May 13 2013

It’s been almost two and a half years since we started working with Bavaria, the largest independent brewery in the Netherlands, founded in 1719. Since then the Emakina Group has developed the brand’s 59 local websites, serving the public of no less than 49 countries! Soon we’ll simply count the countries for which we did not build a website (currently 144 in case you were wondering…).

The sites are based on a ‘glocal’ branding, having a very strong global identity while adapting to the local specifications of each market. Such adaptations go from editorial and copy-writing, through ensuring coherence with cultural codes, to respecting local regulations.

But it doesn’t end there! After we covered most of the Western world with localised sites, our latest versions targeted the Israeli and Kazakh market. Their respective sites needed to take into consideration a different alphabet and even direction of writing (in case you’re not a regular reader of the Old Testament, Hebrew goes from right to left).

An international project of such complexity involved the various agencies of the Emakina Group; including Design is Dead (which took care of the… design),  and Emakina.BE (strategy, development, and management).

The sites are ‘geo-targeted’, automatically presenting the local version from wherever you are. So in order to see the new versions, you simply need to buy a ticket to Tel Aviv and Astana. For the very lazy ones, we’ve added some screenshots…

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May 9 2013

…and never knew who to ask – is available on the Nuclear Forum website!

The debate about the use of nuclear technologies is vital in many democracies including the Belgian one. However, only few citizens are adequately familiar with the omnipresence of nuclear technologies in our daily lives. This created the need for an online platform, which can offer a clear overview of the many applications of the nuclear technologies.

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Apr 23 2013

This is exactly the question, raised by La Chapelle Saint Martin, a luxury hotel and restaurant offering its guests a premium experience, in accordance with the renowned French tradition.  Of course, no one could better answer this question than Emakina.FR, the digital-native agency, famous for its French flair.

Following its proposal, the agency was assigned with defining the digital strategy of this prestigious brand. As part of its solution, Emakina.FR developed a new website (entirely in HTML5), featuring a responsive design for multiple devices. So whether visiting the site from your desktop computer, mobile, or tablet – you will be inspired by the brand’s ‘Art of Living’ from the very first click!

But there’s more! In order to create a holistic digital ecosystem of elegance and style, the digital experience of La Chapelle Saint Martin now includes social networks, like Facebook, YouTube, and TripAdvisor. Other than appreciating the brand through its digital presence, visitors are offered some essential information and are even invited behind the scenes of Gilles Dudognon’s famous kitchen!

*Inspired by a post, written by Romain Dehaudt for the Emakina.FR blog.

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Apr 12 2013

This week, global research firm Forrester launched its two yearly WCM report, titled “WCM for Digital Experiences”, presenting an in depth look at the 10 WCM vendors, identified as the “most significant providers in this field”. As a leading European agency, we are very pleased to see that our partners are doing so well!

No surprises at the top of the ranking: Adobe clearly the leader. Their web content management solution is rich, sexy and very user friendly. It features integrated digital asset management capacities with enhanced personalisation features and has a very strong focus on mobile and multi-channel delivery. In combination with their analytics offering, Adobe really has a killer platform that is surely there to stay for the coming years.

After years in which SDL, with Tridion CMS, was in the top category of ‘leaders’, it now shifted to the ‘strong performers’.  No real surprise here either; the market has become much more competitive with several vendors from the middle segment moving up (e.g., Sitecore), as well as open source solutions gradually entering the enterprise market. With the last two releases, SDL made a big step forward with regards to general usability of their platform. However, the integration of the acquired solutions, Fredhopper (now known as SmartTarget) and Calamares (for media asset management), did slow them down.

Sitecore has proven to be a very strong performer in the middle segment, competing with even top vendors in some scenarios.  They have a very powerful product suite, offering web content management, marketing automation, analytics and e-commerce – all from the same platform!

