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)

The video runs through some big events of 2009 (mostly from a US perspective), starting with the heroic plane crash landing by Pilot Sully Sullenberg on the Hudson River, the deadly and widely spread swine flu, NY Yankees victory, the Twitter boom, and finally ending with a clip of Barack Obama.

Although is goes by quite quickly, the video provides an entertaining overview of the year, however you might have to watch it more than once.

Check it out:

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

However, Facebook’s explosion has not only been visible in Italy, it has become the number one network for nearly 400 million people across the globe. Social media in general has changed the way we live, the way we socialize, the way we communicate– the way brands communicate with consumers.

Nowadays, the use of social media does not depend on whether you have a computer or whether you have access to slow or ultra-fast internet connection. In Italy, the number of users who access the internet via their mobile devices continues to grow: +22% compared to last year, for a total of over 6 million users– over 65 million users worldwide (facts from B!Digital).

This chart displays the top 20 countries by time spent online:

The concept of portability has also become a fundamental aspect when it comes to how content is being presented and delivered across the different channels. Because the Web isn’t in our computers and our laptops anymore, content providers must make content accessible and reusable from all types of media.

The mobile Web offers the promise of freedom in the sense that it makes the Web fun again and doesn’t force people to stay in one very same place all the time.

Being away from our desktops and laptops which now feel like work will make the mobile Web a welcome escape to many and the perfect opportunity for brands to market to them.

“While Google represents the main player in the search engine industry and many consider it the best vehicle for direct response marketing, social media, on the other hand, lends itself to continuous interaction, branding and engagement,” confirms Marco Corsaro, Managing Director 77Agency.

Below is an article that was featured in this year’s WebBook- Il Quaderno della Comunicazione– from the ADC Group Publishing Company, which was distributed at this year’s IAB Forum Milan 2009, Italy’s largest interactive marketing conference.

Click image to download the entire pdf.

About a week ago, Simon Fuller, a journalist from a UK-based online publication brand-e.biz, approached us for information for an article he was writing on luxury brands and their involvement in social media; how to operate across social media, reasons why to get involved and how to go about it.

Our MD, Marco Corsaro highlighted the various reasons why brands should look into integrating a social media strategy into their online marketing initiatives as to not miss out on any valuable opportunities and the importance of providing fresh, new content in order to keep audiences engaged.

Here is an abstract from the article:

High-end sociability. Luxury brands are facing something of a dilemma when it comes to social media. On the one hand, everyone else seems to be at it, and they certainly don’t want to miss out. On the other, they’re all about luxury- and that means maintaining a certain distance from the consumer.

“With regards to luxury consumers, we know that they consider the Internet as one of the primary sources of information about luxury products,” says Marco Corsaro, MD of new media marketing outfit 77Agency. “They spend more time online than using any other media, [we know] that a higher percentage of them than average are Internet shoppers 75% versus 70% – and that they are twice as likely to be involved in consumer-generated content online.

“Having said that, many luxury brands have been slow in taking the lead in managing their presence in social media networks, missing out on important opportunities to engage directly with consumers and brand ambassadors,” he adds.

But it looks like slow-poke brands won’t be able to keep holding back, since consumers chat about them across social networks anyway.

“It’s no longer a question of avoidance,” says Corsaro. “Brands already feature strongly in social media exchanges as consumers use Facebook, Twitter and other networks to express their feelings and exchange opinions about brands and products on a daily basis.”

To read the full article click here.

According to Martin Sorrell, WPP’s CEO and advertising guru, in an recent interview for one of Italy’s most read journals, Corriere della Sera, the first half of 2009 will be one of the hardest as traditional media will see the worst declines particularly newspapers, radio and TV specially in USA and Europe.

Perhaps the most comforting remark he made throughout the interview was that he didn’t believe the economic recession would simulate that of an ‘Apocalypse Now.’

However, the online shows a strong performance for 2009 as email, search and social media show the highest expected change in budget allocation with an increase of 58.5%, 54.4% and 43.9% respectively while offline media is expected to reduce at a 34.9%.

As part of the selected advertising goals for 2009 the highest degree of importance went to new customer acquisition, followed by increased customer retention and increased brand favorability- all of which could be effectively attainable through the implementation of the right online strategies and social media as a marketing/networking tool.

Towards the end of the interview, Sorrell switched to a more optimistic view of what the Internet landscape will be like post-crisis affirming it will increase its market share from 12% to 20-25%.

I guess we can all agree it is quite a quest to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. It’s officially the biggest challenge for all advertisers.

The segments that came relevant to this study include:

Ads on emerging media vehicles- ads delivered using new media channels (ie: mobile)

Ads on the road- billboards, outdoor advertising, etc.

Ads in mass media- ads that have the highest reach, vehicles include magazines, TV, Internet.

Ads on paper- ads delivered through print.

Ads at events- product placement ads at shows, events, sports or through TV programs.

Ads averse- or plainly ‘ad blinded’.

I’d like to highlight the 9% of US citizens pertaining to the ‘Ads on Emerging Media Vehicles’ segment. This is a reflection of the individuals who have been hit with the new ways of the Internet and advancements that enable users to access the online world from devices other than a personal computer.

Traditional advertising seems to be preferred by 17% of US adults, while 13% get driven by product placement in public environments or over TV shows.

A high percentage of US adults, however, seem to just ‘tune out’ the advertising.

The chart above also shows you which statement, 9% of US adults who fall under the ‘Ads on Emerging Media Vehicles’ category, mostly agree on.