25th March 1995: WikiWikiWeb

Qwiki video about the launch of the first user-editable website. FYI: the first user-editable website and the application behind it were developed by Ward Cunningham. This man deserves a medal "For services rendered to Humanity Knowledge"... or something like that.

View WikiWikiWeb and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.

Happy f... 70th Birthday Captain Haddock!

From Bashi-Bazouks to Visigoths and Zapotecs, his famous curses and exclamations entered the legend. Anyone who's fan of the comic book series Tintin knows about his best friend and 'partner in crime' Captain Archibald Haddock. It turns out that today he celebrates his 70th birthday.


Captain Haddock was introduced in The Crab with the Golden Claws. Until Haddock's introduction, supporting characters would only appear irregularly, and mainly in the background. Apart from loyal Snowy, the canine companion of Tintin. 


With the introduction of Haddock, author Hergé realised the captain's potential to ventilate cynical side-commentary in a very unique way. This was at the expense of Snowy, whose role was somewhat reduced to accommodate Haddock.

Written Portraits

Nice ad(s) to promote "The week of books 2011" in the Netherlands (16th March - 26th March). Featuring books in the shape of faces. Spotted on Creative Criminals:

For other examples, go to Creative Criminals. It's worth a visit!

An old recipe for new media

Paginated Media? Never heard of it until today. My colleague at the ARC, who's doing a great job of international knowledge sharing between "Sanoma countries", drew my attention to it.

According to a mediaIDEAS paper Paginated Media has 3 key properties (excerpt):

1. metered: the media is divided into defined pages of content that are presented together (as in magazines, books, newspapers, article, section,... ) or individually;
2. edited: the role of the editor - he or she selects the articles, media, images and rich media that fill each page;
3. designed: the included content is arranged and formatted to enhance the reading (e.g. columns and typography) and visual experience (e.g. white spaces and positioning of elements).

Do any of these characteristics seem familiar to you? This list summarizes the main reasons why I think print editors have the best armed forces to win the battle in media land. And let it be clear: the media debate is no longer about which devices consumers use. A 'healthy debate' must be about the emotional relationship between (a) media brand(s) and it's consumers. When it comes to passion printed media brands have a huge asset.

App Store Stats

Sometimes I wonder how many apps are submitted per day to the iTunes App Store... If you struggle with the same question or if you're curious about the average app price, take a look at the App Store Metrics Page. This page was originally created to celebrate the App Store reaching 10,000 apps.

By the way, the editorial team of 148Apps.biz seems eager to hear our feedback.

Magazines are sales tools: Flair pumps case

One of the main complaints of advertisers is "the effect of magazines on sales can't be measured". Together with: "Magazines are slow in building traffic". Well, thanks to the Flemish Flair readers I have recent proof that these statements are not true. If done in a good way. (Knowing your audience).

Flair pumps

Flair is a weekly aimed at young women (15-35 y.o.) who like getting fun out of life. The typical Flair-reader likes: affordable luxury. So yes, she can combine luxury brands with cheaper (fashion and beauty) brands. Today there was a special offer in the magazine with a coupon for Flair-branded pumps for 15€. It's the second time that retailer Torfs chose Flair as a favored partner (as a kind of seasonal launch for the new collections?). 

The results? Some sales points were out of stock this afternoon. According to some tweets I have read, there was (is?) a stock of at least 20,000 pairs.

On the 'twitterprofile' of Wouter Torfs, CEO of Schoenen Torfs, you can read that this CEO is passionate about rebuilding his company as a community. And he's using communities, in this case, the community of the Flair-lovers, to make the match on a commercial level. Well done! 

I surrendered for the @flair @torfs Mkt Campaign

Interactive Celebration with Magazines

When a creative is chosen to be part of the jury of the Applied Arts' 2010 Interactive Awards issue, it must be at the organizer's own risk ;-)


Ari Elkouby, Associative Creative Director at Proximity Canada took the unconventional way to celebrate his appointment as jury member. And share his ideas to make the special edition in a really 'special' augmented edition. With the hope to inspire peers and future creatives. And why don't combine print with interactivity? 

"The hope of the magazine is that this experience will inspire those reading the annual to question the conventional and inspire innovative thinking," said Elkouby.


I really like it when creatives play with magazines in an innovative way. Because I'm a heavy user of print, and iPad, and internet... Catch it?


Print Magazine Takes Users On Interactive Storytelling Ride (MediaPost Publication)

Belgian daily switches language

Our little country is complicated. That's a fact. For Belgians, and for foreigners. Everyday our International Sales, responsible for taking care of advertisers and agencies abroad, struggle with the same problem: explaining the differences between Flemish people, people living in Brussels and Walloon people.


As a marketeer, it is my responsibility to help them with relevant information and insights about these matters. Besides the political issues, it's really passionating. Because North and South think different. Don't dare call a Brussels native a Walloon! And don't forget the small group of German-speakers in eastern Wallonia. For the info: I don't like talking with socio-demographic datas but in Belgium, it helps a lot to understand the situation. A speed training 'History of Belgium for Dummies' is also a plus. 


The point is: media of one language community don't interact with media of the other language community. Except for a few exceptions such as national surveys and charitable causes. And of course, on the advertising market. Especially when the media sales house is integrated into the publisher, as Sanoma or Roularta are.


Le Soir is known as a French-written quality daily with strong roots in Brussels and surroundings. Editor-in-chief Béatrice Delvaux is a kind of an Iron Lady, passionated about her job and her (media)brand. Tomorrow, publisher Rossel will publish a special edition in Flanders, with the first five pages written in Dutch. The purpose? To let discover the tone-of-voice and the specific insights about the political issues and the analysis about Flanders. In other words: to feed the debate. In a positive way. I'd like to say: chapeau! Let's hope it will make the other language community curious. But I have doubts... Knowing the sales figures of newspapers these days...