Kildare GAA have announced a deal with a new media partner to receive services worth up to €100,000 over the next two years just ahead of the opening games of the championship. Kildare company Dundara Television & Media will partner with Kildare GAA to enhance their current media and marketing presence, and to develop new strategies to engage with supporters across the world.

Over the course of the partnership, Dundara will produce video content for the Kildare GAA social media platforms and for TV broadcast, as well as providing expertise in the creation of a new Marketing Internship Programme, and providing training for up to 150 people from GAA clubs in the county.

Chairman of the Kildare County Board Ger Donnelly welcomed the new partnership which is the first strategic approach the county has taken to social media content management. “We’re a sporting organisation and we are fanatical about our sport. But, it’s important that we don’t forget that the logo on the jersey is a brand just like any other and we have to make sure we are constantly adding value to it. We’re very excited about the possibilities for Kildare GAA in this partnership with Dundara Television & Media”

Right now, all eyes are on the Kildare Senior Football Team as the first games of the All-Ireland Championships begin.“The team, the management and the backroom staff are all committed to developing an elite team” commented Cian O’Neill, manager of the Kildare Senior Football Team. “This is an amateur organisation, but in Kildare we have a completely professional ethos. It’s important that we also move our marketing and media presence to a similar elite status because that’s what our supporters deserve. We’re fortunate to have a strong TV production company like Dundara here in Kildare, and we’re looking forward to working with them to give our supporters the best fan experience possible, both on and off the pitch”.

Video has never been more relevant in the marketing world than it is now, and that trend is set to continue. “We’ve been producing video marketing content for a number of years and recently we see platforms like Facebook formally announce that they are adopting a ‘video first’ policy” explains Alan Brereton, Media Producer and Marketing Adviser with Dundara. “This means their algorithms will be showing users video posts before text and images. The reality is if you’re not prioritising video in your social media strategy, your customers or supporters will be watching the videos of competitors who are using video.”

“Amateur or voluntary organisations are competing for the same space in the viewers news feed as the large brands who are committed to spending enormous marketing budgets to get there” noted Brereton. “For that reason, organisations like the GAA need to be constantly monitoring the performance of their content to make sure they are getting their message in front of their audience in the most cost effective way”. 

Christine Murray is the PRO with Kildare GAA since 2016. “Just looking at our social media platforms, I can see the increase in reach and viewing rates from the video content already. Before adding professional video content we had already increased our Facebook following four-fold in the last 12 months, and on twitter our following outperforms a lot of other counties. The new partnership with Dundara will help us build on that momentum and engage even more supporters on social media.”

Most of the roles in a GAA county structure, including PRO, are filled by volunteers. However, the demands of maintaining a professional mainstream and social media presence are huge, and they cannot be met by one person. The traditional approach of relying on volunteers is not always an option, especially when specific skills and expertise are required. To meet this challenge, Dundara Television & Media will be facilitating the establishment of a new Marketing Internship Programme which will provide third level students and graduates with relevant industry experience, supervised by Dundara and Kildare GAA.

Speaking about the new Internship Programme, Chairman Ger Donnelly commented, “There are two groups here who face a challenge. As a county we have a very intense workload for a PRO, but we have limited resources and funds. On the other hand there are great people here in Kildare with skills, enthusiasm and dedication who are finding it tough to get industry experience under their belt. By working with us in this new internship programme, people with skills in the area of journalism, media, graphic design, marketing and event management will sign up for a number of hours or tasks per week which will be supervised by Kildare GAA and Dundara, and in turn they have referenced experience for their CV under the banner of a highly recognised sporting organisation. In this new partnership, Dundara will be helping us to structure the programme and train the candidates.”

The details of the programme along with how to apply will be announced in June. 

The final strand to the new partnership will involve video and social media training for up to 150 people from the 48 clubs affiliated to Kildare GAA. Dundara Television & Media recently developed a new workshop which trains users how to film and edit a video using just a smartphone. “This workshop will be adapted specifically for GAA clubs in Kildare” commented Enda Grace, owner of Dundara Television & Media. “Simple and effective video can be produced using a smartphone, and after this training workshop, clubs in Kildare will be able to produce their own video content to help them to engage their supporters on a local level”.

“I’m a lifelong supporter of Kildare GAA  so I’m really excited about this partnership” continued Grace, an Allenwood native. “Being a TV production company, and having experience with marketing, we are uniquely placed to assist organisations like Kildare GAA to get in front of their fans in a way that really adds value to their brand. Being part of the structure that delivers that for my home county is a real bonus for me”.

