On Creative Leadership. Leading Like the Great Conductors.

Mai 9th, 2012 • Underway
Tags: Creativity, itay talgam, leadership, Presentation, TED, Truth

Not too long ago I had the pleasure to get to know Itay Talgam after a presentation in Berlin. Itay Talgam is conductor, scholar of Leonard Bernstein and he conducted many orchestras in Europe. He was the first Israeli conductor to perform with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Leipzig Opera house. In Israel, he has conducted and recorded with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Israeli Opera, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Plus he is a very interesting and charismatic guy.

So why do I get to know a conductor? Itay was presenting his vision as part of an agency event. And even though I had no clue what a director actually does, and even though I embarrassed myself more than once with my lack of knowledge, I have to admit this was one of the most interesting and inspiring presentations I have ever seen. Here is Itay’s TED talk on leading like the great conductors – a must see.

Even if you don’t want to see the whole 20 minutes. Check out the last 5 minutes…and you will want to see the rest.

The Awesome Slideshow. 20 Deeper Truths on Twitter.

April 28th, 2012 • Twitter, Underway
Tags: Amsterdam, Funny, Gerald, PR, Presentation, theass, Twitter, Underway

Two days ago I had the pleasure to present during The Awesome Slideshow at Amsterdam’s Boom Chicago. Tom De Bruyne, co-founder of Sue Amsterdam, was so kind to ask me to present ‘something connected to twitter’. And the following little deck was the result.

The starting point for this presentation was a simple thought: Twitter is far more than a digital tool. It is a philosophy machine – a thing that creates realities. And the following selection of some of my 20 most favorite tweets proved that.

Why I love Wikipedia. My Presentation at Amsterdam’s Pechakucha Night.

Januar 24th, 2012 • Tools, Underway
Tags: Amsterdam, Funny, Gerald, Pechakucha, Pechakuchanight, Presentation, wikipedia

A little update: Last week I had the pleasure to hold a presentation at Amsterdam’s 20th Pechakucha Night. If you don’t know the concept: Pechakucha is an open presentation format where people can basically present whatever they want. But they need to present it on 20 slides and no slide will stay on the screen longer than 20 seconds.

I presented my love to Wikipedia. It was exactly on the 18th January that Wikipedia spearheaded the web’s strike against SOPA. In other words: An ideal day to present this small big courageous platform that we profit so much from and which we sometimes give so little back. Little hint: My 10 most WTF Wikipedia articles are just a small collection of what you could find on Wikipedia. Read them. They are hilarious.

Rolling with the Gnomies. One Week with Amsterdam’s Marketing Peeps.

November 21st, 2011 • Allgemein, Underway
Tags: Amsterdam, Events, Gerald, Underway, World

I don’t particularly like marketing events. But my last week was full of these wonderful happenings with my favorite ad peeps in my hometown Amsterdam. And in the end I have to admit: It was actually rather great.

Monday – Event 1: Meeting John Hegarty
John Hegarty is a legend. He is one of the three founders of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and you can compare him with David Ogilvy or Leo Burnett – apart from the fact that he is still alive, lived a couple of years later then the two other guys, and his ideas are still really relevant for today’s business. Anyway: Mister Hegarty has written a book. Basically his advertising legacy. Hegarty on Advertising contains over ‘four decades of wisdom and insight from the man who put Nick Kamen into a laundrette for Levi Strauss and gave Audi the immortal Vorsprung durch Technik, amongst many, many other highly successful campaigns for major brands‘.
Hegarty came to Amsterdam last week as guest of the wonderful American Book Center here and presented himself as the cool, silverbacked Madmen that he is and (of course) presented his book. I haven’t started reading it yet – but if you are quick you can get your own copy here and that I have no clue what I am talking about.

Tuesday – Event 2: The Tomorrow Awards
Believe me: I passionately hate the concept of awards. Why? Because I reject them as a fair measure for creativity. Most awards are money-producing client-service tools for agencies (the Webbys have just founded the Lovie awards to generate more revenue). And no, I don’t really see the point why Amsterdam needs its own award show. But apparently since last week exactly this is the case. We now learn that: The Tomorrow Awards is the first international award show dedicated to discovering, showcasing and awarding advertising creativity that pushes new technological boundaries. Since the very best examples of such work are those that defy standard award show categories, the Tomorrow Awards is category-neutral; all entries are judged together, and only the very best ideas shine brightest.

