IN10 Weblog

Een dagje IN10 door de ogen van scriptieprijswinnaar Mart Evers

wo19.12

Vorige week dinsdag alweer kregen we bezoek van de winnaar van de PCR Scriptieprijs, Mart Evers. Hij schreef een scriptie over de succesfactoren van crowdfundingprojecten en won daarmee van een kleine 30 andere inzenders. Onderdeel van de prijs voor de winnaar was een week meelopen in het communicatievak bij verschillende organisatie. Ik zat dit jaar in de jury en daarom boden wij natuurlijk ook een dagje ‘gluren bij IN10′ aan.

Hieronder een kort verslag van Mart:

“IN10 is de tweede organisatie waar ik een kijkje mocht nemen. Vergeleken met mijn eerste bezoek bij de Gemeente Rotterdam een groot contrast. Ik word verwelkomd in een groot open en wit kantoor. Eerst een voorstelrondje. Het brede scala aan medewerkers van IN10 is direct duidelijk. Van communicatiestrateeg tot designer. De diversiteit aan opdrachtgevers en campagnes valt me ook meteen op.

Al snel mag ik zelf aan de slag. Ik werk mee aan een pitch! Mijn opdracht was om te bedenken welke communicatiekanalen het beste ingezet kunnen worden voor de doelgroep studenten. Eerst heb ik een schets van de doelgroep ‘hbo- en wo-studenten’ gemaakt. Ook heb ik het mediagebruik onder studenten onder loep genomen. Het blijkt dat dit grillig is, met uiteraard veel aandacht voor internet – met name social media. Maar aan tv, radio en kranten wordt zeker nog wel aandacht besteed. Het eindresultaat: twee slides over studenten in een notendop.

IN10 komt op mij over als een snelle organisatie, waar zeker een goede sfeer hangt. Ik heb de indruk gekregen dat zij echt een totaalplaatje voor je ontwikkelen – zowel offline als online. Creativiteit speelt daarbij een hele belangrijke rol. Ik vond het een leuke en leerzame dag. Ik hoop natuurlijk IN10 de pitch wint. Dan is de campagne – waar ik een heel klein beetje aan meegewerkt heb – volgend jaar te bewonderen!”

Nou Mart, bedankt voor de complimenten en het meedenken vanuit de doelgroep. We zijn benieuwd naar je avonturen bij Ahoy, Unilever en FunX!

Door Marlies in IN10 Weblog, Media, Rotterdam, Young!
woensdag 19 december, 2012
...

Curating: too important 2 be explained too much.

di09.10

You might have come across the word curating, curator or to curate incidently or even quite frequently lately. Some of you may fully understand the meaning and more importantly why it is essential to know about it. Great stuff! For all others here’s some quick info to clarify the term and to start thinking if it’s something you need to dive into a bit more, follow or even start doing, personally or as a brand.

Wiki says
“A curator is a manager or overseer and is derived from the Latin curare meaning “take care”.” Great. Pretty clear so far, but you might think: “So?”. Rightly so, but hold your horses, because further down the same Wiki link some more digiwise info is given: “In the same way [...] a museum curator may acquire objects of relevance [...] the injection of technology and impact of social media into every aspect of our society has seen the emergence of technology curators; someone who is able to disentangle the science and logic of a particular technology and apply it to real world situations and society, whether for social change or commercial advantage.”

Bottom line
In the current day and age where there is so much information we can not even fathom it anymore, almost every surf on the internet starts with search engine Google and although that’s fantastic it can’t really replace people. And because we are people ourselves (just do the quick Descartes check), we prefer advice, inspiration or just simple tips and tricks from other humans; the latter group is often referred to as curators.

Two way street for humans and brands alike
The great thing about curating is you can be a curator and a curatee at the same time, albeit on different topics. It’s a great way to move forward as a human race. And although having a great human curator is the best (Check out Laughing Squid or Brainpicker for two examples of platforms by humans), there definitely is a role for brands as well. Brands have a personality and – in the words of Jules from Pulp Fiction – “personality goes a long way“. Brands can facilitate or embrace curation. Through old school media like magazines, thus bundling what we might find interesting, through digital platforms or for instance branded apps. A great example is an app helping you to curate apps yourself called Appflow. Flipboard is another great one of course letting/helping you curate your own magazine. If you don’t already have it, it’s a definite must on tablet and smartphone. And check out beerbrand Beck’s and it’s Gigfinder. Curating thus is a great way for brands to add real value to people’s lives.