The announcement of the partnership comes ahead of Kildare’s first game in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in Tullamore on Sunday 4th of June. 

Photography by Steve Butler

I’m worried.

Our present will be someone's history project.

Ask yourself this question: If you were to bury a time capsule, would you put everything on a USB drive, or would you put physical items into it?

I am an advocate of digital and social media but I do not believe that it replaces the printed word or the framed photograph. Digital needs to co-exist with the physical or else there will be a void in documented history.

Much of what we know about other civilisations and periods of world history comes from physical artifacts. Our modern existence is hugely influenced and enhanced by the really exciting discoveries of old and ancient documents, drawings and photographs.

Today we live in an age when technology allows us to capture photographs and videos with a device that fits in our pocket. Our ability to share those images with our family and friends is instant. But in the long term, is it lost forever?

While other ‘storage’ media has changed or evolved, paper and print has remained accessible to everyone with complete ease. 

Is our blind trust in today’s technology actually deleting pages from tomorrow’s history books? Will historians look back at the period in the early 21st century and be unable to find photographs and printed records? Or proof we even communicated with one another?

Why are printed materials and photographs important?

So far in my lifetime I have listened to music on vinyl, cassette tape, CD, Minidisc and MP3. That’s 5 different types of playback in less than 4 decades. I bet many of you reading this now would have to think where to find a CD player, let alone a cassette tape deck.

While other ‘storage’ media has changed or evolved, paper and print has remained accessible to everyone with complete ease. And those physical materials form the history of our society and our civilisation - the physical item that is instantly readable or viewable - has survived the test of time.

If you were to bury a time capsule, would you put everything on a USB memory stick, or would you put physical items into it? 

Saint Patrick’s USB drive

It is only since working on TV documentaries that I really appreciate the century’s old documented history left for us to find.

Recently, Dundara Televison & Media created an incredible documentary about the life of Saint Patrick. In it, we interviewed a leading Oxford academic who had analysed “Patrick’s Confessio”. This is a document written by Saint Patrick himself in the 5th century (you are reading that correctly, that’s more than 1,500 years ago!). No other nation can claim to have an original text from their national apostle or saint. Aside from the academic and historic significance, it provided us with a very real means of connecting the viewer with a man and a world that we would otherwise be guessing at. It even formed the basis for an original piece of music which is lyrically accurate.

However, if Saint Patrick had saved it on a USB drive, we would discover that Windows 10 does not recognise the storage device; or that we may need to update the drivers; or if we get that far, the file format may not be recognised. Then the anti-virus software may detect something suspicious and lock it in the vault with all the other spyware and malicious scripts. And that’s assuming manufacturers have left us with a USB port in the first place!

In short, it would not have seen the light of day, or the eyes of anyone who cared, ever again.

I only recently opened a cabinet in my parents’ house to find the complete collection of Britannica Encyclopaedia. Alongside it was 4 A3 size volumes of Webster’s Dictionary, and a huge A2 size Atlas. I remember these books cost thousands of pounds about 25 years ago. They ooze knowledge and history.

I can pick it up a book written in the 12th century and I can INSTANTLY experience it in the exact same way as the first person to read it 900 years ago

You can argue that a Google search or a Wikipedia search will reveal much more current information than these old books, but what if we actually want to see the 25 year old text? Or a 500 year old text for that matter? What about the insight into a society based on writing style, the materials or craftsmanship used to print and bind the documents and books?

What’s more, I can pick up a book written in the 12th century and I can INSTANTLY experience it in the exact same way as the first person to read it 900 years ago. However, if I hand you a Video Cassette like this one, you will struggle to find a player, so we never know if the content is significant. And that’s only a 20 year old form of media.

Books are a really easy example, but a picture is worth a thousand words. For that reason we should be paying more attention to it. 

Imagine if Leonardo da Vinci had never created a physical canvas of the Mona Lisa. Without the physical handwritings and notebooks of da Vinci from the 15th century, we would never have known that he wrote everything in reverse - from right to left. We would not have known he was dyslexic.

Without knowing about his dyslexia, we would never be able to comfort our children (and ourselves) that dyslexia is, in fact, a creative gift that allows the mind to view problems and solutions in a profoundly different way.

[Aside: other dyslexic people include Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone), Albert Einstein (Scientist), Jamie Oliver (Chef and TV Personality) see list 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_diagnosed_with_dyslexia ]

Are you printing your digital photographs?

