About eightytwenty

Originally known for its innovative use of digital advertising & experiential marketing, the agency prides itself on providing a full service interactive offering that includes Digital and Social Media, Branded Entertainment, Online PR and Experiential & Emerging Media. It boasts clients including Bank of Ireland, Bulmers, Danone, Irish Distillers, Alzheimers Society, One Young World and the Asthma Society of Ireland.

Recent award wins include: Best Digital Creative Agency (Samsung DMIs) Best Financial Services, for Bank of Ireland All About Business (Eircom Spiders), Best Campaign All About Business Dragon’s Den (Eircom Spiders) and The Grand Prix for Bank of Ireland All About Business Dragon’s Den (Eircom Spiders).

About the internships

We have immediate opportunities for self-motivated, energetic interns within our Client Services team.

The successful candidates will assist our team of account managers in the internal day-to-day operation of high profile client accounts.  This is a great opportunity to roll up your sleeves and work closely with all aspects of the agency process from account planning through campaign production.

We pride ourselves on making sure that our interns learn as much as possible during their time with us and the successful candidates will be given first-hand experience of what to expect in the fast paced environment of digital advertising.

What you’ll learn:

Key project management skills including;

• Budget preparation
• Presentations and reports
• Project timings and CPAs
• Production of projects from brief to completion

Digital content production;

• Writing and posting articles and blog posts
• Video production and interviews

Social Media;

• Content strategy and tone
• Management tools
• Reporting and analytics

There are also opportunities available to get involved in assisting to organise promotional activity.

The internships will suit people starting their careers and interested in working in: online marketing, digital advertising, social media, journalism or related areas.

If you want to know more about what to expect from your time at eightytwenty check out our intern diaries, here, here and the most up to date post here.

What we’re looking for

• Self motivated, detail orientated, and super organised
• Excellent written communications skills with the ability to adapt writing style according to the medium – Blogs, Social Networks, online press releases etc
• Strong Excel and Powerpoint skills
• Active user of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogging, forums etc
• Really strong interpersonal skills – common sense is essential as are good communication skills
• Fluent spoken and written English
• Knowledge of emerging digital trends and a passion for the digital world
• Ability to respond flexibly to changing priorities
• Pragmatic, hard-working, team player
• All-round nice guy/gal

If this sounds like you then get in touch! Please email your C.V, a short note about your digital interests, an overview of what you’re looking for in an internship and your potential start date, to elaine.walsh@eightytwenty.ie

These roles are unpaid, but some expenses may be available. You must be able to commit to three to four months. Hours 9-5.30. You will be based in our offices in Leeson Street. eightytwenty has a policy of considering high-performing interns for permanent roles that arise within the agency, and our interns have a high success rate in finding subsequent work in the growing digital marketing industry.

Kofi Annan launches global initiative to inspire young people to lead

This week Kofi Annan will begin an unprecedented series of conversations on critical global issues with young people around the world.

The former UN Secretary-General believes the views and concerns of the younger generation on challenges central to their lives and future prospects – such as unemployment and democratic governance – are being ignored, and wants to help them get their message across to national and international decision-makers.

He will launch the Kofi Annan Dialogues: LIVE on Wednesday 15 May, with an on-line discussion on “Young People and Leadership.” It will be watched by a global audience who will participate through social media channels.

More than half the world’s population today is under the age of 30 and they are particularly badly hit by global problems such as rising unemployment and insecurity. Young people are three times more likely to be out of work than adults, yet they have little influence on policies to bring about effective solutions.

Mr. Annan said: “Young people today are truly citizens of the world. Whatever they are working on, whatever their ambitions for the years ahead, they have to think globally – even when they act locally.  Sadly, young people are often overlooked during discussions and decision-making at the national and international level.  They have the power to make choices, step forward and take a role in leadership and advocacy.  We must listen to the future leaders of the world and empower them to bring about real and necessary change.”

The Dialogues are being organised by the Kofi Annan Foundation, in partnership with One Young World and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The Dialogues will:

• Provide an unprecedented opportunity for young people to interact with one of the most experienced global leaders of our times;
• Highlight young people’s ideas and actions to bring about positive change in the world;
• Enable and empower young people and encourage other high-profile leaders to interact with the leaders of tomorrow.

The Dialogues will entail a 90 minute live discussion between Kofi Annan and six young people from around the world using the video-conferencing platform Google Hangout.  Young people world-wide can join the debate, express their views and ask Mr. Annan questions through a range of social media channels.  A bespoke digital platform has been designed and developed by Dublin based Havas Agency, eightytwenty, to host the Dialogues and live online discussion.

