Programmatic Selling for Publishers

Publishers can take an active role in maximizing return from their inventory while maintaining control over their data - by Jay Stevens, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, rubicon Project (UK) @ Digital Innovations' Summit

Making Paid Content Work

Matt Skibinski, Vice President of Affiliate relations, Press+ (USA), about how subscriptions to digital content can work @ Digital Innovators' Summit in Berlin

When magazines innovate

John Wilpers, Innovation Media Consulting Group (UK) and editor from Innovation Media Consulting presents the latest innovations in the magazine media world @ the Digital Innovation Summit in Berlin

Digital advertising in the POE age

Rebecca Lieb (@lieblink ), Analyst, Digital Advertising & Media, Altimeter Group on digital convergence and, I assume, the role of publishers. Not a lot of tweets found on this topic. Feel free to share if I have miss some important ones: @vansan2010

New York Times- challenging the paywall model

Paul Smurl about the digital and paid strategy of the New York Times @ The Digital Innovators'Summit Day 2 

The Atlantic @ Digital Innovators' Summit

@JBrainerdSmith about the challenges and opportunities for the The Atlantic in a media changing world. The selected contributions are from attendees at the Digital Innovators' Summit in Berlin. A big thank you to everyone involved in sharing and spreading the knowledge!

3 Must-Read about Pinterest

Guess what I'm talking about? Tip: Most of the site's users are female,with 97% of the site's  "likes"being made by women. Yep, I'm talking about the new social phenomenon:  Pinterest.

As a self-proclaimed marketing-to-women specialist, I couldn't ignore all the tweets and articles about the new trendy network. So, here's my latest 3 inspirational and informative sources I've read and saved in my documentation library :-)


- well-documented quick tour : principle, figures, inspiration about opportunities for business:

Pinterest for brands : opportunity or fad?

View more presentations from Emmanuel Vivier on slideshare

- 7 questions about the social platform in the article Know your Internet: What is Pinterest and why should I care? in the Atlantic.com

• What is Pinterest?
• Why should I care?
• How does it works?
• What do people post on Pinterest?
• Who uses Pinterest?
• Who is behind the new big thing?
• Most important: How does it make money?

- Brands Pinning It on Pinterest on Adweek is about brands and my favourite domain: how can you be part of the game? That specific sentence makes me think about a lot of possibilities for a lot of brands:

“Your experts, your visionaries, your creatives now have this platform to syndicate content that is interesting to them, to help brands [tell their story],” Rachel Tipograph, social media director at The Gap

Branding is still an important part of our job as marketeers. So think about it. Pinterest is just another tool to play with in the new social game. 

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Internet Usage in Europe

comScore released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 381.5 million unique visitors went online in December 2011 for an average of 27.5 hours per person. Internet users in Belgium now dedicate over 20 hours to the web a month. This is far below my weekly consumption :-)

Source: comScore Press Release 16/02/2012

10 Tweetable Truths about Women and Social Networks

I've already talked (written) about the research study #Femininsight - part of the project I'm every WOMAN-  some 3.000 Belgian women, aged between 15 and 75 years, were surveyed about their daily life (in February - May 2011). Besides sector-related information, we, marketeers at Sanoma Media Belgium, were also curious about the media consumption and media behavior of Belgian ladies. 

My colleagues Trui Lanckriet and Marie Carranza were guest speakers at the last Media Session at the GRP about the evolution of media habits in Belgium. Their presentation will be available soon on the official website of the media sales house of Sanoma Media Belgium. I was really inspired by their presentation and wanted to add my personal touch to their analysis. So, I've focused on the use of social networks by Belgian women. THE HOT TOPIC nowadays.

With only 4% of Belgian women sharing information through blogs and fora - 2% on social networks - the easiest conclusion should be: Belgian women don't care. But that's just one side of the medal. Belgian women are digital ladies: 35% visits social networks daily and women with a profile on facebook even more: 22% checks it more than once a day. And nearly 1 out of  5 agrees with the fact that Internet helps to avoid ‘bad buys’. Discover more about Belgian women and social networks in the presentation below. Feel free to share and to spread the word. As usual, you can download this presentation on SlideShare .