I recently transferred my photographs from my iPhone to my laptop (because I still don’t trust the cloud!). There were almost two thousand photographs taken in the last 12 months. That’s an average of 5 photographs per day. In that collection is a mix of important moments with the children, amazing national and world events and a family wedding.

I didn’t print one of them.

I did however, once again, say to myself: “One day when I have time I will sort through those (few thousand!) photographs and get some printed”. It has now become a huge task; a chore I have to psych myself up for. It might never be done :-(

I need to access a device that only knows my treasured memories as binary code. Ones and Zeros. 

No Easy Access

In order to relive those moments I need to access a device that only knows my treasured memories as binary code. Ones and zeros. Forget about whether my iPhone might be superseded by another device, I’m certain that eventually the ones and zeros of binary code will be replaced by the next leap forward in computer programming. At that point my memories die with me. And because a generation has stopped printing photographs, history is missing a few chapters.

I believe that if you cannot physically hold it and derive an instant impression from it, it will eventually be inaccessible to you and future generations. It will be lost forever. 

We have placed overwhelming trust in the online safety of our personal data. Now we have misplaced our faith; we believe that somehow these rapidly evolving digital platforms will be an accessible part of our history in future centuries. Meanwhile we don’t know if we will have the easy access to the means of listening to a CD and cassette tape in as little as ten years from now.

I believe that if you cannot physically hold it and derive an instant impression from it (without a battery or a digital display), it will eventually be inaccessible to you and future generations. It will be lost forever.

They say “paper is dead”. I believe that without it, history might not be able to show we even existed.

In November, The Irish Times reported that Radio and Print media were on track to a 12% decline in profits. The primary source for the article is Core Media, the biggest buyer of advertising in Ireland. They show the print market nose diving by 12% and radio advertising down by 5%. Core Media also predict another 8% fall in print advertising revenues in 2017. 

However, during the same period, digital advertising is estimated to rise by at least 18%.

Taking all into account, the advertising market in Ireland will have grown by about 4% in 2016, but if digital is removed, it will have actually shrunk by 2%.

So why is there such a swing towards digital advertising, and in particular towards video?

If the stats do nothing else, they reassure CEOs that approving an increased spend on video content and digital advertising in 2017 was a very smart move.

You need to know why Digital is Important

More video content is uploaded in 30 days than all three major US TV networks combined have created in 30 years!

For those of us who grew up when TV was the only means of watching video content, this is a jaw-dropping statistic. The medium of video was previously only available to those who had budgets in the millions, so a limited amount of content could be created. Now, it’s much more accessible for business and consumers. A large amount of this new video content is User-Generated using a simple mobile device like an iPhone. YouTube reports mobile video consumption is increasing by 100% every year. Video is not going away.

  Consumers WANT to watch video.

Dr. James McQuivey estimates that one minute of video is equal to 1.8 million words*

33% of all online activity is spent watching video*

I’ve bundled these two stats together to illustrate the advantage of video, and fact that consumers WANT to watch video. At this moment it is their preferred method of consuming information. It does come with a caveat: It’s easy to upload a video, but the quality of that video will add or subtract value from your brand. It has the power to make or break your brand.

  the quality of that video will add or subtract value from your brand

It’s not just 20-30 year olds who are watching video...

75% of executives watch work related videos on business websites at least once a week*

59% of Executives would rather watch video than read text*

A regular conversation I have with marketing departments of larger organisations, is that they cannot even have a conversation with the executives about a budget for video. Older executives who grew up in the era of TV, have a subconscious word substitution thing going on with TV and Video. They think “we can’t afford video advertising” because perhaps they could never spend effectively on “TV advertising”. Video marketing and online video has dropped the barriers hugely and allows all businesses and brands to reach customers/clients of all ages – even if they are stereotypical company executives in their 50s! The stats above go a step farther to show that they are even consuming the video content themselves! 

Video is not just for Facebook or YouTube...

Video in an email leads to 200-300% increase in click-through rate*

I love the excitement on the faces of company owners or marketing teams when we discuss the innovative ways that video can be used – in the sales process, customer service, advertising and branding. As effective as Facebook and Google Adwords campaigns can be, your email contact is much more valuable because it goes directly to their inbox. Adding a video to those emails increases the response by 200-300%. That’s a remarkable return on investment!

Real Estate listings that include Video receive 403% more enquiries*

At one point, having high quality professional photographs was enough to sell your property. Now you have to compete with the other listings who are jumping ahead and using video to showcase their property. Everything from a walk through the house to an overhead view from a drone can be used to encourage users to make an enquiry.

