waiting for my plummer... my toilet!! - I finally had a wax yesterday - she IS cheating on me :-( - Traffic on 90 westbound is slow - just switched off Apple Mail and moved to Outlook 2007 - I have a busy day today - took the garbage out, holding Fritz, and ready to take Beetle to school on my way to work - i am eating lasagne.........

As small sample of extremely interesting & insightfull "mini-blogs" on twitter - the latest web 2.0 frenzy that is pretty hard to avoid. I can hardly be accused of being a conservative dull boring technology adaptor - but I hate the frenzy for the frenzy. And I don't like to be made perfectly clear over and over again that it's totally uncool and unappropriate to say that a lot of the stuff out there is just not... euh cool. I am working for a technology leader so who am I to say bad things about cool web 2.0 stuff. I love the technology - but not the end result. Well, twitter is maybe addictive but i actually don't care what kind of wax you had, how much it costed and if your plummer did show up. It's all so meaningless.  Connecting people around little stories, sure it will all have a point. Mobile integration: I agree, this seems to work and scale pretty well - if you pay the bill. And the underlying technology will probably serve better causes in the future. But not for me for the moment. Done that, ticked the box, let's move on.

Hm. Agree - not exactly a well balanced SWOT analysis - an insignificant rant at best - but i am a little tired after a full & tense London week - and certainly tired of meaningless conversations. If you think spamming all your 'friends' is totally socially acceptable - if you think people need that deep insight into your fridge: go big, go twitter. And a tip if you want to waste even more of your invaluable time: go 'watch people twitter' at Twittervision. Ok if you like it: just go on anyway.  

PS: if somebody knows if that plumber finally showed up: don't tell me.

Believe it or not, but exactly 50% of my 40 people or so big team is female. I could have said 50% is male. At Microsoft diversity is not just a poster on the wall. March 30 is a nice day to refer to the equal pay day in Belgium and the related campaign from de mortierbrigade.   No political statement here - just a gentle support for equality. It's a no brainer.

News Corporation and NBC Universal announced they will launch the largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled with the most sought-after content from television and film, in partnership with AOL, MSN, MySpace And Yahoo!. High quality content from a dozen of networks and two major film studies, a compelling platform for advertizers, and addressing the needs to the eager online consumers.  I'll say that again: Professionally produced - respect for intellectual property and copyright - and an advertising model...  well you know my thoughts...

I raised the issue of Microsoft being challenged as 'not innovative enough' in an earlier post.

Well, let's take a look at the (a) future of search. Check out Lincoln. 

That is what I call making Web searches easier. Lincoln is a Microsoft Research prototype which allows you to search for information about an object by just taking a photo of it.  No cumbersome typing but using the new image-based Web-search software, a person can take a picture of an object, a magazine or DVD and you'll get all the details in return or directed to the website. Your photo is matched against a set of images tagged with relevant web pages and comments supplied by a community of users. Nice to know: anyone can contribute images, links, and comments to the database.

Full Details and cool press coverage here.

A mashup of Apple's iconic '1984' TV ad that replaces the 'Big Brother' character with Hilary Clinton, is causing some political turbulence in the States. The clip uploaded on YouTube got millions of views. It ends when the female athlete smashes the screen displaying Mrs Clinton/Big Brother, revealing an Obama campaign logo.  

Presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign team insists it's not behind the clip. "It's somebody else's creation." Deuhh... of course it is. The point is the same we are telling marketeers for years now: the consumer controls your brand - the consumer supports or destroys. This is pure web 2.0 & social media in action.  Politicials embrace the web as never before and take the number of their MySpace friends as a popularity measurement.  The consumer navigates through real, faux, "real faux", and in "in-between' political messages running on YouTube. I previously referred to great read around the power of crowd clouts. The powerfull energy support groups can create, the emotional ads or anti-ads they can produce at high quality and low cost, and all that in combination with free social media engines that do the rest. It's obviously a game-changer... and not only for commercial brands.  

Johnson & Johnson is shifting larger parts of its marketing budget from traditional media to digital media. For the second year in a row, it has announced that it will sit out the TV upfront...

