1. The Inside Edge
The MEC Ireland Newsletter
www.mecglobal.ie
Inaugural Thought Leadership Debate at MEC
Quarter 4, 2011– Issue number:12
The inaugural MEC Thought Leadership Debate (TLD) took place in the
IN THIS ISSUE: MEC offices on November 16th and was met with positive reaction from the
industry.
P1: MEC’s Thought Leadership Debate
MEC have taken the initiative to run a series of debates over the next year,
P2 : Brand Ireland
to encourage discussion & constructive criticism of our industry. The aim
P3: Media Focus: Advertising Eco
Systems by Aidan McCullen of the first debate was to take a holistic view, question what we do well &
P4: Programme Focus: X Factor & what we could do better, then learn from this and do something practical
Social Media with the findings.
P5: Media Focus: Mobile & this year’s
SWOTYs A host of industry leaders were invited to take part in the event which was chaired
P6-7: Media Developments in 2012 by IMJ’s John McGee. David Hayes opened the night by praising the resilience of
P8: MEC in Action media as an industry & it’s continuing and growing creativity. Afterwards, each
speaker was allocated three minutes to state their response before it was opened to
the floor to discuss any underlining issues further.
The most common positive thought centred on relationships; those between suppliers and
media agencies and the focus on getting things done.
Advertising Worth There was talk of ambition, of a collective desire to rediscover growth. Homage was paid to
the newly founded media awards, while it was stated that 2012 would be the year of the
Nobody truthfully knows how much the mobile.
advertising industry is worth in Ireland. The role the industry has played in maintaining employment was discussed, with Dublin’s
Digital spends are still not accounted for, and
acclaimed position as a digital centre of excellence praised.
within the last couple of months, press as a
result of hyper inflation is now being reported
at an agreed agency discount. Figures
below are from Nielsen Ad Dynamix, and
those for online are MEC estimates.
Expenditure 1/11/10 – 31/10/11
€1,037,084,962
1% Respect was also paid to ‘traditional’ media whose promptness to progress digitally has
9% 9% Cinema helped them maintain their share of the pie. The Daily Mail was lauded for winning the best
Outdoor overall app at this year’s Appys.
Press As to what the industry could do better, there was a desire to re-discover who we are; not
30%
Radio just as an industry, but as a country. We should remind ourselves that we are world class
42% communication providers. We should promote Brand Ireland. We are a young progressive
TV
country, filled with early adopters with enthusiasm for new brands. This points needs to be
9% Digital sold to advertisers abroad.
Total Spend Decline since 2009 It was judged that we’ve never seen ourselves as a collective industry, thus do not know
from €1.134bn in 2009 to €1.037bn this year our worth. The value chain is flawed and we have managed to cheapen our work.
1.2
1.1
1 "We think the debate has moved on from just the cost of media - which is important, but the
0.9 real question most clients want answered is, did it work, did we get a return on what we
0.8
0.7
2009 spent? That's our focus as an agency”.
0.6 2010
0.5 MEC are developing a tangible follow-up and are working with the debate's participants on
2011
0.4 this, the results of which will be disclosed in early 2012.
0.3
0.2
It’s proposed that the next debate will cover digital (specific details TBC) and we look
0.1
0 forward to welcoming new contributors participation.

2. TOP COUNTRY BRAND INDEX
Brand Ireland’s World Rankings
1.Canada 11. Germany
The Thought Leadership debate drew questions on Ireland as a
2. Switzerland 12.Norway brand and how it should be represented on a world stage to attract
more advertising revenue to the market. A question which must be
3. New Zealand 13. UK
answered though is “How is Brand Ireland viewed now?”
4.Japan 14. Spain
5. Australia 15. Spain
A recent research paper by Future Brand which created a country brand index for
2011/2012 looks at the importance of country branding for tourism and
6. United States 16. Singapore investment. The research paper which examined 113 countries looked at five
key parameters for developing the brand index: Value System, Quality of Life,
7. Sweden 17. Austria Good for Business, Heritage and Culture and Tourism.
8.Finland 18.Maldives Ireland failed to appear in the Top Ten overall brand index coming in at number
20 of the 113 measured moving down 3 places since 2010. In Europe, Ireland
9. France 19. Iceland
ranked 13th again sliding three places from 2010.
