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Agreed. Photo of the Day.

Gerald — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:02:16 +0000

Thanks to Andrew Dallos for the Photo

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Post tags: photo, PIPA, Politics, SOPA, Truth, World

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Facebook’s 1 Billion. Right Before the Mayan Apocalypse.

Gerald — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:30:16 +0000

Silicon Alley Insider’s Chart of the Day. iCrossings says Facebook will probably reach 1 billion users sometime in August 2012. Hardcore.

Agencies and Briefs. And here, Ladies and Gentlemen, you can see: The Problem.

Gerald — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:11:55 +0000

I cannot really figure out whether I am disgusted or fascinated. Clearly this fictional Creative Brief is a great example on why so many Creatives think these documents are useless.

via ibelieveinadv

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Post tags: Agencies, creative briefs, Funny, Strategy, Truth, World

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Amsterdam DNA. City History Goes 3D.

Gerald — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 11:56:56 +0000

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.

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Post tags: 3D, Agencies, Amsterdam, Culture, Display, Events, history, museum, Netherlands, PlusOne, Presentation, World

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Enterpreneurship. How Le Pain Quotidien Makes it in Moscow.

Gerald — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:06:23 +0000

Le Pain Quotidien, the bakery-café brand founded in Brussels in 1990, is well-known in London, France and New York, but few realize it’s a hit in Russia, where the premium bakery is a go-to for expats and upscale residents in Moscow. This footage from brandchannel explains the challenges such a brand faces when entering one of the most exciting markets in the world: Russia. Or to be more precise: Moscow.

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Post tags: Brands, Enterpreneurship, Food, Le Pain Quotidien, Moscow, Russia, Truth, World

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google Zeitgeist. What the World searched for in 2011.

Gerald — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:24:47 +0000

As the year 2011 ends google has once again collated the world’s searches into one platform about the last 12 months. Nothing says as much about what people are really interested in than search data. And google really did a great job to stage Zeitgeist 2011 with a lot of interesting information on what this ~~horrible~~ ~~great~~ exciting year was all about for people all over the world: http://www.googlezeitgeist.com

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Post tags: data, google, history, People, Politics, search, seo, Trends, World, Zeitgeist

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Rock Bottom. Droga 5 has possibly created the worst campaign ever.

Gerald — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:19:00 +0000

If the following video is no hoax it has the realistic chance to become one of the most disgusting, cyncical pieces of marketing I have ever seen. I thought the ‘concept campaign’ White Bull Army was pathetic. But the crap idea that Droga 5 is about to launch for gaming headset brand Turtle Beach is hard to bear.

Check out the video

Quote: “Gamers want the immersive feeling of being in a warzone. Turtle Beach takes you there.” Even if it is a hoax (it will be in the end): Putting a first person shooter into the same context as a war zone where thousands of people died and millions suffer every day makes me want to spit out.

And no, I disagree. Not any PR is good PR. This is shit. Cynical, pathetic shit. I am ashamed to work in the same industry as the guy who came up with this. (via adverblog)

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Post tags: Ads, Agencies, Brands, Creativity, droga 5, Ethics, Gaming, Ideas, Industry, Politics, World

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Just a Question. Do you actually hate your Job?

Gerald — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:20:15 +0000

Working in an agency is a strange thing: Usually you work more hours per day than most of your friends who are employees of a Bank, an Insurance company or who may be Gardeners. Many in our industry earn less than what they could get paid if they would have gone to ‘the industry’ (a mystical word in agencies that describes an unknown Utopia, think: Xanadu). And few people really have a good plan what to do with their career once they crossed the 45 without being CCO. Long story short: Deciding to work for an agency is quite a stupid decision.

But then: You love the fact that it’s a dynamic and young environment. Sure, the typical agency has changed over time. But the places I worked at employed some of the most interesting, gentle and even some of the smartest people I ever met. It would be unfair to attach the term Playground to it – at least that’s not how I experienced it – but it was a good time wherever I worked. Agencies may be run sometimes by stressed, professional lifetime teenagers. But generally we are talking about very interesting places where people like each other and a kind of a community forms.

I guess there is not one agency person who at some point in his life raved about changing into ‘the industry’ (where everything will be good) or to be self-employed (where also everything will be good). So actually only few of the marketing peeps I got to know in my life would get up and fight to death if the concept of ad/marketing/whatever agency would be endangered. But isn’t that strange? Isn’t there a reason why we actually like to work for agencies as improvable as it is as a concept?