So, now you know about curating and curators and can decide if you want to use one, be one – personally or as a brand. And of course there’s always the other option: not use it nor be it whatsoever, but I wouldn’t go for that one.

Because let’s be honest, we’re all a little bit lazy so once in a while it’s great to get some good advice from people or a brand you trust and who just know(s) more than ourselves on a subject, service or something else.

Also check out our 8 Digital Trends which include curating and others such as brand butlers and TV Next.

Door Wilmar Alex in Apps, Brands, fmcg, IN10 Weblog, Interactie, Mobile, Must have, Trends
dinsdag 09 oktober, 2012
...

Tell me your story and I might trust your brand

vr13.07

Ah… stories, don’t we all love them? Good, bad. Cute, horrifying. The ones you knew first, the ones everybody knows. The power of storytelling is ancient, current and the future.

“I am because I have a story”
Lots of people recognize the power of storytelling nowadays; it has in fact become quite a hype since the guys @ Make Believe built a serious agency around it in 2005, with agencies currently popping up like mushrooms in the Fall. Nevertheless I still believe it is hard to overestimate the power of stories. You might even say “I am because I have a story”. Imagine meeting someone who doesn’t have one. That’s even freakier than that story about the guy that didn’t have a shadow.

All brands have a story
The good thing is: it’s not so hard to have a story, because everyone naturally has one. Some people might feel their’s is not worth telling, but in my view, when you really dive into it every story is worth listening to for a certain audience. This is the same for brands. Every brand has its story, about where it came from, what the initial idea was, how it just popped up into someone’s head or just coincided. Everyone working on a brand (agency and client) should know the story. We sometimes tend to forget what made the brand we work for the brand in the first place. More importantly nowadays consumers want to know stuff about your brand and since there is a world wide web (love that word) it’s easy to share, so do it! Here’s some advice on how to get started.

Get your story out there in 4 + 1 steps
-Step 1 – Get to know the brand story.
When I started to work for the beer brand Grolsch they took me around every part of the brewery for 6 weeks. Now that might be overdoing it, but I did know the brand and product story inside out (and still do). That obligation works both ways: as an employee you need to want to know the story, as an employer or manager it’s good to let your people get to know it.
-Step 2 – Understand the story.
Knowing it is one thing, understanding it is something else. In order to get your story out there you need to understand how the story is connected to and in the end led to the brand. From Grolsch I remember Masterbrewer Peter Cuyper who came up with the combination of two types of hop that lead to the unique Grolsch taste.
-Step 3 - Make it interesting without being untrue
Now this is an interesting step, because it can be a thin line between the two. To decide how to make the story more interesting you need to know your target audience and what they like. When in Life Science you might want to know about the process, when an average consumer audience might find heritage more interesting; sometimes just showing your old ads is a great way. Shine it up: yes, but be truthful!
-Step 4 – Make it easy, interesting and fun to share
Use the web to its fullest with Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Games and the likes (don’t forget about magazines & newspapers) and get some advice on how to ideally use those media as each one has its own rules and ways to make maximum impact and cut through. This makes it easier and more fun to spread and to get consumers talking about it.
-Finally - Be proud and make the people you work for and with part of your enthusiasm. We all love great, positive stories that lead to good brands.

Although we are not all as great storytellers as the Grimms and not everyone can come up with the great Greek myths or Viking sagas, we all have a story, and by the way they didn’t have the web.

Some examples brand stories:
- beer: Grolsch
- wheels: Vespa (wonderfully in Italian)
- social: Facebook
- shampoo: Carol’s daughter
- ice cream: Ben & Jerry’s

Door Wilmar Alex in Brands, Cases, Facebook, IN10 Bloggers, IN10 Weblog
vrijdag 13 juli, 2012
...

Mobile Website. (still) Brand Opportunity.

vr29.06

With tablet sales skyrocketing and smartphone sales booming a mobile website seems like a no brainer. Or is it? First let’s do some numbers.

