This book is a collection of blog articles posted by Tim Vermeire on his Whispering Web weblog. The author considers this web space as his “Public MoleSkine”. He reflects on topics that intrigue him - which include: Business, Marketing, Technology, Ecology, Society, Politics, etc. The book “Whispering Web” gathers all articles published in the year 2010 and the first half of 2011. It closes with an overview of what Marketing and Business is and means today. The author considers this last post and book production as a turning point. After all, he came up with his own vision upon business, marketing and society. This books aims to allow the reader to have the same experience: get to know the new business vision like it was envisioned - through separately published essays. For essays published after May 2011, please visit Whispering Web online - vermeiretim.wordpress.com

1. Whispering Web
Business and Marketing in a Mobile, Socially Connected World.
This book is a collection of blog articles posted by Tim Vermeire on his Whispering Web
weblog.
The author considers this web space as his “Public MoleSkine”.
He reflects on topics that intrigue him - which include: Business, Marketing, Technology,
Ecology, Society, Politics, etc.
The book “Whispering Web” gathers all articles published in the year 2010 and the first half
of 2011. It closes with an overview of what Marketing and Business is and means today.
The author considers this last post and book production as a turning point. After all, he
came up with his own vision upon business, marketing and society.
This books aims to allow the reader to have the same experience: get to know the new busi-
ness vision like it was envisioned - through separately published essays.
For essays published after May 2011, please visit Whispering Web online
Collected Essays as previously whispered through the web by @vermeiretim - vermeiretim.wordpress.com

2. Contents
Business as a societal phenomenon 6
Globalization’s impact on government’s stability 7
Reflections on Carrefour to drastically cut jobs in Belgium 8
Search Engine Optimization as a PR tool 10
The Kölner Starbucks Effect 11
Power of mobile web for newspaper publishers 12
Cycling: a unique marketing opportunity? 14
Celebrity power as a marketing tool. 16
The future of printed pictures. 18
E-mail marketing versus spam. 20
Lessons from Germany’s traffic lights. 22
Future of print: Large format sexy ads! 23
On media selection: radio ads for universities. 24
Belgian election fever: reflections on extremists’ outdoor print. 26
On the oil spill: BP to deploy SEM techniques for reputation manage- 27
ment.
E-mail marketing. Reflections on timing. 29
Vuvuzela: why to love it? Lessons from ethnomusicology. 30
The power of Twitter for websites: own test results. 32
A wordpress-car on the highway? On brand identity. 34
World cup advertisers reflect shift in economic powers. 35

3. Contents Contents
Google Adsense: why should you consider? 38 The app store economy: an innovate price model for publishers? 75
Sustainable Business Strategies for SMEs in dying industry. 40 Apple, Microsoft and Google to battle for internet-tv. Sony for vic- 76
tory?
How to make money with Social Media? A new business in global vil- 44
lage? The Open Source Economy: from software to restaurants. 78
Flanders & its strong extreme right political party. On the frequency 48 Our first blog year in stats! Thanks to Wordpress. 80
aspects of media buying.
Football @ World Power: 2010-2014-2018-2022 (continued from 82
The importance of strong copy in advertising. On the latest Stihl- 52 part I)
campaign.
The app store economy. Squared. 84
Google: a new phase in brand management techniques? 54
Not about the software but the way you use it. On CRM. 85
BNP Paribas Fortis: from mobile web to mobile app. 56
Cyclo-cross’s disruptive innovation that made competition irrelevant. 86
Are you QR-coding your business card already? 57
What this blog is about according to Wordle. 88
Running an e-commerce website? Watch out for Google Shopping. 58
Where is my Senseo / Nespresse Sugar? Questions to a sugar cube 89
Towards an augmented social reality? MediaPro review. 60 factory.
Business and targeting ethics? The co-operative case. 62 This monkey is in for some candy. And Stories. 90
Facebook’s history of innovations. What’s next? 64 Who’s ever going to tag this QR code anyway? On Axabank’s outdoor 98
ad.
Innovate your Twitter reading experience: paper.li 66
The rise of the Happiness Engineer & Corporate pursuit of Happiness. 101
Most influential brands 2010: where are the FMCG giants? 68
Why my future business card is as it is. On Design Thinking. 110
Spatial planning strategies to meet demands network society. 70
Dumbo the Elephant and the Battle for standards. Poll. 112
Postmodern intertextuality in music: mash-ups. 72
Everyone deserves 2 seconds of fame. Iphone Appe Messe Düssel- 114
Citizen journalism & citizen service: Twitter interview Minister Q. 73 dorf.
Touchscreen text input to be revolutioned? Swype it! 74 How a Chablis wine learned me something about networking. 115
Tweet topic explorer - infographic generator. 118

4. Contents Special thanks
3 C’s of Social Media Marketing Automation: Cool, Cute and Crap. 119
What does Mark Etting do for a living? On Marketing and the 124
Marketer.
Conclusion 130
To all who encouraged me (ever).

5. Business as a societal phenomenon February 23, 2010 Globalization’s impact on government stability. February 23, 2010
Say whaaaaaaat? Foreign affairs destabilizes Dutch government
Some call it “Marketing”, others call it “getting market”. I call it “Business as a Not so long ago, I planned to have a quiet evening in front of my television.
societal phenomenon” – which transforms the same thing into an even more Everything went fine until the evening news announced the fall of the Dutch
interesting aspect of contemporary society. government. Not being dutch myself however, I was astonished by the story.
The government fell because of a dispute related to external affairs. This made
Why I don’t use the word “Marketing”? me think. It was not just a dispute on external affairs. It was a dispute between
two groups of people: the globalization group vs. the localization group.
Marketing is often narrowed into the creation of a brochure, the creation of a
website, etc. Since this is what most people think of when you tell them you do NATO & the war on terror
marketing for a living and since this shrinks down the importance of Market-
ing way too much, we don’t want to use that word to describe our everyday-life The NATO is one of the first “globalized institutions” the world has known. It’s
activities and reflections. because of the globalized war on terror that the NATO asked for the Dutch to
prolong their stay at Afghanistan to battle the taliban regime. Some of the
Why do marketers need to be sociologists? dutch politicians are on the “globalization side” ; others are on the “localization
side”. So, one part of the politicians were willing to agree upon the NATO re-
Well, quite simple: it’s the marketers job to interpret human behaviour. This quest, others were not. This conflict seemed that deep that it meant the end of
includes analyzing it within the correct contextual environment(s). a government.
Why do you hear this for the first time? Globalization
I assume you never read or studied the work of Globalization has always meant the following to me: “something that happens
“Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno”. deep down in the jungle of Congo has an impact on the way people drive their
car in Belgium”. Since today I will explain globalization with an other sentence:
“a battle in the war in Afghanistan has an impact on the government’s stability
of the Netherlands”.
6 7