The dates and themes of episodes in the Dialogue series are as follows:

• Wednesday 15 May 2013: “Young People and Leadership”
• Thursday 20 June 2013: “Unemployment”
• Thursday 18 July 2013: “Democracy and Elections”
• Monday 9 September 2013: “Education and ICTs”
• Thursday 3 October 2013: Global Live Dialogue at One Young World Summit in South Africa

Additional dialogues on: “The Future of the Middle-East”, “Crime and Corruption”, “Food and Nutrition Security” and “Environmental Degradation” will be held in 2014.

An on-line poll will accompany the series to capture and promote the hopes, goals, priorities and positive ideas of young people around the world on specific issues.  The results of this youth barometer will be announced at the BYND 2015 Global Youth Summit in Costa Rica in September and the One Young World Summit in October, 2013.

Please join the conversation on 15 May 2013 at 11h00 CET for the first Dialogue on: “Young People and Leadership.” http://dialogueslive.kofiannanfoundation.org/ and follow on social media:

• Twitter: @kofiannan #kofiannanlive
• Facebook: Kofi Annan

Eightytwenty is honored to have been able to work on such a meaningful project. Eightytwenty Account Manager, Clara Kelleher says:

“Working on the Kofi Annan Dialogues: LIVE has been an incredible experience. It is such a unique opportunity to be part of something that has the potential to influence and inspire young people around the world. It shows the unprecedented opportunities that digital media can provide in creating change.”

If you want to increase the amount of fans you reach, photos are the way to go!

They say ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ and Facebook is no different. According to research done by PostRocket, being visual on Facebook improves your EdgeRank significantly – posting photos results in 120% more engagement.

So we thought we would put together a post with some of the most popular Facebook photos from last month.

1. Skittles

According to one of the 25,285,516 fans of their Facebook page, ‘Skittles have the best marketing team for their product’ and with 138,513 people talking about the page it’s hard to disagree. This very clever post from April Fools’ Day regarding the launch of the new Skittles cereal was liked by one shy of 12,700 people, attracted 1,289 comments and was shared 3,236 times.

2. Oreo

Like Skittles, there’s a fun element to all the Oreo Facebook posts, and this one certainly hit the right note. Using Vine, Oreo demonstrated how to dunk three Oreo cookies in six seconds, with the tools necessary to complete the task outlined via a step-by-step image on their Facebook page. We’re all children at heart and Oreo know that only too well! I wonder how many of the 60,411 that liked the post are working professionals?

3. Disney

Speaking of children, Disney’s ‘Finding Dory’ post on their hugely popular Facebook page featured a simple image but nonetheless it pulled in an incredible 317,220 likes, was shared nearly 100,000 times and encouraged well over 8,000 people to comment.

4. Samsung Mobile

To coincide with the launch of the Galaxy S4, Samsung’s visually pleasing post on April 10 of this year highlighted their new offering’s seamless design. A whopping 14,812 people left a comment on the post while it was shared nearly 30,000 times. The tech giant’s Facebook page has over 18 million fans and 462,161 of those liked this particular post, and it’s not hard to see why as the beauty of both the scene itself and the phone are summed up in one fell swoop.

5. McDonald’s

It wouldn’t be a top 10 without McDonald’s and the Golden Arches make it thanks to this post, also from April Fools’ Day. A close up image of the new Premium McWrap is used to whet the appetite of those after something tender and juicy to eat. 25,588 people liked the post, nearly 2,000 comments were recorded and it was shared just over 1,000 times.

6. Walmart

Walmart, another American institution, are very prolific posters on Facebook and this no frills image managed to attract over 100,000 likes, with the message behind the visual proving sufficient.

7. Red Bull

In contrast, Red Bull’s Facebook page is all about the visual and this spectacular action shot, which prompted 197 people to comment, is one of the most eye-catching of all, with 26,653 people liking it and 1,850 people sharing it.

8. Converse

Converse do what they do well on their Facebook page and this colourful image highlights the legendary footwear to good effect. Drawing attention to the return of the 70s Chuck Taylor All Star Sneaker, over 2,000 people commented on the post with an incredible 132,257 people liking it in April of this year.

9. Starbucks

It’s all about luxury when it comes to Starbucks and their offerings on Facebook. This close-up product shot has a distinct element of envy attached to it but more than that, the niche in the market Starbucks have developed for themselves is evident. 2,508 people felt the need to comment on the image while it was shared 7,713 times with 183,046 liking what they saw.

10. Monster Energy

Monster Energy make up our list, and like Red Bull’s effort, it’s all about action when it comes to Facebook. This image of professional drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr’s car emblazoned with the energy drink company’s logos was liked by 55,386 people, shared by 4,644 and 348 people commented on it.

