Some minor issues

Best whishes from AKQA.

AKQA is the agency that impressed me the most with there Fiat eco:Drive project at Adobe’s MAX Europe at the beginning of this month. Really nice work guys, keep up the good work.

Athens

See the complete series about the Athens riots.

This picture is taken from the Big Picture series of Boston.com. They cover news stories in pictures and do a very good job so far.

In the search for relevance, I’m really pleased with Facebook’s social ads principle. It wisely uses the context and makes your friends ambassadors of the product that’s advertised for.

Click image for larger view .

Not sure what to buy your loved ones for Christmas? Why not buy them a book!?  I think age of conversation 2 would make a perfect gift!

As you might remember, this is a book writing project in which 239 bloggers participated, including me. All profit goes to charity. So far 550 books have sold, generating a profit $3,500 .. this should be improved A LOT.

It’s a really good book, I totally recommend it! So if you know someone in communication, advertising, marketing .. this would be the perfect gift. I’m sure it will be an eye opener for lot’s of professionals and a more than a nice read for people interested in the subject.

You can order your copy at lulu.com – print on demand baby!

Check out the official site at www.ageofconversation.com

What gift to buy your girlfriend.
A vacuum cleaner would be nice .. or wouldn’t it? It seems more man have troubles finding the perfect gift, check out this video!

In my mind an excellent campaign of JC Penny, a post order jewelry store. It’s a funny store, made on a good way. This way the message kind of sticks. You’ll get the idea (not that there was anything to get in my case :p)

Also check the doghouse site. You can put people into the doghouse yourself. I can’t think of a better way to point out what exactly you’d like for Christmas!

I think it’s a brilliant campaign. Hits us in the right spots, timing is great, funny .. I’m pretty sure this leads to extra sales, let alone awareness.

Just remember folks: diamonds are a girl’s best friend!

A quite nice presentation from Bart. Made for barcamp, I must go there some times

When Paddy asked to give him some advice (anything goes) I had to think for a moment.

I could advice him how to gain 45 pounds in 1 year time, how to piss of your girlfriend, how to get speeding tickets, how to get in jail, how to cook quite nicely .. because I master all of these skills, but It’s quite boring and evil right?
I couldn’t advice him how to improve drinking because he’s Irish .. too bad, that would be interesting.
I can advice him which Belgian beers rule (exclude all non Belgian beers, they can’t compete) but I already did that. In fact that’s the only subject we ever talk about.

Then there’s of course the open doors. Always be yourself. Live every day as if it’s your last. Treat people the way you want to be treated. 
It’s all true. Only, hardly anybody lives by it. In fact that’s quite sad, it would make a difference for sure.

Wear sunscreen is a good place to start as well.

But here’s some real advice. Hope somebody finds it valuable.

1. It seems it was Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers who first said “A funny thing about regret is that it’s better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t.”. Of course some of us know it from the Orbital song Satan as well, which is really a great song imho. I fancy this advice, I think it’s so true! Too bad I’m too much of a coward to live by it, but I try!!

2. This advice has kind of something to do with the previous advice, but it’s actually mine. “Go beyond your authority”. I know for some this sounds absurd, but I believe this is the way to make progress in live, business, .. Bottom line should be good intentions of course. What it actually means is that if you spot something, you know you can solve or improve, you should just do it. Nobody is ever going to blame you for solving problems or improving things, and if they do you know you have to run! I know this advice can be abused, so don’t. You know when you do!

3. Be pragmatic. I know there’s a good way for everything, but there is a straight line between A and B. Sometimes it pays to take the detour, but you need to know (or find out) when to go straight. I think a lot of time and energy is wasted by following procedures or methods that doesn’t makes sense. Try to avoid that!

4. Try not to compromise on things that matter. Life is a compromise, I know that, but sometimes you have to stand up and be satisfied with only the best.

5. Be pro active. I think it follows 2 and 3, but is slightly different. Being pro active means your doing things nobody told you to do. It means be critical and do something with the things you discovered being like that.

6. Be critical. See 5.

7. Read as much as you can. Explore. You should always try to learn new stuff. If you stop learning, move on.

8. Drink. But not always. Drink enough to make your live better, but not that much to make it worse.

9. Don’t be like me. I’m a guy with a million ideas but it’s rare if I get them to practice. You need to be effective. If I could improve myself a little I would be more effective. Also, I’m someone who won’t be satisfied for a long time. I’m a searcher, can’t settle with a situation. I envy the people who can but I know it’s my drive and I’m not sure if I would trade it for happiness.

10. Use twitter. It’s just great!

11. Don’t waste your time on ego management. It can only be held against you and basically would make you a dick and nobody loves you. In stead spend your time trying to do great stuff, help people, walk the extra mile, .. if you do this consistent you don’t need ego management. Other people’s opinion is the best PR.

So that’s it for me. Any bloggers who have any (any!) advice as well: have your shot. Would be great to submit it to Paddy as well. Not sure what he’s going to do with it but it will be great! (psst, don’t tell anyone, but he’s effective .. )

update: here’s all advice in one post at Paddy’s!

Look and laugh with this apple spoof in the Simpsons. I think it’s quite funny. It satirize the "I must have too" attitude many apple customers show

I especially enjoyed the spoof of the 1984 spot. This spot announced the Macintosh and was only broadcaster once (in daytime) during the 1984 superbowl. The spot was directed by Ridley Scott and was a clear revelation at the time. Enjoy it once more!

I bumped on this Ogilvy post recently. Don’t ask me how, the presentation embedded is almost 2 years old. Although in my mind a bit outdated, it maps out quite nicely the different kinds of blogging. The classification is based on 3 factors: number of posts per week, buzz index and difficulty.

Sadly enough I can’t decided what type of blogger I would be. I guess my goal is to be an "insight blogger" (following their classification) because what I really want to do with this blog is share insights and original ideas. Although I don’t agree for this kind of blogger you need to blog as frequent as 5 times a week (it won’t harm obviously) I know I’m far from there! But I’ll aim for it!