Brandopia

From Blogger to Spaves to Wordpress

2006-07-31T08:07:00.000+02:00

I started blogging at Blogger with Brandopia but since I joined Microsoft I didn’t find it appropriate to continue using Google products. The obvious choice was of course to start using Spaces which I did (My Space), but it doesn’t have the features I was used to for daily blogging (which is the purpose, of course). Therefor I now changed to Wordpress with my new blog: Brandopia.

Last post on Blogger!

2006-07-03T20:19:00.000+02:00

This is my last posting on this blog at Blogger. I have just joined Microsoft as Trade Marketing Manager for MSN in Belgium and I find it my duty to (at least) use the tools from the group. This does not mean that I won't be critical, of course ;-) or that I was not happy about the blogger tools. From now on you can find my musings on my Space

video blog on advertising

2006-06-06T08:16:00.000+02:00

5 on Friday is a nice video on all marketing topics. Some very interesting examples.

Google trends for SEO

2006-05-31T11:07:00.000+02:00

Very interesting artcile from Marketingfacts that can help anyone with chosing keywords.

Monitoring the blogosphere

2006-05-29T09:43:00.000+02:00

Here you can find 5 tools to monitor the blogosphere: Monitoring the blogosphere
Found thanks to Marketingfacts

Bravia mash up

2006-05-29T09:16:00.000+02:00

Found this really nice mash up for the Sony Bravia campaign: Bravia Mashup.

Found thanks to I-wisdom

Live Local and Leuven

2006-05-24T13:05:00.000+02:00

After reading the posting about Windows Live Local on TechCrunch, I had a look and was surprised to see that Leuven, the city where I live, was written in its French version (see the picture): Louvain. If Louis Tobback( the mayor) ever sees this he will not be happy ;-)

Viral experiment (6)

2006-05-15T14:01:00.000+02:00

After all the issues with video sharing sites (see previous postings) I've asked some feedback from another blogger: Coolz0r
You can see his analysis here: Viral Video Problems
and I must say, I agree with him. Thanks

Viral experiment (5)

2006-05-12T11:17:00.000+02:00

I don't get it. Everybody is talking about transparency when it comes to blogging. We, as an advertising agency, try to do so but get punished for it. In this experiment we tried to post the video to Revver but they didn't allow the video. This was there reaction:

"an admin has changed the status of your story for the following reason: We don\'t allow self links - so we\'re opting out of your viral experiment.- k? thanks.
The story is: http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=2427"

What I don't get is that you have to prove on the one hand side that you own the copyright but on the other they accuse you of self linking??? Next time, I'll ask my little nephew to do the posting for me without any comments.

Viral experiment (4)

2006-05-12T11:02:00.000+02:00

My co-worker Stijn, just made a small blog to support this viral experiment. You can see it here. He will be posting on this experiment as well.

Viral experiment (3)

2006-05-12T10:57:00.000+02:00

Interesting, Dag wrote the following comment on our little experiment on Videosift:

Dag's first comment
Lame, this is a self-link viral experiment by a marketing company:
http://brandopia.blogspot.com/2006/05/viral-experiment-2.html

My reaction
HI Dag,
why is this lame? We made a nice little video for one of our clients and are posting it on video sharing websites. We are not paying anybody to blog about it, neither are we rating (or clicking like maniacs on the video) the video ourselves. We bring 30 seconds of entertainment (if you don't like the video that's something else) to anybody who wants it. We are not interrupting anybody, such as is the case with tv ads or pop-ups. Always happy to discuss this further with you. How is this different from you posting the Apple vs MS ads on this site, except that you don't work for either of them? The difference on our side is that our client doesn't have the budget to pay huge amounts of money to run it on tv or advertise it through banners. We had a small budget, made the video and wanted to share with the rest... in the hope that people will like it and (of course) think of TGV or visit tgv.com. We're really trying to be honest and transparent here (which is also the reason for my posting on my blog).

We'll see what happens next?

Viral experiment (2)

2006-05-11T15:42:00.000+02:00

Ok, postings have begun and the number of view on the videos are rising (slowly but surely), already some people are rating the video and it looks good. At the moment we have posted it on the following sites:Youtube, Putfile, Veoh, Vsocial, Ifilm, Zippyvideos, Flurl, Vimeo, Grouper, Stupidvideos and Videosift. On Videosift we also had the first person who voted for the clip, thanks a lot Krupo! Strange thing however at Revver , while trying to upload the video they replied to us to say that there were copyright issues. Incredible! We acquired all the rights for difusion of this video online on a global scale... so, I don't see the problem. To be continued...