According to Advertising Age the consumer-products giant's measured-media spending plunged more than $250 million in the U.S. last year to $1 billion, as measured by TNS Media Intelligence. That 22% reduction is remarkably close to the 20% of its marketing budget that experts had said J&J was looking to shift to nontraditional media last year.

 

"J&J has shifted some marketing funds using a tactic once employed by P&G and Unilever -- a corporate tax on its businesses and brands to fund a centrally controlled innovation fund that brands can tap by using nontraditional media, said Rex Briggs, CEO of the consulting firm Marketing Evolution and co-author of the book "What Sticks," who has been an adviser to J&J.
"Johnson & Johnson has been one of the phenomenal companies at marketing R&D, and getting people to try new things, and go beyond the comfort zone of 30-second TV spots," Mr. Briggs said. "And that is translating into [budget] shifts. To me, it seems like a model for best practice."

The entertainment industry has always been one of the sectors who understood digital.  But today was certainly a good day: we announced a deal with Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on a european campaign for the promotion of the DVD release of fantasy movie Eragon.  Ads for the movie - which stars Jeremy Irons and John Malkovic - will run exclusively across Xbox.com and Xbox Live. The campaign launches march 22nd. It's nice to see that relationships & results and former experiences with digital have paid off. Some press coverage on NMA and Mad. Good return on experimentation...

I met Joakim Borgstrom when he was still at Doubleyou in Spain while we attended the Creative Social, and last year he facilitated the MSN workshop in Cannes. No ego but very outspoken, they exist. Since then Joakim made the move to become interactive creative director at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, and we are very pleased to get him as chairman of our Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions Creative Awards 2007 - but that is a different story.

So, I read this article by Joakim on M&M Europe that points out that online advertising has been around for almost a quarter of a century – its hard to believe that it has been so long, and harder to understand, why it is still such ‘an unknown entity’ to so many.

Joakim is at Wieden+Kennedy to do the job that so many traditional advertising agencies today need someone on board to do – educate traditional creatives about online and make sure that digital isn’t just an add on, which is frustratingly so often the case, to a straightforward TV or print campaign. Traditional advertisers and brands who are not yet recognising the opportunities that digital offers need to wake up and smell the coffee, or they are at risk of being left behind as online continues to out grow other forms of advertising.  "we find ourselves in a ‘catch 22’ situation, with a wealth of possibilities available online, but without sufficient client understanding about what digital can do for their brand. So how do we enable them to realise the potential of digital and continue to drive momentum in the industry?"  Food for thought.

I LOVED this read. "The power of groups, the clout that crowds can exercise to get what they want, is nothing new. What is new, however, is the dizzying ease with which likeminded, action-ready citizens and consumers can now go online and connect, group and ultimately exert influence on a global scale. Call it group power, call it CROWD CLOUT: “Online grouping of citizens/consumers for a specific cause, be it political, civic or commercial, aimed at everything from bringing down politicians to forcing suppliers to fork over discounts.” "

I just finished a nice dinner with my colleagues sales directors - and as usual we had a bit of a rant on SUV's and the political correctness of driving SUV's in Europe and UK. So I directed them to a sort of "politically and civically minded Crowd Clout" as the Hummer-hating FUH2.com

My dad used to work for Philips. His whole life and world was devoted to Philips. He made it from mailroom boy to Finance VP - yep, the American dream in Belgium over a period of more than 30 years. But at the same time that also made him one of those tenacious fanatics for Philips. A real fan for the brand. You could follow that Philips trail throughout the day from tooth brush and shaving machine, fruit juice maker &  toaster in the morning, car radio, TV ... well I could go on, the most amazing pile of Philips products have been used over all these years. (the CDI still works by the way...)

As a former superloyal employee he doesn't get all this fast moving job hopping stuff. He also doesn't understand the notion of consumer choice, 'best quality for your budget' etc 'If you're happy with one brand why go shopping for another. Stick with it'.  And the veto on using any possible electro product that was not Philips was law&order. "Philips pays our bills at the end of the day, no?". I was 33 and still afraid he would start arguing about the new Braun coffee maker I bought. And over New Year I merely could avoid a long discussion on why we bought a Pioneer flat screen.