10. Italy 20. IRELAND
Of the five dimensions measured, Ireland appeared in all except Tourism.
Despite heavy investment by Tourism Ireland in promoting Ireland abroad it
Newspapers reverting to Paywall failed to appear within the top 25 countries affecting the overall score of the
With many newspapers struggling with index.
decreasing circulation figures, it was a bold
move by the New York Times to introduce a Interestingly Ireland appeared as number 18 for the Value System dimension –
Pay Wall by which readers have to pay to an improvement of 2 places since 2010. Value System dimension is based on
access the newspaper online. Readers can
political freedom, tolerance, stable legal environment, freedom of speech, and
access 19 articles per month before being
environmental friendliness. Ireland also improved by 2 places in the Good for
charged. (FT, charge after 3 articles have
Business and Heritage and Culture. The most marked improvement comes in
been read.) With circulation figures actually
increasing both online and for home Quality of Life, Ireland sits in position 22 but have improved by 5 places since
deliveries after the introduction, it 2010.
demonstrates that readers are willing to pay
for news content online if the offering is There is no doubting that Ireland’s economic situation and the intervention of IMF
strong enough. as well as issues with the Irish Political Arena have impacted on Brand Ireland.
In Ireland a similar move has recently been
Despite the visits of Barack Obama and The Queen catapulting Ireland onto the
made by Sunday Business Post.
world stage it has failed to convert into a higher index ranking. Ireland’s ability to
Simultaneously, they have launched Daily
recover from the economic downturn however as well as its favourable tax rates
Business Post, an online-only free digital
news service for International Companies should continue to boost performance in the
parameters of Value System and Good for Business. It is clear that Tourism
Starbucks mobile payments Ireland have some way to go to improve Ireland’s standing in this arena in order
Starbucks is installing a mobile payment to improve the overall brand ranking.
system in the form of an iPhone app into 700
of its outlets across the UK and Ireland.
Following the successful US roll-out, the
Starbucks app will be available for iPhone
and iPod Touch users from 5th of January
2012 and allows consumers to pay for their
items through their phone with the aim to
reduce transaction time by around 10
seconds. Good news for grumpy pre coffee
customers who hate to wait!

3. News Bites Media Focus: Advertising Eco-Systems
By Aidan McCullen Communicorp Digital
MEC has commenced an advertising
campaign, on RoI . Commencing as a FPC When you think back to when Apple unveiled iTunes, it was simply
in the Irish Times, the campaign has a music player which organised your music collection in a neat way.
moved online so be sure keep an eye out
It offered a far better user experience than its main competitor
for it.
winamp. People flocked to it whether they were Apple product users
or not, it was available for window or Mac users alike.
Now we know it was far more than a great tool to organise your music collection. It is an
essential element in the Apple eco-system. The Apple eco-system is very obvious with
“Apple households” where Mum and Dad have iPhones, the kids have iPod touches and
the family sit together watching Apple TV while tweeting on the iPad. Steve Jobs' vision
was that the Mac computer would be the central hub for all Apple devices.
Keeping that idea of a central hub in mind now let us look at the other Apple revenue
machine: Apps. According to Canalys research App Stores are expected to bring in $7.3
billion in revenue in 2011 and reach $36.7 billion by 2015.
Now let us connect the dots. iTunes lives on Apple connected devices, which all
seamlessly work together. While iTunes started as a great music organisation tool it has
now realised its potential as a digital marketplace. iTunes has now become a digital news
stand, record store, book shop, movie rental store.
While iTunes started as a minimal product offering it has become the hub of a commercial
eco-system. Advertising can be approached in a similar manner.