Viral experiment

2006-05-11T11:48:00.000+02:00

For one of our clients, TGV , we are trying a little viral experiment. We have made a nice video (underneath) that we have put on their website, which we believe to have some viral potential. Now we started to post this video on all possible video sharing websites such as Youtube (we have already posted it on +/- 30 of them). The next step in the process is trying to get in contact with influential bloggers in the different target countries to have a look at the video and if they like it to blog about it.

Why did we propose this idea?

We had a very small budget and the client wanted to do a classic banner campaign since their objective was to create brand awareness for their site. With the limited budget we knew we would only be able to buy limited space and with ever-decreasing click-trough rates we didn't expect a lot of return for their money. That's why we are trying this. We split the budget in 3: shooting the video, building the webpages and having one of our webmasters ready to get in contact with bloggers during the following 20 days. We are convinced that we will have more view, downloads and visits to their site than if we would have done a simple banner campaign. I'll keep you posted on the progress of this campaign. Of course all remarks are welcome.

Advertising explodes

2006-05-10T17:12:00.000+02:00

Incredible evolution in the Ad industry, don't you think? Completely taken over from BuzzMachine

Advertising explodes: "Wal-Mart and other top advertisers are proposing an auction marketpace for TV advertising. This has big implications on many levels: It is another harbinger of the death of TV’s upfront, which was built on old business models of scarcity; now scarcity is dead as there is ever more content, more distribution, more competition. It is also another indication of the commodification of media; if you’re just broadcast, you’re just eyeballs… but (and here’s our opportunity) if you have real relationships with people you have more value. It is also an indication of competition with Google, which has been threatening to turn all ad purchasing into a Google auction; note that this project involves eBay. And it shows me this could create an infrastructure for negotiating advertising buys that could be used by the open ad marketplace for citizens media I proposed in Ad Age this week. On the Wal-Mart proposal, Ad Age reports: A group of marketers led by Wal-Mart’s Julie Roehm today put out the call for advertisers to contribute $50 million for a test of an online auction system to buy and sell TV advertising."

Some thoughts

2006-05-08T12:48:00.000+02:00

When looking at the program about Google on Uitzendinggemist I had to think about the postings I read on Unbundled advertising at MIT Advertising Lab and at Donata Communications. I only watch tv programs when I've read about it on some blog I have in my RSS Feeder, just as I did with the Google program. I have never come home, started my computer and watched or zapped randomly to watch tv on my pc as I would do with normal tv watching. Wouldn't it be an idea to use web 2.0 features on those tv programs where I would be able to go to one site where I have selected the watching list of a few people I trust so that I can find interesting or entertaining programs in only a few clicks? This will become even more interesting once you have site such as Uitzendinggemist for many more countries or channels. This reminds me of even another posting I found on Trendwatching about "Curated consumption". I believe this will become very important for content providers and tv companies. I would love to have some Amazon-like features that tell me what other people watched after you have seen something of interest. Just an idea!

Excellent program about Google

2006-05-08T10:05:00.000+02:00

Nice report on Google can be watched here. Nice site by the way: Uitzending gemist , it gives you the possibility to rewatch programs from the dutch television on the internet.

Perlorian brothers

2006-05-05T09:48:00.000+02:00

Some very funny ads here

MSN originals

2006-05-05T09:29:00.000+02:00

MSN is launching MSN originals where everybody can participate to tell stories. Nice project and I'm looking forward to see the first stories online. A interesting example of consumer generated advertising!

Soonr (2)

2006-05-04T08:03:00.000+02:00

Soonr is an incredible tool. You can connect it with Skype
and use your mobile phone to call with Skype. Cool, no?

Soonr

2006-05-04T07:36:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Techcrunch I found an amazing tool: Soonr
In a few minutes I had acces to my email and my documents trough my cell phone. Great Stuff.

P&G creates TV Show

2006-05-03T08:44:00.000+02:00

Interesting article from Big Picture Advertising taken over completely underneath:

P&G creates TV show: " We're big fans of email marketing - we have lots of case studies that show just how effective it can be. But even we're a bit surprised that P&G has turned an email newsletter into a TV show. P&G have had a very successful site and email newsletter called Home Made Simple - with lots of practical tips on home issues.

The transition to a TV show been talked about for a while, and the first episode goes out on June 4 on the Living Channel in the US. You can see a clip on the website - its style will be very familiar to anyone who watches the plethora of home makeover programmes on British TV.