6. Reflections on Carrefour to drastically cut jobs in Belgium Reflections on Carrefour to drastically cut jobs in Belgium
February 23, 2010 February 23, 2010
2 of my most visited Carrefour supermarkets will be closed …
The plan calls for cutting 1672 jobs and closing 21 stores in Belgium by end-
June, Carrefour Belgium said in a statement on Tuesday. (yes, this is the first
sentence on a Google search on Carrefour and I’m so lazy I just copy/pasted it,
and that’s why it’s in italics). But the point is, I rarely visit a Carrefour but have
2 of them very close to my place. However, Carrefour has turned out to be my
lifesaver: it’s open until 20h! Both of those Carrefour supermarkets are on the
closing list. I guess I’ll never see a Carrefour from the inside again.
… my friend in India however will soon meet Mr Carrefour.
Njummie! All that good stuff he’ll soon enjoy!
On that same google page result I noticed the statement of carrefour going into
India. I am almost tired of writing, so I quickly want to provide the reader some
insights on a possible “why” of this decision.
Marketing strategy?
• Facts & Figures from Belgium: 10 million inhabitants struggling to keep their
wealth as high as in the past, a government that has almost the highest
debt rate in the world, etc.
• Facts & Figures from India: estimated population 2010 is 1,177,424,000,
increasing wealth, etc.
• Marketing strategy background: the economic core of the world economy is
moving east, it’s over there that money will be made.
• Marketing strategy: “Carrefour will develop its activities in India with the
start of cash-and-carry activities in 2010,” the company said in a statement
emailed to AFP.
8 9

7. Search engine optimization as a PR tool February 24, 2010 The Kölner Starbucks Effect February 25, 2010
Search engine optimization Starbucks: a McDonalds story?
SEO is about tricks to put web pages on top of Google’s search results. It has Thoughts automatically focussed on the marketing strategy of Starbucks. I
proven to be a fruitful marketing technique in order to attract more visitors to don’t know it particularly well. However, in the first instance, it seems like a
your website. Another nice feature about Google manipulation is the way it has McDonalds story. This means: geographically expanding by buying properties or
changed the PR game. buying out others in order to create some sort of “experience”. For Starbucks, I
would call it the “New York Coffeehouse from Friends Experience”.
SEO for PR
Why didn’t I have that Coffeehouse Experience?
The thing is: journalists are human beings as well and try to obtain the maxi-
mum result with a minimum of efforts. In their “search for news” they also rely I believe exporting a product from one culture to another isn’t that easy. May-
on the internet. And most of the time they just “Google” for news. You suppose be Europeans are used to drinking coffee elsewhere? Maybe Europeans want
they would double-check that information. But due to lack in time, they often better coffee (I did not like the coffee that I ordered, tasted like carton)? Did
do not. Starbucks create the wrong expectations in my head? Was my view biased by
Rachel, Ross, Monica, etc. ? Whatever might be the reason, I won’t be a Star-
Means-end-chain: SEO for Thought-leadership bucks fan on facebook – millions already are!
One of the great PR goals in today’s society is being the “thought leader” within
the sector or industry. Studies have shown that being on the number 1 Google
result page evokes the psychological effect of “the best, the biggest, etc.” For
PR people today SEO could be a means to the end of thought-leadership.
10 11

8. Power of mobile web for publishers February 26, 2010 Power of mobile web for publishers February 26, 2010
The power of mobile websites
Half a year ago I finally got myself a smartphone. Hooray for the “laggards”
(referring to Rogers Adoption of Innovation studies)! Since then I’m able to
browse the worldwide web on my mobile phone. My preferred mobile websites
are social network sites and a website of a newspaper. Why? Both have done
their best to create a website (or even an iPhone app) that is optimized for mo-
bile devices.
The power of a good news website
I never read that financial-economic newspaper before. However, I started
reading it on my mobile device for usability reasons. After a while I noticed
that I also browsed their website for news on my laptop. I liked the website for
providing news very fast, the e-book feature, etc. That website also offered the
printed version for free for 2 months… I agreed… Now I read the printed version
of a newspaper that I disliked before!
Reading on paper is a habit / ritual
The marketer of the newspaper truly hopes that I will enjoy the printed version
that much that I will sign up for a year. Maybe a 2 months free trial will not be
sufficient to get me as a full-time reader. Nonetheless, providing free time to
learn to read on paper, to enjoy the paper, to make a habit of reading a printed
version while drinking your morning coffee, etc… might prove to be effective.
Maybe the romanticism of reading on “yellow, dirty” paper will empower the ef-
fect?
What’s the power of mobile web for a newspaper?
It got me reading a printed newspaper (for at least 2 months!) that I’d never
bought or read before.
12 13

9. Cycling: a unique marketing opportunity? February 28, 2010 Cycling: a unique marketing opportunity? February 28, 2010
New cycling season : new brands
I agree, I do like cycling. Not just doing it myself but as a passive sportsman:
watching it on the television. It’s also exciting however from a sponsorship side
of view. Every year when the new season starts, I meet new brands. I rarely
learn what the brands stand for actually. This year’s list of new teams (read:
new sponsors):
• FOOTON-SERVETTO
• SKY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM
• TEAM HTC – COLUMBIA
• TEAM RADIOSHACK
New brands on top of my mind … but !
The above brands will be top of mind if you ask me “name a brand”. Neverthe-
less, I will never know what these brands are about (unless I browse them or
meet them by accident). This was a starting point for a quick reflection on mar-
keting opportunities in sport sponsorship, in particularly cycling.
Marketing strategy on cycling sponsorship?
I doubt the effectiveness of sponsoring a cycling team. I mean, it costs a lot of
money and I doubt whether it’s earned back. Nevertheless: brand owners, keep
sponsoring cycling teams! I love the sport and you have a broader task then
just selling your products!
14 15

10. Celebrity power as a Marketing Tool March 4, 2010 Celebrity power as a Marketing Tool March 4, 2010
Who will open the new mall?
The above sentence is something that I note everywhere: outdoor posters, local
newspaper ads, flyers, etc. My immediate reaction: “Who cares? Isn’t celebrity
power a thing of the past?”
Celebrity power as an advertising strategy
Celebrity power has always been an advertising strategy, mostly known as the
“celebrity endorsements phenomenon”. The logic is sort of the following: The
coercive power of a celebrity results in all people wanting and buying that good.
Everyone a celeb?
In today’s world, everyone is a celebrity – or at least they have the ability
to become one using their own power. Just look at reality TV-shows such as
“Idols”, “Master cook” , “Big Brother” , “Expedition Robinson” , etc.
Everyone a celebrity within a specific ‘market’?
In today’s digital network society people are all celebrities within a certain
“market”. Maybe this will prove to be the genuine coercive power of advertising
instead of global stars? We’ll see…
A powerful example of celebrity marketing?
Despite the above, I found an ad where I believe the celebrity is used effective-
ly: an ad for “Hanes” panty starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. This ad uses the ce-
lebrity in a good way because of the powerful copy (baseline: “look who we’ve
got our hanes on now”). What’s more: it uses the “sexiness” of the celebrity.
Nice :-)
16 17