Smart=Huge
There are currently 6 billion mobile phones in use in the world (source). Total smartphone sales in 2011 reached 472 million units up 58 percent from 2010. This makes smartphones 31 percent of all handsets shipped (Gartner, February 2012). In 2012 predictions are 686 million smartphones will be sold which will be 38 percent of all handsets shipped (IDC, June 2012). In the Netherlands this percentage is expected to already be at 60%. European consumption of Mobile Media is booming. 75 percent of smartphone users in the EU5 (Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain) used mobile media in October 2011, an increase of 62 percent in the past year (Source: Emerce)

Tablets > Desktops
At the end of 2011 the Dutch had 1.2 million tablets, resulting into approximately 2.4 million tablet users. End2012 expectations: 2.2 million tablets, 4.4 million users (source). This means 26% of the total Dutch population will use an iPad, Galaxy Tab or the likes (Sanoma). According to IDC the number of tablets sold is expected to hit 107.4 million by the end of 2012, rising to 142.8 million by 2013. IDC actually states desktop PCs will still sell fractionally more than that in the same timescale – 161.5 million units in 2013 – but there are other analysts whose figures back up Microsoft’s presumption tablets will sell out Desktops (IDC, June 2012).

Mobile: website | app | social?
I guess the point is surfing the web mobile with smartphone or tablet is big and will become even bigger. Still the question remains: Is a mobile website necessary or should brands switch to Facebook or for example build an app? As usual, start with a strategy and define your objectives. Generally speaking a mobile website should be your first step in developing a mobile presence, whereas an app can be very useful for a very specific purpose that cannot be effectively accomplished via a web browser. A mobile website has a number of inherent advantages over apps, including broader accessibility, compatibility and cost-effectiveness. Here’s a pretty helpful infographic I found on Mashable. So what about Facebook then? In my view, Facebook is a whole different story as it should be used when a brand wants to start a dialogue with consumers. It’s not the best way for one way brand messaging.

Brand Opportunity: Time spend vs. Ad spend
Now let’s see if there is potential brand opportunity for mobile. Eh, that would be “YES”!  In comparison with the time spend, the ad spend is totally lost when it comes to mobile. There is a discussion about the amount of potential, but named numbers leave plenty of room for growth even in more pessimistic scenario’s. In the US 23% of mediatime is done on mobile devices, whilst media spendings bij brands/companies is 1%. In the Netherlands penetration of smartphones is even higher than the US digits (Source: Emerce). Furthermore it is also commercially viable as Comscore recently stated: “Mobile retail is one of the fastest growing activities amongst smartphone users (…) in major countries in Europe as (…) (o)ver 13 million smartphone users access mobile retail sites.”

In short
-Mobile strategy? Yes. Smartphone and tablet penetration is big & increasing by the day.
-Mobile website? Most probably, depending on your goals.
-App? Opportunity, if & when having a specific purpose in mind.
-Facebook? Likely, but only when you want to start a dialogue (That’s two ways peeps).

Door Wilmar Alex in Apps, Communicatie, Facebook, IN10 Bloggers, IN10 Weblog, Internet, Mobile, Social Media, Trends
vrijdag 29 juni, 2012
01

Your brand on Pinterest?

do21.06

Do you know Pinterest? A question a lot of people can reply affirmative. How can I or my brand use it? A question mostly pre-rolling a moment of silence.

Pinterest flowchart
Above you’ll find an interesting flowchart (source: SocialMedia.nl) giving you the opportunity to – step by step – let you come up with an answer to the title question. Of course Pinterest is far from being as humongous as Facebook (6,5 mln active members in the Netherlands), but in May the Netherlands already had 200.000 monthly visitors, coming from only around 50.000 Dutch Pinners in March (source: Marketingfacts).

Picture Power!
Furthermore, image can be (a lot more) powerful (than words), also to increase conversation, sharebility and likebility. Of course Facebook can be used for that as well, but Pinterest is sort of the most pure and well done social medium for it. And especially for the people from Holland: success in the US often heralds succes in our country.

TopTip: Join!
What usually works best to really understand a specific media is of course to start working with it; despite everybody’s consistent lack of time. First step: Sign Up; and don’t let the fact you have to wait for a couple of days for acceptance get in your way. In the meantime, if you want to learn more, register for our Pinterest-workshop (next one is on July 5th).

Other useful links (last two are in Dutch)
-Pinterest, Sign up ;-)
-Brands on Pinterest, by Kelly Lieberman
-Pinterest. Een Goudmijn voor Merken, weblog van Sanne Walvisch
-Pinner of the Week, kijk hoe & wat anderen doen op Pinterest van Rosalie Ruardy

Door Wilmar Alex in IN10 Bloggers, IN10 Weblog, Infographic, Pinterest
donderdag 21 juni, 2012
...