Its a clear example of the new world of marketing - P&G get good profile for one of their key channels for selling lots of their brands that would never merit TV support. Living get a show with a ready made audience - and the marketing muscle of P&G to keep driving traffic. And the consumer gets good content.

And based on our knowledge of how Coke benefited from their product placement in American Idol we suspect that P&G ads in the show will work really hard too. A win win.

When we're briefing a project we increasingly try and think about how a concept would work as a TV show - given that the web is becoming a video medium rather than a text one. And in the world of IPTV there is no reason why any brand can't have its own TV show - the challenge is to make the content engaging. Just as it is with any form of advertising these days."

Great ads from Apple

2006-05-03T08:10:00.000+02:00

Some very nice ads from Apple can be found here.

First found on I-wisdom

2006-05-02T08:41:00.000+02:00

Channel 4 puts the complete first season of Lost online, for free. Problem is, I registered but I still can't watch the episodes. Pity!

Jumbo Shrimp Marketing

2006-04-26T08:13:00.000+02:00

Nice marketing presentation. Found on Brand Autopsy.

Ads of the World

2006-04-25T14:00:00.000+02:00

Just found this site: Ads of the World | Daily Creative Fix . Great collection and a true source or inspiration.

Live MSN TV

2006-04-25T08:39:00.000+02:00

Live MSN TV is a nice initiatif from Microsoft to get closer to the advertisers and agencies. A lot of case studies and nicely presented. I read on other blogs that the initiative is not that succesful but I think it will need a bit more time.

Microsoft Live Drive

2006-04-21T13:49:00.000+02:00

This could be a winner, if you ask me.

"Microsoft Live Drive may launch before GDrive: "Microsoft is building an online storage service, code named Live Drive, says Ray Ozzie in an interview with Fortune: Microsoft is planning to use its server farms to offer anyone huge amounts of online storage of digital data. It even has a name for that future service: Live Drive. With Live Drive, all your information - movies, music, tax information, a high-definition videoconference you had with your grandmother, whatever - could be accessible from anywhere, on any device."

Found on Techcrunch

1 + 1 = 11: The Mathematics of Brand Collaboration > The New Collaboratives

2006-04-21T08:14:00.000+02:00

Very nice analysis of how advertisers and agencies can work together on brand building and what the organizational options are.
1 + 1 = 11: The Mathematics of Brand Collaboration > The New Collaboratives. I personally believe mostly in the 3rd model, as this is the only one that trully delivers an integrated solution that takes into account the consistency over the departments and gives you the possibility to work with best-of-breed specialists, which is an absolute must if you want to stand ou today.

Identity: Best of the Best 2006

2006-04-19T15:37:00.000+02:00

Something else for a change. Here, Identity: Best of the Best 2006
you will find a list of the winners of the international contest of logos, trademarks and corporate identity organized by Identity Magazine in Russia. Some beautiful stuff and maybe some inspiration for some of us.

Strategic Marketing

2006-04-18T15:08:00.000+02:00

Excellent article on what the strategic choices are for an advertising company to cope with the future. Strategic Marketing

Port City PD - VIDEO

2006-04-18T11:57:00.000+02:00

A new tv show Port City PD - VIDEO has appeared specifically for Ipod en mobile video. You can subscribe online and there are already 2 episodes. The program last 30 minutes. Let's see how this works out!

First found on: Frank-ly

Increasing the effect of advertising on word of mouth

2006-04-18T11:02:00.000+02:00

Taken over from I-wisdom:

Increasing the effect of advertising on word of mouth: "Did you know that only 3,4% of actual face-to-face Word-of-Mouth conversations are stimulated by the marketing organisations promotional effort? Given the fact that from the top-5 Word-of-mouth stimulants, more than 50% of WOM is determined when one partner in a conversation feels a need with the other conversational partners, and more than 18% is just merely coïncidential Word-of-Mouth.

If this teaches us one thing, than it's definitely the fact that we should pay a lot more attention to understanding the context of WOM conversations and how the messages are woven into everyday conversations. One of the implications for this is that marketingcommunication should pay a lot more attention to the level of talkability of the commercial message. If there could be a better match with this conversational context, in which conversational partners address felt needs, than we might increase this 3,4% dramatically.

Link: http://www.womma.org/metrics/pres/womma_research_carl.pdf

Presentation by Prof. Dr. Walter Carl at the Measuring Word Of Mouth conference. More presentations here.