Video Advertising makes up 35% of total online spending*

Considering the value of all the products and services purchased online, it says a lot that 35% of all online spending is allocated to getting a message into your line of sight when you go online. 

Users are 3 times more likely to share a video than text**

Do you want to go viral? Well it won’t happen with text.

In a previous post we talked about Organic Reach and how your already existing audience can help you reach a new network when they share your content. If you want to increase your odds threefold then you need to be using video. But again there is a warning. Not every video will stir a viewer to share it, so there is a lot of pre-production and thinking outside the proverbial box required.

36% of online consumers TRUST Video Ads*

And there it is. Trust. If your company or brand has it, then the future is bright. Without it, people will not buy your product or service. By simply having a presence in the video advertising space, you are likely to have 36% of users trust your brand. The ‘credibility’ that was created by advertising on TV seems to have transferred over to video advertising online. 

How many videos do we see per month?

The average user is exposed to more than 30 videos in a month and spends more than 16 minutes per month watching video ads*.  We already know that users are more likely to watch video than read text, so it has never been more important to think about how your business can use video. 

If the stats above show nothing else, they reassure CEOs that approving an increased spend on video content and advertising in 2017 was a very smart move.

For anyone who is either starting out on a social media platform, or is returning to it after a period of time, there is a lot of terminology that can be quite daunting. To help overcome that barrier, here is a list of 11 terms you must know and understand to get started in Social Media Marketing and Advertising.

[a lot of the terms refer to] ways of measuring and monitoring the success of the advert or post

While new language is emerging all the time in this area, a lot of it refers to ways of measuring and monitoring the success of the advert or post. If you can measure it, you can manage it.

It’s important to also remind yourself that marketing is not an event – it’s a process. Don’t give up on something because it doesn’t garner attention the first time you post it to the world, try again at a different time of the day, or with different wording.

Pay-Per-Click

This is a model of selling advertising where you (the advertiser) pays for the number of people who actually CLICK on your ad, taking them to the webpage you have chosen. The best example of this is Google Adwords, where advertisers like you can ‘bid’ for the space higher up the list of ads. The more you are prepared to spend on a click, the better chance you have of getting in front of that prospective customer or client. But if they don’t click, you don’t pay.

Impressions

While Pay-Per-Click is based on the customer clicking on the advert, Impressions refers to the ad simply being displayed on a page that the customer is visiting. Traditionally, you paid for this impression even if the customer did not scroll down to see the ad. Recently there is a move to Viewable Impressions, which requires the customer to have actually seen the ad for a defined period of time (e.g. 1 second).

Click-through Rate (CTR)

This is a really good tool for measuring how effective your ad is. It shows the rate at which people actually “clicked-through” on your ad or link. It’s based on a simple formula which shows the percentage of people who clicked on your link from the total number who actually viewed it. This is especially useful when comparing the success of one campaign to another, or the same campaign run at different times of the year.

Conversion Rate

This is often be confused with Click-through rate, but it is very different. Once a customer visits your website, there should be an action you want them to take – for example, sign up to your email list, or purchase a product. If you have 100 visitors, and 1 visitor makes a purchase, then your conversion rate is 1 per cent. There are many factors which influence this rate, including the layout of the page (there are many studies on this), the visitor’s position in the buying decision, easy payment options etc. Making small changes and monitoring the conversion rate allows you to be much more effective with your marketing.

Engagement

The easiest example of engagement in social media is when you click the ‘Like’ button on a Facebook post. When you do that, you’ve just “engaged” with that post. As people scroll through the never-ending newsfeed, it’s easy to just view a post and move on. However, there are motivational and human behaviour issues which influence whether a person will acknowledge that post with a ‘Like’, ‘comment’ or ‘share’. Other platforms will have different terms, but the popular types of engagement are comment, share, reply and retweet.

Organic Reach

This is the number of people who have seen your Facebook post without you having to spend money to promote it. Reach is a measurement tool most seen on Facebook pages (not on your personal profile). If your page has 1,000 likes, it is possible that your Organic Reach could be much higher on a post. This happens when people ‘Share’ your post. In this case, they have just allowed you to reach their network, or their friends. They will see it in their newsfeed, and perhaps they will share it too – expanding your organic reach even further.

Paid Reach

As part of your online advertising strategy, you may decide to “boost post” on Facebook, or take out an ad. Facebook in particular provides the facility to target people in a specific area, or with particular interests. You can even limit the age and gender of who you want to see the sponsored post. Those people who have seen your post as a ‘sponsored post’ are in the Paid Reach category.