10 Tweetable Truths about Belgian Women and Social Networks

View more presentations from Vanessa Sanctorum

The audience I try to reach through my blog is made out of people with a busy agenda. That's why I like the difficult exercise to put information in so-called Tweetable Truths, summarizing facts and figures in less than 140 characters. Right now, I'm just wondering about the ideal numbers of slides/truths. I guess, somewhere between 20 and 50. Let me know if I'm right. 

Our iPad Not Mine

From early July to the beginning of August 2011, Sanoma Media conducted an iPad survey in 6 European countries in which it is active and distributes apps: the Netherlands, Finland, Russia, Hungary, Belgium and Germany. Via banners in various Sanoma apps, a total of 3,673 respondents were asked about their use and experience of working with this famous tablet.

Not a personal toy
The iPad has become the primary device at home and the preferred tool to access the internet. But it's by no means a personal computer: 67% of the iPads are actively used by other persons. This is usually the partner and, in over a third of cases, the children.

Click on pic to enlarge

She plays, he surfs
Traditional surfing behavior still rules, even with an iPad. It is used mainly for reading the news, surfing and browsing, searching and e-mailing. A second category includes social networking/blogging, playing games, reading magazines, watching TV and videos and looking at photos. Women play more games than men. Shopping, comparing and internet banking are less frequent activities.

On the couch, in bed and at the breakfast table
The iPad is a companion for the evenings in the living room (83%) and for reading the news in the morning (70%) at the breakfast table. But it's also ideal for a last 'social media' check in bed before going to sleep (67%).

Click on pic to enlarge

More info and another nice infographic with socio-demographics available here . Some specific information on Belgium coming soon.

Tools to Revamp your Pics

A walk in Tervuren Park

Sometimes I'm frustrated by my lack of competences with tools like Photoshop. I'd love to be a creative or graphic skilled person. But I'm not. Definitely. I'm even struggling with Picasa (desktop) when adding effects to my pics. But picnik is a nice online alternative to resize images, add a frame or special effects. Most of these services are free of charges. Another tool I like for its simplicity, speed and user-friendliness is Rollip. Choose out of 40 filters to revamp your pics. And more important: get the result in less than two minutes. Just the kind of tool I like...  All the images in this post are clickable for a better view.

5 Belgian Tweetable Truths about Smartphones & Tablets: Part 3

Third and last part of my 5 Tweetable Truths about the adoption of mobile devices in my little country. Still based on what I've heard at the last Media Session organized by the GRP (see previous posts). This chapter focuses on the difference between Belgian men and women. With some extra data -like socio-demographics and purchase intentions - in some slides. Up to you to be creative with these pieces of extra information. Feel free to steal this presentation from Slideshare and to spread the knowledge :-)

5 tweetable findings tablets and smartphones in Belgium: part 3

View more presentations from Vanessa Sanctorum

5 Belgian Tweetable Truths about Smartphones & Tablets: Part 2

Five new tweetable truths about mobile devices in Belgium. The presentation below also summarizes notes I took at the last Media Session organized by the GRP - a group of media specialists from agencies, publishing houses, market research agencies. Four speakers talked about Mobile Internet in Belgium and the Influence on Search. I was mainly interested in the Global Survey Mobile Study by Havas Media and the research Me, My Smartphone and Brands by Space.

5 tweetable findings on tablets and smartphones in Belgium: part 2

View more presentations from Vanessa Sanctorum

5 Belgian Tweetable Truths about Smartphones & Tablets

I have absolutely no doubts about the rise of mobile internet usage and the tablet/smartphone penetration in Belgium. Mobile Internet is still too pricy - the prices are too high in comparison to our neighbouring countries France and the Netherlands - but telecom players are finally adapting their strategies to seduce "the average Belgian consumer".

Reason enough to follow the last Media Session organized by the GRP - a group of media specialists from agencies, publishing houses, market research agencies. Four speakers talked about Mobile Internet in Belgium and the Influence on Search. It was really nice to get a quantitative point of view on Belgian tablet and smartphone usage by Huges Rey (Havas Media - study Global Survey Mobile) on the one hand, and qualitative insights about smartphone owners and their expectations by Françoise Gehin (Space - study Me, My Smartphone and Brands) on the other.

Below you can find 5 tweetable findings I heard on this seminar. Feel free to steal and spread. Although most of these make (common) sense, it is sometimes good to have recent proof about this fast evolving market.