11. The Future of Printed Pictures March 13, 2010 The Future of Printed Pictures March 13, 2010
The profession of “photographer” is dead
In today’s digital and mobile world, everyone is a photographer. People are mo-
bile and carry along mobile devices that most of the time can take (high) quali-
ty pictures. What’s more, the digital technology allows to take as many pictures
as one can imagine. In the end, one will have made at least one picture that
has the appearance of a professional photo.
“Everyone a celebrity”
I believe the “end of the photographer” should be understood within the realms
of the “15-minutes-of-fame-for-everyone society”. Actually this means it’s not
the end of a certain profession. Celebrities still exist. Photographers still ex-
ist. The border however to enter those categories is now hazier then
ever because of the individual’s empowerment brought along
by digital technologies. Worth a large format print?
Upload & pay online
Back to the pictures. Peo-
ple take pictures every-
where, anytime. Whether
with a point&shoot, reflex
or a mobile phone. Most
of the time those picture
are used to post online to a
social media profile. Rarely
those pictures are printed.
The future of printed pictures
however is via an online work-
flow. Upload your own “profes-
sional photo”, set the characteris-
tics, pay and … there you go 2 or 3
days later you receive a profession-
ally crafted large format print in your
mailbox.
18 19

12. E-mail marketing versus spam March 13, 2010 E-mail marketing versus spam March 13, 2010
E-mail marketing: still valid? Implementations?
I would answer the above question with a big yes. Yes, unless you’re using the E-mail copy : subject lines
spam strategy. Unfortunately for the ones who want to do “good e-mail mar-
keting”, the spammers touched the reputation of mass mailings. But what’s the Spammers are often using the words “free” or “win”. Usage of those words in
main difference between e-mail marketing and sending out spam? your subject line copy makes it very likely that your e-mail will be classified as
“spam e-mail”. More about e-mail subject copy lines could be a topic for future
E-mail Marketing vs spam posts…stay tuned if interested!
E-mail software: contact list management
To send out targeted e-mails with rich content to the correct receiver you re-
quire an intelligent contact management system. More about contact list man-
agement (segmentation) could be a topic for future posts…stay tuned if inter-
ested!
20 21

13. Lessons from Germany’s traffic lights March 20, 2010 Future of print: large format sexy ads! April 2, 2010
Set gear…it’s green soon! Fact: printed matter is going down
A while ago I drove through Germany by car. Apart from Have a look at the amount of brochures, catalogues and newspapers that are
the zones on the express way where there’s no speed printed today – compared to 10 years ago. Indeed, commercial printed mat-
limit, I was pleased with the way traffic lights work in ter decreases year by year. Of course, packaging printing will continue to exist.
Germany. You can’t deliver without properly packing the good. But you can sell without a
printed brochure or catalogue (just put it online as a PDF and it’ll do the trick).
How do they work?
Fact: large format prints
When the light is red it first jumps shortly to orange before it turns green. The add value
traffic lights in my country do not do that. They only use orange in between
green and red. Not in between red and green. I believe however, using orange In the above I stated that
in the “start-flow” of city traffic brings along certain advantages. packaging will continue to
exist. This will also count
Advantage 1: traffic flow optimized for large format print.
Large format prints provide
When it’s red and the cars are waiting, it often occurs that it takes over 5 sec- additional value compared
onds for the traffic to move again (after the lights have jumped to green). to commercial prints. Large
When you put orange in between , drivers know: “set to first gear, you can format prints grab the at-
drive soon”. This improves the traffic flow because people are not longer hesi- tention of people. A bro-
tating on “red” but instead on “orange”. This could result in drivers being less chure isn’t read thoroughly
frustrated by traffic. In the end: happier people in a non-aggressive city envi anymore – after all, they
ronment? find the content on the
world-wide web.
Advantage 2: save your car’s gearbox
Suggestion: sexy large
Another advantage of this traffic light system is that you don’t screw your gear- format prints
box that easily. Hasty people are often in 1st gear while waiting and thus have
to push down their left feed pedal continuously. Not that good actually for tech- Sexyness has always been
nology inside the car. a trick to grab people’s
attention. Nevertheless,
Advantage 3: improves ecology and economy of driving? sexyness should be used
appropriately. It doesn’t
I’m not completely sure about that but using the “neutral” gear more effectively make sense for all prod-
improves in a more economic and ecologic way of driving? ucts. This page depicts a
good example of sexyness
within a large format print
concept. It depicts a good-
looking women next to a big shower head. The copy (Feel Dirty?) enforces the
“sexual” aspect as well as it provides appropriate information about the com-
pany’s products: they provide solutions to make your body clean…
22 23

14. On media selection. Radio ads for universities April 19, 2010 On media selection. Radio ads for universities April 19, 2010
Radio advertisements
When talking about advertising on radio, one needs to know a few things about
the medium and its audience:
people mainly listen to the radio while driving a car
the other 50% of ‘hearing’ the radio is while they are working
teenagers do not drive a car
teenagers listen to their Ipod or play with their Iphone (social web apps) while
taking the bus, the train or driving their bike.
Why do universities advertise on the radio?
The main goal in university ads is to convince teenagers to sign up for classes
at their school. As stated above: teenagers do not listen that much to the radio.
Why on earth would one buy expensive media space on national radio if the
message doesn’t reach your target audience?
It might be that parents have a great influence on the university teenagers join.
It might just be that those same parents do listen to the radio while driving
their car or working. It might just be that radio spot rings those parents bell…
I assume the target audience (teenager) have things like a Facebook fan page,
a YouTube movie library of the university’s infrastructure and activities, a flashy
banner on a certain website, an architectural booth at a trade fair, …
Why marketers better be sociologist
I suggest to read the above paragraph.
24 25

