European Citizenship: A Passport Never Felt So Good

Itching to live in Paris, Rome or Dublin? Get European citizenship if you can. Do you have a grandparent from Ireland or Italy, for example? If so, then you can get dual citizenship. I have an Irish passport through my Irish grandfather, who was born in County Roscommon. As Ireland is part of the European Union, I can work anywhere in the EU.

In fact, the European Union (its first name was the European Economic Community) is set up to enable free mobility of people, goods and services. I studied the EEC/EU in college, and that knowledge is now pertaining to my personal and professional life.

To obtain Irish citizenship, I had to get my grandfather’s birth, marriage and death certificates and his US naturalization papers. I also had to get my father’s birth and marriage certificates. Because my father was almost 50 when I was born, I had to prove that he was actually my father and not my grandfather, which would have made my grandfather my great-grandfather—and you can’t get dual citizenship with Ireland via a great-grandparent if you’re the first person in your family to attempt to obtain it.

To prove my father’s identity, I had to get a copy of the 1920 Indiana census, which showed that he was 2 years old in 1918, and about to be 50 when I was born in August, 1968. I went to the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to get the Indiana census—such records weren’t online back in 1995!

Contact a foreign consulate/embassy in your area if you want to learn more about this. Of course, the State Department website is also a good place to start.

If you are able to get a European passport and already have kids, it is not retroactive, meaning you can’t pass it on to them. If you get it now, and have kids in the future, you will be able to pass it on. At least that is the case with Ireland.

A European passport gives you the right to live and work in the EU without a visa. So, even if you already have a corporate job, you would be saving your employer money by using your passport to work in Europe instead of them paying for your visa. I used my Irish/EU passport to work in London back in 2003—it made it easy for McGraw-Hill to grant my transfer. All I had to do was enter the country with my Irish/EU passport.

Clearly, asking for a transfer is the first step you should take if you have a full-time job. As I asked many times to be transferred to Paris and it didn’t happen, I had to take life into my own hands.

I have lots of other factoids, ideas and aspirations to share about my French experience. I’ll try to do a better job of posting here, so keep in touch! Have you moved abroad, or are you interested in doing so? Write a comment and we can talk.

You’ve Got The Look: Branding and PR for Small Business http://youvegotthelook.eventbrite.com/
January 28, 2010, OfficePort Chicago, 9 W. Washington, just west of State.
6-9 pm.

Emily Lonigro, founder of design firm LimeRed Studio, and Sally O’Dowd, founder of Sally On Media, an integrated marketing company, will discuss how small-business owners can get recognized for what they do best.

Drawing from her Small-Business Branding Tool Kit, Emily will review the steps that businesspeople should take when planning a branding strategy, website, logo, and color palate. Sally will discuss ways to develop your company’s unique story, messaging and newsworthy content (twitter-worthy, too). Join us for this interactive, visual session–and get ready to spread the news about your company in 2010!

Attendees will learn how to:
–identify the visuals and logo that tell their company story
–identify a color palate
–think in terms of their clients’ success, and how to express that visually
–develop the basics of a PR plan and identify what’s newsworthy
–develop a unique brand positioning and messaging
–integrate search and site optimization into PR campaigns

Emily has a degree in journalism and mass communication from Drake University and has spent the last 10 years designing for brands such as Clinique, Pepperidge Farm, Campbell’s Soup, and Discover Card. LimeRed Studio, the company Emily founded in 2004, specializes in online and offline branding and design for small businesses.

Sally has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and has 17 years of communications and marketing experience. Prior to opening Sally On Media, Sally was global PR director at Razorfish, one of the largest digital ad agencies in the world. She has also worked with numerous Chicago start-ups and enterprises. twitter @sallyodowd.

We met with numerous executives and public officials over eight business days.  Our first meeting was with Frederik Perodeau, head of IFM, the French Institute for Merchandising, which represents major brands such as Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble, and retailers such as Carrefour, grocery store Monoprix, IKEA and FNAC ( a fantastic entertainment store where several years ago I bought a two-disc set of French iconic singer Serge Gainsbourg.)