Real-Time Marketing

Timing is everything. Being ready to take advantage of the moment is key. The most respected example of Real-Time Marketing was executed by OREO. In 2013, there was a power outage at the biggest sporting event of the year – The Superbowl. OREO had a social media employee who I imagine got a promotion...

The crowd in the stadium and the millions watching at home were wating for 34 minutes. That is a captive audience. And OREO nailed it.

Another example is NASA who used the success of the movie Gravity  as a way to put their brand and their message in front of social media users.

Evergreen Content

Real-Time Marketing is very time specific, and there is a limited window of opportunity. Also, there are seasons of the year that require a specific message or a style (e.g. snow at Christmas would not be so appropriate for St Patrick’s Day). “Evergreen Content” is content that is always relevant. It can be posted at any time of the year and will still be relevant. Evergreen Content does not go out of date. 

User Generated Content (UGC)

Content that is created by a user of a network is “User-Generated Content”. This can be a blog, audio, video, photo, tweet or testimonial. User-Generated Content is your customers promoting your brand for you. The two best examples are the Coca-Cola campaign in which they changed the product labelling to include a name and a call to action -  “Share a coke with...” . People took photos and posted them to social media, tagging their friends when they found their name on the shelf.  

Invisalign is another example of UGC. They often post to their social media asking a question: “What retainer are you on?” or they will request a followers to post a smile and tag Invisalign. The interesting thing about this company is that their followers are happy to post their new smile without need for a reward. They’re just happy with the results of the service.

Scheduling

One the concerns I hear again and again is clients who worry that they do not have time for social media, or that their week gets crazy and they don’t get to sit down and post regularly. There are some really great solutions out there for scheduling posts in advance across all your social platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter etc.). Facebook also has a native scheduling option for posts on pages. If you plan your week in advance, you can schedule a week or two weeks of content and while you are crazy busy dealing with the Christmas rush, it’s still posting content to your network. It’s amazing what 30 minutes of post scheduling can do once per week.

Easy way to get started NOW! :-)

Now that you have read the crash course in the terminology, how do you think you can use it? There are few things more frustrating that not knowing where to start, so here’s something to get you going. 

Post a question on your Facebook Page each day this week. Schedule it in advance and let us know how you get on...

All video links, All the Statistics to Date. Who launched their ad first? Who has the most views? How are they using #Hashtags?

I've just spent the last day watching Christmas Adverts and noting the different approaches to Video Production, Video Promotion, Social Engagement, and Joined Up Thinking. Very different approaches by the retailers, from duration to content.

John Lewis still tops the poll with 46 Million Views and over 800,000 shares in 6 days! (If I had a hat, I'd tip it!). There is no doubt that John Lewis has again demonstrated that they own the Christmas Ad space in the mind of the public, even after producing a poor video advert.

The John Lewis “Buster the Boxer” ad this year is widely considered to be a flop from the viewers point of view, while M&S steals the show with a very modern Mrs Claus/Secret Agent character.. But the viewing and engagement figures still favour John Lewis.

There is no doubt that John Lewis has again demonstrated that they own the Christmas Ad space in the mind of the public, even after producing a poor video advert.

Sainsbury's have gone after the top spot quite aggressively this year with an animated ad featuring an original song performed by James Corden, which could beat The X-Factor finalist to the Christmas Number 1 spot - interestingly, a Number 1 spot not being chased by any other retailer. Sun Tzu would be proud of that one. Well done Sainsbury's!

Sun Tzu would be proud of that one. Well done Sainsbury's! 

Tesco has opted to put out a very ordinary, low budget (by Christmas Ad standards) advert and has been passed out in views by Aldi and Lidl.

It should be noted that ALDI Ireland and ALDI UK are running the same advert (Kevin the Carrot) while LIDL Ireland seems to be the only advert uploaded for that retailer. The UK are either holding off on their upload, or they are not entering the race this year.

So, Who launched their Christmas Advert first?

Tesco (6 November)Aldi (7 November)John Lewis (9 November) Lidl (11 November)M&S (11 November)Sainsbury's (13 November)

We will not really know the success of these campaigns until 25 December, but the initial analytics give us an idea of the performance so far.

Big Difference between Facebook and Youtube Performance

The figures for Facebook views and YouTube views tell an interesting story. John Lewis has more views on Facebook than on YouTube, but M&S has almost 10 times more views on YouTube than Facebook. The YouTube figures suggest that people are actively searching for the John Lewis, M&S and Aldi advert in YouTube more than viewing it in the Facebook Newsfeed.