Social media is part and parcel of our daily lives in Ireland. So we’ve put together an infographic that details how Irish people use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. We’ve also included Facebook mobile stats, Twitter stats and LinkedIn data on user seniority and job function as well as some figures we could find on Google+ and Instagram.

View the social media statistics Ireland infographic below.

Full size: http://bit.ly/8020SMinfographic

Social Media Statistics Ireland Infographic

This post is from our Social Media Intern Oliver Skehan who joined the agency earlier this year. Outside of loving all things digital Oliver is big into sports, especially GAA, is an S3 owner and hails from Tipp. But you can’t win them all!

My expectations high the first day I walked into the eightytwenty offices. Surely an award-winning digital agency had plenty to offer me?

They did.

All those expectations have been met in my first month as a Social Media intern, and more.

Not a day has passed that I haven’t learned something. I know this because I think back on the eight previous hours every evening on the bus home. Sad eh?

From Monday to Friday I’m involved in all aspects of the social media strategy for a number of high-profile clients and I really feel like part of the team, a team that works well together with a common goal in mind – creating experiences, platforms and content that helps brands build meaningful relationships with clients.

Updating and monitoring activity on client Facebook pages is one of my main duties but an interesting offshoot of that is reporting. This is something I had no experience of prior to eightytwenty but while I wouldn’t say it’s second nature to me now I certainly am more comfortable with the different aspects of it.

My background is in writing so I use my experience to put together topical blogs for the eightytwenty website while my years of researching have also been put to the test on more than one occasion.

During my interview I expressed an interest in being put in charge of a project from start to finish and before my internship is up I’m sure I will be afforded this opportunity.

I’m only a month into my three months at eightytwenty but I’ve taken nothing but positives from it so far and I look forward to learning more so that I can eventually take over the world. Well, maybe not the world. Just Dublin’s fair city.

The most recent piece of research into Facebook mobile usage from the social network indicates 50% of Irish people access Facebook on mobile. So imagine my surprise this week when I did some research to find that among 18 – 24 year old’s of a particular client, 90% of the audience accessed Facebook via mobile.

In a moment I’ll show you how to access mobile data for your page but first two important things to note.

Mobile Optimised Facebook Apps

90% of a brands fans using mobile to access Facebook is a very high figure, one with two big ramifications for brands. Facebook on mobile is a slightly different platform to that of desktop, although the new design being rolled out this year will unify the experience somewhat, it doesn’t remove the need to create mobile optimised apps for your Facebook page. Considering the high adoption rate of mobile in the example above you’d be crazy for not building an optimised app, right? It’s easy to see when an app hasn’t been optimised on Facebook, check out comments from fans about not being able to access it especially around competitions.

Facebook Video Beats Youtube

Another issue to note is that Facebook video plays directly inside the mobile newsfeed. This may not seem like a game changer, but if you post a Youtube video on Facebook mobile users have to leave Facebook to view it. This isn’t the greatest user journey and one step page admins should consider removing. For brands that produce any kind of video content now is the time to start looking at utilising Facebook video more, but don’t discount Youtube fully, it still winds hands down on discovery and search ranking. Another benefit to Facebook video was highlighted in a recent study by Socialbakers. It found Facebook video had a viral reach ten times higher than that Youtube videos, no doubt mobile is playing a role there and the fact you can like a page from within a Facebook video.

How Many Mobile Fans do You Have?

You can find out how many of your fans use mobile through the Facebook Ads Manager.  First go and set up a Facebook Ad to get access to the demographic information.

1. Choose to Promote Page Posts

In order to access information on your own page choose to Promote Page Posts.

2. Select the target audience

In this case we want to know users in Ireland, aged 18 – 24 who use mobile. As you can see from this example there’s 656,280 mobile users aged 18-24 in Ireland in the example below.

3. Get information on Your Page

To get information relating to only your page scroll down to the next section ‘connections’. From here select ‘Advanced Connection Targeting’ and type in your page name. I’m using an example of the band I manage (go listen) and we can see they have 360 fans aged 18 – 24 in Ireland who access their page via mobile.

Mobile Users in Ireland

While you can use the above to mine your own data, you can also use it to get data on mobile users in Ireland by age, gender, region, handset and interests to suit your own marketing needs. For example of the 2,212,580 Facebook profiles in Ireland 1,533,980 have been accessed in the last month by mobile. Now isn’t it time to see how big a role mobile plays in your Facebook strategy?

It’s always a pleasure to see what the team at Google Labs come up with and their latest experiment is no exception.