IFM, founded in 1972, tracks retail trends and statistics.  Frederik noted that the average French family buys products representing 300 SKU’s (the number associated with an item on the shelf).  And the average shopper puts 10 to 50 SKU’s on average in her grocery basket.  This means that there is lots of competition for a shopper’s attention, what with 6,000 to 9,000 SKU’s on offer in a typical grocery store.

As with the U.S., French shoppers tend to remain loyal to their brands or the types of food they buy—they tend to ignore the thousands of other items vying for their attention and euros.

“Mom uses 300 SKU’s which means she is not interested in the other 49,000 SKU’s at a hypermarket,” Frederik said, referring to the massive amount of products at “big box” stores similar to Wal-Mart.

Whereas the French liked big-box discounts for a time, they are now beginning  to turn their backs on massive stores and returning to small, specialized stores.  I’m happy about that, for when I think of France I think of the charming little neighborhood stores—I don’t want France to look like an American strip mall.

Frederik noted that people in emerging markets such as China and Brazil people want big-box stores.  They want the choice that comes with a developed economy.  Ergo, retailers are building massive stores there.  He predicts that in 20 years China and Brazil will have a real-estate problem on their hands, as consumers will return to smaller stores.  What will those countries do with all the big-box real estate?

Frederik hit on an important cultural issue—the fact that French salespeople “used to not be that nice.” This is debatable as I have often had great service in France. (Yet during the trip, a waiter didn’t want to accommodate my “off the menu” request.)

In America, we have a strong service culture because salespeople, waiters and the like live on commission and tips.  But in France, salespeople and waiters earn a set salary and have national health care—they often don’t need to go the extra mile for their customers. But this is beginning to change, because French customers are demanding more personalized service.  “Salespeople are more and more important.  It’s an important trend in France: Salespeople need to be more personable,” Frederik says.

A major driver behind this trend is the internet.  “Shoppers are more expert than salespeople,” he says.  That’s why companies are now training their employees on the products they sell.  Frederik doesn’t think the internet will replace brick-and-mortar stores but it will require educated salespeople who can knowledgably steer their well-educated customers to the right purchase.

Frederik noted another urban trend in France that is similar to one in America:  the emergence of single adults who lead incredibly busy lives.  Monoprix, the grocery store, has launched a new store called Monop’, targeted at single professional women. I saw a woman eating at a Monop’ during the trip—a far cry form the two-hour meal we might associate with French culture.

First, as my friends know, I am passionate about anything to do with France.  I have loved the French language since I was 13, and have wanted to live in Paris since that tender age.  Speaking French makes my brain change color, I always say. I prefer to think it changes purple, as that color excites me the most.

I also love writing, so Julia & Julie was a double-whammy for me.  Julie, frustrated by her job working for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (I remember the fine yet grueling work the LMDC did after 911) finds herself by writing a food blog.  The real Julie Powell, on whom the character is based, turned that blog into a book and into said movie. Wow.  Passion, even for a small niche, really can do wonders for your soul and bank account.

Having just returned from a trip to Paris with DePaul University–in particular with a group of undergrads and MBA candidates led by marketing Professor Steve Kelly–I have decided, once and for all, to move to Paris.  It’s my version of writing a food blog.  In fact, let’s consider this entry the beginning of my “turn a new page” blog.  While I will continue to comment on the business happenings in the other city I love, Chicago, I will also start to document how I am making this dream come true.

With more than 15 years of professional experience in marketing and communications, combined with French fluency, I’d like to think I have something to offer to the bel pays of France.  And I have a European passport thanks to the Irish grandfather I never knew.  He is a gift that keeps on giving.  I wish I had known him, but his transatlantic spirit lives in me.

In future posts within the next couple of weeks, my dear readers, I will aim to “bring you with us” as we relive the DePaul trip to Paris.  It was superb in every way, from the students and the companies and government ministries we met, to the French food and wine.  Julia Child and her husband, Paul, would have loved it.

So stay tuned!