May 17 2013

Their rebellion is their success! That’s why we invited a whole bunch of them to the Vlerick Alumni Marketing Colloquium.

This prestigious annual event took place yesterday in Ghent for the 25th time, bringing together some of the most revolutionary speakers. These creative thinkers challenge the status quo to disrupt our profession in their industry.

We selected some of our clients and partners who we thought would benefit the most from the event and granted them free entry. To maximise their enjoyment, we even organised a close workshop with Ryan Mathews, founder and CEO of Black Monk Consulting. Over lunch, the marketing guru spoke about the industry’s particular values and answered specific questions and concerns, raised by our invitees.

Tweet

May 8 2013

Since the dawn of time, human beings have attempted to accumulate assets in their quest for happiness. Yet, this fundamental principle of an ownership-based economy is currently being challenged and redefined, as one of the numerous side-effects of the digital revolution. For the first time in history, we marketers are expected to attract consumers who have everything and nothing at all. Confused? This article is for you.

Does matter still matter?

Throughout the entire human (pre)history, transactions were based on a simple principle: we pay for gaining ownership over certain merchandise. Whether the payment was done with goats, gold coins, government-issued bills, or modern credit cards – this principle remained the same. In other words, the fundamental logic of commerce was based on a (now obsolete) reasoning: that enjoying a product depends on owning it; that resources are limited and thus so are their end-products; and that because of the two previous principles – ownership is expensive.

This logic held until the digital revolution taught us otherwise. Suddenly, in order to enjoy a new song, book, film, and often services – there is no longer need to purchase any physical material (i.e., paper books, vinyl records, magnetic tape cassettes, metal CDs, etc.). The physical matter no longer matters; it is the digital encoding that we’re after – now available to all for very little money. For example, with a simple internet connection and a symbolic monthly fee, any individual could buy access to more music than she or he could ever listen to in an entire lifetime. This new understanding is the exact opposite of the previous one: ownership is no longer necessary for consumption; resources are infinite; and because of the two former principles, access to services is now accessible to all!

But there’s more! It’s not only that we’ve all won the “digital lottery” and can afford any source of digital services we want. The fact that we now experience, rather than own, means there is no need to go all the way to the ‘right’ store (to find your indie artist), to stock them (in your over-crowded attic), protect them (from bad weather, thieves, and your own senility), or (re)package them every time you move. Welcome to the world of zero-maintenance! And we haven’t even mentioned the creative industry which can now directly access its audience, free of any economic, political, cultural, or even logistic barriers. But the biggest winner of it all is the environment, where so many down-stream effects can now be eliminated.

“What’s the name of the game?”

The abolishment of ownership over a whole range of products turned entire fields of consumer’s goods irrelevant in this new economy, whereas new (digital) ones have emerged. It is no longer about manufacturing the best product and convincing consumers to buy it. It is rather about developing the most significant added-value experience and making consumers acknowledge it (and eventually gain access to it).

This transformation has re-defined the nature of brands’ relationship with their consumers, affecting everything we’ve known about branding, marketing, communication, and sales.  In our new reality, abundant with services, content, and entertainment – the new challenge for brands is gaining their customers’ attention.  At a time when consumers are constantly one click away from their favourite entertainment, it is simply not enough to build a funky website or an original TV commercial. In order to make a real impact, brands need campaigns which can stand out in the blizzard of information.

A effective campaign must offer consumers a new holistic experience through multiple parallel platforms and technologies. What do these new techniques consist of? Well, the answer is that there is no answer. The new formula is non-stop innovation. There are no longer ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions or generic answers. Marketers are now obliged to re-invent the wheel over and over again if they don’t want to go unnoticed. How? ‘Inter-disciplinary collisions’ are the best recipe for success in this ever-changing environment. They are also the topic of my next column. Stay tuned!

Tweet

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

Tweet

Apr 8 2013

Far too early, on a lazy Sunday morning, my excited 6-year old came into the master bedroom, carrying the family iPad. (This was the Sunday morning of the infamous internet failure.)
He shouted:  ‘Daddy, the iPad is broken’. Still half asleep I responded that the battery was probably dead… but no, it was still very much alive. The wireless connection icon was there. But many of the applications gave a “could not connect to the Internet” message.

