The inaugural National Digital Media & Marketing Summit takes place in the RDS concert hall this Wednesday, 31st of March and Eighty:Twenty will be exhibiting at the event as one of the sponsors.

We will be holding a competition to win €10,000 worth of audit, training and consultancy for the winning company to reach and engage their consumers in the digital age. Just visit our stand for details.

Speakers at the all-day event include Ronan Harris of Google Ireland, CNN Digital Brand Manager John Healy and Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan T.D.

We will also be on hand to answer any questions delegates have during their networking breaks.

So make sure to drop by and say hello!

In our latest campaign, this Christmas season we’ve teamed Bord Gais up with Pix.ie to run their “Big Switch On” campaign, in which they are sponsoring the switching on of Dublin & Cork Christmas lights. We’re using Christmas themed Twitter #Tags to create a buzz around the campaign and pulling them in to a live stream on the Pix.ie group page.

A further goal of this campaign is to invite budding photographers to get involved by uploading their favourite Christmas ’09 images. If we gather 500 festive image uploads, Bord Gais will donate €10,000 to the Dublin Lord Mayor’s Christmas Fund. Festive fun while also contributing to a good cause!

You can find out more about it here: http://pix.ie/group/christmas09

Happy Christmas!

How many of you get distracted by Facebook, Twitter and the footie results in the office? We came across the Self Control app which allows you to blacklist certain domains for a selected timeframe. If you need to finish that presentation but can’t quite break away from visiting your favourite sites, download the app now at: http://visitsteve.com/work/selfcontrol/

Eighty:Twenty hosted 2 small lunchtime breakout meetings at the Arts Council New Media conference about social media marketing. Our advice is contained in this presentation here:
Our Short Form Social Media Presentation

The latest research from BT in the UK shows that the number of small business promoting themselves on social networking sites has doubled in the last six months. 416 small business were sampled. 15% of these businesses are now promoted on social networking sites in contrast to 7% who were doing so at the beginning of this year. Start-ups especially are supporting themselves by using social networking, making up 22% of those businesses.

We’ve joined Twitter, join with us at www.twitter.com/eightytwenty to keep tabs on the busy world of digital advertising!

Your friend bought you a beer but you couldn’t drink it. Your boyfriend bought you an engagement ring but you can’t wear it. Your brother bought you a roll of toilet paper which will never grace your behind. All the most recent gifts you’ve received from well-wishers, admirers and friends don’t take up any room on your shelves, at the bottom of the wardrobe or in the attic. They’re all plastered on your Facebook wall. While people tally up their “Luvs” received on Bebo as an indication of their popularity, Facebook have been raking in profits through virtual gifting, gifts usually costing $1 each. 24 million of these items have already been purchased such as doughnuts, chocolate, pandas and electric guitars. Would you feel appreciative having received one of these gifts knowing it doesn’t really exist? If somebody is willing to spend money on you in real life or in the digital realm, what’s the difference? Trends show that people are proactively collecting virtual clutter on their social network pages which appeals to the crowd, emblematic of their real lives. It’s further proof that people are beginning to see their social networking page as an extension of their true selves – how they are represented online is a close second to how they are viewed in real life. The question arises – could virtual gifting replace the greeting card?

Frances Macken

Time to get over that whole chatroom thing. Seriously.

Never tried living in a virtual world? Then you haven’t lived. Don’t be naïve enough to think that virtual worlds are for nerds with too much time on their hands. Social networking has evolved into a fantastic 3D environment with incredible scope for interaction. Stroll down graphically created streets and beaches, hang out at clubs and bars, visit the seven wonders of the world. In Second Life, there are no less than 4 million avatars (the term used to describe members) to share this Utopian experience with. Other worlds to explore include Virtual Ibiza, Dreamville, There and Cybertown.

Go to a club to meet twenty of your friends. Take a wander through the pyramids. Take part in a political debate. Visit a casino. Appear in your own dance video. Train with the US Army. In a world where many feel they have little control over their lives, there are few boundaries in the virtual world.

It’s mind-boggling to consider the awesome potential of these virtual worlds and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface. Tired of a hectic commute and constant distractions in the workplace? Achieve the ultimate work-life balance by working in a virtual office. Some universities are even setting up virtual classrooms for students who live far away or are unable to attend class. Might we also live to see the day where we go to visit a virtual psychologist or attend a virtual courtroom?

MTV has embraced the capabilities of virtual reality worlds and fans can now enter virtual realms of such TV shows as The Hills, Laguna Beach and Pimp My Ride. Outside of entertainment, the potential to benefit your business is enormous. Business travel could become a thing of the past as business meetings take place in virtual boardrooms and eliminating your carbon footprint will boost the green credentials of your company.

Marketeers at the top of their game have recognised that virtual worlds can help them to target tech-savvy, smart and young consumers. Marketing departments of major multinational companies are creating one-off virtual worlds for customers to experience, wholly immersing them in the brand. Coca Cola has launched Coke Studios where users can create music in a virtual studio and receive ratings for their tracks. Other companies starting to experiment are McDonald’s, Intel, Aeropostale, Levi’s, Nike, and DaimlerChrysler.

by Frances Macken

I’m unique, just like everyone else. Get to know me. Read my blog, meet my friends, rate my band. I’m outrageous, I’m daring, I’m sexy. We put ourselves on show while retaining a degree of anonymity and everyone gets the chance to bask in the limelight. Exhibit your ego on a computer screen. Ask yourself who you want to be and re-brand yourself online.
We are advancing towards a complete overhaul of communicative methods and the lure of social networking has proved irresistible for so many reasons. It’s the economical, fun and exciting way to connect with the herd. The telephone is gathering dust. Texting can be tedious. Email seems a bit formal and requires some effort. But is anybody watching and do they really care? You bet! Read more

Social Wonder is a new development from EyeWonder, a leading provider of online Video and Rich Media advertising products and services, which adds the ability to quickly post content from a banner ad to your blog/social network page. Gathering a lot of interest in the US already, it’s a widget that we are currently looking to test in Ireland for some of our brands. Social Wonder really empowers the consumer to welcome the brand into their online profiles and as it’s opt-in, shoud avoid the raft of negative publicity that has accompanied some other non-opt in initiatives in the marketplace.