15. Belgian election fever: reflections on extremism and their On the Oil Spill: BP to deploy SEM techniques for reputation
outdoor print ads. May 29, 2010 management. June 11, 2010
Belgium is heading towards elections BP: attack on nature and mankind?
Regardless of the fact that we are facing elections again in Belgium, I want to You might have heard about it: there’s an oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. BP –
discuss the outdoor print poster of the right extremist party. For your informa- held responsible for this disaster – is doing everything within its reach to solve
tion, they’re very nationalist. They rather see the northern (dutch-speaking) the issue as soon as possible. Instead of discussing the engineering operations
part of the country become a separate state instead of cooperating with the by which the company is trying to stop the leak, I want to say a word or two
southern (french-speaking) part. Their driving factors are: a different language, about the marketing (public relations) aspects that come into play.
a differently organized economic structure, money that flows from the north to
the south, etc. Reputation at risk.
Language at the core of the party program Needless to say that a natural disaster can seriously harm the reputation of a
company – resulting in fewer “likers” (cfr: the Facebook like hype on external
As stated above, language is a major point in their (ehrm) “ideology”. So they websites…) or even less people willing to fill up their car at a BP service station.
state in their posters: “Flemish people first” – written as “Vlamingen 1st”. For BP this is as much a disaster as is the oil for the nature and our planet. BP
Problems with this statement. Either they make a dutch spelling mistake or can’t afford to have a decrease in revenue – the cost of the oil spill is already
they introduce English (1st, means first) into their campaign… Isn’t this a bit sufficiently high.
strange for a party who has Dutch language at the core of its existence? The
ambiguity is clear to me…Empowering the stupidity of the right-wing. Reputation management: what is the reputation?
A situation where I could have understand this approach One could think of BP as a “money-making machine while destroying our plan-
et”. One could think that is correct – but it’s not. In the past – as well as today
I could have understand this poster without – BP has been glorified for its environmentally responsible business model. Yes,
worrying when the party had received list BP is not just about oil. BP is about: oil, natural gas, wind, solar, biofuels, effi-
number 1 for the election. From a market- ciency, energy security, energy diversity, …
ing point of view, the big 1 would have made
clear that they were the first party on the SEM techniques as a means for reputation management
election sheet. Nonetheless, they are not.
SEM stands for search engine marketing. It is the “art” of positioning website
They received number 7. The irony in here pages in the Google query result pages. One can pay Google to be on the re-
is that number 1 was granted to the flemish sult pages. You’ll end up in the “sponsored links” and pay each time somebody
social-democrats – their ideologic counterpart. clicks your link. This type of search engine marketing is called SEA: search en-
gine advertising. An other approach is to build your website in such a way that
it organically (without paying Google) lists well in the search results. This type
of SEM is called SEO: search engine optimization. The latter is more sustainable
than the first, but takes more time to prove its efficiency.
In order to understand the point, one needs to know a bit more about
“the psychology of Google result pages”.
26 27

16. Some facts about Search and “Googling”
• people usually look no further than the results displayed on page 1
• people believe that they receive good information via this technology – and
they actually do!
• people believe the “best” companies are at the top of the list
• Google has become the number 1 source for people to obtain information.
Is SEM a powerful reputation management technique?
SEM, both SEA and SEO, are valid reputation management techniques. As a
matter of fact, companies should consider thinking about this aspect not only
when dealing with so-called crisis communication.
SEO: long-term reputation management?
What if the first Google result page of your company’s brand name is entirely
filled with webpages that you own or that you have relations with? Well, then
you would control your reputation when people search for you. How to handle
that? Well, just think on the following set-up: index your company (product)
specific website in Google, make a Facebook page as well, set up a blog, deploy
a twitter account, etc. You’ll note that after a while when people browse your
company or product they see pages in Google that are managed by yourself.
The reputation that develops in people’s minds is completely under your con-
trol.
Why BP ran an SEA campaign
As stated above, SEA is a means to appear in the listing with a finger flick while
SEO takes time to have impact. For this reason BP had to run an SEA campaign
on the keywords ‘Oil Spill’. Is it wrong to do so? Actually no, it’s not because
they paid for inclusion that it is immoral to do so. As a matter of fact, nobody
would have questioned BP buying a newspaper page in order to put an ad for
e.g. apologies about the oil spill (they might even have done so).
Finally, a word about BP.
Looking at the BP case, we have to admit that they are quite committed to the
environment. We see that the engineering operations are doing everything to
get the leak fixed as soon as possible. This is also what they want to make clear
to the general public. However, if they had deployed a more extensive reputa-
tion management strategy before the disaster… it would have been more pow-
erful and people wouldn’t have questioned the adwords campaign that much.
Nevertheless: BP is environmentally responsible. They just had a little bad luck
with their operations on the Gulf of Mexico…
28 29

17. E-mail marketing. Reflections on timing. June 12 2010 Why to love a vuvuzela? Lessons from ethnomusicology.
June 14, 2010
In a previous post on this blog, we already discussed e-mail marketing as still
being a valid marketing channel. In that post we made a clear distinction be- These days there’s a lot of “buzz” about the usage of vuvuzela instruments at
tween e-mail marketing and spam. the World Cup Football in South Africa. People seem to be annoyed by the “vuu-
vuu” noize. Nevertheless, I want to make a case for the Vuvuzela.
Additionally, when you are not sending out spam but deploy e-mail blast soft-
ware in cooperation with intelligent marketing techniques, one needs to realize Ethnomusicology.
that timing is a rather crucial aspect as well.
A couple of years ago I was glad to take a class called “ethnomusicology”. Eth-
When does the message appear in front of the receiver? nomusicology is a branch within musicology. The first studies social and cultural
aspects of music in local and global contexts as opposed to the latter which is
Today, a few minutes ago, I went voting. Back at home I checked my e-mail more designed for and dedicat- ed to Western art music (classical mu-
inbox: 3 commercial e-mails from political parties in order to get my vote in the sic). So to speak, ethno- musicology studies music as a human,
last minutes of the campaign. Sorry, too late! I voted after which I read your social and cultural phenomenon.
e-mail. Nevertheless, you had about 2 or 3 months to reach me via e-mail. You
didn’t. Timing is almost as crucial as targeting the right audience. Wrong timing Lesson from the classes about African
is a classical example of deploying e-mail marketing non-effectively. music
Other reflections on the timing aspect of e-mail blasts One crucial aspect about the
“music” (regardless of their
• E-mails on Monday: if people take a day off, it’s probably a monday… So, diversity) in African societies is
if you want your e-mail not to be read, send it on monday. that it was (is) an insepara-
• E-mails on Monday – part 2: people open their mailbox after ble part of societal live. This
not opening it for an entire weekend. Your e-mail is in a means e.g. that African mu-
clutter of loads of e-mails. Are you that sure yours it sic has to be understood
the one that’s going to be read? within the realms of other
• E-mail campaigns on Friday: if people take structures that evolve around the
a day off, it’s probably on Friday … or “tones” and “noises”. Those structures
on Monday are: events (religious or profane: a celebra-
• E-mail hour of sending: I tion), dance moves, costumes, body paintings,
believe e-mails have the high- …
est change of being read when Well, I guess you already start to see the link between the
send on Tuesday, Wednesday or world cup and the vuvuzela. It’s just a habit, a ritual - so don’t
Thursday. Additionally one needs be annoyed by it.
to realize that people want a small
break from now and then while The “vuu-vuu” noise as a means to a state of trance
working. Don’t you feel like read-
ing something amusing when you’re Some traditional African music had the aim to get in some sort of “trance” in
close to lunch break? Yes, I suggest that order to get closer to nature or God (for instance). I believe the monotone
sending out e-mail blast shortly before noon is sound of the Vuvuzela is rather reverberating instead of annoying. I can imag-
the most fruitful period of the day. ine that the players on the pitch never really notice the “vuu-vuu” sound – but
instead feel a certain “drive”, “tempo” that encourages their play.
30 31