Okay: Whatever this is. I had a brilliant evening with the marketing peeps from Amsterdam, watching people like Taxi’s Paul Lavoie, AKQA’s Nick Bailey, or Sid Lee’s JF Bouchard giving brilliant speeches. And I am truly, wholeheartedly a fan of Anomaly’s Carl Johnson. His blunt, bold and direct speech about what he perceives as creative made me constantly nod happily. Good that anomaly is in town now. Welcome guys.

Thursday – Event 3: Founding the APG Netherlands
We were planning it for a while already: The inauguration event of the Account Planning Group Netherlands.

So after a couple of months of preparing, me and my six colleagues Heather (Strawberry Frog), Laura (FHV/BBDO), Boris (THEY), Wouter (Boon Strategy) Laurence (AKQA) Simon (Blast Radius) launched our first for the new home for Marketing Strategists in the Netherlands: Inside Insights.

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You Know What? I am Offline for a Week.

Juli 8th, 2011 • Underway
Tags: personal, Underway

…Most of the time at least…

.

Packaging. Can I buy all of this please?

Juni 4th, 2011 • 1 comment Underway
Tags: Copenhagen, Packaging, personal, Underway

I spent my last weekend in Copenhagen with Marta. Just a quick trip to explore a city that both of us did not know at all. Even though I grew up less than 500 miles away. I found it very beautiful even though it is hard for any city to really compete with my hometown Amsterdam. What really impressed me though was the service level and the quality of restaurants. Copenhagen really is a great places for Foodies and if you decide to travel there make sure you have the great Unlike Copenhagen app with you.

I always complain about Amsterdam’s service quality in Restaurants. Copenhagen was quite the opposite. Wherever you decided to eat or buy food – the staff was competent, friendly and there whenever you needed them. Also the presentation of Danish food in supermarkets reminded me once again of how important good packaging is.

Sometimes design really makes a difference whether I want to buy a product or not. The funniest thing is – good consistent product design is not much more expensive than really bad design. Even though the food (and all the other stuff in Copenhagen) is indeed much more expensive…

These are just a couple of quick snapshots from a Danish supermarket. Would you rather buy products that are packaged nicely. I did buy all of them sure would.

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Page. 10 Challenges that keep Creatives awake at Night.

Juni 2nd, 2011 • Underway
Tags: Article, Creative, Facebook, Page, People, personal

This month’s issue of German design & advertising magazine Page has just been issued. And after my article about Amsterdam two months ago they asked me again to write for them and to answer one of the ’10 questions that drive creative nowadays’. I think I am about to become their digital guy. So if you cannot sleep at night because you do not know whether digital marketing from now on will just be a Facebook page. Find my answer to this question in this month’s Page.

Spread the Word. The Morning Line comes to Vienna.

Mai 19th, 2011 • 1 comment People, Underway
Tags: Architecture, Art, Electronica, Event, Music, personal, TheMorningLine, TML, Vienna, Wien, World

A while ago a good friend of mine introduced me to Francesca von Habsburg, a very energetic art curator from Vienna. Francesca is the leading figure behind the world famous Thyssen-Bornemisza Art foundation (TB A 21) which is currently busily preparing one of their most ambitious art events ever: ‘The Morning Line’ in Vienna.

Photo Copyright: Hertha Hurnaus / T-B A21

‘The Morning Line’ is both, a platform for contemporary music and composition and a public art structure. After last year’s event in Istanbul Francesca’s team is now building the new music pavillon right in the heart of Austria’s capital at Schwarzenbergplatz. With a height of 8 meter and a length of 20 meter the 20 ton aluminum structure will serve as a spatial pavillion for a fantastic electronic sound festival which starts on June 7 and ends on June 10. The actual structure will stay Vienna’s attraction until November 20.