The YouTube figures suggest that people are actively searching for the John Lewis and M&S advert  

Facebook: Who is winning the most views and shares?

(Figures on 16 November 2016)

John Lewis – 31 Million views / 841,299 sharesALDI – 4.1 Million Views / 30,855 sharesSainsbury's - 733,000 views / 11,000 sharesM&S – 600,000 views  / 5,000 sharesLIDL Ireland – 1 Million / 4,500 sharesTesco – 1 Million Views / 1,000 shares

Youtube: Who is winning the most views?

(Figures on 16 November 2016)

John Lewis – 16 Million viewsM&S – 5 Million ViewsSainsbury's - 2.5 Million ViewsALDI – 1.2 Million ViewsLIDL Ireland – 151,000 ViewsTesco – 23,000 Views

 So many things to consider...

 To help compare the adverts, some critical online marketing and video production elements are looked at. These include

Uploaded/Posted – when did the retailer post the video, and at what timeCampaign Slogan – Have the retailers named their campaign, or just made an advertDuration – This is critical for social media... but Christmas breaks all the rulesPrincipal Character – people, animals and vegetables all feature this yearLocation – realistic and magical both find their way into 2016 campaignsUse of Snow – Snow is iconic at Christmas, even though we rarely have itSoundtrack – Music subconsciously establishes the emotion of the advert so is equally as important as the visualsViews to date – looking at views on YouTube and Facebook up to 16 November 2016Use of #Hashtag – this tells us if the advert is linked to a wider social media campaign

John Lewis - #Buster the Boxer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr6lr_VRsEo 

Uploaded: YouTube 9 November 2016 / Facebook Post 10 November 7.38amCampaign Slogan:  “Gifts that everyone will love”Call to Action: “Continue the story #BusterTheBoxer”Duration:  2min10secPrinciple Character: Dog (Boxer)Location: 3 Bed, City/Urban homeSnow: YesSoundtrack: “One Day I’ll Fly Away”, Female Vocal, OrchestraViews to date: 15,848,889 / 31MFacebook Shares to date:841,299Hashtag: #BusterTheBoxer

M&S – Christmas with love from Mrs Claus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5QPXhStb5I 

Uploaded: YouTube 11 November 2016 / Facebook Post 12 November 3.40pmCampaign Slogan: Christmas with LoveDuration:  3min00secPrinciple Character: Mrs Claus, Secret Agent styleLocation: The North Pole, City of LondonSnow: YesSoundtrack: instrumental - Orchestral, Epic, break down to pianoViews to date: YouTube 4,993,510 / Facebook 601,000Facebook Shares to date: 5,000Hashtag: #LOVEMRSCLAUS

Sainsbury's – The Greatest Gift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq5SGSCZe4E 

Uploaded: YouTube 13 November 2016 / Facebook Post 14 November 7.20amCampaign Slogan: Christmas is for Sharing / Helping families be TogetherDuration: 3min35secPrinciple Character: Dave, a hard working Dad with no time to shop for giftsLocation: Toy factory, family urban home, shops, train, British citySnow: YesSoundtrack: Original, sung by James Corben,Orchestra with rhythm sectionViews to date: YouTube 2,422,580 / Facebook 733,000Facebook Shares to date:11,000Hashtag: NoneNOTE: James Corden could be this years Christmas Number 1, beating The X Factor finalist. He hit Number 1 in 2010 with world cup song Shout.This Sainsbury's ad first played on TV during I’m a Celebrity on a Sunday night.

Tesco – Bring it On

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37BWlK4VHRo

NOTE: FB ad has creatively displayed conversaton text on screenUploaded: YouTube 6 November 2016 / Facebook Post 7 November 5.15pmCampaign Slogan: Bring it OnDuration: 1min00secPrinciple Character: Red headed womanLocation: Tesco storeSnow: NoSoundtrack: Voiceover of principle characters thoughts, faint store music Slade, Merry Christmas EveryoneViews to date: YouTube 23,808 / Facebook 1 MillionFacebook Shares to date: 1,000Hashtag: None

Aldi (UK and Ireland) – Kevin the Carrot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCZrWFrRgbQ 

