I got a call from a former Creative Director of mine (Pearse McCaughey) last week, asking Conor Byrne and I to sit on the Irish Times Fusion panel. We were delighted to be asked and gladly accepted the invite. Pearse works on Irish Times account and was in need of a few able bodied tech / creative / business heads to offer advice and grill some of the Fusion start-ups.
Irish Times FUSION is an experiment Dr Johnny Ryan (Chief Innovation Officer at The Irish Times) is running to match the energy and enthusiasm of the start-up community with the market access of the branding and advertising industry.
The start-ups focus on a variety of new, compelling experiences for end-users. Generally their attention is not centred on advertising solutions or opportunities. That is where we came in… to help them see the commercial / branding angle that can make their brilliant ideas a financial success.
We talked to start-ups working on apps, widgets and new online communities – they were amazing. Some really good ideas and some really passionate people. I wish I could tell you more but I have to keep stum for the moment! Check back here for more details when the winner is announced over the coming weeks.
http://www.contagiousmagazine.com/2013/04/advertisings_historic_pivot_point.php
Gary McLoughlin
Managing Director
An update on the Fusion project – 20 become 10. I had a good session on Friday with the remaining contestants. Some brilliant ideas – going to be hard to pick a winner http://www.adworld.ie/news/read/?id=e6913c40-a9fc-48a1-88e3-773709b1fc14