So there I was, 5 minutes later, in my pajamas, staring in disbelief at the blinking light of the modem (that I had reset 3 times already). The status page on my smartphone (phew, 3G still worked!) finally confirmed my worst suspicion: ‘we are no longer online’. We are NOT connected to the Internet anymore. And now?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Mar 25 2013

Emakina’s Exective Director, Tim Wolfs, reports back from the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas.

“Go check it out to see if it’s any good first.” That’s what my Managing Director, Brice, told me when I suggested skipping Cannes this year, and only going to South by South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas. “Why not”, I said to myself, “with a bit of luck, I’ll manage to convince him when I come back…”.

But first thing first, what is this Texan festival anyway? SXSW was started in the mid-80s as an indie music festival, gathering some 700 participants. Over the years it has grown and developed, becoming a Mecca for anyone interested in the American music, film and interactive industries.

So every spring, the Texan capital is taken over by hordes of young (or young in spirit) enthusiasts of films, music and interactive content. This year the event reached an all-time record of over 30,000 participants (note to myself: book the hotel for next year well in advance…).

The SXSW Interactive Festival featured approximately 150 independent speakers in the course of 4 days. With so much happening, to choose is to lose…! Yet, a few trends clearly stuck out and are worth special attention. Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Mar 11 2013

The Chancellery of Belgium’s Prime Minister invited Emakina’s experts to speak to its communication and policy officers, at an event, called ‘Media Day’.  During this original initiative, Emakina’s Director of Media Relations, Luc Malcorps hosted two workshops on digital opportunities within a cross-media strategy.  He presented real examples of institutional campaigns, executed by Emakina.EU for the European Commission, such as the European Toy Safety campaign, fight against food waste, food control and programmes for better collaboration among SME’s across EU borders.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Mar 4 2013

Human beings have an innate need to be recognised and appreciated for their accomplishments. Certain online platforms have successfully identified this need and learned how to cater for it. Those, and only those, have a chance to change the future of human communication.

Back in the 1940s, the ‘Maslow hierarchy of needs’ revolutionised our understanding on what drives and motivates human behaviour. It stated that once we satisfy our basic physical needs, our mental aspirations are awaken, including personal ambitions, sense of achievement, and need for recognition by our surroundings. Yet, the way in which we strive for society’s respect and approval has drastically changed over the centuries.

It was much easier to gain one’s place in society at a time when families lived together for generations, working places rarely changed, and friends were for life – none of which is still the case. How do we seek the same kind of recognition at a time when family bonds are weaker, jobs and colleagues change regularly, and social lives transform as we travel, re-locate, and re-settle around the world? To make things worse, our societies have grown more competitive, thus less generous in offering recognition, and demanding that we (re)prove our skill and talent on a regular basis. Our human need for respect and recognition has thus remained, while attaining this goal has become all more difficult.

Whether you consider it good or bad news, online platforms are here to help! Whereas we have witnessed with awe the exponential growth of social media in the past years, few of us have succeeded in recognising the “magic element” that makes them so popular. We all know that communities exist as long as they serve the cumulative interests of their members (and the fall of the Berlin Wall was a good lesson for those who thought otherwise). What is less obvious is that this interest includes our need to show off and exhibit our talent, wisdom, thoughts, and insights.

In fact, social media fulfil the same need we have always had to be “recognised” by our family, friends, colleagues, and peers.  Obviously, the new type of recognition is artificial and does not require more than a simple LIKE, SHARE, FOLLOW, COMMENT or RETWEET. Interestingly enough, however, it is a cornerstone in the architecture of all social media which have witnessed significant success. Even a so-called altruistic community, such as Wikipedia, ensures its members are rewarded with “fame” for their contributions (simply click on the “View History” button of any article to see the exact contribution of each user).

This guideline was in the backs of our minds when Emakina built Yunomi, a multinational social network for women in the Benelux countries. The network has become a huge success, attracting millions of women and becoming one of the three most popular female communities across the Benelux countries. Whereas various elements contributed to the popularity of Yunomi, we saw a significant increase in traffic as soon as we introduced the ‘Kudos’, the Yunomi way to appreciate someone else’s contribution. This reaffirmed, yet again, what we at Emakina had identified with the rise of social media.

You may (rightfully) think that digital recognition is superficial and even fake. Yet, it is a key element when developing the existing and future online platforms. If you want the average person to engage, participate, share, and expose elements of her or his personal life – do not underestimate the human need for recognition. Translating artificial recognition into the next digital feature of social media is no less than art. It is the most creative artist who will lead the next developments of online communication.