Uploaded: YouTube 7 November 2016 / Facebook 7 November 11.48amCampaign Slogan: Everyday AmazingDuration: 1min00secPrinciple Character: Kevin the CarrotLocation: Urban/City Family home, Christmas dinner tableSnow: YesSoundtrack: Narrated poem, orchestral soundtrackViews to date: YouTube 1,135,016 / Facebook 4.1 MillionFacebook Shares to date: 30,855Hashtag: #KevinTheCarrot

Lidl (Ireland)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EExOzDyeIi4 

Uploaded: YouTube 11 November 2016 / Facebook Post 11 November 10.30amCampaign Slogan: Share more special momentsDuration: 1min00secPrinciple Character: GrandfatherLocation: Abandoned rural family homeSnow: YesSoundtrack: “Have Yourself and Merry Little Christmas” Female Vocal, OrchestraViews to date: YouTube 151,734 / Facebook 1 MillionFacebook Shares to date:4,500Hashtag: None

My Own Personal Favourite... it's an oldie but a goodie!

My own personal favourite was actually a mini-documentary style. WestJet’s Christmas Miraclefrom 9 december 2013 with 45 Million views!! 73,000 FB Views, 1543 shares.

This was real, understandable by the audience, had good use of technology, fast paced present buying, and real reactions from people. Impressive.

WestJet Christmas Miracle: real-time giving

written by Alan Brereton

Media Producer | TV Presenter | Keynote Speaker

www.dundaraproductions.ie

Alan has expertise in the areas of Luxury Brand Management, Live Events, TV and Video Production, Law and Human Resources. He has worked with high level clients to deliver TV and Social Media communication plans and specialises is Corporate Documentary and Content Marketing.

Trump raised only half of Clinton’s whopping $1 billion fundraising total, but he invested heavily in Online Advertising. 

As I tracked the Trump and Clinton campaigns over the last 6 months, a thought occured to me that in hindsight should have been more obvious. These two incredibly well funded campaigns are competing for the same online space in the social media newsfeed as my neighbours who are asking people to look for their missing dog. Until such time as they start spending on online advertising, they will compete equally. When the Google Adwords and the Facebook Sponsored Posts appear, it all changes.

It is well documented how important digital media is for business. Even with only half of the $1bn campaign budget that Clinton raised, the Trump campaign spent 5x more than the Clinton campaign on online advertising in the month before the election. 

In 2007, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes left the company to join the election campaign for a little known Illinois Senator. Chris would head up a new department for that campaign that would eventually lead to that Senator holding the office of President of the United States for 8 years.

The Barack Obama campaign used technology, online marketing and social networks in a way that had never been done before in a Presidential election. The result in 2008 was Obama winning 365 electoral votes, compared to McCain’s 173. Suddenly the value of online marketing was made very obvious to the world.

Google took 50% of the Obama campaign’s online budget in 2008, coming in at $7.5m. Facebook was also in the top 5 with over half a million dollars. In 2008, this particular department of The Obama campaign was known as “New Media”.

In 2008, Obama raised $500m dollars through online methods. That was a hefty chunk of the €750m raised in total by the campaign. In one month alone, a figure of $55m was raised online without Barack Obama attending a single fundraiser. Data, technology and digital marketing was revolutionising how they fund-raised: and how they recruited and mobilised the democrats on a local level. [source: interview with Adam L. Penenberg ]

It is interesting to note that in 2008, this particular department of The Obama campaign was known as “New Media”. This was just 8 years ago. How quickly the marketing landscape has changed.

So is Digital Marketing and Online Advertising the New Secret to winning an election?

Looking at the spending figures in 2016, Trump embraced online advertising much more than the Clinton Campaign.

October 2016 Advertising Spending (source: Bloomberg)

Media Buys (Traditional Media)

Trump $19.3m | Clinton $30.3m

Online Advertising

Trump $14.2m | Clinton $ 3.1m 

The Trump campaign seemed to be following an Obama model in terms of the allocation of spending. And in doing that he connected with a neglected audience in their 20s and 30s who found a leader in their social media newsfeed. He connected with a neglected audiencein their 20s and 30s who found a leader in their social media newsfeed. 

Why the Obama Online Model worked for Trump

To drive some form of behaviour (a vote, a purchase), the content must instil TRUST. Trump has awoken groups of people who had lost faith in politics and Washington. He offered a breath of fresh air because he is not a career politician. 

The Trump message connected with a large percentage of Republican voters because CONTENT is king! Advertising is your method of delivery. Increasing the spend gets the content (or the person) in front of your audience faster, and more frequently. 

Furthermore, according to CNN research, Clinton struggled with the millennials demographic (mid 30s). They are the generation taking their cues from online content. And that’s who Trump went after.

