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Digital Titans Cork Digital Marketing Awards 2020 are now open for entries! The best of Cork’s digital titans are set to compete once again to be awarded champion status in what has become one of Cork’s most hotly contended awards. With 12 different categories, Cork businesses have ample opportunity to showcase their digital innovations and achievements over the past 12 months while demonstrating the impact of marketing through digital channels on business survival and growth. This year has presented many challenges for local businesses. It has changed everything, from how we live and communicate with one another to how and where we work. As businesses are learning to evolve their services and offerings, digital marketers have paved the way for many companies in pivoting their marketing strategies to adapt to an evolving marketing landscape. The theme for this year’s CDMAs is Digital Titans. These Awards will recognise the persistent and innovative hard work that has been demonstrated in the last year. Commenting at the launch of the awards Annie FitzGibbon, Director of Member Services, Cork
Chamber said:“This is the seventh year of the Cork Digital Marketing Awards, a year we won’t forget and an opportunity for Cork companies to highlight the incredible work that they continue to do in evolving their digital channels, creating innovative content and nurturing agile and thriving digital communities.” In 2019, an audience of 270 digital marketeers saw Visit Cork take home the highly coveted prize as the Overall Digital Marketing Transformer. Commenting on the achievement, Seamus Heaney, Head of Visit Cork said; “It was a remarkable achievement for Visit Cork to win the Overall Digital Marketing Transformer award. The consumer brand for tourism in Cork was Pure Cork and this brand was essentially only in its infancy just less than two years in existence. This prestigious digital award acknowledged the instant affirmation from our industry and showed us that the support was there to make it a success”. Annie FitzGibbon added “Given the increased digital activity across all business sectors, we anticipate that entries will be higher than ever this year. We have seen some fantastic projects
coming to the fore this year and encourage all businesses to celebrate their digital achievements in their entries.” All entries will be independently judged by a public panel and social media enthusiasts using weighted scoring metrics customised for each category. Judges are provided with criteria and judging guidance. Closing date for entries is Friday, 14 August 2020 at 4pm. Following the judging rounds, semi-finalists and finalists will be released on the Cork Chamber website. Winners and the Overall Digital Titan 2020 will be announced at a virtual Cork Digital Marketing Awards ceremony on Friday, 9 October 2020.
Digital Transformer Seamus Heaney, Head of Visit Cork speaks about winning the Cork Digital Marketing Award 2019 What did it mean to you and the team at Visit Cork to be awarded Overall Digital Transformer of the year 2019? It was a remarkable achievement for Visit Cork to win the Overall Digital Transformer of the year 2019 award. Cork Convention Bureau was a very active in the digital world over the past number of years and very much Business Tourism focused. The leisure customer facing brand for tourism in Cork was Pure Cork and this brand was essentially only in its infancy just less than two years in existence.
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This prestigious digital award acknowledged the instant affirmation from our industry and showed us that the support was there to make it a success.
What advice would you give companies who are thinking of entering the awards, particularly in 2020? Now, more than ever, brands need a strong digital presence and the Digital Marketing Awards are a great way to get profile for your company or organisation. We were unsure if it was too soon for Pure Cork to submit an entry for the 2019 awards, so it was amazing to enter and then go on to win, ‘Overall Digital Transformer.’ So our advice is ‘Just go for it!’ What do you think have been the main benefits of entering the awards? From an internal viewpoint it gave us the confidence to be brave with the Brand. We knew we were going in the right direction after
receiving the award. Externally it gave us great publicity for the Visit Cork organisation as a whole and helped to cement our strong digital presence. It was also a very special event for our small team and even today those awards take pride of place within our offices. Thank you again to Cork Chamber their foresight and commitment along with their acknowledgment in the role digital plays in all our businesses.
