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.

Amsterdam DNA. City History Goes 3D.

Januar 5th, 2012 • Display, Events
Tags: 3D, Agencies, Amsterdam, Culture, Display, Events, history, museum, Netherlands, PlusOne, Presentation, World

As an Amsterdamer by choice I can hardly imagine anybody without a certain trace of local pride when it comes to this wonderful city. No matter if you live here for two weeks or your whole life: the citizens of Amsterdam know in what an exciting place rich in history they live.

Amsterdam DNA is a new exhibition in the Amsterdam Museum that takes the spectator on a three-dimensional 45-minute journey through the history of the City. The versatile story of the city is presented in seven intriguing films produced by PlusOne Amsterdam.

The first film is called Revolt. And it deals with the city’s struggle for freedom after the middle-ages. I am looking forward to the exhibition. Well done Guys.

Amsterdam DNA – Revolt from PlusOne on Vimeo.

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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No Way Back. Why I still am a Convinced European.

November 7th, 2011 • 6 comments Politics
Tags: Amsterdam, Europe, Germany, personal, Politics

I spent my last weekend in England where one of my best friends celebrated his wedding. My friend is German (as I am) and he married his English girlfriend. While spending the weekend with my friends I had an interesting conversation with one of his English friends about Germany’s role in the European bailout process. He told me what other Brits had told me before: They expressed compassion for all the money that specifically Germany has to stake now (the last bail out sum was EUR 211 bn) to save the EU – while the UK’s share as a traditionally Euro-sceptic nation is much lower.

Upon returning to Amsterdam my girlfriend and I got to know five young Italians at Schiphol airport who needed support to find the right train to get to the city center. They were tourists and asked a lot of questions about living in Amsterdam and our reasons for moving here. And at one point one of them asked us: “How do you like Italy?’

It is difficult to answer something reasonable when being asked something like that. But I quickly realized what this young guy from Turin actually wanted to know. He wanted to find out about our German perception of the weak econonomic situation that Italy finds itself in these days. His personal explanation of the current Italo-German relations sounded almost exactly like this: “Italians like to live – they enjoy long lunch breaks but nobody really works. Germans on the other hand are ambitious and they have a good working attitude which is why Germany is the richest country in Europe nowadays. And they wanted to push the EU further so they can help out.”

No doubt, I had to disagree. I have heard similar stereotypes before. But neither is there an economic German success gene nor is there something like inexhaustible money well in Germany. Just 10 years ago Germany was considered as the Sick Man of Europe. To quote an article from 2002:

The German economy’s underperformance is a result of an economic structure built on social consensus rather than market forces. The Weimar republic and the following Nazi era led to Germans attaching a very high premium on domestic stability. (…) The structural rigidity of the German economy has meant that it could not react quickly and nimbly to changing circumstances. (…) Occasionally the FDP (Germany’s liberal party) might mumble something that would be a step in the right direction, but aside from their self-inflicted implosion, they would in any case not be a major force.

A decade later and FDP – aka the only German party that gets it – is on the brink of disintegration. Europe’s market squares have become camp sites for OccupyWallstreet protesters, even Harvard’s Business Review asks ‘Was Marx right?,’ and Germany has miraculously become Europe’s fit man. This is not the result of the aspirational German working attitude. It is the result of something completely else.

That’s why I had to contradict the young Italian guy from the train: What is happening right now has nothing to do with Germans being ambitious and Italians (or Greeks, or Portugese, …) being lazy. It has got something to do with a clear Political agenda of economic reforms that Germany conducted in the mid-2000s. Many Germans had to accept extreme cuts and much lower levels of social grants than before (oh…and it cost our former Chancellor Schroeder his job – but that’s a different story). Just pretending that this is a mix of good luck and the right attitude is simply not true.

The result was a stronger economic climate as you can see in the following diagram which shows the German unemployment rate since the reunification.

In fact: this wealth was paid for by many Germans since the mid 2000s – and luckily it paid off. But we are not talking about money that was heaven-sent.

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Stuff We Like. Selfcontrolfreak’s Interactive Videos.

