New Irish Industry Association for Digital Media
I published a post before Christmas expressing my interest to setup a new Industry Association to represent the interests of the digital sector in Ireland.
I was going to propose we call the Association ‘Irish Digital Media Association’ (IDMA). But I quickly realised it wouldn’t work for a very simple, non-technical reason. The acronym would conflict with the Irish Direct Marketing Association (IDMA). So, I’d like to propose the name ‘Irish Interactive Media Association’ (IIMA), similar to the British Interactive Media Association.
I need to reiterate that it’s not my intention to duplicate the efforts of other associations. I want to fill a void without overcharging for it. For example, mobile as a digital medium has little to no representation in Ireland, so this association would cover mobile.
I’d like to thank Blacknight for its sponsorship, with a special thanks to Michele for offering his support.
Venue Jaipur, 1 South Great George’s St, Dublin 2.
Date 29th January 2008
Time 7pm
The good news is that everyone who expressed their interest can come. There’s no reason to ‘invite’ specific people. The not-so good news is that we don’t have any representation from the big agencies or mobile companies. Truth be told, I never mentioned mobile until now, so perhaps that’s my fault for not providing examples of what the association could cover.
Now that we have a confirmed date, please RSVP your place now, even if you previously expressed an interest. I’m sure we can accommodate everyone, but because I’m putting out another call to action, it’s possible we might attract more people. So, the first 33 people to RSVP get in.
This invitation is open to other associations too, as they can add great value to the discussion – we could probably squeeze a few more around the table. I’ll publish an agenda closer to the date.
Below is some of the stuff I published on my initial post.
If you’re interested in helping me improve the ecosystem for the Digital Industry in Ireland, please join me for dinner in January. This is not just about having a conversation over dinner, people will need to contribute in some way, even if only to help open doors.
I intend to setup a new non-profit independent association. I will propose 12 Executive Directors, 1 Chair and up to 5 Advisors. I will not automatically qualify for any of the seats. Everything will be open and transparent. I will of course, put myself forward for the position as Chair, so if you like what I do for BIMA then you’ll give me your vote
The invitation is open to Academia, Government, Investors, Lawyers, Entrepreneurs, Corporations such as Microsoft, Adobe and Google, and anyone else with a vested interest in helping improve the system. This invitation is only extended to Enterprise Ireland if its board commits to taking away action items.
61 Responses to “New Irish Industry Association for Digital Media”
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Hi,
Did anything ever come of this?
Hey Sinead,
I’m not sure about this but we are re-launching an Irish arm of the IAB over the coming weeks. It will be the definite representation for digital marketing and advertising in the country.
David from Sales Online is leading the charge.
Rob
Good morning all,
http://tinyurl.com/5gwgns leads to IADT’s annual exhibition that I had mentionned at the dinner. It’s on at 5.30pm on Thursday June 5th and
http://www.iadtprojects.com is being updated for it. Exhibition is good occasion to meet graduates.
Registration needed.
Drop me an mail if you’re going and I’ll meet you.
Thanks, Fred
@Rob I couldn’t disagree more. Digital in the broadest sense isn’t and should never be, an area for the IAB. The IAB is dedicated to helping it’s members (specifically) to generate more revenue from Internet advertising (that’s the IA bit of the name).
I was in fact going to setup IAB in Ireland about 2 years ago but thought better of it – mainly because I want to setup and run an Association which acts in the best interests of Industry as a whole and not just the big players like Google. This is why the IAB has done such a bad job at trying to introduce Internet Advertising best practices – which is one of the very few things it should be able to do well. I’ll write a separate post on this.
How would IAB be of any use to anyone?
Interesting comments Paul – I’m eager to hear more.
The bottom line is that the Irish market is crying out for representation and nothing (except the IAB) is happening fast enough.
@Michele – IAB is very useful for companies like Google. But it’s not particularly useful, in my opinion, for industry looking for improvements to the ecosystem.
@Rob – that’s the problem with associations in general – they try to plug gaps for which they have little to no experience. It’s not about plugging gaps because they’re there. The IAB should focus on what it’s supposed to represent and do it properly – advertising. I’m now reminded about dotMobi trying to dips its toe in the Internet Advertising world. Stay in your own domain and collaborate with others.
When you say ‘nothing (except the IAB) is happening fast enough’ – what do you mean? As far as I was aware the IAB wasn’t yet setup in Ireland. Having a company name doesn’t give presence, experience or expertise. I’m about to kick things off with the new digital industry association – naturally I’d like to collaborate with IAB in the area of advertising.
Perhaps I’m a bit too narrow minded here but my main concern is obviously to increase blue chip / big brand digital advertising and marketing spend.
The first meeting for the IAB is on Wednesday week. I’m also looking forward to the launch of the new digital industry association.
It’s great that things are about to happen on both fronts.
@Rob “my main concern is obviously to increase blue chip / big brand digital advertising and marketing spend.”
Exactly right. That’s what the IAB should be focused on, not the digital industry as a whole. For example, I wouldn’t expect the IAB to focus on the same stuff as http://bima.co.uk
Looking at recent IAB reporting and was questioning local particiaptation, hence have spent the last hour following threads dating back to Dec 07 and very interested to know how the initial meeting concluded and what are future plans or should I be asking David from http://www.salesonline.ie/