Digital Radio Stats
Station Facebook
Followers
The Communicorp Digital Eco-System
Spin 1038 127,507
Like iTunes, radio serves a core purpose. Radio is a medium to keep people company and
FM104 119,165 up to date with current affairs, topics of interest and of course music. Advertising is of
Spin SW 75,850 course the way to pay for radio and hopefully generate a profit.
Today FM 58,357
With Communicorp Digital we approach digital innovations in the same manner as the
98FM 39,062 iTunes model. We create tools like apps; concentrate on user experience and providing
unique content. Then, we gradually introduce advertising, while maintaining user
experience as much as possible. (Bearing in mind given the choice users will always say
no to advertising). So, just like iTunes created a delivery vehicle for apps, music and
eBooks digital innovations can create a delivery vehicle for advertising.
Station App Downloads
Let's now take a practical example. In 2009 we took the decision to create "Radio You Can
Spin 1038 107,620
See"; this is a live video stream of each studio. We decided that we are not a Radio group,
FM104 90,000 but a media group and we serve content, not just audio content. This offered a new media
Spin SW 7,761 consumption experience for our audience. It also allows us to provide a visual experience
for that audience. We now have over 130,000 unique viewers of Radio you can see per
Today FM 145,526
month. From a delivery vehicle perspective, it allowed us deliver video pre-roll, where we
98FM 78,440 previously could not. We have just launched a social Media player on www.spin1038.com
where our audience can tweet or comment via Facebook on what they are watching
online. Just like iTunes matured to deliver its reason for being, Radio You Can See, as well
as providing an enhanced user experience has become a delivery vehicle for advertising.

4. TV3.ie & 3Player Programme Focus: X Factor
X Factor Stats
It’s almost impossible not to have an opinion on The X Factor. This year is no exception,
whether it was Frankie’s forced exit, or the alleged bickering among the judges, it has us
TV3.IE 3PLAYER TOTAL glued to our tellies. Or does it? Weekly figures from the UK has it losing figures on a
Unique weekly basis, and it’s no different here. Viewership from 2006 – 2008 show consistent
Users 18,000 10,000 28,000 ratings, which then reach significant heights both in 2009 and 2010. From an Irish point of
view, It’s no coincidence then that these were also the years that Mary Byrne and Jedward
Visits - took part in the competition. This year however, the numbers failed to meet last years
25,000 12,000 37,000
benchmark
Pageviews
50,000 25,000 75,000 TVRs (avg) Live Shows Sat /Sun Sep – Nov ONLY
Av
Year A15+ A15-24 A15-34
Time/Site 16:39 19:11 17:31
Videos 2006 6.6 5.7 7.8
Played 20,000 20,000 40,000 2007 6.5 5.6 7.3
Fastest Facebook & Twitter grown 2008 7.9 7.2 8.7
growth during live show over the 2009 11.9 13 13.6
past couple of weeks
2010 18 15.1 18.8
2011 11.8 10 13.1
But rather than quickly dismiss the dwindling numbers as less eye balls seeing our brands,
it’s worth considering all the other ways that viewers engage with the show. Along with the
strong performance online (above left) it’s worth looking at how the show fairs both on and
with social media. Every Saturday and Sunday night, X factor related topics trends both in
the UK and Ireland. Be it the guests, the contestants or the judges. Without fail, the twitter
audience are actively watching and speaking about this show. Interestingly too, those who
are in the finals, have had the most gains in fans/followers over the past few weeks. The
Wall Blog (wallblog.ie) has been following social media patterns since the beginning of the
X Factor live shows theorising that whoever makes the most social media gains, be it on
Facebook or Twitter, survive. Little Mix have made the biggest gains most recently, thus if
the trends on social media are anything to go by, we have our winner! But how do we
translate this insight for our brands? If consumers are engaged so intensely with social
Creative Advertising: media, surely this platform offers us the opportunity for brands to speak with their
Innocent’s Big Knit ad the Irish Times consumers. Below are four key areas that we believe can apply to most if not all brands.