Oktober 20th, 2011 • Experimental, People, Tech, We like
Tags: Amsterdam, Cool, Creativity, Experimental, Funny, Gaming, intelligent, Pechakuchanight, People, selfcontrolfreak, Tech, video, visual, We like

Last night I attended Amsterdam’s Pechakucha Night at Roest. Most of you probably know the concept: Random people present their business concept/idea/art theory/whatever on 20 slides and they only have 20 seconds for each page before a heartless Powerpoint algorithm switches to the next one. The one person that definitely stood out for me was Olivier Otten – a young Dutch Creative/Developer who tries to play with very playful ways to interact with video under the name Selfcontrolfreak.

I don’t want to say much more. Just one thing. Gamification is not about badges and check-ins. Traditional playful, interactive metaphors have been around since the 1990s. But even two decades later I know of few platforms which are as much fun as this one.

Check out his 22 simple, playful video examples and start playing with Selfcontrolfreak.

APG Netherlands. Shaping a new Home for Strategists.

Oktober 18th, 2011 • Strategy
Tags: Agencies, Amsterdam, APG, apgdigital, Article, Netherlands, new biz, Strategy, World

Most of you know that I live in Amsterdam for a while now – a city with many agencies, some Strategists but almost without connecting links between them.

A couple of months ago I wrote about an idea that some of my fellow Strategists and I carried around with us for a while: Founding an Account Planning Group in the Netherlands. I don’t want to go too much into detail here but all of us sensed that the small but very international Planner community in the Netherlands needed more exchange, progress, representation and also standardization. The result was one of the most pragmatic professional processes I have ever been part of. Yesterday we simply founded the Dutch franchise of the British (and Global) Account Planning Group – as guild of Planners here.

Our plan: to create a professional community for strategists that serves as forum for knowledge exchange, inspiration and networking for our little group of Strategists. We haven’t got many resources right now. But we are happy to welcome any brand and communications strategists in the Netherlands who want to help us shape this platform for the Strategists in the Netherlands (be they Dutch or not)

If you are one of them…

• sign up for our Linked-in group and spread the news
• join us for our opening event on Nov 17 at Strawberry Frog Amsterdam
• help us shape this group

A couple of weeks ago I have written an article for German magazine New-Business (which is closely connected with the German APG) about this process. I am looking forward to see us make the new APG NL become part of Europe’s Planner guilds.

The article (in German). Please click it to see it full size.

APG Netherlands. Does Holland need a Strategy Foundation?

Juli 31st, 2011 • 6 comments People
Tags: Amsterdam, APG, apgdigital, Netherlands, Strategy

I live in Amsterdam for a bit more than a year now. There is an old joke about Germans (no, not the one with the towels or with invading other countries) that whenever you put a German somewhere he will try to found some type of club. And I am no exception to this rule.

After arriving in Amsterdam I tried to get in contact with (professionally) likeminded people. And I was surprised to find out that it wasn’t quite easy to meet other Strategists.  I knew some of the local Strategists via twitter but all connections between them were 100% personal – either you knew a couple of your colleagues from other agencies or you didn’t. No real professional network structured collaboration of the Dutch and the Expat Strategists in and beyond Amsterdam.

Thanks to the support of (the perfectly well connected) Heather Le Fevre I was able to invite the major share of Amsterdam’s Brand/Account/Creative/Younameit Planners to a bimonthly ‘Stammtisch‘ event which we organize via a Facebook Group (feel free to apply for access if you consider yourself a Amsterdam Strategist). Our little group has grown to more than 60 Planners in and around Amsterdam and we meet on a regular basis.

But honestly – shouldn’t interaction between Strategists in the Netherlands be more than an informal Beer every once in a while? I think it should.  And I would like to discuss whether this should be something they call Account Planning Group (APG) in the UK and in Germany. Yes, I am talking about a formal institution.

So what is an APG and why is it purposeful? APG UK defines the mission in the following way

• Encourage dialogue among the members and provide a ‘home’ for planners, representing the interests of the planning community.
• Provide training especially for younger members of the community
• Give access to Case Studies
• Enable new publications on the subject of planning, contributing to other publications, and organising various events and debates.

APG is a not-for-profit organisation run for and by its members. That means it needs some kind of membership fees. And it also usually requires a small team to run day-to-day operations on behalf of the larger community. If you want to learn more about the role of the Account Planning Group check out the UK’s APG website.

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Blast Radius. Strategy Summit Europe 2011.