5 tweetable findings on tablets and smartphones in Belgium

View more presentations from Vanessa Sanctorum

Is papier leuker dan digitaal?

Hoe zit het nu met digitaal lezen in Vlaanderen? Memori, een expertiscentrum van de Lessius Hogeschool, onderzocht het fenomeen dit voorjaar. Net voor de commercialisering van de iPad2. 

Zo'n 2.770 personen namen deel aan een online enquête. Er werd niet alleen gepeild naar hun interesse in e-reading maar ook naar hun verwachtingen en de betalingsbereidheid op het vlak van digitaal lezen.

Eén van de meest frappante conclusies (pdf) heeft betrekking op jongeren. Hoe jonger, hoe groter de bereidheid te betalen voor digitale content. Die jongeren waarvan de meeste denken: zij willen toch niet betalen. Diezelfde jongeren die opgevoed zijn in het 'nieuws is gratis op internet' - tijdperk. Nog sterker: andere internationale onderzoeken kwamen tot dezelfde conclusie.

Klik voor een groter beeld

Vrouwen, laagopgeleiden, 60+ers en niet-bezitters van tablets zijn minder bereid te betalen voor digitale content. Hoogopgeleiden scoren goed op beide soorten publicaties. Op zich niet zo opmerkelijk. Maar net vrouwen, 50+ers en hoogopgeleiden blijken vaker voorstander te zijn van papieren publicaties.

Cijfermatig kan je stellen dat vrouwen en 60+ers niet echt tot de early adopters van technologische snufjes à la iPad behoren. Maar mijn buikgevoel zegt dat er veel meer aan de gang is. Er bestaat  namelijk ook zo'n tendens als: Neen, nu even niet connected. En als je stelt dat 50+ers de laatste 15 jaar overconnected zijn, hoogopgeleiden met een goede baan bijna altijd en overal connected zijn, dat vrouwen dat in hun genen hebben of het nu live of digitaal of telefonisch is...

Je hebt af en toe een pauze nodig, een moment voor jezelf. 82% van de respondenten hebben aangeven dat ze lezen nog steeds prettiger vinden op papier. En dat snap ik best. Het laat je toe om je volledig te verdiepen in het lezen zonder enige afleiding (mail bvb, open vensters op het internet, ...). Daarbij ben je zichtbaar met iets anders bezig en zullen de meeste toch (even) aarzelen met jou te storen. Het leesmoment heeft nog iets heiligs. En dat had wat mij betreft ook één van de conclusies kunnen zijn.

Andere resultaten vind je ook op deze link (pdf) : http://www.memori.be/sites/default/files/attachments/20110518-onderzoeksresultaten_digitaal_.pdf

Image Tracking

Confusing picture isn't it? Love it when people send me original stuff to write about. Printed media still inspire creative people.But that's not the point of this blog post.


I was glad for the mail with the picture but there remain unanswered questions: is this picture popular? Can I find more information? And eventually: where can I find the same picture with a better resolution?


My boyfriend gives me a good tip to start my investigation: www.tineye.com. It's amazing: upload an image or enter the url and keep your fingers crossed.

Obviously, this one is popular among geek websites (what's in a name?) and bloggers. 


I can find 1000 reasons to use this tool: to check the profile picture of someone you're dating with on the internet, to measure the popularity of a picture uploaded on flickr, and for the control freaks: in order to be sure that no one is 'misusing' them, ... Or why not: to try to find the author (good luck with that one, it's a noble enterprise).

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.

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)

Recreating "Up"

Did you like the animated cartoon movie 'Up'? Some crazy people from L.A. took the bet and recreated the house, middle in the desert.... And guess what? They have succeeded in their mission. Look at the 'flight' here:

7th March : Alexander Graham Bell patents the Phone

I'm a huge fan of Qwiki and the e-newsletter with links to (new) content. I consider Qwiki as the future of web search and to some extent: the encyclopedias.


Today in my mailbox: Alexander Graham Bell patented the Phone on this day in 1876. Can you imagine one day without yours? (Euh... I can... ... I use my mobile as alarm clock. And because I'm already thinking about the 1000 things to do... So my mobile stay at home, next to my bed)


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