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Vivian Murray (22 July 1932 – 6 March 2009) was an Irish businessman. Murray served as the chief executive of the Irish Goods Council during the 1970s and 1980s, when it launched the "Buy Irish" and "Guaranteed Irish" marketing campaigns. Murray's first job was at local
Irish post office (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...
in Clonmel following his graduation from high school. His other earlier occupations included positions at both Kelly and Shiel and Remington Rand. Murray also became the chairman of both
An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...
and Bord Iascaigh Mhara later in his career.


Personal life

Murray was born on 22 July 1932, in
Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...
,
County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
to parents, Jeremiah Murray and Mai Lynch Murray. He was one of six children in his family. Murray attended the Christian Brothers High School in his native Clonmel. He married Nancy Clear and was father to John Murray, an Irish business journalist and broadcaster for the
RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
business division and a '' Morning Ireland'' presenter. Vivian and Nancy had six children during their marriage.


Irish Goods Council

Murray's career began to take off when he was appointed general manager at the Irish National Development Association. The organisation would later be renamed the Irish Goods Council and was funded by the Irish government. Under Murray, the Irish Goods Council would be known as a champion of Irish products, sold both domestically and abroad. He became widely known for his launch of the "Guaranteed Irish" and "Buy Irish" marketing and advertising campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s, which were aimed at Irish consumers. Murray's "Buy Irish" was based on his own beliefs that quality was more important in Irish products than merely purchasing an item because it was made in Ireland. He also believed that the Buy Irish campaign, as it came to be called, should focus on the Irish consumer market. Murray also felt that low quality products should not be supported by the "Buy Irish" campaign. Murray felt that
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was important, but did not want the "Buy Irish" campaign to heavily emphasise exports, which he believed was detrimental to the domestic Irish manufacturing and consumer markets. However, he was also strongly against any intrusion by Irish protectionists into the marketing campaign. The campaign was credited with saving thousands of domestic manufacturing jobs, especially for younger people. He explained his goals for the Irish Goods Council and its "Buy Irish" campaign in 1980 saying, "What the Irish Goods Council does is to create the selling environment, develop new patterns of consumer desire, build up goodwill and favourable attitudes. These attitudes must then be exploited by the manufacturer." Murray's success at the Irish Goods Council was widely noted. He and his colleagues at the Council were praised by then
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Mary Harney Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the current Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role aft ...
during a 1980
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. However, success ended during the 1980s. The "Guaranteed Irish" promotional campaign was founded to be in violation of the
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's
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. As a result, the Irish government soon cut its state funding for the campaign. Murray left the Irish Goods Council in 1989. However, he was still named the Small Firms' Association Business Person of the Year in 1989, the same year he left the Irish Goods Council.


Other positions

Murray simultaneously appointed the chairman of the Bord Iascaigh Mhara in 1981 while still heading the Irish Goods Council. He stayed on as chairman of Bord Iascaigh Mhara for two terms. He next became the chairman of
An Post (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...
in 1990 following his departure from the Irish Goods Council and was credited with returning the Irish postal system to profitability during his tenure. Murray also joined the Gray-Murray
consulting firm A consulting firm or simply consultancy is a professional service firm that provides expertise and specialised labour for a fee, through the use of consultants. Consulting firms may have one employee or thousands; they may consult in a broad range ...
, which is now known as Indecon.


Later life

Vivian Murray fully retired from the business world during the middle of the 1990s. However, he continued to remain active in other causes and foundations. For example, he collaborated closely with
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Father
James McDyer The V. Rev. James Canon McDyer (1910–1987) was a Catholic priest and campaigner for the rights of disadvantaged and underdeveloped rural areas of Ireland. Biography Canon McDyer was born, youngest of seven children, in Kilraine in Glenties, Co ...
in Glencolumcille,
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
, to establish projects to promote Irish culture. He was appointed to the
board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
of the Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe. The Louvain Institute, which was created to promote Ireland and its cultural heritage in the European Union, is headquartered at the
Irish College Irish Colleges is the collective name used for approximately 34 centres of education for Irish Catholic clergy and lay people opened on continental Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. History The Colleges were set up to educate Roma ...
in
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, Belgium. Murray was later awarded a fellowship by the institute. Murray's had other very wide ranging life accomplishments and community involvements. He was appointed as a member of the first
Independent Radio and Television Commission The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) ( ga, Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann) was established on 1 October 2009 effectively replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) ( ga, Coimisiún Craolacháin na hÉireann). The BAI is ...
. Murray served as a former director of the former LSB College, which has since become part of the Dublin Business School. He was also an active member of the Priory Institute, which is part of the St Mary's Dominican Priory in
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,
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. Vivian Murray died in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
on 6 March 2008, at the age of 76 after a long illness. Murray was survived by his wife, Nancy (née Clear), and six children – daughters Mary, Anne, Bernie and Madeleine and sons, Dermot and John.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Vivian 1932 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Irish businesspeople People from County Tipperary People from Clonmel People educated at CBS High School Clonmel