Trump’s position on the issues (the Mexican wall, ISIS) and the scandals (sexual activity) resulted in a systematic loss of the support of the voters, the Republican Party and other influential public figures. The content of the campaign and the man on screen was, at this point, toxic.

Yet, without full party support he has been elected President of the United States. And in doing so he flipped traditional Democratic counties and states to vote Republican. He flipped traditional Democratic counties and states to vote Republican. 

Knowing your audience, and what’s important to them, is vital before creating content. 

What can your business learn from the US Election?

Video and all other content (articles, blog posts, photographs) are how you can connect and build trust with your audience. It’s not enough to simply upload a video, or post a photograph. You MUST look in a detailed way at how the content, the production quality and the chosen platform ALL WORK TOGETHER to CONNECT with your audience.. A marketing and advertising budget without a strategy and good content can do more damage than spending nothing at all.

And finally, if Donald Trump and my neighbour’s dog are looking at me in my newsfeed, there is no reason why your company message cannot be there too. It’s there for the taking as Donald Trump would (distastefully) suggest...

Alan Brereton

Creative Executive | TV Presenter

www.DundaraProductions.ie

From the 20th - 22nd September Dundara Productions produced 21 hours of live television from the 85th National Ploughing Championships at Screggan near Tullamore for Irish TV.

We went live every day from midday until 7pm with a mix of news, opinion and entertainment. The ambitious coverage was a showcase for exhibitors and the visitor at the festival with reports, interviews and analysis on everything from agriculture to politics to celebrity attendees.

For Dundara Productions, being charged with producing this mammoth live production meant bringing together all of our team and working closely with Irish TV to achieve a quality broadcast to beam around the world on the various platforms the channel is currently on.

For Dundara's producer Enda Grace, it was a challenge he relished.

"I wanted the scale of the event itself to be reflected within the broadcast. Organisers Anna May and Anna Marie McHugh put their heart and soul into the Ploughing Championships and so I knew that nothing short of blood, sweat and tears from myself and the crew would suffice. We channeled all of the expertise within Dundara into production value as well as aiming for a mix of the person on the street with the well known high profile names for interview in studio and on the ground."

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The ambitious schedule read as follows:

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12pm-3pm: Ploughing Live 2016 presented by Ken Murray took a look at the political landscape as it currently stands and how it affects Ireland’s farming communities. Guests included leader of Fianna Fail Micheal Martin, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, the US ambassador to Ireland Kevin O'Malley, Minister for Housing, Planning & Local Government Simon Coveney, Minister for Communications Denis Naughten and a delegation from New Zealand including Sir Lockwood Smith - New Zealand High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Daniel Taylor - New Zealand Trade Commissioner, United Kingdom & Ireland and Brent Pope – Former New Zealand Rugby Player and well known TV Pundit.

3pm - 5pm: Grassroots Live: Hosted by our own Alan Brereton, this was an extension of the popular weekly Wednesday night Grassroots programme which is produced by Dundara Productions. Alan delved into the agricultural sector to finding out what is important to farmers now, particularly post Brexit. Guests included ICMSA president John Comer, Gerald Fleming from Met Eireann, Fianna Fail agriculture spokesperson Charlie McConnalogue and the NPA Managing Director Anna May McHugh.

5pm - 6pm: From Farm to Fork: An entertainment hour presented by Rebecca Horan, featuring some very special guests over the three days. Chef Paul Trevaud brought his inimitable style of cooking to the show putting together some classy dishes made with the finest ingredients all sourced from stands at the ploughing festival. Guests included Nuala Carey, DJ Lisa Lashes, Marty Whelan, Sean Dafoe from Newstalk and writer Lorna Sixsmith.

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6pm - 7pm: The ever popular Malachi Cush and country music legend Susan McCann raised the tempo with a live music programme with plenty of fun and great musical guests. These included Declan Nerney, Lee Matthews, Cliona Hagan, The Fureys and Hurricane Highway.

Our roving reporters Amy Kelly and Sile NiDheargain out in the field spoke live to attendees and celebs including Jamie Heaslip, Rachel Allen, Alan Quinlan, The Happy Pear twins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny. They also took part in many novel events including  tractor football! Other well known faces we spoke with included Marty Morrissey, Daragh McCullagh, All Ireland Hurling Final referee Brian Gavin and Brendan Howlin.

Every hour on the hour we broadcast live news and weather bulletins with Irish TV's new news anchor Jennifer Conway.