Top Tips for Brands Using Social Media
Release data on social media exclusively, means that it will
Premiering Content more likely spread faster
Watching TV and on social media at the same time. Viewers
Second Screen Apps 'talk' to each other during shows
Speaking with fans who use the '‘hashtag' on twitter,
Connect with Fans commenting on Facebook
Integrating social media. X Factor speak to it's fans
Being Part of the Show throughout the show

5. Fast Facebook Facts Media Focus: Mobile
IAB and PwC estimate that the Irish mobile display market was worth over €1.6
• There are over 2 billion likes generated
million for the first half of this year, This figure does not take into account mobile
on Facebook everyday globally and
search.
over 1.75 billion photos uploaded every
week With the roll out of new technology in Ireland the mobile advertising market is
rapidly increasing. Opportunities now include location based text message
• There are 350 million active Facebook
targeting from O2. We can now reach consumers when they enter a pre-defined
mobile users in the world
area by delivering them a relevant message directly to their phone; We can
speak to them when they’re near a retail outlet, gym even hospitals. The key for
• In Ireland, Facebook users have
doubled in the last 2 years brands is to keep the the message relevant and targeted to their audience.
The rate of advertisers messages being opened are averaging at an astonishing
• That equates to 2,014,100 accounts
97% versus a 10-20% open rate for email messages. Furthermore, redemption
rates are between 2.5% to 8%, again much higher than the 1% redemption rates
• Or 44% of the population
of paper print outs.
• 1.052M are women .921M are men
In 2012, we will also see more HTML advertising opportunities available to the
mobile market in Ireland, making rich media advertising possible on this format.
• Dublin City has the most people on
The user experience will be more interactive, more content driven and ultimately
Facebook, with 780,000 users
more engaging.
• 18-34 year olds make up more than half
At last we are finally in the year(s) of mobile – exciting times ahead.
the Irish users, or 1.095M
• Alcohol dominates the most liked pages Specsavers Spectacle Wearer of
in Ireland with Baileys, Guinness and
Jameson being the top three with over
a quarter of a million likes each
the Year Awards 2011
This year Specsavers held their annual Spectacle Wearer of the Year awards in
• Pennys, Oxegen Music Festival, Tayto,
Tourism Ireland, Captain Morgans, Ben London’s Battersea power station, an iconic building that was illuminated green
and Jerrys and Ryan Air make up the with giant Specsavers logos for the event. Gok Wan, Specsavers celebrity brand
remaining seven of the top ten pages: ambassador hosted the show and interviewed contestants on the night. Grace
Source: Edelman.ie Healy represented Ireland at the event; she is currently studying drama in Trinity
College Dublin, her drama experience certainly shone through on the catwalk.
Grace, out of thousands of entries, was awarded an amazing second place on
the night, winning a trip to Paris and a modelling contract. The judges voted Lucie
London’s Battersea power station lit Stevenson from Scotland as Spectacle Wearer of the Year 2011.
up by Specsavers For fans who could not make the event, regular updates were made on the
Specsavers Ireland Facebook page by MEC’s very own Louise O’ Gorman.
Pictures and news from the event provided fans with a virtual ‘backstage pass’ to
the event. Inviting non-attendees to comment and react as the event unfolded
live enabled Specsavers to interact with a larger audience on the night.
On Twitter, people were also able to follow the subject #SWOTY for broader
insights and pictures as the night unfolded from both celebrities and attendees.
This event was a first for @mecireland to live tweet from.
The event was a great success with comments and interaction on the
Specsavers Ireland FB page continuing long after the event. Live blogging and
social media updates not only further extend the ‘shelf life’ of events, they also
bring the consumer closer to it and engage them longer.

6. #Twitter fast facts New Developments in Media
• The number of adults in Ireland Some of the developments that came to the fore in 2011 and that
over the age of 15 with a have added even more possibilities to our media communications
Twitter account has grown
span from product placement to watching TV online to watching
from 7% to 11% in a year, or 385,000
people our press ads come to life in 3D on our phone. Below are just a
sample of what we came across.