Scan, copy and fax with your camera phone or digital camera

2006-04-18T08:21:00.000+02:00

Interesting! With this service from Scanr you can take a picture of a document and turn it into a searchable PDF file.
Scan, copy and fax with your camera phone or digital camera

First found on: TechCrunch

Start your own tv station for 50€

2006-04-14T09:56:00.000+02:00

Linkinmedia gives people the opportunity to start their own tv station for 50€ per month. Instead of 57 channels and nothing on, as Bruce Springsteen said, it will become millions of channels and nothing on ;-) You can find out more on Startyourstation.

First found here: Start je eigen televisiestation voor 50 euro · Marketingfacts

Dashboard for Google

2006-04-13T11:26:00.000+02:00

Here's a request or a tip for Google. Would it be possible to create a dashboard where I can access all the features I'm subscribed to from Google? Now, I have to sign in for every single application I use and it would be very helpfull if I could have all that in one single page and with a single sign on procedure. At the moment I'm using Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Reader, Google Calendar, Google Adsense, Blogger and Google video. It would be great to have all this on one page.

Thanks ;-)

Advertisers Want Something Different

2006-04-13T09:16:00.000+02:00

Very good analysis of the advertising industry today and tomorrow:
The Connection Era: Advertisers Want Something Different

Nikefootball

2006-04-13T08:56:00.000+02:00

Fantastic website, superb content... advertising at its best if you ask me. nike :: NIKEFOOTBALL
I played football untill I was 16 or something but this really makes me want to start again.
If I'm not mistaken this was made by Wieden + Kennedy. Boy, do those guys make great advertising or what?

Looking for a job: web 2.0 style!

2006-04-12T13:21:00.000+02:00

New way to look for a job: make an animation of your cv and hope that people will talk about it. Apparently it worked if I look at the amount of people who blogged about it. check it out here: @L Flash CV en

Bacardi starts radiostation

2006-04-12T10:06:00.000+02:00

Bacardi starts their own radiostation. You can listen to it online as well as with your mobile phone. Let's see how many brands will follow this trend. My guess would be that we will see a lot of them starting radio stations, tv channels, etc.

First found on: fris_licht - signalen van de horizon: Bacardi komt met eigen radiostation

ABC experiments with webtv

2006-04-11T11:04:00.000+02:00

I've found it on numerous blogs, sites and newspapers...ABC is starting with a real webtv experiment. As from the first of may you can watch the episodes of Lost, Desperate Housewifes, Commander in chief and Alias on the web the day after it was on tv. According to De Standaard it will be free of charge. It will be interesting to see how this works out. My guess is that this is a winner!

Top 12 Campaigns You Should Swipe Ideas From

2006-04-07T09:25:00.000+02:00

A must read for everybody in online marketing!
MarketingSherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR: "Top 12 Campaigns You Should Swipe Ideas From"

Found thanks to Marketingfacts

Google Earth and Maxim

2006-04-07T09:01:00.000+02:00

Try this link if you have Google Earth and you'll see the new cover of Maxim in XXXL format somewhere in the desert of the US. And another ad format is born ;-)

First found via De Standaard Online Blog

Talking Chimps, Subservient Chickens And Others Blend Entertainment and Advertising - Knowledge@Wharton (2)

2006-04-06T07:42:00.000+02:00

Another one from the same article.

Talking Chimps, Subservient Chickens And Others Blend Entertainment and Advertising - Knowledge@Wharton: "Wharton marketing professor Barbara Kahn says interactive and entertaining Internet advertising is part of a larger trend in branding in which ads have moved from being product-focused to being consumer-oriented; experience is now part of the equation. 'The idea is that it's not enough to focus on the benefit to the consumer; you have to provide an experience.'"

Talking Chimps, Subservient Chickens And Others Blend Entertainment and Advertising - Knowledge@Wharton

2006-04-06T07:40:00.000+02:00

A little quote talking from the latest newsletter from Wharton

Talking Chimps, Subservient Chickens And Others Blend Entertainment and Advertising - Knowledge@Wharton: "Wharton marketing professor Patti Williams suggests that the latest forms of Internet viral marketing build on the traditional power of word-of-mouth. 'Advertisers are taking the initiative to provide the spark that starts the word-of-mouth. That spark is providing value to consumers by being entertaining. If you can provide something consumers find entertaining, even if it's advertising, they are likely to expose themselves to it.' Increasing adoption of high-speed broadband connections allows the more intricate viral messages, which often include video, to pass from PC to PC, she adds"

The price of converstion is worth it

2006-04-05T08:14:00.000+02:00

Posting taken over completely from Buzzmachine (because it is interesting and because I don't have anything to add ;-)

The price of converstion is worth it: "The Times reports today that when Chevy opened up a site for people to remix Chevy Tahoe commercials, some folks used it as a chance to make snarky anti-SUV ads. Now you’d expect this story to end with Chevy’s ad agency backing up fast, killing the commercials, striking back at the unruly mob, and praying not to get fired. But no:
A spokeswoman for Chevrolet, Melisa Tezanos, said the company did not plan to shut down the anti-S.U.V. ads.
“We anticipated that there would be critical submissions,” Ms. Tezanos said. “You do turn over your brand to the public, and we knew that we were going to get some bad with the good. But it’s part of playing in this space.”

