After the success of our previous event on the 18th February, we now confirm our second forth coming event for this year!

Social Media: Maximising your brand presence on Facebook, YouTube and other social networks is the title of our upcoming event to be held on the 31st of March, from 4pm to 7pm, at the Soho House in Old Compton Street in London.

The knowledge sharing event for marketing professionals is being hosted together with B! Digital and in collaboration with Viadeo and Google. Speakers at the seminar, other than 77’s MD, Marco Corsaro, include Bruce Daisley, Sales Leader, YouTube & Display, who will be discussing how to make the best out of Video Marketing using YouTube, followed by Ben Duncan-Clark , Survey Manager, Viadeo who will share insights about market research in professional social networks.

The main objective for this series of social media events which we hope to continue running throughout the rest of 2010, is to provide professional marketers with a better understanding of the opportunities and benefits social media networks hold in store for brands.

Social media continues to grow at an exhilarating pace, it can become challenging for marketers to identify the best way to maximise some of the new online tools and channels existent in today’s social media marketing landscape. It is our intention to take a look at  how to utillize some of the key social networks such as Facebook and YouTube, to enhance marketing efforts, increase online brand presence and boost business ROI.

RSVP here!

Visit our 77 Facebook Fan Page to stay tuned for any updates, event photos + more on future events!

You can also visit www.77agency.com for more on 77Agency.

This year, 77Agency will be attending Europe’s leading social media event, Social Media World Forum, to be held at the Olympia Conference Centre in London the 15th and 16th of March.

The two day conference and exhibition aims to bring together industry experts to share social media knowledge and case studies from global brands, plus the latest in brand engagement using social media, social media monitoring tools, new avenues for social network advertising, and building community based management.

Cores issues to be covered include monetization, future technologies, social media & brands, PR in social media and B2B networking. A total of 2,500 people have already signed up to attend the exhibition with 200-300 having already paid for conference passes.

On Tuesday 16 March at 10.30am, 77Agency’s Managing Director, Marco Corsaro, will be part of a panel of guests who will be discussing “Benchmarking advertising on Social Networks”.  Other participants include the Digital Marketing Manager for Speedo, Head of Digital Media at Ikea, the Head of i-level’s Social Media Unit and the Head of Social Media at Media Contacts.

77Agency will have a small booth – see number 27 on the floorplan – where we’ll be available to meet with exhibition guests and showcase the agency’s social media services.

For more information about the event, full list of speakers and conferences, visit www.socialmedia-forum.com

Stay tuned for news updates prior to and during the event via our 77 Fan Page!

And if you’re also planning to be there, give us a shout so we can meet up!

Following a successful run of seminars hosted by 77Agency and B!Digital in 2009, business social network Viadeo has decided to officially join the partnership for 2010. Viadeo’s COO, Peter Crosby, has participated as guest speaker in previous events.

As 45.4% of Senior Marketers say they consider social networks and applications a “top priority” for 2010 and 26.8% say the same of mobile, the partnership of new media agency 77Agency, mobile advertising and marketing provider B!Digital and business social network Viadeo brings together specialists in each of the areas in which marketers are keen to focus over coming months.

The topics covered in the seminars will vary each quarter, ranging from a general review of current social media and mobile marketing opportunities to a closer look at different industry sectors and specific sessions to look at campaign management tools and measuring ROI for social campaigns.

Aside from the hosts, guest speakers from the new media industry are being lined up to take part in the events.  Bruce Daisley of YouTube has been confirmed for the March event.

Peter Crosby, COO Europe of Viadeo commented:

“The importance of social media is growing exponentially. It is fast becoming the medium of choice for advertisers and marketeers and increasingly for both internal and external business communication. It is essential that any business or public sector body gets a true understanding of social media so they can maximise the benefits and avoid any potential pitfalls. Social media is the new must-have marketing tool for the foreseeable future.”

Marco Corsaro, Managing Director of 77Agency said:

“We’re very pleased to welcome Viadeo on board.  We feel that the collaboration between the three companies can only build upon the success of last year’s events.”

“Buongiorno has developed unique worldwide experience in supporting and generating relationships between brands and customers via mobile devices in the last 10 years. I’m looking forward to participating in the Social Media Marketing events and illustrating how mobile marketing can be an integral part of the social media marketing mix, in a new convergent phase of the market, ” commented Stefano Diemmi, newly appointed Managing Director – B!Digital.