18. The Power of Twitter for websites: own test. June 15, 2010 The Power of Twitter for websites: own test. June 15, 2010
Tweeting the day away via your smart phone?
Result today: a nice woman from Italy re-tweeted one of my stories, started to
If you’re a Twitter user, you know what it’s all about. For those who don’t: twit- follow me and added me to a themed list.
ter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to send out messages (limited
to 140 characters) to the entire world. What will this bring along? New followers? We truly hope so, since the Italian
woman is already followed by over 1 000 people, my article is now within the
Twitter for business purposes? reach of more people than the 20 daily visitors on this blog and my 5 twitter-
followers. If I have a closer look at this blog web stats … I can already see that
If you’re in business you might think of adding a “Twitter account” to your mar- the re-tweeted article is currently my “most read article”…
comm mix. After all, it might drive traffic to your website. Once you have those
“Twitter-people” on your website, you can start to convince them. But not eve- A re-tweet in Italy: no more words, just an image
rything will turn into sales…
What else might happen?
• A “tweet-reader” ends up on your webpage and decides to tweet about your
webpage…your webpage has been broadcasted to people you never reached
in the first place…
• A tweeter retweets your statement and as a result your phrase is shared
with people that didn’t initially follow you.
• A tweeter might list you within a specific theme
• A tweeter is by definition rather unpredictable, so almost everything might
happen
• …
My test results: this blog, the Bizz2Sozz twitter account
Based on the date of my first post, I started this blog at the end of February.
While setting-up the blog, it came to me that to spread the ideas on this blog,
another channel should come into play – as I can’t solely rely on my bloggin’
skills (if I have them, for you to decide). For this reason, I turned to Twitter.
com and set-up an account.
Every time I posted a story on my blog, I tried to give it publicity by tweeting
my views over the twitter platform. (I have to be honest: I forgot it a couple
of times and backed this up by tweeting all articles at once. I know, not the
perfect strategy). The workflow is rather easy: I write a blogpost, after which I
summarize what’s in the article and add a link to the article (all in a 140 char-
acter phrase!).
32 33

19. A WordPress-car on the HighWay? On Brand Identity. World Cup advertisers reflect shift in economic power
June 29, 2010 July 9, 2010
Fifa world cup: global event, global brands
The world cup football is almost at its end. A European country is about to win
the tournament – that’s for sure.
However, if one digs a little deeper into the entire phenomenon of the world cup
– one could see that the “economic powers” from the past (let’s say USA, West-
ern Europe) are loosing power.
I’ve been a dedicated world cup watcher since the ‘Mundiale’ in Italy, 1990.
Since that day I mainly see “Western brands”: brands from manufacturers in
Confused? the classic economic powerzones – they were the only ones who could afford
the investment.
I was confused as well. While driving at 120 km/hour (or faster but I can’t say
that for legal reasons) I suddenly thought that I noticed a car with some “word- With today’s shift in economic and financial power, it should not be a surprise
press advertising” labelled on to it. This was not the case though – it was a that we see non-western brands on the global advertising platform (which the
Volkswagen. The feature story however demonstrates that WordPress is a brand world cup football definitely is)
that is highly prioritized in my brain…
Fifa partners and their core market
The graphic design aspect of brand identity
To demonstrate the reflection in powershift, one can start looking at the “gen-
The identity of a brand is constructed within the head of the receiver – the eral fifa sponsors”. These are well-known companies from the past with their
intention of how it should be conceived however is inherent to the sender. The headquarters in Western (industrial?) economies. Brands that match this exam-
design is the first aspect by which people construct an identity around the ple: adidas (Europe), coca-cola (US), visa (US), sony (Japan), hyundai(South
brand. Looks matter, also for brands. Korea). One of the upcoming economic (financial) powers is the Middle-East.
You shouldn’t be surprised then that the Dubai-based Emirates Group is an of-
Marketing clutter: be different ficial sponsor nowadays…
To be noticed by the receiver, you need to be different from the rest. Easily Stadium perimeter advertisers
said, I agree. When choosing your logo, you only look at the market that you’re
in – in order to differ from your “market”. Nevertheless, the above suggests The driving factor in this analysis however came from looking at the stadium
that brands are not limited to a specific market. Brands are brands. “Trans- perimeter advertisements during the game. By seeing exotic alphabet (chinese)
market” analysis of brand identity may be recommended since brand confusion and an Indian inspired font next to the pitches, my attention was drawn.
can have a negative effect… let’s take the wordpress-volkswagen example… Here’s a list of non-western brands that I’ve noticed to be advertising on foot-
ball pitches during the world cup. In my opinion, they reflect the shift in eco-
Similar look = similar feelings? nomic and financial powers.
• mahindra satyam > Mahindra Group; India
I wonder: if I had a negative feeling towards WordPress … would I have nega- • Yingli Solar > China
tive feelings for Volkswagen as well? Or it might just be the opposite: would I • Seara > Brasil
have choosen a different blog platform because I confuse the wordpress iden- • Proving the shift in powers
tity with the one from Volkswagen? I might hate Volkswagen… • Credit crunch : US ; Europe
• Economic slowdown: US, Europe
34 35

20. 36 37

21. Google Adsense: why should you consider it? August 26, 2010 Google Adsense: why should you consider it? August 26, 2010
Google Inc. Benefits Google Adsense
If I ask people to “just name a brand”, then I often get the answer “Google”. • The most robust targeting of any ad network
Yes, Google is a powerful brand these days. Nevertheless, people often know
nothing more about Google then it being a search engine. Of course, Google AdSense’s innovative targeting options allow advertisers to more precisely
is much more than a search engine. Just think about the apps “Google Earth”, reach their desired audiences on a third-party website — resulting in more rev-
“Google Maps”, “Google Video” “Google Docs”, “Google Calendar” and last but enue for the third-party website owner as well as more sales for the advertiser.
not least “Gmail”.
• Contextual targeting
It’s clear that Google isn’t just a search engine. But how do they generate rev-
enue then? Google introduced an innovative business model – AdWords – and AdSense ads are related to the content of the webpage. This is an advantage:
the pay-per-click (SEA) concept. The new business model proved to work be- your ad pops up there were it doesn’t interrupt. It fits in between the content
cause today AdWords is still the main source of revenues of Google Inc. on the website.
Google and its highly targeted advertising options • Placement targeting
The powerful element in the Google business model is the fact that advertisers An advertiser can target a site based on demographics, vertical, geographic
are ensured their ad appears location, or URL.
only when people are inter-
ested. A search engine ad only • Interest–based advertising
appears for relevant keywords
(in the case of the pay-per- An advertiser can show ads based on users’ interests and previous interactions
click model). People only enter with that advertiser.
keywords when they are ex-
plicitly interested in a subject. • New Media?
An Adsense ad only appears in
between relevant content. This AdSense isn’t just for websites. Earn extra revenue by displaying ads on your:
means the ad is advertising • Site search results
the same good or service as • Mobile webpages
the page it is on. Bottom line: advertising via a Google platform is cost-effective • Feeds
since it only reaches people who are interested. Compared to “mass advertising • Parked domains
media” such as television, this way is much more effective. • Mobile applications
• Videos
Example: Google Adsense on this blog • Online game
Have a look at the below screenshot of this website. It’s an Adsense ad that
was placed next to an article on “brand management”. For a company special-
izing in brand management, appearing next to an article like that is very useful
since the reader of the article is already interested in the advertiser’s core busi-
ness.
38 39