Well, bravo. That’s not only right, it’s smart. It’s the realization that the public owns the trust put in brands and you can’t try to get into the conversation and then shut half of it off. Besides, it’s not as if any of these subversive spots are going to convince SUV drivers to reform their ways. You can bet that SUV fans will enjoy defending their vehicles of choice. It’s like the Republicans hoping that the Democrats really do try to censure Bush; it will only bring out more Republicans to the polls. I don’t care what you say," just spell the URL right.

Belgium on top in broadband

2006-04-04T12:34:00.000+02:00

Incredible! Belgium tops the list of broadband penetration at Emarketer.

Great campaign for Heineken

2006-04-03T15:26:00.000+02:00

Another great campaign for Heineken thanks to a nicely integrated Google Maps application here: Heineken

Viral Marketing 2006

2006-04-03T13:27:00.000+02:00

Excellent research paper on viral marketing. A must read.
MarketingSherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR

First found on Marketingfacts.

le VietNam Niouzes: Geert, "le petit dernier" de la MBIS

2006-04-03T13:13:00.000+02:00

Nice little posting about my one week 'CRM' course I have given in Vietnam. Thanks a lot Serge
le VietNam Niouzes: Geert, "le petit dernier" de la MBIS

Adapting to change is not an option

2006-04-03T13:01:00.000+02:00

A good example of this can be seen in this nice ad for Zurich Financial Services.

fantastic ad

2006-04-03T11:52:00.000+02:00

Great ad for Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Kids love to work in advertising

2006-04-03T11:27:00.000+02:00

I guess this is not really an ad for Monste r . But nevertheless, I find it a nice spoof.

Marketingfacts.tv

2006-04-03T10:58:00.000+02:00

Here Marketingfacts.tv you can find a list of al major video download sites.

Great commercial

2006-04-03T10:39:00.000+02:00

Our Crap is Your Crap <<>

Found first thanks to i-wisdom

Masters in Management in Vietnam

2006-03-23T16:32:00.000+01:00

I'm off for a week (again). This time not to go skiing but to give a course in CRM at the Open University of Ho Chi Minh. This course is in collaboration with the Solvay Business School.
See you again in the first week of April.

Lincoln.com - LovelyBySurprise

2006-03-22T13:45:00.000+01:00

New formats arise everyday. Check this out:
Lincoln.com - LovelyBySurprise
A 90 minutes online movie to promote the new Lincoln.

First found on Agenda Inc.

Google Idol

2006-03-22T09:53:00.000+01:00

Andy Warhol's 15 minutes of fame are back in full force. Check here:
Google Idol... unearthing the world's talent...

KanalenKiezer

2006-03-22T09:42:00.000+01:00

You can watch already more than 50 tv channels (mostly dutch) here: KanalenKiezer :: kies klik kijk digitale televisie-kanalen

Email marketing works

2006-03-22T07:48:00.000+01:00

As we can see in this article e-Mailing : les bonnes recettes de Voyages-Sncf (in French), email marketing can really work. With a database of 6 million and segmented content for each target group (20 different versions of the newsletters) Voyages Sncf gets stunning results:
- 38% open rate
- Unsubscription rate of something between 0,3 and 0,16%
- great sales results (a pity they don't give results here)

British Kung Fu

2006-03-21T08:45:00.000+01:00

Great movie!!

Offline for a week

2006-03-10T18:35:00.000+01:00

There will be no postings for a week. I'm off skiing to Val Thorens.

Why Macs suck!

2006-03-08T10:09:00.000+01:00

Cool video on why Macs suck!

Will they ever learn it?

2006-03-07T14:36:00.000+01:00

On this blog:Alternative Buzz I found the story behind the blog campaign from Dior ,launched with the contribution of 12 bloggers. They also say they have received more than 220 comment in the first week. But Jean Nasr from Alternative buzz quickly found out that those comments all came from only 9 IP adresses. Vichy tried to pull the same stunt a while ago and failed miserably... how long will Dior last?