Microsoft is still in the ‘contenders’ category, as it was in the previous 2011 version of the Forrester WCM report. Sharepoint is an enterprise content management platform, mainly focused on document centric collaboration. When using the platform for building public-facing websites, it is highly common to develop intranet and/or extranet systems (on the same platform) as well.  This allows companies to have one platform for all their environments i.e., intranet, extranet, and web.  Sharepoint 2013 is very powerful, yet, you can’t expect it to be competitive with the ‘pure players’ of the WCM field; they clearly lack the marketing tools.

The newbie in Forrester’s report is Acquia with Drupal CMS. Drupal made, and still is making, huge improvements in its platform’s usability. More importantly,  it is getting more and more traction in the enterprise, thanks to Acquia as a driving force within the huge community of ‘drupalistas’. Acquia was the fastest growing company in the US in 2012. It recruited several key players from other CMS vendors and is building a well-organised partner channel. If Acquia can fulfill its vision for web engagement management with Drupal, it will definitely be in the ‘strong performers’ category soon.

Anyway, the future is looking bright! If you want to renew your digital platform, need strategic advice, support on vendor selection or implementation. Do not hesitate to contact us!

Cheers,

Steven Volders.

Technical Vendor Manager Emakina Belgium

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Apr 4 2013

Springtime brings us Fred & Ginger’s new online platform, filled to the brim with colourful kids clothes and a newly added mum-friendly web shop.

Every day a growing number of customers find their way to online shops and the new Fred & Ginger website  is right on trend! The FNG group continues its cross-channel story when online purchases can be picked up or returned and refunded in one of the 30 shops – the improved shop locator will tell you exactly where to go.

Behind these novelties, lie the creative minds of Design is Dead, a proud member of the Emakina Group. Their design for the Fred & Ginger’s site focused on creativity, playfulness, wonder and humour. The Antwerp-based agency also produced a stop motion video that adds movement to the collection and to the site, giving mums a direct link from the featured clothes to the webshop. In short: not a cliché catalogue but a young and playful representation fitting the Fred & Ginger collection.

*Adapted from a post on the Design is Dead News section.

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Feb 27 2013

Deutsche Bank is challenging the Belgian retail banking market yet again!  In its latest campaign, the bank wished to emphasise its various advantages over other local banks in terms of both price and variety of services.

Our role was to support the bank in demonstrating these points to prospects and clients and to convey the message of just how easy it is to make the switch!

Emakina set out to build an interactive tool, allowing visitors to compare the fees they are currently paying their banks with those they would be paying at Deutsche Bank. The comparison, based on client segmentation, is illustrated in a detailed dashboard we built – now available on the bank’s corporate site.

But showing clients they could be paying less is not enough. Deutsche Bank recognised that the bureaucratic hassle of switching bank impedes certain clients from making the move and saving money. They therefore decided to facilitate the process down to a level that does not even require leaving the house! Together with Deutsche Bank, we decided to illustrate how simple it was by humorously comparing the process with some of the mundane activities, which, believe it or not, take longer than switching to Deutsche Bank!

So why continue paying high fees to your bank when switching to Deutsche Bank and paying less is easier than making pizza, picking a shirt, or finding your car keys?!

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Feb 25 2013

It’s been a while that Volkswagen publishes its own magazine, covering topics like lifestyle, innovation, and hot news from the automotive industry. Now it was time to give the magazine an online dimension. Emakina was called for this mission of developing, designing and maintaining a highly-visual portal of the VW Magazine. Our approach was to build on the existing print version but to add all the advantages of an online publication.

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Feb 20 2013

Forget everything (you thought) you knew about banking, blogging or blogging about banking!

We tend to associate banks with old-fashioned websites, offering (some) financial services. Conversely, blogs are supposedly for young trendy people who look for the latest innovations. We thus don’t expect many people to start their day by checking their bank’s blog… Yet one bank succeeded in challenging this assumption and created a lively online presence which is followed by thousands in the financial sector and beyond!

