‘Cross The Breeze

Today I received a copy from “The Origin Of Brands” signed for me by Al & Laura Ries thanks to CK (Is it possible not to love her?). You might remember I ordered a copy of it on Amazon in February or so but never received it, but then again you see how the community steps in… isn’t that great?!

This is also another great reminder of the global marketing community that is shaping up big time if you ask me. Although this is not new for today, there have been a number of initiatives that seemed to have speed up that whole marketing conversation and it’s very exciting to be part of that. Think about The Viral Garden’s Top 25 Marketing blogs (a classic) which is now in a new format, Todd Andrlik’s Power 150 that includes +300 Marketing blogs actually, Marketing Profs Book Club, The Conversation Age ebook, … all very interesting projects driven by the people out of this community.

Another sign of the common interest in this community is the fact that people want to learn more about each other and also there we see a few initiatives that are worth looking at. Arun did a great job on profiling all 100 Age of Conversation authors, Todd started doing something similar on the Power 150 called the Power Profiles (with Darryl Ohrt as a first guest), we also have Blogger Stories from Toby Bloomberg and don’t forget the compelling ‘bloggers as teachers‘ post from Ryan Karpeles, you sure teached me Ryan!

If that all ain’t enough, think about the conversation we’re all having amongst eachother, whether that is in each other’s blog comments, via email, on Twitter, IM, … whatever. There’s this special notion amongst blogger of ‘meeting’ people, you know where you put the ‘meeting’ between brackets ;) I wonder if that’s a kind of meeting only bloggers understand, but I sure ‘met’ some interesting people this way the last few weeks and months (you know who you are) and I hope I get the chance to ‘meet’ more of you soon.

Maybe it is just me and nothing really has changed, but I get the feeling it has. I’m looking forward to more of this and wouldn’t it be fantastic if eventually we find a time and a place we could all meet up face to face and have a sort of Marketing Mashup? Sounds good to me ;)

I just want to give this pointer to anyone interested, this is some truly compelling viewing. Yesterday Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had an on stage conversation with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at All Things Digital. The full video of that has gone up (together with a highlight reel of you don’t have much time) and I think this is a unique conversation, and a must see for all.

Take a look at the video here!

The news is out! We all knew something big was about to happen with the Belgian agency I-Merge and today is the day: I-Merge becomes Boondoggle and opens a new office in Amsterdam at the same time as well.

Why the new name for i-merge?
Pieter Goiris , CEO Boondoggle: “The name i-merge was generally perceived as having too strong a link with the internet as a medium. The talent encompassed by our agency goes much further than mere ‘media expertise’. Our vision on communication revolves around the guiding principle of the consumer. Everything we do is based on recognition for the consumer’s impact on his/her surrounds. These days, it’s people that make the brand. That’s a vision that goes beyond digital media. It is a vision on communication ‘in itself’. The internet was the impetus for change in the way people and brands communicate, sparking a trend that has since continued beyond its own bounds. Consequently, our services have also evolved, which is why we have chosen a new name, independent of any particular medium.”

Congrats to the whole I-Merge team and especially to my blogging buddy Tom De Bruyne who will run the office in Amsterdam. I’ll try to get used to the new name now ;)

• CBS Makes Wise Investment - AdPulp
  CBS acquired social-networking Web site Last.fm for $280 million, delving further into the music business where it was once a major player.
  (tags: cbs adpulp lastfm acquisition socialnetwork music)
• http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
  (tags: application communication computer cool demo interface interactive hardware gadget future microsoft research screen visualization technology trends surface concept)
• http://gigaom.com/2007/05/30/ebay-to-announce-stumbleupon-buy-today/
  eBay, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based auction giant is likely to announce its acquisition of Stumble Upon after the close to markets today
  (tags: ebay stumbleupon acquisitions rumor)

It’s been a bit quiet on the Live Writer front but the team has been working hard on the new beta which has just been released a couple minutes ago. If you are a blogger and you haven’t tried Live Writer before, you definitely should give it a try, it’s pretty good. It’s a desktop blog writing application that works with all major blog services like WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, … and obviously Live Spaces.

Here’s what’s new in beta 2:

• Now available in 6 languages (including English, Spanish, French and German)
• Inline spell checking
• Ability to add categories
• Support for Blogger labels
• Paste special
• Table editing
• Page authoring for WordPress and Typepad
• …

And of course don’t forget about the possibility to add plugins that people can write, which was already there in beta 1.
I’m also quite excited to see in the announcement that Windows Live Spaces, Typepad and WordPress have taken on the new provider customization API which allows to expose additional service-specific features withing the Writer UI, quite nice really.

At the same time, the new Windows Live Mail (aka Windows Live Mail Desktop or the Desktop mail client) and the new Windows Live Messenger 8.5 beta have been released as well. So all together, a lot of beta galore at Windows Live - enjoy!

(disclaimer: I work for Microsoft on Windows Live)

Start spreading the news
I’m leaving today
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
- Frank Sinatra

As from yesterday, New York was added to the Virtual Earth 3D imagery. Taking a look now at the places I should visit when I do a quick stopover in NY in July. But from the looks of it, CK knows where to go :) And of course Luc as well now.

Check it out on Live Maps.

“Big ideas are so hard to recognize, so fragile, so easy to kill.
Don’t forget that, all of you who don’t have them.”
- John Elliott Jr.

[Via Brand DNA found on Ewan McIntosh's del.icio.us]

• Office Rocker! : MindJet MindManager 7 becomes Fluent with the ribbon: interview
  The upcoming version 7 of MindJet MindManager, the popular visualisation tool releases on 31st May. One of its key selling points is the use of the new Microsoft Office Fluent user interface.
  (tags: mindjet mindmanager ribbon office interface)

I won’t be the next ‘Joe La Pompe‘ but sometimes I’m struck by similarities in campaigns that appear almost at the same time. Here’s such an example with ads that showed up online this week. The first is an ad for the VW Touareg, the second for the Land Rover Defender. What do you think?

[Via AdsOfTheWorld & advertising for peanuts]

I just received an email from one of my colleagues pointing out to the http://stoppub.wallonie.be/ website. I don’t know about other countries but it’s quite common in Belgium that you can get a sticker to put your mailbox (not your email inbox I’m afraid) to let the mailman know you just want direct mail and nothing else. The reason why I wanted to write about this one, is the image of the campaign. It’s yet another quite powerful message to advertisers that consumers want no more. Maybe I should start a bringtheloveback series, like Hugh has the Blue Monster series, whenever posts are related to this broken consumer/advertiser relationship.

(sorry for the distorted image)

Talking about the Blue Monster series, here’s a short video with Steve Clayton and Hugh MacLeod talking about this with David Brain from Edelman. And Steve, maybe next time ;)