COV E R STO RY
Pictured: Dyane Hanrahan, Marketing & Communications Manager, Crawford Art Gallery; Mary McCarthy, Director, Crawford Art Gallery; Conor Healy, Chief Executive Cork Chamber: Paula Cogan, President, Cork Chamber, Karen O’Donoghue, Marketing Director, Irish Examiner and The Echo. Picture: Darragh Kane
CORK’S DIGITAL MARKETING LEGENDS COME TO THE FORE The Cork Digital Marketing Awards 2021 were held virtually on October 1st where our category winners were announced along with the overall winner our 2021 Cork Digital Marketing Legend. The awards, presented by Sinéad Kennedy, celebrate success, and recognise the strategic, innovative, and creative approaches that businesses are bringing to all digital platforms. Over the last sixteen months digital marketing has been catapulted forward and while its importance was steadily growing for many years, the current pandemic has acted as a catalyst placing digital marketing at the core of company growth and even survival. Commenting at the awards Chamber President Paula Cogan said, “There were phases in both 2020 and 2021 where for many, online was the dominant form of communication in their lives. In this space, individuals and brands who provided regular engagement, positivity and were true to themselves and their brand thrived and found a new role, not only as product or service providers but as thought leaders... I would like to congratulate all the teams, individuals and agencies who entered and particularly those at this final stage.”
Paula Cogan also paid tribute to Natasha Lynch, Founder and MD of Essential French, to whom this year’s awards are dedicated and who sadly and untimely passed away earlier this year. “Natasha is fondly remembered by all of us at Cork Chamber and the wider digital world in Cork for her effervescence and joie de vie. We dedicate our awards tonight to a social media tour de force Natasha Lynch.” The outstanding Crawford Art Gallery were crowned our overall winners and Cork’s Digital Marketing Legend 2021, also having scooped the award for Best in Content Creation and Best Use of Instagram. On receiving the award Mary McCarthy, Director, Crawford Art Gallery commented, “We are honoured to be acknowledged by Cork Chamber as digital legends. This is a huge boost for us and our team at this time and we recognise the chamber as standard bearers. We have like so many others worked dutifully to create touch points and conversations with our audiences and stakeholders over the past 18 months. We are really delighted this has been recognised and appreciated.”
Speaking on their digital communications Ms McCarthy noted, “This engagement was a lifeline for us and our artists. Our artists collaborated with us to try and shape this engagement to be human, fun and engaging. We have now recognised the possibilities of the digital to build on the immensely rich physical experience that Crawford Art Gallery offers and believe this new digital ambition will continue to evolve and build new connections for us, the artists and the collection.” As well as the accolade of being named this year’s overall winners Crawford Art Gallery will also receive a Content Studio Package courtesy of our media partner the Irish Examiner. The Content Studio will work with the Crawford Art Gallery to bring their brand story to life across the Irish Examiner channels, reaching an extensive and engaged audience. The Cork Digital Marketing Awards 2021 have once again raised the bar on digital and showcased the dedication demonstrated by business to tackle the challenges head on, rise above and thrive through their digital innovations, legendary ideas, and brave decisions.
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