If you are looking for new ways to exercise, possibly without even leaving your desk, Google Chrome Super Sync Sports could be great for you. Don’t expect it to be a particularly healthy workout but you’re very likely to have a lot of fun. It harks back to the old school gaming visuals and simple gameplay so, those of you born in the 70’s will feel very nostalgic (we’re 80’s babies but we’ve heard the stories )

It’s a whole lot of fun that you can play across mobile, tablet and desktop. You can also get your friends in on the act as Google Labs enables up to four friends to compete in running, swimming and cycling events on a shared computer screen, using phones or tablets as game controllers.

Here’s a handy promo video to give you a taster…

Give it a go and tell us what you think – http://chrome.com/supersyncsports/#/en-US

Ever since I watched Day of the Dead as a kid I’ve had a love of Zombie films. I’ve often wondered in a zombie attack where would I take refuge (Being from Waterford I think the best place is the roof of City Square or the island surrounding Waterford Castle!). So when I saw a UK company offering a half day shooting zombies in a deserted shopping mall, I nearly bit their zombified arm off! “Are they real Zombies” asked a mate, nope just actors in film quality make up. The reviews, such as this from The Guardian, were great and one YouTube commenter went so far as to say this was “the experience of my life” so off I went to join the near six month waiting list!

At 1pm on a cold January Saturday a bunch of 24 strangers assembled outside the deserted shopping centre in Reading, just outside of London. How deserted was this place? It closed in 2004 and it was big – 5 floors! From here we were ushered into a dark hallway by a female police officer – it had begun!

The event was split into three parts and each was substantially better than the last. In part one we were brought up to speed on the Zombie Apocalypse that had hit London, given shot gun training (they fired pellets) and given a taste of what was to come with screams, gunfire and loud thumps being heard in the background.
Part two had us completing a series of missions that required us to make our way around the extremely dark and eerie shopping mall. Except for the main concourse with natural light, there was minimal lighting in the shops, corridors and basement. We were there to find survivors and make it to the roof of the five floor shopping mall for escape. We had three guides – army personnel who had been split up from their main group. Yes zombies did jump out of dark corners and in places I was scared witless. But the fear was also slightly addictive. By the end of Part two we made it to the roof only to find our helicopter wasn’t going to pick us up it, when returning to basecamp two of the army guides were attacked by zombies and one legged it. We were alone!

In part three we were on our own in a free for all battle with zombies to collect food and ammo left around the mall. We left Basecamp in small groups but when zombies attacked we would inevitably get split into smaller groups, sometimes you would end up on your own in an empty corridor, pitch dark. Yes this is like being in a film or a game! If a zombie touched you, you were infected and you had to return to basecamp, I didn’t die although I did have to sacrifice my mate at one stage (Sorry!) when I couldn’t reload in time. This was one of the best experiences of my life. Yes it’s a big game, yes they’re actors, and yes it hurt when someone confused me for a zombie and shot me in the leg…twice! (no face shots allowed), but putting all sense of reality on hold it was an amazing afternoon.

We finished up and headed to Reading Train Station which was just around the corner. While waiting to head back to London I swore the announcer said ‘the zombies have attacked’. Was he in on it too?

Let’s face it Mondays are usually pretty tough. The weekend’s over and you’re facing into another five whole days in the office. However, on this particular Monday the eightytwenty office is in a pretty damn good mood. Why? Well winning Best Creative Agency at the Digital Media Awards has that effect!

In addition to Best Creative Agency we won Gold in the Best Use of Mobile and Best Innovation categories for the Bulmers deCider app, which also scooped Silver in Best Integrated Digital Campaign and bronze in Best Online Advertising Campaign.

The Bulmers deCider was a fully integrated through the line campaign that featured mobile at its core. Using the Bulmers deCider app consumers could scan their Pint Bottle of Bulmers to instantly reveal a variety of prizes from trips to New York, to Ticketmaster Gift Cards to cash prizes. This is the first time that consumers in Ireland came across an Augmented Reality based on pack promotion to reward them for their purchase.

The Creative Agency of the Year award joins the Eircom Spiders Grand Prix Award picked up at the end of 2012 for eightytwenty’s work on Dragons’ Den for Bank of Ireland. The agency developed the Sixth Dragon game which is Ireland’s first live simulcast game. Viewers can play on desktop and mobile as the show is broadcast each week on RTE. Players are rewarded for correctly guessing if the Dragons will invest in each entrepreneur and how much equity they will seek. The game was created to leverage Bank of Ireland’s sponsorship of the Dragons’ Den TV show on their SME portal AllAboutBusiness.ie. The game returned, along with the new season of Dragon’s Den, last Sunday March 3^rd and can be played each week from 9.30pm on http://allaboutbusiness.ie/denlive.