Still - I guess I am raised in that spirit of good old fashioned company loyalty. I am proud to work for Microsoft and yes, obviously that is driven by some sense of economical pragmatism & realism - but, most because of what my heart tells me.  I like this company, it's people & products. It's leaders. The energy I feel for what I do and the vibes you feel when smart people work together to make a plan, break budgets, invent the future. And yes I do use our own products. Sure I try and use other stuff, and in fact I probably talk more about Youtube and related stuff than vice versa...  But even if we don't get everything completely right the first time I remain a believer. On the quality of MSN Search: well, I loved this video.

Yesterday somebody wrote me a positive mail but mentioned "maybe you talk to much PR". Well good. Now you know why, and you hopefully understand it's genuine and I am truly proud for stuff like the I'm program, where every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with the cause you selected.

And, it also pays my bills.

When meeting customers and press I often get questions around innovation in our consumer services offer or around our life services strategy. I also understand that often it's not that easy to find your way to the existing Windows Live services. Last week I spent a full week in the Redmond offices - heart of innovation, and as always I came back impressed. So let me copy a - partial -  list of amazing services out there TODAY, or available in Beta or preview. So next time think beyond search, mail and messenger services....

http://get.live.com : Future entry point into the Windows Live Platform offerings

http://ideas.live.com: Shows the available Windows Live offering

http://www.live.be: Personal home page for any Windows Live ID owner

http://search.live.com: Windows Live Search service to search the Internet for News, Pictures, Web Sites, RSS feeds, Academic Studies, etc

http://spaces.live.com: Blog/Picture shared page for any Windows Live ID owner

http://mail.live.com: Web mail service available to any Windows Live ID owner. Enables contact management and calendar management and sharing as well.

http://messenger.live.com: Instant messaging service to enable text, voice and video conversations between any two or more Windows Live ID owners (or Bots). Entry point to Windows Live Call that enables call from a PC to any landline or mobile phone anywhere in the world.

http://safety.live.com: Free service to occasionally check the state of your machine with regard to viruses, performance, cleaning and optimization. The full permanent version of this service is http://onecare.live.com.

http://onecare.live.com: Security service for maintaining the quality of 3 computer systems for any Windows Live ID owner

http://fss.live.com: Security service to allow any parent holder of a Windows Live ID to control how his/her children, each of them holder of a Windows Live ID, makes use of the Internet.

http://gallery.live.com: Directory of gadget, toolbar buttons, bots, etc all of them being individual elements usable inside of the Windows Live Platform.

http://domains.live.com: Allows the creation and maintenance of e-mail addresses inside of a personal domain name, each e-mail address becoming a valid Windows Live ID

http://local.live.com: Cartography service with route planner, push-pins, etc available to anyone

http://favorites.live.com: Enables the management of Web favorites that is always available wherever you are.

http://account.live.com: Allows the management of the account of any Windows Live ID owner.

http://toolbar.live.com: Internet-explorer-based toolbar for easy access to search, spaces, mail and other Internet resources through the use of toolbar buttons.

http://alerts.live.com: to hold and maintain the list of reminders you want the Windows Live Platform to send you.

http://soapbox.msn.com: to publish and broadcast any personal video.

http://dev.live.com: Entry point for all developers who are willing to create applications using the Windows Live Platform services.

http://microsoft.gadgets.com: Entry point for all Windows Vista Gadget related resources

Over the last years we took a lot of effort to engage with the creative community to get online higher on the agenda. Obviously the main advocates for online have been the interactive agencies, and we made great progress in engaging with them in events like the social creative forum and in sponsoring the cannes festival.  But one of the initiatives I am most proud of is the Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions Creative Awards - which went from strength to strength over the past two years. This year is no different: this week we closed the competition and counted more than 320 entries from all across Europe that showcase some of the best ever creative that we have seen run across the Microsoft network. Our distinguished award winning panel of judges will all congregate in the up and coming city of Budapest at the end of April to judge the campaigns entered – I’m very much looking forward to the discussion and passionate debate that will take place about which of the entries really are the crème de la crème of online this year.