22. Sustainable Business Strategies for SMEs in a Sustainable Business Strategies for SMEs in a
“dying industry”? August 26, 2010 “dying industry”? August 26, 2010
Print: a dying industry? Is commercial printing dead?
I often encounter the phrase “Print is Commercial printing is about the crea-
dead”. Of course, print is not dead. tion of leaflets, brochures, catalogues,
First of all, it’s not a living organism etc. Yes, it still exists and it’s often
– so technically unable to die because quite important to have those “sales
it never actually lived. Second, I still support documents” next to a power-
meet printed collateral on a daily ba- ful website. What is a fact is that more
sis. Third: history demonstrates that and more corporations are re-allocat-
some people always tend to state that ing their budgets from print to other
new emerging media “kill” existing media (internet, mobile, tv, …). But
ones. Concerning this third issue, al- it is not dead. Nevertheless, the de-
low me to have a small digression by crease in volume of printed marketing
referring to the panic for the medium radio with the rise of commercial televi- collateral has been an undeniable trend for years now.
sion. Companies that have been in the industry for years are increasingly looking to
survive. What business strategies have proven to be effective in surviving this
Commercial television would kill “the radio”. In fact, radio still exists. What hap- turmoil?
pened is a re-allocation of the time spent for a specific medium. People tend to
watch more tv and listen to the radio less. But radio is still alive and kicking. Sustainable business strategies for commercial printers?
People just use it in a different way. The radio went from a “primetime” medium
to a “drive time” medium – which means that people mainly use radio while Business strategies and innovation are closely linked together
driving a car. So: did video kill the radio star? No, it did not. It just resulted in a We don’t want to put an in-depth (theoretical) analysis here about business
new way of allocating resources for specific media. strategies for growth and innovation. But apparently they are closely linked to
one another. The image on the left should do the trick for now. We believe it’s
How to understand the phrase “print is dead”? more fruitful to draw a real-life business case.
So one needs to pay attention what exactly is meant and how the above phrase Sustainable business strategies for SMEs in commercial printing?
should be understood. First of all, we have explained in the above paragraphs
that media do not die. However, having a look at the phrase “print is dead”, The graphics / printing industry has been going down for years now. The eco-
there seems to occur another problem. What is the “printing industry”? nomic slowdown and the credit crunch only empower the trend. Loads of SME
The printing industry is a rather general description of business activities re- printers went bankrupt or at least had to shrink down the number of employ-
lated to printing. The argument that print is dead doesn’t hold much water past ees.
books, newspapers and magazine – which aren’t even dead also by the way.
The printing industry has multiple subsections, so one cannot simplify that eas- As a reaction, the industry’s major players reached out to a well-known strat-
ily. egy for growth: “M&A” (mergers and acquisitions). A financially strong company
within the sector buys out less powerful players and consequently integrates
To start with: every single item made and sold in this world comes with packag- them into the new structure. The sustainability and growth of the business is
ing, even if ordered over the internet. So package printing won’t die. However, hence secured (it might be a short-term…).
in times of economic downfall people consume less, which results in less ship-
ments of goods (with printed packages). This also counts for commercial print-
ing – which most of the time people denote when saying the phrase “print is
dead”.
40 41

23. Sustainable Business Strategies for SMEs in a Sustainable Business Strategies for SMEs in a
“dying industry”? August 26, 2010 “dying industry”? August 26, 2010
The Pica Media Partners case
As a result of the concentration process, the number of printers within the in-
dustry decreased. SMEs reacted by expanding into multi-media production ser-
vices or by integrating into larger corporations. However more creative initia-
tives have seen the light as well. And those initiatives don’t even mean the loss
of SME commercial printers. The initiative “Pinca” of the Pica Media Partners
Group is one of those creative initiatives to counter-fight the negative spiral of
the industry.
Pica Media Partners is an independent network that contains more than 30
graphic communication corporations within it. The network covers the entire
area of The Netherlands. By gathering the strengths of each entity in a network,
the group has additional forces for marketing, sales and purchase. By uniting
forces, the SME companies within the network can benefit from the state-of-
the-art tools as if they were a big player.
In today’s printing industry it’s important to make the transition from a “printer”
who sells products into a “media service provider” who sells services. An impor-
tant element to successfully realize this transition is technology. Specific tech-
nologies support printers’ transformation into a service provider.
The network equally saw the importance of technology and jointly invested in
an “online collaboration platform”. We are very keen to see how this technol-
ogy will further prove how business model innovation can act as a strategy for
growth.
And I have to say: it looks quite promising. The deployment of the technology
resulted in an innovative business model within the graphic production industry.
In fact, BMI or business model innovation could well be the theme for my next
blog post since I started to feel a particular interest in related subjects.
42 43

24. How to make money with Social Media? How to make money with Social Media?
A new business in “global village”? October 20, 2010 A new business in “global village”? October 20, 2010
Every young marketer probably Social Media Photo applications
has met a C-level executive that
made him end up in the same situ- I came to realize that one important aspect
ation as depicted in the cartoons about the usage of social media is to share
below. photographs with its friends, connections,
peers, … (you name it). What if you could
Anyway, it was a starting point for provide additional value to this “photo sharing
me to come up with a concept of experience” in such a way that people actually
how you can generate revenue with would want to pay for it? Wouldn’t it be better
Social Media. As far as my thinking than “spending money on social media adver-
is concerned I came to the conclu- tising”?
sion that social media cannot make
money for you if you consider, deploy and use it solely as a communication Connect the virtual photo sharing experience with the physical one
channel. To state it very simply: a Facebook fan page or a netlog advert prob-
ably won’t do the trick. Social media profiles mostly contain a section where the user can upload im-
ages. In this manner users share their real-life experiences with their peers
We see a remarkable resemblance with the “status” of marketing within an in the virtual domain. If there was an application that could gain access to all
organization. To unleash the power of marketing you cannot reduce them to the images of the user and offer the user a user-friendly interface to create
channel communication and sales support, just as you cannot simplify social and consequently order photo books, postcards, calendars or slide show mov-
media solely into a communication channel for your business. ies from their social media-assets, one could generate a business from selling
those goods.
Don’t consider social media solely as a marketing channel.
Social Media Web app specs
The opportunities of social media should be explored in a far more extensive
way then as it being a highly targeted communication channel for marketing I would make the web app open enough. This means it should be able to access
messages. The image below demonstrates why this approach won’t result in data from multiple platforms:
you generating money with social media. • The application presents multiple templates to the user: select a photo book template,
select a card template, select a calendar template or select to generate a slide show movie.
At the start templates and slide show movies are rather limited since they are created by
Create a new value on top of Social Media the app developer. The goal is to come up with a business model that encourages people to
supply templates to the platform. If another user selects the uploaded template in order to
If you create new value on top of make and purchase a photo book, the creator of the template receives a margin on the or-
social media networks, you might der. Templates are created in such a way that there occurs no resolution problem (since the
create a new market. If you are platforms mostly resize the uploaded images, I suppose).
• The user selects a template and consequently selects photos from his social
smart enough to keep your “new • media album.
value” open for multiple social net- • The user gets a preview of the template with his photos.
works, you have a potential 700+ • The user sees a price for his creation and can order and pay it online.
million euro business ahead of you. • The user receives his physical good at home. He can now have a physical photo
• sharing experience as well. What’s more he can use the social media to “testify” about the
usage of the photo book application. In fact, you can imagine that one takes a picture of its
physical experience (receiving the photo book) and sharing this experience virtually again
(indeed, upload a picture of the photo book to the social media platform!).
44 45