Juli 8th, 2011 • Allgemein
Tags: Agencies, Amsterdam, Blast Radius, personal, Strategy

So I just spent two great days with about a dozen strategy colleagues from our five European Blast Radius offices. The agenda for the first Strategy Summit for our (massively growing) agency was to share our individual perspectives on how to further develop strategy for our clients. And of course getting to know each other.

Quite impressive to realize that the agency I joined in 2010 really has become a major player in (and beyond) Europe. Even more so considering the fact that we built this in just one year with a number of really cool major brands as clients. Thanks to the whole strategy team for this insight. And of course thanks for following me to my local dive bar. But that’s a different story.

Blast Radius Europe has offices in Amsterdam, London, Hamburg and Paris. We are always looking for smart people. Check out our vacancies here. And feel free to tell your friends in case you stumble upon something interesting.

Hup Holland Hup! Dutch Lawmakers adopt Net Neutrality Law.

Juni 22nd, 2011 • Politics
Tags: Amsterdam, net neutrality, Netherlands, People, Politics, World

One of many reason why I love to live in the Netherlands. The Dutch Parliament has just made a groundbreaking decision:

The Netherlands on Wednesday became the first country in Europe, and only the second in the world, to enshrine the concept of network neutrality into national law by banning its mobile operators from blocking or charging consumers extra for using Internet-based communications services like Skype or WhatsApp, a free text service.

The measure, which was adopted with a broad majority by the lower house of the Dutch Parliament, the Tweede Kamer, will prevent KPN, the Dutch market leader, and the Dutch units of Vodafone and T-mobile, from blocking or charging for Internet services. Its sponsors said that the measure would pass a legal review in the Dutch Senate without hitches.

Analysts said that the legal restrictions imposed in the Netherlands could shape Europe’s broader, evolving debate over network neutrality, pushing more countries on the Continent to limit operators from acting as self-appointed toll collectors of the mobile Internet.

“I could also see some countries following the Dutch example,” said Jacques de Greling, an analyst at Natixis, a French bank. “I believe there will be pressure from consumers to make it clear what they are buying, whether it is the full Internet or Internet-light.”

Advocates hailed the move as a victory for consumers, while industry officials predicted that mobile broadband charges could rise in the Netherlands to compensate for the new restrictions.

“We support network neutrality,” said Sandra de Jong, a spokeswoman for Consumentenbond, the largest Dutch consumer organization, based in Den Haag. “We don’t think operators should be able to restrict the Internet. That would be a bad precedent.”

Luigi Gambardella, the executive board chairman of the Brussels-based industry group, the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, warned that the Dutch legislation could deter operators from making needed investments in high-speed networks for fear of building expensive but unprofitable infrastructure.

“Any additional regulation should avoid deterring investment or innovative business models, leading to a more efficient use of the networks and to creating new business opportunities,” Mr. Gambardella said. He said operators needed the ability to charge different tariffs for different levels of service, to recoup the costs of data-intensive applications.

(More on New York Times)

Cognitive Cities. Now they go local.

Mai 17th, 2011 • 2 comments Allgemein
Tags: Amsterdam, Berlin, cities, city, CoCities, conference, Conferences, Cool, experiment, Germany, Lifestyle, People, Underway, World

Three months ago my friends from Third Wave and Your Neighbours in Berlin staged CoCities – a conference focused on the future of the city and how technology can transform the way people interact. I actually bought a ticket but eventually did not make it (don’t ask why). I know the guys were extremely nervous about the outcome of this experiment. Putting urban planners, designers, technology geeks, environmental experts, public officials, and others into one room in quite a new conference format isn’t exactly what you do every day. And I know the guys did not just want to stage just another conference.

Great that the conference was considered as very enlightening novely particularly in Germany. And even better – CoCities goes local and might soon be in a city near you. The so-called Cognitive Cities Salon comes to Amsterdam on June 30 to De Verdieping (Wibautstraat 127, Amsterdam).

The general idea behind the salons is simple: create an local event, from locals, for locals – curated by CoCities. Those will be small events, not larger than 100 people. A major part of those events is to find the appropriate partners. Luckily, in Amsterdam we are very well served.

With VURB, Visible Cities and Volume Magazine, we have a great lineup of partners to create an exciting event for Amsterdam. There will be an entry fee, but we will try to keep that as low as possible.

So. I am definitely going to join this time (it’s in my hometown so I cannot mix up the flights). And if you happen to be in Amsterdam, join in.

Do also check out the conference recap…

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