For further information on upcoming events, check out the 77Agency Facebook Fanpage or visit the 77Agency website.

Last Thursday we hosted our first social media seminar of 2010 with partners B!Digital and Viadeo at Soho House London. The evening was a success. People arrived between 4pm and 4:30pm to register & have a welcome drink before the actual presentations began at around 4:30pm.

First up was 77Agency partner and Business Strategist, Amedeo Guffanti, who spoke about the opportunities of Facebook for brands with a specific focus on the importance of buildiding a good Fan Page and the advertising possibilities around it.

Next on the mic was Wayne Gibbins, Communication & Partnership Director for Viadeo. As part of his presentation, he held a live poll amongst the attendees about the importance of social media marketing for their brands and if they would work with a PSN ( professional social network) to achieve their goals. People voted with their mobiles and viewed the results live on the screen.

The last presentation of the evening was on Mobile Couponing and Social Media, which was given by Stefano Diemmi from B!Digital. It was interesting to see how only a few brands are currently using mobile marketing to achieve their business objectives, however, there seemed to be a clear interest in the opportunities existent today and those in the pipeline.

Some of the companies that attended include: Reckitt Benckiser, Piaggio Group, Expedia World Wide, Acer, Elemis, Miller Harris, FX Capital Group, Deutsche Bank, Alico, and Comment:Visions (EuroNews).

Our next London event will be on the 31st of March and we are very happy to have YouTube as one of our special guest speakers!

Stay tuned and visit our Fan Page for more event news!

The annual convention of Athletes World, a subsidiary of  the Bata group, leader in Italy for the distribution of international sneaker brands such as Nike, Adidas, Converse, Lacoste and sportswear fashion, was held last Tuesday in Limena, Italy.

Athletes World, which has a network of over 100 commercial outlets between direct and affiliates in major Italian cities, is also an innovator of new technologies, and has implemented social media strategies in their marketing mix since early 2009.

“Over the years we have built our community on Facebook and with nearly 30K fans we are proud to have been one of the first major retailers to see an opportunity in the social media arena and integrate these new tools into our off-line communication strategy,” declared Paola Sandini, Advertising & Communication Manager at Athletes World, “thanks to the joint efforts of both our traditional communication agency (Attila & Co) and new media agency (77Agency), we have initiated a process of innovation and integration of alternative communication channels which will continue in 2010 and eventually take us to the launch of our e-commerce.”

Marco Corsaro, Founder and Managing Director of 77Agency said:

“We are proud to have been invited to speak at the convention of Athletes World. It’s an honor to be recognized for our efforts  in the development of  successful digital communication campaigns for and to have been selected for the development of the e-commerce platform for this important sports fashion retailer.”

Click image to see full story: (in Italian)

Apparently, Google has been feeling threatened by the 400 million user social media platform since many brands have began shifting online ad spend from paid search to Facebook.Virgin Media, Vodafone, Carlsberg and Fiat are some of the big names that have chosen the social network as their ideal direct response advertising channel.

Recent figures from Compete Inc. show us Facebook has passed search engine giant Google becoming the top source for traffic to major portals such as Yahoo and MSN. Today, social media is proving to have a stronger influence and a greater capability to reach the masses than traditional advertising. In addition, the average time users spend using Facebook exceeded 7 hrs per month in January 2010, 10% up from the previous month.

Other benefits this reasonably new advertising platform offers advertisers is the ability to link conversion data to Facebook ad groups making ROI information easily available, as well as the ability to create, delete, modify, and even bulk upload campaigns from a spreadsheet.

In addition, bids can now be optimised in real-time, it is possible to manage budget and status for multiple groups and there is a wider range of reporting and data analysis tools available than when using the Facebook interface alone.

The following articles below were featured on NMA and both discuss how brands are beginning to shift budgets from Google to Facebook thanks to the opening of its advertising API which is enabling agencies as well as clients to have greater control over their online campaigns.

77Agency was among the first three digital agencies in the UK to be granted the Facebook Ads API Agency title late last year and since then the technology is available to clients and is also being licensed out to other agencies, clients and third-parties.

