Feb 16 2012

The combined positive energy of Electrabel, Group GDF SUEZ and Emakina truly starts to create communication sparks. Electrabel launched its new consumer website, introduced a new version of the Electrabel Energy Manager and produced a practical new mobile application for this Energy Manager service.  All ‘signed’ Emakina.

Electrabel, the first energy provider in Belgium, is a long-standing client of Emakina. About one year ago, a new pitch was launched and Emakina came out of this contest as the winner: the agency was named preferred supplier of Electrabel. New in this relationship was that the mission would include social and mobile media, besides web activities.

• Energy Manager

Electrabel helps its customers to reduce their energy consumption and environmental impact. So it wanted to offer its customers a new service that could make them true partners in this valuable effort. The Energy Manager allows them to fine-tune their energy actions and reduce gas and electricity consumption.

In the application, customers fill in their gas and electricity consumption. They then receive a clear analysis, with state-of-the-art bar charts and graphs indicating their energy history. They can also opt for data in a list format, of course. This information is the starting point for improved energy management, with a coaching support, offering practical tips and insights.

The Electrabel Energy Manager is also available on iPhone and Android. It targets both residential and small office/home office clients. For users on the move, the Energy Manager app is the perfect addition to the Energy Manager website.

• Spreading the word

Emakina is also the partner for Electrabel’s web activation campaigns, including promotion and bannering actions. The campaign now starting will highlight the launch of the new online application for residential customers. It will also introduce the other mobile applications, Electrabel Mobile and Electrabel Energy Manager for Professionals. Banners in different formats are placed on key Belgian portals and news websites. Objective is to generate traffic to the different Electrabel websites and apps. The tools are really handy and valuable, so this promotion really is worth the energy!

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Nov 24 2011

Over half a million apps to choose from…which ones would be smart to upload to your smartphone or tablet?

In their latest issue, Knack and Le Vif magazines present the Top Applications for smartphones and tablets in the Belgian market. Belgium being the complex market it is, the list of course is different in the Dutch and the French version…

Out of the jury of five members two experts came out of  Emakina Group companies. Emakina’s Chief Visionary Officer Brice Le Blévennec felt right at home in helping to create this special. Mobile Competence Center Manager Thomas De Vos from the Reference in Ghent also let his light shine on the mobile apps.

So with their colleagues they went to work and made a list of criteria, a selection of categories and then each added their favorites.

Our mobile experts  shared their knowledge in this large constantly evolving field of different kinds of Operating Systems : iOS (iPad, iPhone), Android, Symbian (Nokia), Windows or RIM (Blackberry).

Thomas De Vos of the Internet company The Reference says an app must be to the point, relevant and fun. Also, it should avoid superfluous functions.”Keep it simple; when you start it up you have to be able to do right away what it was made for. App makers tend to pile on functions with updates, but these should stick to the essence of the application.”

The list combines international favorites such as Flipboard, Foursquare, Dropbox and Plants vs Zombies with local gold, like TV Overal, Radio.be, Resto.be, KBC banking, Taxis Verts and Electrabel.

Wether you are ‘the connected senior executive’, ‘the organized teacher’ or ‘the active retired person’, wether you’re living a business Lifestyle, interested in entertainment or food, the two specials guide you to the must have apps.

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Oct 24 2011

Emakina invites you to step inside the Geek Ranch and discover a new universe, with new rules.

The first edition zooms in on mobile applications. Mobile is here to stay and is taking over communications. This invasion is created by the consumers, not the corporate world. So they have to adapt and go with the mobile flow…

Check out what Emakina is  cooking up in the Geek Ranch and how Colruyt, Stepstone, KBC Assistance, ING and Belgacom joined the mobile train.

From filling a mobile digital shopping cart to finding a job, from getting your car fixed to playing a game or watching streaming TV… Companies and organisations have to establish themselves in the mobile world, step by step entering into the new reality. Emakina is helping them to not only step aboard the train, but it creates fresh tracks, leading them to exciting new frontiers. Welcome to the Geek Ranch!

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Aug 29 2011

- By Brice Le Blevennec -

Online television, it’s the next great battle. Already today, it’s making the minds of many race.

Announced some fifteen years ago already, the infamous convergence between Internet and TV is becoming a reality today. By the end of the year, the major TV manufacturers (Sony, LG, Samsung …) prepare to flood the market with machines permanently connected to the web. For their part, telecom operators also prepare the merger between the two media.

Social tv

As you read this, Mobistar launched its platform close to the Apple AppStore, which adds features such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to the electronic program guide. And major players in the video game market like Microsoft and Sony have never hidden their dream to transform their respective consoles as privileged centers of all forms of digital entertainment.

Always online, television of tomorrow will also be mobile. Smart phones, tablets, laptops: the images begin to appear on all screens, a trend that will profoundly transform the way we consume television. Telenet launched Yelo, an application that allows you to watch (via wifi) a selection of channels on your iPad. Mobistar makes the same move, with 3G customers gaining access to a variety of broadcasters through an iPad/ iPhone application. And  Belgacom launched its mobile platform as well mobile in June. So  in short, welcome to television “AnyWhere, AnyTime, AnyDevice”, freed from the living room and dictated by the ceremonies linked to the schedule of TV programs.

A concept that we experimented with at Emakina in 2006  with VW EscapeTV, the first TV show that could be viewed via download on any mobile device.

American startups are already a step further and want to use mobile to combine the power of television with that of social networks. They are called IntoNow, Yap.tv, Miso, Philo, GetGlue … Some have already been bought up by large US “networks” or receive the  support of Internet giants (eg Miso is financed by Google Ventures).

Closer to home, the WizzChat application for the iPhone focuses on European channels and allows you to specify the TV program you are watching, share that information on Facebook and chat live with other users.

The beginnings of this trend arrived in 2008, during the U.S. elections. For the first time, televised debates did not stop at the end of the TV show; they continued on social networks. These social media became the natural ‘fora’ for comments and discussions between the viewers.

Mobile further accelerates this change: a study by Nielsen and Yahoo made ​​last year, indicates that 86% of mobile Internet users use their mobile device to talk live about a TV broadcast while they’re looking on their on their small frame.

Connected, mobile and social: these are the three attributes of the television of the future.
For advertisers, the consequence of these many changes is that the consumer’s attention is more fragmented than ever. Besides airing a 30-second TV spot, it will now necessary to be present at the same time on the major social platforms, if you want to activate your  brand by covering its entire target group.

For broadcasters, this “Television 2.0″ will also be a new, very different playing field. Regardless of the “format”, TV will have to be considered as an ongoing conversation with the audience, where both of these media mutually benefit from these interactions. Even if it was an abysmal idiocy, “Carré Viiip”, the already deceased reality TV show on TF1, was a fine illustration of this coagulation between two media: when the show ended, social networks took over and were used to generate content that was part of the next part of the competition.

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Aug 16 2011

Is your company ready to pluck the benefits from Apple’s new iOS 5?

In a surprise move on August 8, Apple provided the fifth beta test version of its upcoming iOS 5 operating system for developers. And the Cupertino club hints at the imminent arrival of the official finished iOS 5 for end-users of iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch devices.

This launch is not a minor one, with up to 200 new features. Amongst the new possibilities, there are a Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand and Twitter Integration.

So there is no time to loose. And Emakina is gearing up for the new Apple season. Its teams assist a range of clients to be ready for IOS 5 and to pluck the new fruit when it’s ripe.

How proactive is your IT when it comes to the new media apps? And is your company ready to roll with IOS 5?

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