25. How to make money with Social Media? How to make money with Social Media?
A new business in “global village”? October 20, 2010
How could a business model look like for this type of product?
There is a lot to say about a business model and its components, difference
with a business plan, etc. Instead of going into an academic discussion about
that topic, I will make use of the Business Model Canvas as developed by Alex
Osterwalder. I believe his canvas provides a valid framework to design “a busi-
ness”. The business model canvas is defined by the following building blocks:
partners, activities, resources, value proposition, customer relations, channels,
customer segments, cost structure and revenue stream.
The image below depicts a thinking exercise on a possible business model of
the Social Media Photo Application. It is based on Osterwalder’s business model
canvas.
Business model generation by using the BM canvas
with a business plan, etc. Instead of going into an academic discussion about
that topic, I will make use of the Business Model Canvas as developed by Alex
Osterwalder. I believe his canvas provides a valid framework to design “a busi-
ness”. The business model canvas is defined by the following building blocks:
partners, activities, resources, value proposition, customer relations, channels,
customer segments, cost structure and revenue stream.
The image below depicts a thinking exercise on a possible business model of
the Social Media Photo Application. It is based on Osterwalder’s business model
canvas. It might prove fruitful for reading purposes to download the business
model canvas for the social media photo book application as a PDF. (yes click
here, this is a link!)
Just one more thing, how should one call this type of solution:
Social-to-Print?
46 47

26. Flanders & its strong extreme right political party. On the Flanders & its strong extreme right political party. On the
frequency aspects of media buying. October 21, 2010 frequency aspects of media buying. October 21, 2010
Belgium: the story You might disagree on Vlaams Belang’s opinions, but you’ve got to give them at
least one thing: it is the only political party that tries to establish a continuous
We live in a country that isn’t governed for a period of about 4 months now. conversation with the inhabitants of Flanders. By this I mean, they are active
Why is that so difficult? Just watch the below instructional video from Marcel even without upcoming elections. Is it strange then that they get a lot of votes
Sel… at elections? We believe it’s not that strange.
Flanders: strong right-wing Given the fact that most of the people don’t really care about ideology, they
might vote for “a brand” that they are most familiar with. The brand they’re
In the northern part of the country (Flanders, where they speak Dutch) inhabit- most familiar with might just be the brand that chooses to have a continuous
ants tend to vote for conservatives. But what’s even more striking, is the huge advertising frequency strategy.
support for an extreme right political party – known as Vlaams Belang (=”Flem-
ish importance”). Frequency-based theory high percentage extreme right voters derived
from “advertising science”
Why does this political organization receives so much support from that many
inhabitants? Is it that all Dutch-speaking Belgians are a bit “fascist”? It cannot Political advertising and commercial advertising serve pretty much the same
be, I cannot believe. goal. To convince people to believe information provided via a communication
channel.
Next to loads of other aspects, we want to point out that this political party sets
itself apart from the other parties not only by leaving the democratic spectrum Within the communication science, there seems to be a general consensus on
behind but also by deploying a different media buying strategy. With their me- how to reflect about the impact of frequency of media exposures. Here’s sort of
dia strategy, they tend to be visible in the streets the entire year – not only in how it works:
the run-up to elections such as the other political parties. Added to that, the
party empowers that visibility in the streets by offering gadgets via a webshop The media objectives of a media plan often call for some combination
(e.g.: branded sweaters, caps, cycling outfits, mouse pads, flags, etc.). of reach and frequency. Media planners want the highest reach possible
because that means more people will be exposed to the campaign, which
New campaign: the Republic of Flanders. should lead to more brand awareness, customer loyalty, sales, and so
on. Media planners also seek high frequency if they feel that consumers
Belgium has struggled to form a government for about 4 months now – one po- will only take action (that is, buy the product) after multiple exposures
litical crisis follows the other. Main reason is the inability to make an agreement to the campaign.
between the Dutch-speaking community and the French-speaking community.
Ended up at this point, Vlaams Belang decided to launch a campaign to dem- Media planners can choose among three methods of scheduling: conti-
onstrate that the country is doomed (this has been their main argument for nuity, flight, and pulse. Continuity scheduling spreads media spending
years). The solution, according to them, is to form the Republic of Flanders. evenly across months. The flight scheduling approach alternates adver-
To convince people that the republic of Flanders is the means to the end of tising across months, with heavy advertising in certain months and no
wealth, Vlaams Belang launched a campaign that consists of 500 20 sq.m. out- advertising at all in other months. Pulse scheduling combines the first
door ads, window posters and a brochure of which more than 1 million copies two scheduling methods, so that the brand maintains a low-level of ad-
are printed (to compare: the biggest newspaper in Flanders is printed on about vertising across all months but spends more in selected months.
100 000 copies).
48 49

27. Flanders & its strong extreme right political party. On the Flanders & its strong extreme right political party. On the
frequency aspects of media buying. October 21, 2010 frequency aspects of media buying. October 21, 2010
Reading the above theory on scheduling methods, we have to say we’re not
quite sure which one the political party is using. However, others are using none
– except when running into campaigns. In this manner the political brand ap-
peals to people in the streets because they meet it all the time…
Think about it? Should other parties counter-feight this dominance by also buy-
ing media space more frequently?
50 51

28. The importance of strong copy in advertising. On the latest The importance of strong copy in advertising. On the latest
Stihl-campaign. October 22, 2010 Stihl-campaign. October 22, 2010
I like the latest adverts (see images below) of the saw manufacturer Stihl be-
cause they are based on strong copy. The importance of strong copy cannot be
underestimated.
Importance of strong copy for adverts: No half work Importance of strong copy for adverts: I came, I sawed and I won (J.Caesar)
(with characters sawn in half)
52 53