Brice Le Blévennec

Tweet

Feb 1 2013

The BMMA is a network of over 500 professionals in the fields of management, communication, and marketing. For the past 40 years, this unique association has put together numerous conferences, discussions, presentations, and networking events which foster synergic opportunities and form an exceptional thought incubator.

On February 18th 2013, the BMMA will launch the second edition of its famous dinners, titled “10 Mondays to get back on the digital track“, a course for established marketers who would like to get up to speed with the different digital skills and see how to use them in their day to day practice.

The concept is simple; every week a new topic will be presented by a digital expert. Presenters include Hugues Rey, CEO of Havas Media; Joelle Liberman, head of Egerie Research; Bruno Van Boucq, managing director at Beweb, Patrick Willemarck Dialog Solutions and our very own, Amélie Sainthuile, digital strategist at Emakina.  Amélie’s presentation will enlighten us on how to use social media to build a relevant digital ecosystem for brands.

Being an important industry partner of ours, BMMA is offering a 15% discount to all Emakina’s clients and 25% discount to those of Robert & Marien. For information and registration, please visit www.bmma.be and then contact Thierry Antoine to claim your discount (tantoine@ulb.ac.be).

Tweet

Dec 21 2012

It’s the end of the year and a time for resolutions.

Emakina employees spontaneously decided to contribute some of their lunch vouchers to Restos du coeur (literally, restaurants of the heart), a charity organisation which supplies warm meals to those who can’t afford it.

This initiative will go throughout January 2013, during which employees will be able to leave lunch vouchers in a box at our front reception. But there’s more! For each 5 vouchers we contribute, Endenred, the company supplying the vouchers – will add one more!

We kicked off this campaign of human generosity with an open banquet, prepared by our employees for our employees. Anyone wanting to taste the home made dishes was kindly requested to leave one lunch vouchers behind for this worthy cause. What a great way to seal off the year of 2012!

Tweet

Dec 18 2012

You are not delusional, nor are you in the future!

But if you held in your hands today’s edition of Belgian journal Le Soir, you might have asked yourself these questions. The paper is dated 18.12.2137…

Brice Le Blévennec, Emakina’s Chief Visionary Officer, took part in the conceptualisation and contributed some of the articles of this special futuristic edition, now in the newsstand near you.

Tweet

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Nov 30 2012

Some 200 000 years ago the Homo Sapiens arrived on Earth, a species capable of language, learning and of tool making. Thousands of years later, a new species, Digital Natives, emerged with the mouse pointing at connected terminals. In 1997, the early adopters braved the Internet navigating at a pace of 28kbps, used 32 Mb memory cards and weren’t afraid to declare the minitel, their national pride, was living its last hours.

Tweet

Nov 7 2012

It’s been just over one month since Apple launched its new operating system for mobile devices – the much-anticipated “iOS 6”. We at Emakina took the new operating system for a (long) test drive to determine whether this is a truly (digital) regime change or just a facelift of our good old Apple devices.  The answer is mixed; the new operating system brings a nice breeze of new ideas and features, but it is probably not going to revolutionise our mobile experience in the foreseeable future. Since the new system is here to stay (at least for a while), we took the time to summarise some of the main changes that you (and your clients) should be aware of!

Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Oct 30 2012

The Emakina Nation, comprising of all the Group’s companies across 5 countries enjoyed its annual get-together at the Knokke Out, near Brussels. This year, Emakinians were “kings of the road”, with over 200 Vespas, winding through country lanes and piling down the motorway with police escort!

Emakinians rule the road, Vespa style.

  Read the rest of this entry »

Tweet

Oct 30 2012

RTL’s “Les Teknophiles” programme is dedicating its next show to Microsoft’s Windows 8, inviting Emakina’s Alexia Van Cranenbroeck  as a special guest. Alexia will share her thoughts and insights on what the launch of this new operating system really implies.

Windows 8 is a unique combination between a desktop and a tablet interface. Is that good or bad? Should we all upgrade to run Windows in Metro View; or should stick to the traditional desktop of Windows 7? Will the masses go out and buy touch screens to fully benefit from its potential? The programme will attempt to find answers to such questions and to many more!

Today’s programme (in the French language) will be recorded today, October 30, and will become available throughout the evening. Click here to watch it.

Tweet