This unique awards initiative is firmly established as the list of business success that entrepreneurs across Wales aspire to.  Every year, it is a constant reminder of the vast entrepreneurial potential that exists within the Welsh business sector, with growth performance by businesses that are as good as any to be found across all of Europe.

Dialogue’s Chairman, Michael Killeen, is thrilled to support the awards this year adding,“If you’re on the Fast Growth 50 list, you’re doing something quite brilliant and the business world would do well to pick your brains to learn how you do it,” he said.

“Continuous scaling is the most difficult challenge facing any business today. FG50 companies have guts, they innovate, they are agile and they give a real damn about every aspect of delivering an excellent customer experience.

“For these reasons we are proud and excited sponsors of this coveted programme.”

Dialogue currently work across a number of international markets and wanted to expand into our next door neighbors garden. The list of scaling companies in Wales is superb and we will be engaging with them over the course of our sponsorship to help them to expand globally at a superior pace.

Find out more here.

Ask a child to draw two pictures—one on a rainy day and a second in the sunshine—and you pretty much know what to expect. In the first one, as blue raindrops appear on the page, the stick man behind the window is frowning. When a yellow sun beams from the corner of the page, the stick man is smiling, with his scrawny arms in the air and colourful flowers at his feet. Even his stick dog is smiling!

That rain is gloom and sunshine happiness is metaphorical rather than scientific, though it rings true because we humans are inherently sympathetic to our environment. But we are not its victims. Barring a mood disorder, our emotions are not casualties of the weather. The rain can be guilty by association, but not causation.

Some people’s emotions are simply more vulnerable to weather changes than others. Someone prone to a low mood on dark, cold days will likely experience a depressive winter when there’s a prolonged string of like-weathered days. Those who are more upbeat and optimistic tend to thrive in good weather.

So, what does all this mean? With a forecast of sunshine for the next couple of weeks for Ireland, people’s moods will be better and the sunshine is uplifting. Well…until they start complaining about the heat! It’s hard to keep everyone happy. At least the children’s pictures will have smiley stick men, too.

Aoife McDonnell 
Account Manager

Here’s some amazing rock photography made even better by the use of very clever headlines.

No. 7 gets my vote.

You’ve been great.

Thank you and good night!

Paul Gibson
Art Director

HubSpot have recently published their annual report on the progress of inbound marketing. Now in its fifth year, the 2013 State of Inbound Marketing report is based on data from over 3,300 participants in 128 different countries, including CEOs, marketers and agencies.

Here are 10 learnings from the report:

1.  Inbound Marketing is here to stay, and it shows remarkable traction for such a new industry.

2.  Inbound delivers on ROI, providing cheaper and higher converting leads.

3.  While inbound marketing is on the rise, traditional marketing is fading.

4.  There is still a need to better define, measure, and track inbound marketing.

5.  Aligning with Sales is as important as measuring the ROI of inbound marketing.

6.  Inbound has shifted where marketers spend resources – it helps them work smarter.

7.  Content is a critical, but not standalone, inbound marketing component.

8.  Inbound marketing is not a channel, tactic, or technology; it’s a philosophy.

9.  Now is a good time to be a customer

10. It’s also a great time to be an inbound marketer!

You can download your free copy of the report here.

Gary McLoughlin
Managing Director

Not so long ago, surveys indicated widespread resistance to proposals for national identity cards. Unlike many continental countries, the Irish and British appeared to value their privacy; today, however, this issue doesn’t appear to be as black and white as it once was.

For a period of time, social media’s popularity seemed to herald the death of traditional notions of privacy. But a new survey commissioned by Dialogue’s client Amdocs has put a slightly different spin on this.

Conducted globally in April using a 3900-strong sample, this shows that most people are willing to share their personal data – at a price. Focusing mainly on the telco market, the figures indicate that customers have now attached a value to their personal data.

• 65% were willing to share personal information in exchange for better price plans.
• 61% would hand over details if their connection was improved.

Since the information willing to be traded included family information and social network profiles, we don’t exactly put a high price on our privacy and that of our friends and family. Other rewards that customers would happily sell their nearest and dearests’ details for include:

• Cash rewards (44%)
• Loyalty programme rewards (38%)
• Coupons/exclusive deals (39%)

Most surprisingly, 36% were content to give away information in return for nothing at all. (Yes I know this all adds up to 157% but I’m assuming that some of the sample said they were happy to take whatever’s going.)

Of course this investigation was conducted before Edward Snowden’s revelation that the Project Prism was listening into billions of phone calls around the world. Will this news change attitudes?

My guess is that most people really aren’t that bothered. Consequently, a valuable and potent commodity like personal data is – for now – a far cheaper commodity than anyone ever expected.

Let’s see how long it stays that way.

Des Columb
Creative Director

In a recent blog article – Tim Williams from the Ignition Consulting Group asked “How long can agencies survive on the old agency model platform before we die or maybe jump?” We know that agencies in the last 10 years have all developed new forms of setting themselves up to deal with the issues that their clients face. The old agency model that emerged from the Industrial Revolution was all about creating scale. The Digital Revolution has decimated scale adding layers of complexity to our business model. Agencies as a group, are finding it hard to keep up. Forbes recently printed an article where it wrote that agencies are struggling to change their business model. “Clients do not see traditional agencies adjusting well in an era of rapid technological changes.”

Some commentators firmly believe that there are two models of agencies developing at present in what they call the New Agency OS (Operating System).  1) Outcome Agencies – focussed on effectiveness, delivering ideas, innovation and intelligence to grow client profit over time. 2) Output Agencies – the ones that will continue to generate big ideas and create fame for Clients but will also develop new revenue streams for those ideas, thereby beating their addiction to short term Client Cash.

But are these two the only game in town? Forrester recently wrote that “No Agency Type is perfect for the New Era.” This can be seen in agencies that are placing less emphasis on the concept of “Advertising” but all about being a “Communications Agency”… think of media agencies developing creative services. Production Companies now pitching themselves as creative content developers and consulting firms like Accenture acquiring agencies and selling their connected thinking. PR agencies now selling themselves as creators of earned media content.

One thing for sure – the agency structure and services of the future may not have been created yet but clients are now seeking experts in paid, earned and owned media on a daily basis – will they really care what discipline provide them – merely the fact that their communications experts know that they have a client with a business issue that needs to be solved. Communication Experts need to focus on the business strategy and to concentrate on what they do best to deliver on the business strategy. Saying that an agency does everything isn’t a strategy. This is what we are doing with our own Clients – Sales over night – Brand over time.

Peter Mahon
Client Service Director