First heard about this on Marketingfacts

Frank-ly - Rhinofly (Live MSN campaign))

2006-03-07T11:09:00.000+01:00

Great DM campaign for Live MSN in the Netherlands
Frank-ly - Rhinofly
(copy in Dutch)

Benevolent Director

2006-03-07T10:39:00.000+01:00

According to PresonalDNA I'm a benevolent director. Nicely made site and I must say that I agree with the results. Maybe that is because they left out all the minor aspects of somebody with this personality ;-) If you want to see the details of this profile click here.

Must see!

2006-03-06T15:43:00.000+01:00

Check out this presentation from Seth Godin at Google. Great stuff.

Microsoft Ipod

2006-03-03T13:40:00.000+01:00

Found it on numerous blogs but it's a great example of how dificult it can be to convince a client that simplicity works. Not always easy if your client continues to shout for a bigger logo!!

Ten Lifestyle Management and Concierge Service

2006-03-03T13:35:00.000+01:00

Ten Lifestyle Management and Concierge Service Interesting. A pity they don't tell you how much it costs. I wish there was something similar in Belgium.

Microsoft Origami Project

2006-03-01T18:22:00.000+01:00

Nice little movie about the Origami project from Microsoft.

filetofish® from McDonald's®

2006-02-28T12:36:00.000+01:00

filetofish® from McDonald's®
Very addictive game.

Google Page Creator

2006-02-26T15:24:00.000+01:00

Just launched:Google Page Creator. Looks great... where will Google stop?

MySpace

2006-02-20T08:35:00.000+01:00

Very funny video about MySpace on the Daily Show

First found thanks to Brand New

Beautiful

2006-02-17T13:07:00.000+01:00

Beautiful ad for United

LondonTV goes broadband

2006-02-15T09:17:00.000+01:00

Visit London shows their complete programming online. The site is fast has great navigation and it really makes you wanna book a ticket to London (which is the point, no?)

First blogmarketing initative in Belgium results in blogstorm

2006-02-13T14:49:00.000+01:00

First blogmarketing initative in Belgium results in blogstorm: "It all started with a bottle of Thai Fanta. Wouter Vermeulen, who left i-merge recently for becoming director of communications for Coca-Cola Belgium/Luxemburg, and who's convinced of the power of the blogosphere, had the great idea of pre-releasing a sample of a new Fanta flavour into the blogosphere, one week before the official press could have a look. Ogilvy, who's responsable for the Coca-Cola PR, organised the action. Full credits for Ogilvy for being the first to experiment with blog marketing. We at i-merge are very curious about it, but we're fully aware of the risks and the pitfalls. And there were pitfalls... Ogilvy had organised a brainstorm with Belgian top-bloggers last summer. They involved only some of those bloggers in the Fanta-action and that really pissed of the others. Coolz0r and Luc Van Braekel had both a great post why they thought that this blogmarketing experiment needed some improvement. Which in its turn led to accusations of jealousy by other bloggers. Looking at it from the sideline, I think that the most important lesson here is that Ogilvy (and for that matter i-merge as well) should have known that working with the blogosphere is all about giving respect and maintaining a relationship. Bloggers are very keen on respect. Blogging is about sharing: I share my thoughts and knowledge with you, in exchange for your respect for me. it's as simple as that. There's no point in being sarcastic about this, and there's certainly no point for bloggers for being sarcastic about this.

Given the fact that blogging is about respect, we - as marketing agencies - should be very very carefull when trying to do something with the blogosphere. That's why I think that following methodology should have been followed:

1. Send a mail to the bloggers you know
2. Tell them about your idea and ask them for feedback
3. Ask them who else they think should be involved in the programme.
4. Adapt your action and send it to this netork of mutual respecting bloggers
5. Tip from Luc: don't include a typed press release: don't expect people to type it over ;-)

Taken over completely from I-wisdom

Nice short movie

2006-02-13T13:52:00.000+01:00

Short movie about a guy who breaks all 10 commandments before breakfast. Great Stuff. An imperfect 10

Found thanks to Coudal Partners

Funny corporate videos

2006-02-09T13:39:00.000+01:00

These videos at Despair are priceless.

2006-02-09T08:19:00.000+01:00

Great idea! Use the money it would cost to make a video (150.000 $) to help people around the world. Watch the video here: World on fire
Apparantely, this video is nominated for nominated for Best Short Form Video atThe Grammys.
Found this first on Beyond Madison Avenue

Super Bowl Ads (2)

2006-02-07T07:56:00.000+01:00

I can't help it. Loved this one for Bud Light.