29. Google: a new phase in brand management techniques? Google: a new phase in brand management techniques?
October 23, 2010 October 23, 2010
Google is without a doubt one of today’s global brands. What’s remarkable, it 3. Product extensions and sub-branding
gained that position without deploying branding techniques previously known as
effective. If one compares the manner by which the Google brand grew to the Strategy deployed by the big brand institutes was in fact one of “sub-branding”.
strategy used by brand institutes like P&G or Unilever, one might believe a new Every product was conceived as a separate brand. An element that could ex-
phase arrived. plain the power of the brand Google is the fact that nothing is in fact sub-brand-
ed. Google is actively creating product extensions that all become an part of
1. Google & adverts the brand google (e.g.: Google Mail to Google Maps) to ensure that it can grow
beyond search. Other corporations such as Unilever choose to build a brand for
Marketing used to follow this logic: manufacture with the lowest cost and spend each product, ending up with a big portfolio of different brand names.
money on adverts. This will do the trick. Google (almost) used no adverts (as
far as we know). They relied on “viral” and pr to build the brand. Funny aspect: Does this introduce a new stage in brand building?
ads are Google’s main source of revenue. Does this make the profession of brand management totally different?
2. Branding: corporate design, corporate identity
It used to be important to have a consistent display of the corporate design
/ identity. To simplify: the logo has to look always and everywhere the same.
Google plays with its logo – expressing change and hence its identity (?). Equal-
ly striking are the options to customize your homepage (e.g. by modifying the
background). What’s more the corporation itself encourages users to personal-
ize their homepage: have a look at the movie (google slam).
54 55

30. BNP Paribas Fortis: from mobile web to mobile app. Are you QR-coding your business card already?
October 23, 2010 October 23, 2010
BNP Paribas Fortis mobile banking What is a QR-code?
We believe the strategy is in compliance with what we (and most important lit- A QR Code is a bar code that is read by QR scanners,
erature) know about mobile web and mobile apps. Here’s a non-exhaustive list mobile phones with a camera and smartphones. The
of important facts for mobile projects: code consists of black modules arranged in square
patterns on a white background. Today’s mobile devic-
• mobile web or mobile apps need to load quickly (even with 3G and UMTS). es are standard equipped with a QR code reader. And
• the mobile web is not a mirror of the website if it’s not on it, you can easily install an application
• automatically present the mobile website when mobile devices is detected on your phone (as long as you have a photo camera
• the mobile web is used to find contact coördinates, product information and build-in).
news
• for mobile apps one needs to reflect on the different OS: iOS, BlackBerry,
Symbian, Android, … Benefit of a QR code
With intelligent mobile devices and smart phones as a common utility, the pos-
sibility to immediately send information to that device saves a lot of time and
56 57

31. Running an e-commerce website? Watch out for Google Running an e-commerce website? Watch out for Google
shopping. October 27, 2010 shopping. October 27, 2010
Apparently Google launched a Beta version of “Google Shopping” (Google Indexed enterprises in France that offer iMac on google.fr
Achats) in France last week. The application looks very promising and might
change the online shopping experience. If you sell over the internet, you defi- Imagine you want to buy an iMac and want to know the perfect place and price
nitely should consider listing your products in Google Shopping. How you index for your purchase.
your products is explained below the screenshots. Imagine you’re a go-getter and will search for all places online where you can
buy an iMac.
Imagine you accurately archive all information in a spreadsheet so to compare
the offers.
How long would that take? How long does it take with Google Shopping?
Can you see the benefits already?
Companies that partner with Google within the “market of the search
term ‘iMac’ on Google Shopping France” are listed below.
• 2xmoinscher.com
• 3 Suisses
• Alapage
• Apple: logic appearance since I browsed for a Mac
• Boulanger
• dealopro
• Docteurdiscount.com
• Fnac.com
• Grosbill.com
• Inmac-Wstore.com
• LDLC.Com
• Materiel.net
• Misco.fr
• MISTERGOODDEAL
• Pixmania.com
Index your products through a feed in Google Merchant Center
In order to appear in the list, an e-commerce website or webshop needs to
provide a feed of their products to the Google Merchant Center. Consequently
Google indexes the data and makes them available for search and price com-
parison via a web interface on google.com (or in case via a country-specific url
extension).
In addition, consumers are able to immediately buy the good if the e-commerce
website supports Google Check-out.
58 59

32. Towards an augmented social reality? MediaPro review. Towards an augmented social reality? MediaPro review.
November 8, 2010 November 8, 2010
On November 2-3 we were among many
others at Olympia London to attend me-
diaPro. The event is rather unique in its kind
but brings real value to the people within the
“marketing and media industry”. Or as the
organizers describe it their-selves:
“Things are changing in the world of me-
dia and marketing. Marketers, agencies and
media owners now know all about email
marketing and websites. They tell us that
what they want now is a next generation
event that helps them take their marketing
and communications to the next level: and
that means integrating channels including Social media
offline, online and all the exciting new stuff
in mobile, social media etc. And that means How many times a day do you log on to Facebook, Twitter or similar “social me-
mediaPro!” dia”?
Mix of exhibitors and keynote speakers At the show “social media” was a central theme: two theatres were specifically
devoted to topics within the realms of “social media” and a lot of exhibitors
Visitors enjoyed a nice mixture of keynotes and classic trade fair exhibition (suppliers to marketing agencies, corporates, brands, media, …) stressed their
stands. social media technology (in one way or another).
Our final impression after the event coincides into the question “are we heading What if you combine augmented reality with social media?
towards an augmented social reality?”.
Augmented social reality! Hooray! Tagwhat!
Let’s try to unravel what this means… and how we stumbled upon this thought…
Augmented reality … an interesting technology!
We were fascinated by the maturity of AR technology shown at mediaPro.
Have a look in the below video and be astonished about the possibilities this
technology brings along!
60 61

33. Business and targeting ethics? The co-operative case. Business and targeting ethics? The co-operative case.
November 14, 2010 November 14, 2010
Promoting funeralcare services at a mediated sport event Business ethics and customer targeting?
Ever heard of the sport “Bowls”? We hadn’t before. Is there a group that offers funeralcare services in a “retail way”? It might, The
co-operative group strives to be a nation-wide funeralcare service provider with
Basically speaking it’s a form of “pétanque” often played in the commonwealth local branches all over the country.
nations. The goal of the game is to roll slightly asymmetric balls (bowls) so that
they end up close to a smaller bowl, as demonstrated in the below video. But Visitors/viewers bowls sport: a target group for funeralcare services?
there’s something more to that video … something that has to deal with busi-
ness ethics and marketing target groups… Yes, the place is full of elderly people. As the sport could be labeled rather bor
ing, chances are big the television audience is equally old.
The co-operative funeralcare as main sponsor
In the above video one could see multiple adverts at various locations of an
enterprise called “The co-operative”. All ads promote their funeralcare services.
The advertisements are everywhere: on the player’s shirts, on the left and right
of the pitch, behind the players. The event visitors see it all the time – as well
as people watching the game on their television.
62 63