Interesting read and video: testimony of Bill Gates at the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on "Strengthening American Competitiveness for the 21st Century" - on education & knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today's knowledge economy:  The United States has much to be proud of in the technology realm, but "when I reflect on the state of American competitiveness, my feeling of pride is mixed with deep anxiety."  Without dramatic policy changes, the United States will lose its competitive edge in the high-tech realm.

Representatives from nine of the world’s most reputable non-profit cause organizations announced an initiative with Microsoft to connect to Windows Life Messenger customers. When joining the program, customers will be asked to select the cause organization they are most passionate about to benefit from donations generated from their conversations on Windows Live Messenger. Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with the cause you selected. Consumers talk, Microsoft handles the donation. While there is no set cap on the amount each cause can receive, Microsoft will make a minimum $100,000 guaranteed donation to each of the nine organizations during the first year of the program.

The i’m initiative also aims to help the organizations involved to broaden their reach in a sustainable and new way, allowing the millions of people already using Windows Live Messenger today to be a part of the solution. According to a 2006 Cone Cause Millennial Study, 61 percent of young Americans between the ages of 13 and 25 are currently worried about the state of the world today and feel personally responsible to make a difference.

I just arrived for a week of meetings in Seattle and the first thing I read is that by 2010, Microsoft will shift the majority of its $1 billion in U.S. ad spend to digital formats - that is according to senior VP Mich Mathews of the central marketing group. 

WOW... That speaks to understanding the new rules of consumers' engagement/participation with brands, of integrating digital as early as in the creative process, of understanding the real accountability data that digital can provide etc etc etc

More reading here and Mich on video. "I'd encourage everyone to take risks to innovate (...) - nobody has figured it out yet so have some fun and make sure we have some learnings along the way"

Anyone else following ?

Some research confirms what you knew already. Some research blows you away with surprising results and insights. Last week I saw research that did both. The survey was set up in Denmark by OMD, McDonalds and Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions. In case you read Danish it's been covered here. If not: take my word for it.  

For nine months they have followed the consumers’ path together from advertising to the restaurant during a national campaign from McDonald’s for the so-called “Coinoffers”. The first results, which were published in October, showed for the first time that it can actually be worthwhile advertising online for products that must be purchased offline. In the first round of analysis lasting a couple of months, McDonald’s sold DKK 1.25 for each DKK 1 invested in advertising on MSN.dk, Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. In the second round of two-and-a-half months, the results of which are now ready, McDonald’s managed to sell for an entire DKK 2.16 per invested DKK, which was used in the same online media.

The marked result improvement of a total of 72% from round 1 to round 2 is due to the advertising input being adjusted very precisely following the target group’s behavior and purchasing patterns so the advertising funds were used even more efficiently.

The media agency OMD believes that the results can be transferred to other corresponding campaigns from companies that sell products, which must be purchased in a physical store. ”We have actual evidence that online advertising should always be included in the media mix on equal terms with other channels. It has now been documented that online advertising can be the most cost-efficient way to boost an ongoing campaign for offline products. However, online cannot stand alone, but with this campaign McDonald’s has received the best “value for money” by placing the growth in the media budget on the Internet instead of on the other media groups in the plan. There is no doubt that companies all over the world will look at the results with interest, which places the Internet as an advertising media in a new perspective” says contact director, Ulrik Grevenkop-Castenskjold, OMD Denmark.

For McDonald’s Denmark, the survey has meant that McDonald’s will now work with online advertising to a larger extent. ”To begin with we had not considered online advertising as a bearing media. This picture has now changed. With the help of complex econometric models from OMD Metrics we can see that online marketing can move the turnover and therefore it is a foregone conclusion that in the future we will include online media in the planning of the campaigns, " says marketing director, Blair Adamson, McDonald's Denmark.

It has been an interesting last week. When medicals tell you it takes 5 days to 'cure' the current flu virus (aka A/H3N2), you better believe them. At least I have the doubtfull honor to be part of the statistics.

Peak of of Influenza activity was reached at week 7 - and has passed the epidemical threshold of acute respiratory infections. In case you are incredibly interested: we finally have our pandemic flu preparedness plan in Be.