Super Bowl Ads

2006-02-07T07:46:00.000+01:00

If you want to have a look at the Super Bowl Ads, you can find them all here. This one for Careerbuilder is one of my favorites.

Some nice ads

2006-02-02T15:28:00.000+01:00

Some nice ads

2006-02-01T10:12:00.000+01:00

One of the ads we made here at Tagora for our client Bellewaerde , a theme park in Belgium.

Top Brand Extensions

2006-01-31T14:38:00.000+01:00

Nice article of the best and worst brand extensions.
brand extension survey

Adliterate: PVRs

2006-01-31T13:47:00.000+01:00

20 tips to get prepared for the end of the 30' spot:
Adliterate: PVRs - less talk and more action

Brand activation ideas

2006-01-30T11:54:00.000+01:00

Some interesting ideas for brand activation from JWT Chuco . Thanks to Nicola Gorini for posting this on Soflow.

Online videos

2006-01-25T16:30:00.000+01:00

According to this news:
Emerce - Media/Marketing nieuws: Online videotheek Directmovie: 100.000 video's in 2006 already 2 companies deliver the possibility to purchase videos online: Directmovie and Movieplus. In the States, of course, many more propose this. I have tried several of them but because I'm based in Belgium I can't use any of these services. Damn!? What are we waiting for and where are the open source initiatives in this area. Didn't Skype become huge just because it was open for everybody?

Why the medium and the message matter equally

2006-01-25T12:14:00.000+01:00

Very interesting story (first found thanks to Brand New): MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Advertising: Why the medium and the message matter equally
What we do at Tagora to handle this is using our channel mapping tool in the early stages of the briefing. This tool is based on CIM and gives us the media preferences of all socio-demographic segments. Based on that we have a view on what media we need to include in the plan for the specific segment we want to target. It is only after this stage that we brief the creative team. The advantage is that we give the creative team a framework within which they can work. Once the project is approved we include the mediaplanners to detail the media plan as the channel mapping tool only gives us the channel not which newspaper or which magazine we need to choose.

GoGo Kidz: Easing Airport Travel for Parents

2006-01-23T09:24:00.000+01:00

I only wished I had this before I took the plane with my little girl.
GoGo Kidz: Easing Airport Travel for Parents: "Here's a great product just waiting for some great promotion and marketing partnerships. The GoGokidz Travelmate is a plate with wheels and a telescoping handle system that attaches to a variety of toddler car seats. The idea is to make your car seat easy to manage in airports. Brilliant! Car seats are one of the most awkward and unruly things to cary through airports. The American FAA strongly recommends that parents bring a car seat for their young children on jetliners. Additionally, rental car companies and ground transportation operators often charge expensive fees for providing car seats. To save the hassle, cost and provide safety parents need to bring their own car seats. The added bonus is that parents can leave the stroller behind and simply strap their child into the car seat and roll them along.

The huge opportunity here is for car seat manufacturers to build this functionality into their products as an added feature and market differentiator. Additionally, airlines could co-brand these to enhance the family friendly image of their airline.

The next step here is to think about the bigger picture. Parents can only roll and carry just so much through an airport. If their rolling their car seat that means they aren't rolling a carry-on suitcase. Perhaps there is further opportunity here to figure out a way to further attac"

Extreme Bike

2006-01-18T08:22:00.000+01:00

Found this great ad here: Extreme Bike but it looks a lot like these ads for BMW, don't you think?

One of my favorites

2006-01-12T16:41:00.000+01:00

This remains one of my favorite ads.

Sorry for the poor quality, but I downloaded it a long time ago and thanks to Google Video I can finally share this with you all.

Space Race

2006-01-11T16:46:00.000+01:00

A quote taken from the review of Space Race
:"On this journey all of the cast have a role. The data houses come to the fore, ad agencies finally fall apart under margin pressures and have to choose between their production and their strategic functions. Ad agencies become production shops or ideas shops. In the final movement clients decide they've had enough of all of this and take comms planning firmly by the scruff of the neck and move it inhouse."

I must say I do agree with this and I guess we are already noticing this today.

Corporate bloggers criticizing their employer on their blog - a catch22?