Bank Degroof is Belgian-based, offering investment services through its representations in 7 countries. The bank invited Emakina to build its new corporate blog in which its experts post their views and insights. Visitors are equally invited to post questions on their own topics of interest, which are then answered by the bank’s bloggers.

The blog is highly active with several posts a week, which go out to a pre-registered mailing list. Since its launch, the bank has been receiving excellent feedback from the blog’s loyal followers, who are growing by the thousands! We are now looking into integrating new features and expanding the bank’s social media presence.

Here’s your chance to follow on what’s happening in finance, and learn from those who know it best!

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Feb 7 2013

Electrabel has always valued its interaction with the public. Using digital means, the Belgian energy company has been able to encourage a healthy, democratic and transparent public debate on various issues. That is why on its website, built by Emakina, it has incorporated an open blog on which anyone interested can post a question, remark, concern, or comment. The company’s experts then post their answers on the very same blog, inviting visitors not only to share them on social media but to evaluate the quality of the answer they supplied.

Yet, Electrabel and Emakina did not stop here. In its attempt to go green, Electrabel is building new wind farms all across Belgium. Such projects are of high public concern; the company thus seeks to consult, engage, and hear what the concerned community of each wind farm may have to say. Read the rest of this entry »

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Dec 14 2012

The extravagant pan-European production of The Spiral might be officially over; but the way in which it redefined public engagement through  multiple media is still to be studied and explored! Our latest analysis indicates the critical role of the online platform in this international success story. Developed by PKA Wanabe, a member of the Emakina Group, the platform allowed various levels of online engagement, depending on each user’s preferences.

The lowest level of participation (other than that of passive TV viewers) was that of users searching the masterpieces on our online mapping game. Many users, however, went a step further, creating their own MySpiral profile so they could take part in the game’s indoor and outdoor creative challenges. We now know that within the 36 days of the game, the map was searched almost 1.3 million times by over 140,000 users across Europe! In addition, almost 20,000 images were uploaded, some of which were even incorporated into the TV series.

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Dec 5 2012

Apocalypse now?

Imagine countries like China, Russia, Syria and Iran re-defining the way the Internet works in YOUR country, and elsewhere around the world. Picture the same censorship and privacy violations which currently target their populations – becoming new international norms, affecting us all.

Now stop imagining. While you are reading this blog, government officials are meeting in Dubai for the World Conference of International Telecommunications, also known as WCIT-12. The official goal of this conference is to review the current International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) which were adopted in Melbourne Australia back in 1988, and to expand the organisation’s mandate. In reality, this is an attempt by certain governments to use the platform of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) to impose aggressive government control over the global infrastructure of the internet.

In preparation for the conference, China has already openly called for “standardising the behaviour of countries concerning information and cyberspace” in a way that allows governments a powerful grip on the digital arena. Certain Arab countries want to be able to inspect private communications. Iran proposed new rules to measure Internet traffic along national borders and bill the originator of the traffic, as with international phone calls. Several other authoritarian regimes reportedly would ban anonymity from the Web, which would make it easier to find and arrest dissidents. This would be done by handing over to intergovernmental control, many of the functions of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Society and other stakeholder groups that establish the engineering and technical standards that allow the Internet to work.

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Oct 4 2012

Come and meet the new Web Tools at the October BruGTUG meeting hosted by Emakina.

GTUG (Google Technology User Group) is an informal meetup, open to anyone interested in Google’s developer technologies.

We are happy to welcome an international speaker, Daniel Kurka, who works on GWT, to come talk about this technology. He also created m-gwt and gwt phonegap.

The agenda

18:30 – 19:00 – Welcome
19:00 – 19:30 – Google App Engine with python, the story of our recent experience with devfest.info
19:30 – 20:00 – Bootstrap (CSS) http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/
20:00 – 21:00 – m-gwt, gwt phone gap (Daniel Kurka)
21:00 – 22:00 – Discussion

Timely registration is required… So go to the registration form here and register today!