• Approximately 60,000 unique users
active per each rolling 5 day period. TV3s Challenge to the RTE Share Dealing: RTE have for some time
Average of 159,000 tweets were sent per conducted the practice of share dealing, a process whereby RTE insisted on
day (over 31 day period)
achieving a majority share of advertising spend in return for a preferred discount.
Recently, the Competition Authority gave their ruling on a complaint TV3 made
• 47% of tweeters sent only one tweet in a
against RTE’s share dealing policy for TV advertising. The complaint was in
5 day period
relation to Section 5 of the Competition Act 2002 - ‘Any abuse by one or more
• 78% sent less than 10 tweets in a 5 day undertakings of a dominant position in trade for any goods or services in the
period State or in any part of the State is prohibited’. There is no doubt that share
dealing was a restrictive practice and MEC cautiously welcome the suspension of
• 22% sent 10 or more tweets and it next year. However RTE have yet to announce how they intend to replace it so
accounted for 85% of all tweets
we think it is prudent to suspend judgement until it has been revealed.
• Re-tweets on Twitter account for 8-10%
Product Placement: On Monday 2nd May,
of traffic
the new code for product placement in Ireland
• 71% of Irish journalists use Twitter as a came into effect. Whilst TV3 led the way
news source allowing for PP in their home grown shows
such as The Apprentice, Take Me Out and
• Ruth Ní Fhloinn claims to have started their GAA coverage, RTE joined ranks by
#SeanOBrienFacts allowing the corner store in Fair City to be
bought out by Spar. The new shop was unveiled in the December 6th episode
• MEC are on twitter, follow us on
and is part of an overall Fair City marketing and sponsorship investment of
@mecireland
€900,000 by BWG Foods.
• Source Ipsos MRBI; Knexsy
Blippar: Before reading on, we urge you to download the Blipper app on your
Blipp and enjoy
smart phone. Once you’ve done it, press the button and scan over the Jurassic
Park ad to your left. Voilà. Amazing piece of technology that allows your smart
phone to interact with a static press ad. Not only are the ads brought to life, the
consumer can be lead directly to a website/video without the hassle of typing in a
URL. Isn’t a QR code the same thing you may ask? If you download the app and
see what it can do, you won’t ask this question again. Blipper is exclusively
available in Ireland with the Metro Herald until December 2011.
Augmented reality in the UK however, is working on another level, as Tesco UK
are trailing it both in-store and online, helping them to sell more bulky products,
including consumer electronics. Consumers can use the in-store technology to
generate a 3D image of a product and find out its specifications by holding a
product key or Tesco Direct catalogue up to a webcam. The aim is literally to
reduce the amount of space these bulkier items normally take up. Some 40
products are being trialled in the augmented reality initiative including televisions
and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Lego. Check it out on
http://www.tesco.com/augmented-reality

7. News Bites New Developments in Media
Late Late Toy Show
This year’s Late Late Toy Show has once Itagged Launched by Kinetic, is a new mobile app set to
again broken records, beating last year’s
phenomenal numbers. It was watched by an challenge QRs. It allows consumers to download branded
average audience of 1,414,300 people, an content directly from media onto their smart phones and tablet
increase of almost 7,000 viewers on last devices simply by entering a ‘tag’ or a word. Rather than
year's record-breaking audience of googling a word (or indeed typing in a URL) the consumer uses the ‘tag’ word on
1,407,700. 78% of HK with Kids and 86% of the ad and they are brought directly to the brand’s content.