2006-01-11T11:51:00.000+01:00

Good analysis found on i-wisdom but I guess it does not always evolve this smoothly. It could also go like this:
- blogger criticizes employer
- employer doesn't respond publicly
- employer doesn't care about street cred
- blogger get's fired

Corporate bloggers criticizing their employer on their blog - a catch22?:

Joseph Jaffe has some interesting thoughts on corporate bloggers who openly criticize their employer, like Robert Scoble constantly does with his employer Microsoft. You might think that the employer crosses a line. The problem for the employer is however that (quoting Joseph Jaffe) 'any overt action by the employer (other than actually addressing the issue) is likely to be a PR-minefield'. Which sounds like a catch-22 for the employer. However, you can also look at it as a a PR-opportunity:

The bottom line is that it is an opportunity waiting to be capitalized. No less. At the very minimum, it gives the company in question the chance to explain itself

A lucky guess: we'll be seeing some tactictal PR-games on this issue: Blogger will criticize his employer. Employer responds in a very friendly way. Employer gets the street credibility. Employer and blogger have a good meal with the PR-agency aftwards. Links: Jaffe Juice: Blogging the hand that feeds you.

50 is the new 30

2006-01-11T07:36:00.000+01:00

50 is the new 30. More and more older women are considered as sexsymbols.Terri, Sharon, Demi... all almost 50. In 2004 there was an average of 1 glossy per month with an older woman on the cover, in 2005 it was double that. Christie Brinkley: "As we start to age, we want advertising to address our needs. Don't try to trick us. Don't give us a 20-year-old talking to us".
Free translation of this posting: fris_licht - signalen van de horizon: 50 is de nieuwe 30

Jeep spot on Google video

2006-01-10T07:42:00.000+01:00

Just found this great ad for Jeep on Google Video. So simple yet great ;-) Maybe only appreciated by men... but I guess their target market is primarily male, no? Great feature by Google to allow you to put the movie onto your own website as well.

Wabi-sabi

2006-01-09T14:46:00.000+01:00

According to one of my collegeas Wabi-Sabi is the trend of the future: Wabi-sabi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'll keep this in mind ;-)

Respond Dammit

2006-01-09T10:22:00.000+01:00

Great stuff found on Adpulp, taken over completely here:
Respond Dammit: "Spike Jones at Brains On Fire republished the latest response rate findings from the Direct Marketing Association:
Here’s a breakdown of what they found out about average response rates for 2005:

Direct Mail: 2.77%
Dimensional Mail: 3.67%
Postcards: 2.19%
Catalogs: 3.67%
E-mail: 2.48%
Telephone: 8.55%
Package Inserts: 1.74%
Statement Stuffers: Less than 1%
Coupons: 4.29%
Banner/Rich Media Ads: 3.52%
Search Engine Marketing: 1.07%
Newspaper – Space Advertising: 0.5%
Magazine – Space Advertising: 0.17%
DRTV: 8.14%
Radio: 0.31%

Old Liners Becoming Onliners

2006-01-09T10:19:00.000+01:00

Interesting online demographics: Older people are flocking the net.
Old Liners Becoming Onliners
Found on: I-wisdom

Vitamin Enriched Underwear

2006-01-09T09:45:00.000+01:00

That's what I call product development! After functional food we'll see more and more functional clothes and fabrics this year.
Found on Coolhunting

Essence: Vitamin Enriched Underwear from Aussiebum:
Aussiebum, an Australian underwear company, has just introduced their newest line of underwear, called Essence. The underwear is made from microfibre, which is treated with acerola (a fruit high in vitamin c and antioxidents) and other 'organic substances.' These ingredients remain active for 15 washes, and can be 'reactivated.' What's fascinating about this technology are other potential enrichments: Think caffeine, nicotine (or the opposite, the new patch), Viagra...the possibilities are endless... "

Cool device

2006-01-06T10:40:00.000+01:00

This is so cool. I want one of these OQO personal computers. I wonder when this will be available in Belgium.

Measuring Marketing: Beyond ROI

2006-01-05T14:48:00.000+01:00

Great article:Measuring Marketing: Beyond ROI
It clearly describes how difficult it is to find a standard in accountability in marketing. Another thing that struck me when reading this article, was that Marlboro has the most accountable brand today and this by cutting their media spending almost to zero (due to legal reasons) and by only using direct communication tools towards their customer base.
Shouldn't we all cut above the line advertising and put all are money in the pockets of our loyal customers? Why doesn't Nokia (I've been a Nokia customer since I bought my first cellphone in 1998) invite me to Finland for a trekking with reindeers or something. Or why can't I go on a shopping spree in Redmond because I've been a loyal customer of all of Microsofts products. Just a thought ;-)