Verge, Ogilvy's Global Digital Summits examine the latest trends on how digital media is being used by consumers and businesses. Verge has been run in many international markets across several continents. Verge's first Dublin Summit took place on Friday, June 13, 2008, at the Guinness Storehouse. Speakers at the event included some of the leading international experts in the field including Shelly Lazarus, chairman and chief executive of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide; Paul O'Donnell, chairman OgilvyOne EAME and Maeve Donovan, managing director, The Irish Times. In this special podcast you can hear interviews with: David Wheldon, Global Brand Director, Vodafone Group, Patou Nuytemans, Ogilvy's digital leader in EAME and JP Donnelly, Group Chief Executive Ogilvy Group Ireland.

Interview with David Murphy from Salesonline.ie about the impending establishment of an Irish chapter of the Internet Advertising Bureau. In the interview we also discuss general trends in internet advertising. Plus Gerard Tannam from Islandbridge,com returns for his regular look at branding; this month's topic is Branding in the Downturn.

In this Persuaders Marketing Podcast an interview with Dick Stroud, author and lecturer on the subject of marketing to the 50 plus segment. Dick, who manages his own consultancy 20plus30 was my guest at The Persuaders Pudding Club held on June 12th in the The Westbury Hotel in Dublin city centre. We had about 40 attendees and his presentation, sans Powerpoint, was warmly received by those there, who represented a diverse range of marketing professionals from agencies, research companies and clients. There is also an interview with Ann Murtagh, who was our host for the evening from the Westbury.

The An Post Direct Marketing Awards have celebrated and recognised the best in Irish Direct Marketing. The 2008 Awards were presented at The Mansion House on Thursday 8th May. It was a fantastic evening and The Persuaders was there to record some of the proceedings. In this short podcast I interview some of the finalists and winners including Gary Brown from RMG Target, who scooped the Agency of the Year title.

This podcast was recorded in New York on May 1st at the launch of the new campaign ‘Discover Ireland’s Wonderful West’. The campaign was designed to highlight the many attractions of the Western regions from Kerry to Donegal, including ease of direct access from many gateway cities, the good value fares and inclusive packages available, as well as showcasing a range of compelling offers from local industry. Advertising, direct marketing, eMarketing, lifestyle and media promotions, publicity and co-operative activity with carriers, tour operators and industry partners all form part of the campaign. This will be additional activity over and above Tourism Ireland’s core overseas marketing programme for 2008. The new campaign focuses mainly on the US market which is the most lucrative in terms of spend and length of stay; €2.4m will be spent in the US. It will capitalise on the direct services to Shannon this year by four major carriers (Aer Lingus, Continental, Delta and US Airways) from six important gateways (New York, Boston, Chicago, Newark, Atlanta and Philadelphia). While direct transatlantic access into Shannon Airport will be reduced in peak season this year, there is still a considerable capacity of 6,700 seats per week to target. In the podcast I interview representatives from Tourism Ireland, Failte Ireland as well as Irish trade participants and attendees representing US tour operators who feature Ireland.

Out of Home Advertising is the topic discussed in this MediaDialogues special edition of The Persuaders Marketing Podcast. Out of Home Advertising is the last mass medium. How will it adapt in the age of personalisation? The Cream of International and National Experts on Out of Home give their views on the challenges and opportunities facing the Out of Home Industry from the point of view of Agency, Client, Specialist and Media Owner.

In this podcast an interview with Simon Anholt about the Anholt City Brands index where he discusses the metrics that are involved in the index and the challenges for city branding. There is also an interview with Irish Search Engine specialists Vazumo and towards the end of the interview I speak to John Fareed of Fareed, Zapala Koepke about the changing nature of luxury in hospitality marketing.

Prangle is a free online resource for journalists, providing the latest news and information. Prangle is a web feed that cuts through the spam and clutter to put key new releases where you can find them quickly and easily. In this podcast from The Persuaders Marketing Podcast series I interview founder Douglas Dalby who left The Sunday Times to work full-time on Prangle. We discuss the way that traditional press is adapting to the online environment, and the background to the setting up of Prangle.ie

It's official - the Boomtown Rats had it completely wrong. Well, if Irish marketing recruiters Prosperity have their way. Working with branding consultancy Gospel TM the company have developed a bold communications message built around the proposition that the route to happiness firstly lies in being happy in one's career. The theme of 'happiness' in all its manifestations has provided Prosperity with a rich vein from which to mine persuasive messages across all media platforms. Listen to my discussion with Gary Mullen from Prosperity and Marty Wright from Gospel TM to find out more.....

Albert Maruggi started Provident Partners, a full-service marketing firm, to work with clients who want to communicate in different ways and actively build their businesses. The company holds as its philosophy - The thoughtful pursuit of being different, while relating to what’s common, is the art and science of business communications. In my interview with Albert we discuss how he is advising his clients on social media ( indeed if social media is a term that's relevant ) and also some other topical issues in today's multi-media marketing environment.