By: Press Release | The Irish Times
The Irish Times will unveil the results of
Irish Times FUSION, an experimental startup initiative to define the next wave of digital advertising, at an invite-only event for the leaders of the global media and advertising industry in Dublin, Ireland, on 14 June.
Twenty startups were shortlisted from over 100 entries to enter the 154 year old newspaper’s building in early May to develop their products in to new brand experiences.
According to
Dr Johnny Ryan, The Irish Times’ Chief Innovation Officer, “We are matching the energy of the startup community with the enormous market access of the branding and advertising world. The advertising and branding industry is an untapped channel to reach the world’s consumers. Irish Times FUSION enables startups to work with The Irish Times to tap this channel and kickstart their businesses growth. At the same time, advertising agencies need to develop compelling digital experiences.
Fusing the startup with the advertiser creates a win-win, and enables us to lead with innovative advertising inventory”.
Within a week of entering The Irish Times the twenty startups were culled to a final ten by an industry panel of the market’s most senior media buyers. Among the judges was
Steve Latham of The Cannes Lions, the premier festival of the global advertising industry. After the pitches Latham said, “I can definitely see these ideas on stage at Cannes as potential Lion winners”.
The startups are working in the heart of The Irish Times’ building, on the Editor’s floor, and have access to the entire organisation. Their presence is part of a reshaping of the organization for the digital era.
Liam Kavanagh, Managing Director of The Irish Times Group, said “There was a risk. If we did not embrace the digital disruptors when they arrived that would have said serious things about whether the organization could change. I took the risk. My faith paid off.”
The final ten startups in the building are working with NDRC LaunchPad (the top incubator in Ireland according to the Kauffman Foundation). At the same time, they are working closely with The Irish Times’ own staff, and with Ireland’s leading media buyers and branding industry mentors.
Over the course of the FUSION program
each startup will have pitched global industry leaders including Emily Hare, managing editor of Contagious Magazine, plus senior representatives from The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, The Cannes Lions, and WAN-IFRA, the world association of news publishers, which includes some 18,000 publications and 13,000 websites.
FUSION is a follow up to The Irish Times Digital Challenge, an experiment with early stage digital startups that the media organisation ran in 2012. Since its original startup program other media organizations including the New York Times and BBC Worldwide have launched their own incubator programmes. The Irish Times was among the first half dozen newspapers in the world to launch an online edition in 1994.
For more information see
http://www.irishtimesidealab.com Video of week 1 of Irish Times FUSION
http://irishtimesidealab.com/video-week-1/
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