WHERE AND WHEN ?

Date: October 11th, 18:00

Location: Emakina Brussels, Rue Middlebourgstraat, 64A, 1170 – Bruxelles

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Sep 26 2012

Quelle Genève?

With this provocative question, Emakina.CH is at the heart of a new debate on the future of the city of Geneva and the region. Both have resisted to the international crisis. Now the time has come to open up to the world, fight populism and protectionism and invent a new international and positive story.

Michel Balestra,spokesperson for “Quelle Genève?” and Didier Zanone, partner of Emakina.CH present the campaign (Image: Steeve Iuncker Gomez, Tribune de Genève)

So the Business Federation of the Romandie Region, the Chamber of Commerce, Geneva Financial Center and Economie Suisse asked Emakina.CH to create a campaign to start a true interactive debate on the future of the city. Read the rest of this entry »

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Aug 21 2012

PKA Wanabe, a member of the Emakina Group, was selected to set up the web platform of The Spiral, a cross-border and cross-media interactive game. You might have not heard of it yet but this is about to become the new buzz across Europe!  The Spiral is a television programme, aired simultaneously in eight European countries: Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Produced by the international Brussels/ Los Angeles based Caviar Films company; the series tells the story of an art community, centred in Copenhagen, and its charismatic leader – who conspires to steal six of the most important paintings held in museums across Europe.

Yet, being a cross-media action series, The Spiral is not like any other TV programme you’ve seen before! Viewers in all participating countries are invited to compete over finding the stolen masterpieces, through a game involving both online tasks and off-line challenges. As for the group of rebellious artists, they also have an online presence, in the form of a Facebook group which follows the developments and sends out challenges and instructions. Apart Facebook, the fictitious story universe of this project includes numerous other websites.

Due to the fact that PKA Wanabe is based in Waterloo, the production was entitled to financial support from Wallimage, a public fund which supports Walloon audio-visual productions.

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Jul 17 2012

Life Capsule is a start-up company which offers individuals the possibility to save their precious and confidential information online. In the event of death, this information and personal memories can be made available to (certain) relatives through a secure website. The Emakina Group was involved in this initiative since its early conceptualisation, through assisting the founders and developing its strategic plan. Emakina is currently launching the company’s stylish website, built in OpenCMS (Java).

Even a sensitive issue as one’s plans for after death has now gained its place on the web; a development which was well-noticed by the two Life Capsule founders. Having dealt with a personal loss of a family member, the two founders searched for a practical way to commemorate their loved one over the Internet. Once they realised that such solution did not yet exist, they decided to create Life Capsule and to materialise their idea.

Life Capsule offers a web platform on which subscribers can preserve personal data which they would like to leave to their chosen ones once they pass away. Each subscriber thus designates those who will have access to their digital material. Such “life capsule” may contain various documents such as: photos, videos, PDF files, but also texts or even musical playlists. This approach also allows transferring confidential information such as access codes for social networks, last wishes, or address lists.

A central part of Life Capsule’s homepage is dedicated to subscribers’ commemoration sites which are made public after they pass away. The company offers various subscription packages, and donates a part of its revenues to the King Baudouin Foundation. Each year, the sums which were donated to this charity organisation will be published on the Life Capsule website.

Complete discretion and high security are among Life Capsule’s top priorities. In order to guarantee that the data are safely secured for many years, the company has sought the help of Emakina’s experts. Being the first digital agency in Belgium, Emakina has proved its broad expertise through its numerous large-scale clients from the financial sector (banks and insurance companies). Furthermore, thanks to the security audit, conducted by Zion Security, Life Capsule can guarantee that its site is immune to online piracy.

The site equally offers its visitors a full range of interesting information on dealing with death, including: writing a testament, last wishes before death, and even delicate issues like euthanasia. Last but not least, the company is establishing a fund, with sufficient funds to maintain its servers and software for the next 50 years, regardless of the financial future of Life Capsule.

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