Driven by curiosity I just recently joined Twitter. Probably right before the butcher 'round the corner will ;-) Never mind. As with blogging, getting to grips with Twitter is an educational experience. It's an experiment and a joy at the same time. Today I got aware of an interesting dilemma. When I first started sending my tweets into oblivion these messages were pure ego fart as I heard Tweets being called. I was working on a story about myself in chunks of 140 characters max. About me. As a private person. I took a while before I started to realize that these sheer private tweets got mixed in my 'timeline' with other people's tweets that were entirely business oriented and less about them. Mmmmmm. Important question. What is my goal with Twitter? Is it a social experiment in personal life and do I share rather intimate trivia about my life? Or should I treat Twitter as a stage for my persona 'the self employed professional'? Will friends get bored with business talk? Or do I embarrass myself or business contacts with 'too much information'? Of course: I could go for split personality and create two separate Twitter accounts. But that just feels as an easy escape. It appears to me as a challenge to just present @Essenstamtam as one persona that is both a professional and a father/husband/friend/bon vivant/book collector etc. Let's just see where that leads. Maybe there's a better way to approach this: what would other people find interesting enough to hit the 'follow' button with my profile? That requires a little think work. What do you think? Should I twitter private? Shoud I twitter professional? Or should I tweet as myself and mix business with pleasure?
July 23, 2009
October 04, 2006
Hurray: we'll finally get to know how expensive crap advertising is!
STER, the advertising sales organisation of the Dutch public radio and TV has just introduced a new service: Admeasure. Admeasure is pretesting. In some reinvented form probably, but that doesn't get very clear from what I read about it. It doesn't appear quite new to me. Yet, I was struck by one feature provided by Admeasure: it can forecast the amount of grp's needed to realize your advertising objectives! In their words: :"Given the quality of your <radio/TV> commercial, Admeasure provides a connection between the deployed amount of GRP's and the advertising effect. From now on you know what media investment will deliver the required result." 
Very interesting. Let's just assume (dangerous ;-) that the better ideas and their execution are recognized by this pretesting system. Then it means that we can get some more solid proof behind the opinion that whilst repetition is the power in advertising, it is way cheaper to stand-out with something that is different and original. I just wonder how often this new research tool will be used to separate great ideas and beautifully crafted advertising from all the crap that is forced to work with mega budgets...
August 14, 2006
63
Sixtythree? For a moment I couldn't resist thinking of the Answer to The Ultimate Question Of Life, the Universe and Everything in Douglas Adams' "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". Sixtythree what? Sixtythree percent of all advertising 'sticks'. In other words: 37% of all advertising is wasted... Thats what I read in an Adage article on the new book "What Sticks". Why does that make me think of Douglas Adams again... Ah, it's probably the Don't Panic! response.
Effective : waste = 63 : 37. That sounds so much more comfortable than the 50% sheer waste of advertising once claimed by Dutch advertising & branding professor Giep Franzen in the ninetees.
Then questions start popping up: have we improved since the ninetees or are we just measuring effect in a different way? when is advertising effective anyway? which 37% is waste? how much money are advertisers wasting on other investments? is 63% efficacy bad, good or great? why is the sub title for the book What Sticks "why most advertising fails..." whilst reporting a percentage of 37? Probably some of the answers are in the book. For some intuitive reason I'm not yet dying to read it.
Bed time reading
Library
Dan Roam: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Drawing pictures is an amazing strong help if you try so crack something. Even if drawing and doodling is a familiar thing to you, this book can help you to refine the art of visual thinking. Where was this book when I needed it? (****)Alexander Osterwalder: Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
By far the most insightful, practical, fun to read and relevant business book I've read over a long period of time. The tools in this book have gone straight into my daily toolkit. There's a Dutch edition too. (*****)Bertrand Cesvet: Conversational Capital: How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About
(**)Chip Heath: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
I found this one of the better books on the hot topics of storytelling and engagement. Where many authors present a couple of far fetched characteristics, the Heath brothers come up with insightful observations on what makes a remarkable story. (****)Robert B. Cialdini: Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition)
A quite practical guide to persuasion based on scientific insight. (***)- Alastair Crompton: Craft of Copywriting
This referencebook is as much about the craft of advertising as it is about copywriting. Although is was first published in 1979, it contains many truths still valid today. Reading a book like this helps shifting hype and Zeitgeist from intrinsic laws. My copy came from an anonymous technical college library and it was never opened. I'm glad that I did. (***) Bob Gill: LogoMania
I quite liked this booklet. In a witty, direct style it provides some insight into the art of design concepts. Interesting to anyone with a broad interest in communication arts. Gill demonstrates some fresh thinking. (***)Malcolm Gladwell: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
After the Tipping Point, this book is quite disappointing. The idea of Blink moments is interesting. But Gladwell doesn't make as strong a point as with the Tipping Point. His examples demonstrate both the accuracy as well as great failure of people to judge correctly in a blink. (**)Seth Godin: Purple Cow
Triggered by All Marketers are liars, I expected a lot from this book. I found it a bit disappointing. After classics such as Eating the Big Fish, Blue Ocean Strategy and Disruption, Godin fails to add something significant. All American brand examples don't make it better for a European reader. (*)Martin Lindstrom: Brand Sense
Maybe I expected too much of this book. I think there's more to sensory branding. Yet it contains a couple of comprehensive tools and pointers. (**)Cooper: How to Plan Advertising
Although this book was written in the late eighties, most of its contents still hold true. A valuable source book for those who take strategic planning seriously. (****)Robert Greene: Concise Art of Seduction
Recent brain research leads us back to the belief that seduction is stronger than argument. This booklet offers an inspiring overview of types of seducers and ways of secuction to get your thinking started. (**)Crispin Porter + Bogusky: Hoopla
An entertaining book about an entertaining agency that turned branded entertainment into an art. I much admire these guys for their contribution to the (r)evolution in advertising. (***)Sandy Thompson: One in a Billion: Xploring the New World of China
The true story of the unexpected pride and drive of the Chinese people, disclosed through a form of participating research called Xploring. (***)- Pim van den Berg: Ondernemen is een Straatfeest
Inspiring book by a Dutch guy who invented 'street-o-logy'. Or: the fine art of observation and surprise. (***) Jon Steel: Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business
Must read for all those who sell ideas. And for agency planners - Perfect Pitch is a fantastic book on strategic planning in disguise. Best consumed in combination with 'Truth, Lies & Advertising'. (*****)Tom Himpe: Advertising is dead, long live advertising
A very helpful inventory and analysis of an art that in full organic development: alternative advertising. Must read for any planner and creative. Full of inspiring examples. The only standard work on the subject I've spotted so far. (****)Russell Ash: Top ten of everything
The ultimate book of lists. I got the 2007 version. Full of conversation pieces. (****)Paco Underhill: Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping
As with many true things, it all seems so simple and intuitive. Nevertheless this book is an eye opener. I will never see shops and shoppers the same anymore. (***)Malcolm Gladwell: The tipping point
Cram full of interesting and fascinating stories. Gladwell doesn't provide instant solutions but very useful food for thought when you try to stimulate or stop things of epidemic proportion. (*****)
Soulfood
Scratch My Back: Special Edition
Peter Gabriel: Scratch My Back: Special Edition- Supper Club: La Salle Neige
- Yann Tiersen: Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