Equipped with one of the best sound systems in the world The Morning Line will then serve as a sound pavillon for some of the most prolific contemporary electronic artists. Among them Alexej Borisov (Russia), Tommi Grönlund & Petteri Nisunen (Finland), Christian Fennesz (Austria), Carsten Nicolai (Germany) and many others.

Why am I recommending this event? Well first and foremost because I think it is going to be a fantastic live experience. And secondly because my concept & design partner Marta and I supported the guys from TB A 21 a bit to make it become the success that it is hopefully going to be. If you want to read more about it, check out this article on Vice Magazine and this article on HUGO CREATE.

And now: Make sure you attend this great event in live contemporary music from June 7 – 10 in Vienna. Like The Morning Line on Facebook , learn more on Last.FM and of course on the website of TB A 21.

Good Morning. Just a quick Saturday Morning Update.

Mai 7th, 2011 • Underway
Tags: Amsterdam, Blast Radius, Boss, Gerald, News, Planning, Strategy, Underway

Just a quick update on a couple of things…

• Awards! The ones who know me personally know that I passionately hate marketing awards. How cool that my team actually won one of the few really cool digital awards – a Webby goes out to Boss Bottled Night. I won’t even start to pretend I personally had anything to do with it. The proud creators know who they are. Check out the website or take a sneak peek at the embedded video at the bottom of this article.
• Drinks! My agency Blast Radius is constantly launching something these days. One of the really interesting projects is Bacardi’s new bartender community True Originals (Facebook here) that went live a week ago. It is not just a community for bartenders but a place where they can improve their really, really, really (and I mean really) important professional skills collaboratively. On August 22nd Bacardi will start challenging the community. So you better make sure the bartender of your choice is part of it.
• Amsterdam Strategists! Next week, on May 12th 2011, Amsterdam’s marketing and advertising strategists (whatever that is) will meet again. There is a joke about Germans that claims wherever a German goes the first thing he will do is to start a club. I am no exception which is why I started bringing Amsterdam’s strategists together. Actually all I did was to start a Facebook group while Heather Le Fevre actually contacted every Planner in town to turn it into an inspiring monthly event. So if you are in Amsterdam next Thursday and if you are a Planner (however you define that) or would like to become one – please contact me. I am glad to invite you.
• And more strategists! While we are talking about my colleague Heather…a while ago she had the great idea to create something that was really missing in general – a socio demographical census of the planner guild worldwide. Her planner survey 2010 was already extremely insightful and she has invested quite a bit of work to set up a new online survey for 2011. So if you are a Planner/Strategist (again: however you define that) make sure you take part in this year’s planner survey 2011. The more colleagues answer, the better the results. Here is the link to the survey…
• Something completely different! Beyond my blog davaidavai.com I am running quite a number of specific niche blogs/channels that I like to feed – simply because I think the world is quite an interesting place. So I want to highlight two little communities that I built and that I love. Feel free to join: Number 1 is the Facebook page for davaidavai which features some of the articles I publish here. But actually it’s more than that – it’s my platform for stuff that I want to share without necessarily blogging about it. So like davaidavai on Facebook please. Number 2 is PlanetWTF – a Facebook page where I share interesting useless knowledge with a focus on history, geography and politics. It’s simple, fun, and it is here.

Well…that’s all for the moment. And here goes the award video for BOSS Bottled Night…

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Good Morning. The Return of ‘The Media Award Tram Station’.

April 29th, 2011 • Media, Underway
Tags: Ads, Agencies, Amsterdam, Awards, Funny, Ideas, Media, Outdoor, Truth, Underway, visual, World, WTF

It’s not always easy to work in the center of Amsterdam. Well, most of the time it is. But then there are days when you step out of your tram at the central Leidseplein square and the first thing you think is WTF?

Quite often this has got something to do with my particular tram station which I call ‘The Media Award Tram Station’. Simply because it serves as award entry for pretty much any Media angency in the world. You know…when they spend EUR 1 million on media…and EUR 995,000 run just into this installation there to make the campaign look great in Cannes?

I have seen everything being built on top, attached to or dug underneath the tram station. But I haven’t seen what I have seen this morning. It looked a little something like this…