Click on image to read full story:

Click on image to read full story:

One of the highlights presented at the festival was a round table where the most influential and deep connoisseurs of the field came together to consider how the idea of creativity and production has changed over the last few years, discussed future trends and how digital technologies are taking a significant part in the industry.

The session was dubbed “Run fashion, run. Part two,” where our MD, Marco Corsaro participated as new media specialist along with leading exponents of the fashion system such as moderator Antonio Mancinelli from Marie Claire, fashion designer Elio Fiorucci, curator and art expert, Gianni Mercurio, journalist and fashion critic, Roberta Filippini, and musician/songwriter, Saturn.

As experts in digital media, 77Agency was invited by Attila & Co., the PR agency responsible for organizing the event,  to illustrate the role of digital technologies, particularly in relation to the fashion and design industries, and to share information on the potential of the revolutionizing digital communication channels available today.

“We have been witnessing how new digital technologies are changing the way we communicate, – explained Marco Corsaro- and becoming new business models for an effective, promotional vehicle for companies and services. But most importantly, the potential these ‘tools’ have for diffusing information and generating interactivity, are already changing the rules of the game, and moreover, reducing the gap between brand and customer.”

For some time now, 77Agency, with its expertise in new media marketing, has worked with various fashion houses and designers of international fame with the ultimate aim of improving the external image of the brand, promote awareness and increase the online visibility of the products.

“We need to understand the key role that technology is playing now more than ever. It’s becoming the primary source of innovation and competitive advantage, especially in a high value-added industry such as fashion,” declared Corsaro.

Click the image below for the press release in Italian:

But before we introduce the video, we’d like to thank everyone who joined us last Friday at our Christmas Party, Photo Exhibit and Charity Auction in support of the Fondazione Gaetano Bertini Malgarini and Territori Onlus. As we mentioned in our previous post, the objective of the evening was to raise funds for both a non-profit foundation providing support, training and assistance in gaining employment to people suffering from mental illness and a volunteer organization that develops innovative campaigns to fight stigma and cultural prejudice surrounding mental disease.

A total of 13 pieces of artwork were exhibited, each of which was auctioned off for approximately €800-1000, thus raising a good amount of money for both organizations.

View the Charity Auction’s Artwork Gallery here.

Some of the highlighting events you will find in the video include:

* On 08 February, The Free Hug campaign took place in Toronto. It was started by Australian Juan Mann who offered free hugs to strangers as random acts of kindness. The movement went international on YouTube. The Free Hugs video has been viewed over 50 million times.

* On 20 January, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th and first African American President of the United States. He was also the first candidate for the White House to make new media a key element of his campaign. Obama gained 5 million fans on social media networks and 3 million donors contributed $500 million online.

* On 25 October, U2’s Unforgettable Fire concert was broadcast live on YouTube. It was watched by 10 million people across all continents, making it the biggest live streaming event in the channel’s history.

* Greenpeace announced the fulfillment of the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement on 31 March. The campaign was won with direct non-violent action on the ground, consumer pressure, stockholder actions, and thousands of online activists worldwide. Cyberactivism is revolutionizing the way Greenpeace runs its campaigns.

2009 has been the year of the new media revolution.

To mark this year of change, 77Agency has commissioned a team of artists to illustrate how new media has changed the way we communicate, share and obtain information.

The resulting works will be exhibited and auctioned for charity at the East End Studios in Milan today starting at 7:00 pm.

The funds raised from the auction will be donated to two organizations: Fondazione Gaetano Bertini Malgarini, a non-profit foundation providing support, training and assistance in gaining employment to people suffering from mental illness and Territori Onlus, a volunteer organization that develops innovative campaigns to fight stigma and cultural prejudice surrounding mental disease.

Each piece of art is 70 x 98cm and has been printed onto anodized aluminum.

One such project for 2010 is “Mind the Difference,” an international video contest to produce a short film on the theme of “psychological differences” which will be promoted on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, forums and blogs. To keep up with this initiative you can become a fan of Mind the Difference on Facebook or follow their tweets on @MindtheD.

The works produced for the charity auction can be viewed in this link :

Charity Auction’s Artwork Gallery

(click to enlarge)