A couple of days ago I posted the following Dilbert cartoon on the Facebook page of this blog.

My Facebook page has about 520 members and an average post gets 5 to 10 likes. This particular one received 366 likes as it was apparently shared 280 times since I posted it (and I just stole it and re-posted it either). Oh…and that’s just my starting point. In the summer 2010 a hilarious Tumblr concept went viral: ‘Things real people don’t say in advertising‘…

The title says it all: It is a concept that makes fun of the idealistic way agencies and clients describe their clients. Because to be perfectly honest: Few of us really believe that the ordinary customer is interested in more branded messages. And yes, that is a conflict in what many of us must say professionally.

Did I mention ‘Women alone laughing with Salad?‘, another site dedicated to take the piss out of brand marketing. This time out of stock photos which pretty much look the same.

And I don’t even want to mention the brilliant video pisstakes John St did to ridicule award shows and narrow-minded agency concepts, Adverbatims – the most horrific client quotes and a lot more.

At the same time there is still this fascination for advertising, marketing and agencies. But: While digital marketing has more than obviously started (and won) the revolution against the ad agencies we seem to downgrade this in our relationship to the marketing industry. Mad Men? This is a series about the dark ages of advertising, about BUY, BUY, BUY. And still agencies dress up as Draper’s agency Sterling & Cooper while their community manager simultaneously tweets about the dawn of a new agency era.

Seriously: Have agency peeps become a bit romantic? You know: Miserably living in the present while silently wishing back the past (when everything was clear, sexy and being an Art Director was exotic and very well paid)?

(...)
Read the rest of Just a Question. Do you actually hate your Job? (163 words)

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Post tags: Agencies, Business, careers, People, Truth, World

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Insights. TNS Launches Largest Global Study on Digital Behaviour.

Gerald — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:08:51 +0000

Research company TNS has launched its 2011 version of TNS Digital Life. Based on conversations with over 72,000 people in 60 countries this is the world’s largest global study into people’s attitudes and behaviours online.

I particularly like how they underline the necessity to think (before yelling Facebook or iPad or Flashmob):

‘Digital waste’ pollutes the online world as brands fail to listen to what people want.

It [the study] found that 57 per cent of people*** in developed markets* do not want to engage with brands via
social media – rising to 60 per cent in the US and 61 per cent in the UK. Instead, misguided digital
strategies are generating mountains of digital waste, from friendless Facebook accounts to blogs no
one reads. This is being combined with ever-increasing content produced by consumers – the study
shows 47 per cent of digital consumers now comment about brands online.

The result is huge volumes of noise, which is polluting the digital world and making it harder for
brands to be heard.’

Of course: This study does not at all say brands shouldn’t be digital. The opposite is true. But it repeats the one thing that I never get tired of to repeat: People are not interested in a brand’s content. And they are not interested in brand experiences. They are interested in stuff that is relevant for them – and sometimes this is a brand.

Check out TNS Digital Life here .

Thanks to Rubbish Corp for the link.

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Post tags: 2011, Business, Insights, Lifestyle, Media, People, Planning, Presentation, Report, Reports, Research, Social Influence Marketing, Study, target group, TNS, Trends, World

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SOPA. The single biggest threat for the web right now.

Gerald — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 09:21:53 +0000

Just in case you are not aware of it (and if you are not American there is quite a good chance you are not aware of it): The internet is currently facing one of its gravest threats ever. It is called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) / Protect IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011).

For some it is just the last pathetic act in the entertainment industry’s losing battle against the web. For others these two proposed laws will become very helpful tools to stop the ones from communicating who shouldn’t organize themselves anyway.

SOPA/Protect-IP arecurrently pushed through the U.S. Congress and the House. As usual supported with the firepower of major lobby organizations. And in a couple of months the U.S. government will – in fact – have the power to selectively censor the web if everything goes according to plan.

The following video explains SOPA/Protect-IP a bit better than I do.

PROTECT IP Act Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Does this affect me as a non-American? Of course it does. With SOPA the U.S. entertainment industy wins an important battle against free speech bringing all of us one state closer to censorship, walled gardens and the dystopian vision of a controllable internet. A vision that western Elites share with Colonel Gaddafi, Kim Jong Il and the Chinese government.

(...)
Read the rest of SOPA. The single biggest threat for the web right now. (143 words)

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Post tags: Censorship, Politics, SOPA, USA, World

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