The 45th annual Shark Advertising Awards festival has been taking place this weekend in Kinsale, Co Cork.

Just like at every other gathering of advertising people around the world, the event will be dominated with discussions and seminars on topics like: ‘‘Do you have a future in advertising?”, ‘‘Why advertising and entertainment are merging’’ and ‘‘One to One Communication – The Importance of ...”

The multimedia world, and new technology in particular, hasn’t simply made our media options broader, it has actually expanded and changed the ways a brand can behave.

I believe that our talent is still about telling brand stories, and TV commercials still have a big role in that. However, by embracing new systems, formats, screens and experiences, we can redefine in a much more profound way how those stories are told.

That’s a big challenge for traditional advertising agency thinking, structures and behaviour.

For me this offers advertising in Ireland a huge opportunity to become a more significant player on the world stage. There are lots of people working in Irish companies today that are as good as – if not better than – anyone else worldwide.

But don’t take my word for it. While recently perusing the IDA Ireland website, I came across the following claim that is helping to sell Ireland to the world: ‘‘Ireland. Knowledge is in our nature.”

I think that is a pretty interesting thought. Similarly, if we were selling Irish advertising to the world, we might claim: ‘‘Creativity is in our nature’’.

After all, creativity should be the essence of what the advertising agency business is all about.

Expanding on the knowledge is in our nature. IDA Ireland talks about Ireland having ‘‘a qualified workforce with a unique capacity to innovate and initiate new ways of working that can make business more dynamic, more efficient and ultimately more profitable’’.

That sounds to me like the basic components required by creative people and creative companies. It then expands talks about the importance of ‘‘connectedness and flexibility’’ in the Irish economy.

Our 21st century Ireland is connected, open and networked. The EU ‘‘network’’ for instance, has greatly improved our professional standards, increased our market horizons and given us much more credibility in attracting foreign direct investment ‘‘clients’’.

Any insights in that for the Irish advertising agency sector? Let me think about that for a moment.

IDA Ireland’s experience has led it to the conclusion that some of the biggest names in the world – including Microsoft, Intel, Pfizer and Dell – have chosen Ireland because, as well as providing attractive tax incentives, we also deliver.

Our business environment boasts people with initiative and an ability to innovate, and our economy is networked with (and connected to) international markets, global thinking and high standards.

In short, this is a business location that is flexible, efficient and fast moving in how we organise and work.

It may be worthwhile for the Kinsale gathering to reflect on that.

How does the advertising agency business in Ireland live up to the IDA thinking?

Networked and connected?

Advertising is as international as business gets, with a very significant US flavour. In fact, the US accounts for about 60 per cent of all worldwide advertising activity.

The global industry is extremely well networked and connected because that’s what works best for the worldwide advertising industry, the Irish economy and the kind of companies we would like to locate here.

Most of the major international advertising agency networks are represented in various forms in Ireland.

Eleven of the top 12 media buying companies in Ireland are a part of international networks.

Connectedness is so important in this part of our industry, not least because being a part of an international network provides exposure and access to international best practice.

This is vital for a tiny market like Ireland in a worldwide industry that is on constant fast forward. Being networked and connected raises creative and professional standards and expectations.

It also opens opportunities to export the creative knowledge that is our nature.

An innovative ethos?

Initiative and innovation go to the heart of creativity. At a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to reach consumers through traditional media and traditional techniques, initiative and innovation in what we do is becoming critical.

The relationship between brand and consumer is shifting and consumers have become much more active participants.

TV commercials still have a very important role, but the ideas for growth, which should predicate good TV commercials, are what matter most.

So, ideas first, creative content next and then execution in specific media like digital, print, TV, etc.

Flexible, efficient, fast moving?

I agree with IDA Ireland that, inherent in Irish people, there is a ‘‘unique capacity to initiate and innovate new ways of working’’. And I really believe that the advertising agencies need to embrace this unique capacity.

We need to move at the accelerated pace that the business world is moving at. This will require us to overhaul the traditional structures and procedures that are a legacy from an agency time that has passed.

It should force us to examine our skills base to ensure that we have the standard of expertise required to define a brand’s behaviour across the entire media landscape.

It is only by taking initiatives and innovating new ways of working that the Irish advertising industry can truly take its place on the world stage, even if that is among the Sharks of Kinsale.

Chris Cawley is executive chairman of Cawley Nea/TBWA Advertising. Catherine O’Mahony is on annual leave.