RTE and Olgilvy

Monday night we jumped on a bus and rode through some lovely residential areas of Dublin where the doors of many homes are painted bright colors and have beautiful glass inserts. We were on our way to the RTE - state owned/operated TV network - studios to be in the audience for a live show called Frontline. Our broadcasting students were able to tape some footage in the audience holding area where they interviewed some other audience members and heard a briefing from the producer. We were dispersed throughout the seated audience and many of us had an opportunity to talk to some locals about the serious issues affecting the Irish economy and political scene - topics debated and discussed during the show with a variety of politicians, economists and journalists as well as some audience "plants" and a few "random" audience members too. Bob O'Gara was on tap to discuss these from an American perspective but alas, the show ran long (by 20 min!) and was too full to get to him. We know he would have been great! I felt like I had just eavesdropped on a private family discussion. Ireland is facing 13% unemployment at the moment.

After a very short night of sleep we gathered at 8 am to walk into town for a presentation by the Chief Executive for the Public Relations Institute of Ireland. Two key issues facing the small public relations professional community are sustainability of the profession and social media. More and more job postings are requiring knowledge of social media......the professionals are behind on understanding this from a communication perspective. The Institute offers courses for their membership to help with this. Almost all public relations experts are based in Dublin.

Next to the beautiful headquarters of Ogilvy - huge world wide advertising, public relations and now digital media leader. Juxtiposition of old architecture and extremely contemporary furnishings and lighting. Fascinating presentations by Jo Woods, strategic planner and Claire Carroll, head of the new digital area. When working on a new brand they learn everything they can and work to uncover the emotional components to link with the consumer. Digital area is brand new but is now being integrated in the creative, research and planning from the beginning. Digital is expensive to develop and manage because it is time and people intensive.