireland, TQ’s imagery has been published in Outsider, The Irish Times and The Sunday Business Post, and on the Discover Ireland suite of websites. His web videos have been embedded in the online version of Outsider magazine and have also featured on Discover Ireland websites. He also continues to work as a DP on adventure filming projects in Ireland. Visit www.cinetq.com or www.steadicam.ie for a full list of credits and Torquil’s show reel.