Kids watching TV at the time were watching
the programme on RTÉ One. Impressively,
#Toyshow trended globally on twitter for the
duration of the show. TV3’s 3 player Winner of a Golden Spider for Best Entertainment, TV3
launched their new 3Player to the public in October at : www.tv3.ie/3player The
‘Tweetmiotics’ homepage shows all programming available on the 3 player, which is clean of
Newly coined ‘tweetmiotics’ is a new advertising. TV3’s aim is to entice the viewer with the range of catch up
economic model, which monitors how programming available. What makes this really interesting is that the player is
consumers behave towards media, brands fully interactive with the option to tweet about the programme, see other tweets,
and their surroundings in general. Twitter is click through to Google Plus or Facebook. You can also easily “like” the video
changing how/when/why we communicate you are watching which will show up on your Facebook. You can also watch TV3
with each other. We can monitor consumers
live from the site.
moods, the time of the day they are most
VOD has been growing significantly as a channel, particularly over the past two
reactive and susceptible in this ‘natural
habitat’. Tweets can deliver important
years & should now be considered as part of every TV campaign. According to
perceptions towards lifestyle, products and ROI TGI 2011, 9% of the population watch TV online regularly, 14.6% have
brands/ IN turn, these can then be converted watched it in the past year, while 54.7% use the internet to watch video clips.
as insights, whether in brand/product Below are TV3 & RTEs top ten most watched player programmes in November
development or in communications strategies
TOP 5 PROGRAMMES 5ON PLAYER
X TOTAL NUMBER OF IMPRESSIONS IN NOVEMBER
Heineken embrace Shazam
TV3 RTE
Heineken Ireland created a new TV ad
featuring their usual funky music and ran PROGRAMME ‘000 PROGRAMME ‘000
teaser ads before launching the full version . X Factor 265 Home & Away 275
The really cool thing was that smartphone
users could hold up their phone to the TV Coronation Street 251 Eastenders 211
(and using their Shazam app) download the
a preview clip straight to their phone. Emmerdale 181 Late Late Show 159
News 149 Pan Am 39
Apple Icon The Only Way is 128 Fade Street 24
Essex
The late Steve Jobs died on October 5th,
leaving behind a legacy of transformative
technology and computer genius. Many Yeo Valley And finally, while this brand isn’t ‘technically’ available in Ireland
contrasting things were said of the man, of (exception Boots) we absolutely adore the Yeo Valley advert which is running on
his arrogance, of his quest for perfection. X Factor ITV at the moment. The advert perfectly encapsulates what the show
One of his most inspiring speeches was
is all about; people wanting to be famous. Ad agency BBH created the TV
given to Stanford university graduates in
campaign featuring a fake boy band called the Churned, who sing about the
June 2005. Click below to be inspired
wonders of country farming. Similar to last year, Yeo Valley is putting all of its ad
Stevejobsinterview spend into the X Factor – with a bit of help from a Facebook campaign. Click
here to watch the ad.

8. MEC In Action
Appy Days! Thought Leadership Debate Some images form the
Thought Leadership Debate, which took place on November 16th. Thanks to all
Congratulations to Heinz who won three
Appys at this year Appy awards , including who took part.
Best Food App, Best Android, and Best
Branded App for their BBQ app.
Making Food & Fire
with MEC MEC recently took an
adventure to Wicklow on a team bonding
event. The company was split into two
teams challenged with building a shelter &
finding food supplies.
Once the food had been located attention
turned to making a fire and cooking the
food. Not everyone was *appropriately*
dressed,… but what goes on tour…
SWOTYS Ireland’s Grace Healy coming second in Specsavers
SWOTYS in London
Innocent’s Big Knit sdsdf
2011A massive thank you (once again)
to everyone’s contribution to innocent’s
award winning Big Knit appeal for Age
Action. Over 80,000 little hats were knitted
and innocent donated €20,000 to the
wonderful cause. Well done to the MEC
knitters (and Mammies) who contributed
150 little hats (below) For more info visit:
www.innocentdrinks.ie/thebigknit
The Newsletter Team:
For more information or explanation on any of the areas discussed, Contact:
Ruth Ní Fhloinn ruth.nifhloinn@mecglobal.com
Aoife Moran aoife.moran@mecglobal.com
Antaine Conway antaine.conway@mecglobal.com
Louise O’ Gorman louise.ogorman@mecglobal.com
For more blogs, articles and opinions
check out www.mecglobal.ie or follow us on twitter @mecireland