'Cross The Breeze

Consumers don’t care about strategy

August 23, 2009 by Kris Hoet 0 Comments

I don’t think there’s another product in tech that is ridiculed as much as Microsoft Bob. Never heard of it? That’s probably for a reason. Kudos to Monica Harrington for ‘confessing’ that she used to work on Bob and for writing a blogpost about it on Todd Bishop’s Microsoft blog. The product might have been a failure, the lessons learned are absolutely worth for everyone to read. Here’s one that stood out for me:

Consumers don’t care about strategy. Corporate customers do because if they’re investing big dollars over many years in a product, they want to know that it will continue to evolve in ways that are beneficial to the organization. In the corporate market, selling a vision is huge. By contrast, selling a vision to consumers is pointless. The key question they want answered is, "Does it make my life better today?"

It reminded me of how we always try to translate what lives in the ‘Meeting Room’ to something that can work in the ‘Living Room’ for all our clients. Make sure you read Monica’s full post, it’s worth it.

bringtheloveback, influence, inspiration, marketing, microsoft, quote, strategy, technology

bob, consumer, microsoft, strategy

Checkmate

April 16, 2009 by Kris Hoet 2 Comments

Who says you cannot do funky advertising on billboards anymore. You gotta love stuff like this, I know I do :)

Via Absoluut Matth

advertising, bringtheloveback, inspiration, marketing

advertising, audi, billboard, bmw, checkmate, santamonica

I think we’re in a viral

March 26, 2009 by Kris Hoet 0 Comments

Just loving this one for Mini, superb! Nice take on ‘viral videos’ :)

Via Brandflakes for Breakfast

advertising, bringtheloveback, fun, video, viral

advertising, clubman, mini, video, viral

Microsoft Advertising

March 5, 2009 by Kris Hoet 6 Comments

Although most of my work is related to some of Microsoft’s biggest consumer brands such as Windows Live, MSN, etc I also do (more and more actually) work for Microsoft Advertising. What does Microsoft have to offer to advertisers? Many of you might remember “Bring The Love Back”, today we have created another little 90 seconds video that explains a bit more what it is we do at Microsoft Advertising, check it out:

I’ve also set up a Twitter account for Microsoft Advertising Europe, offering another way to get in touch with us so follow us in case you are interested in advertising and curious about what we have to offer.

advertising, bringtheloveback, community, internet, marketing, microsoft, social media, video

advertising, bringtheloveback, microsoft, video

Mini augmented reality

February 10, 2009 by Kris Hoet 2 Comments

Mini has created a fantastic ad that is truly engaging using some augmented reality technology. Just watch this:

advertising, bringtheloveback, electronics, inspiration, marketing, technology, viral

advertising, augmented reality, mini

Business card v.2

December 11, 2008 by Kris Hoet 4 Comments

I still have to order new business cards after I changed jobs early October. I didn’t just want the corporate default though so instead I waited until this week to add some gapingvoid magic to it. The front of the card will still be the classic Microsoft design but on the back I will have this (see below) from now on. It sort of says the same as on the front but just in another language :) Can’t wait to get these printed.

And in case you wonder where the ‘geek marketer’ comes from, read this.

blogging, bringtheloveback, design, microsoft

business, gapingvoid, geekmarketer, microsoft

Where’s agency 2.0? (Cont’d)

December 11, 2008 by Kris Hoet 0 Comments

Right about a year ago I wrote this thought:

“With more and more agencies adopting new ways to get the connection between their clients the advertisers and the consumer, I think it’s time they rethink themselves as well and look at how they can serve their clients, their customers a bit better. Just a thought.”

It was at a time that I was working simultaneously with several different agencies across Europe and it struck me how all of them were telling me to focus more on the customer etc while in the meantime operating on a very self-centric approach themselves.

I was reminded of this post (and discussion) this week as Alain Thys and Stefan Kolle from FutureLab released a new report around exactly that topic:

“This is the free version of the Futurelab report on the growing disconnect between what advertising agencies offer, and what their clients are looking for. If you wish to purchase the full report with 60 pages of strategic insights and recommendations, go to: www.futurelab.net/agencyreport.”

Enjoy.

advertising, ageofconversation, bringtheloveback, consumer, inspiration, marketing, presentation, quote

agency20, agencyreport, futurelab, presentation, report

Hugh at LeWeb 08

December 11, 2008 by Kris Hoet 2 Comments

As I mentioned about a week ago in the ‘Blue Monster in Paris’ post, Hugh MacLeod was a regular guest at the Microsoft BizSpark and Live Mesh booth at LeWeb in Paris this year. We had agreed with Hugh to try out something different than usual and everybody who stopped by while Hugh was there could get a personal Hughcard and maybe even something more… like say a signed Blue Monster wine bottle for instance.

It was great to see a lot of people stopped by and had cartoons drawn on business cards, wine bottles, body parts, computers, etc. All good fun and a lot of times real conversation starters, just like we hoped it to be.

Those of you that were interested in the event will all probably have read what The Guardian had to say about it, well if you did then make sure you read Thomas Crampton’s answer to that as well. Every year when I look back at LeWeb it is with the eyes of both an attendee as a sponsor. Every year there are some things that could have been better (yes it was cold, yes I liked last year’s venue more, yes we were definitely spoilt re food last year, …) and there are always plenty of reasons why I will be back next year.

It’s still one of the best conferences for networking, there’s all kinds of great content to be discovered and you just know it’ll start a conversation just like the years before. When I checked with the program manager for BizSpark or the startups that were able to show off what they got as part of that program, feedback was very good. When I checked with the Live Mesh guys, feedback was good. And quite a few people went home with a personal cartoon… yeah it was good for me. Thanks again for joining us Hugh!

bringtheloveback, community, conference, fun, inspiration, social media

bizspark, bluemonster, booth, cartoon, gapingvoid, hughcard, leweb, leweb08, livemesh, stormhoek

Seasick Steve!

November 28, 2008 by Kris Hoet 4 Comments

Last night I saw Seasick Steve on television and I have been listening to his music ever since :) Not only is that the kind of music I really like, the guy is as authentic as they come, seriously. And I’m sure that it’s partially because of his great music, but also because of that authenticity that he’s going to become even bigger than he already is right now (yes it’s the first time I hear from him, but that hasn’t been the same for everybody).

Check out this clip below from his appearance at Jools Holland more than a year ago and then this little documentary (part 1/ part 2) to see what I’m talking about. Enjoy Steve with the Three String Trance Wonder and the Mississippi Drum Machine:

First thing I’m doing this weekend is buying his stuff, all of it! Authentic stuff, I tell ya.

bringtheloveback, music

authenticity, joolsholland, mdm, seasicksteve

No Copy

November 4, 2008 by Kris Hoet 2 Comments

In image says more than a thousand words, that’s no secret anymore. And I guess that people who’ve been reading this blog for quite a while have noticed that I have a soft spot for advertising campaigns that convey a message using just one (but powerful) image. Like the 2 campaigns below, note that the first one has no copy at all.

More at Buzzing Bees.