You might have seen that Mensmerk.nl, the Dutch origin of this website, has been nominated for the category best design (and best marketing) for the Dutch Bloggies (the prizes for the best weblogs in the Netherlands). I am very proud of that. However, I have 1001 other ideas I would love to research and implement. Think of video, voice, chat, flash animations, web 2.0, etc. etc. etc. Time however is my biggest problem. Are you looking for a fun (practice) assignment and do you want to go nuts? Let me know and contact me directly! I am looking forward to hear from you!

There is no deadline for this call. Only when this posting has been removed from the homepage (under the heading 'looking for'), then I have enough ongoing projects.

Yesterday night we had the first jury meeting for the SpinAwards, the interactive prizes in the Netherlands, for the category 'best website'. 83 entries had been submitted, and we each had gone over them individually. This night we had to come to a joint nomination. Everyone using their own laptop (80% of which Apples), lead by Kirian Cousin and Stephan Fellinger, we started working. It was a lot of work, but we managed to decide on the nomination. To be continued. In the picture a moment is captured in which the members of the jury were standing together (you can see me in the window )

Google starts a trial project giving out free voice mail numbers to the homeless in San Francisco. This voice mail number can be used as a call-back number for job applications, or for doctors and hospitals to keep in touch with their patient. If the project proves to be a success, Google wants to spread this service to other American cities (dc, Dutch). What a great example of socially responsible business. This is the brand coming out in its purest form. In this process the burden between manufacturer and consumer completely disappears, working transparently is second nature, and the brand more or less integrates in society. To operate responsibly, these brands make sure everyone benefits, and they use their core competences to help the weakest people in society. Socially responsible business is not about 'look how green we are', and then follow a new trend the next year. That is just responding to a societal (media) trend. No, socially responsible business is about the long term process of change in organizations, which after all is the only survival process. Google gives a great example here.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

Mensmerk.nl, the Dutch origin of this website, had already made it to the long list (top 10) for the Dutch Bloggies, the prizes for web logs in the Netherlands. Meanwhile I have made it to the shortlist (top 5) in the marketing as well as the design categories. Exciting...

British broadcaster BBC sells programs through iTunes. Hit series like Little Britain, Spooks en Torchwood can be bought through the British iTunes store. One episode costs 1,89 pound Sterling (2,50 Euros) (bc, Dutch). Thus BBC slowly changes from broadcaster to production company. Programming the night of the media consumer will get less applicable - that task is taken over by home entertainment coaching brands. In the long run, the government will determine what content is distributed to its citizens, for free (to every world citizen in fact), based on tax money. Paid content however will soon only be applicable for commercial parties who will make very high quality (interactive) content, the basis for the experience economy.

Related trends

• De-nationalizing
• Experiences

Social network Hyves collects several e-mail addresses per member. Sometimes an e-mail address needs to be confirmed explicitly, sometimes a different mechanism is used (hy). Thus brands don't only remember one e-mail address per individual, but all contact possibilities. Besides, through the brand memory they unlock the collective memories of individual and brand, in which all communication is saved. So that if an e-mail address disappears, the dialogue can still continue.

Dutch zoo Blijdorp has started a test in which visitors can pay wireless through their mobile phone, and can also get information in the park. It works through the so-called NFC protocol, the Near Field Protocol. Freely translated: a service that only works when you come close (am, Dutch). People are freed of complicated things like physical money, or sorting through information. We have not been designed for that, although we have been trained in it. Soon we will enter the terrain, we get a question directly on our ear plug (which by that time we always carry) if we do want to continue, as we have to pay an entrance fee. We only have to say yes and just keep going. We then get real-time information about things to do, where the crowds are and where not, and the latest news on our favorite animals. What I mean to say: even mobile payment is just an intermediate phase.

Do you want to take your future in your own hands? Do you want to be completely informed about the latest trends? Do you want to communicate that more and more? Do you work correctly? Can you write quick and without mistakes? And maybe do you have your own blog already that costs a lot of time, but doesn't bring you much yet? Then it might be time for us to start working together!

Online fashion retailer WeLikeFashion opens a physical store in Amsterdam. The users have specifically asked the brand for this (mb, Dutch). A brand only exists in our minds. 'Online brands' or 'offline brands' only exist in marketers' literature. We still have to get used to that idea. In this era physical chains start online shops with a complete range and 24/7 service, while online chains start physical stores where they can offer the full sensorial experience. In the end we will just talk about 'retail' again; full online presence will then be completely normal.

Oil company Shell in an advertising campaign promotes its new movie clearing the air that can be seen online, can be explored interactively, and can be ordered as a DVD (for free). Its availability is promoted through a TV advertising campaign (mb, Dutch). The time in which brands were limited to 30 second commercials is behind us, although not many brands make use of these video possibilities. Shell realizes that it can get more messages across when the contact moment is so much longer. This is not a dialogue yet, but it is definitely a 'brand world'.

Related trends

• Brand worlds

Dutch telecoms operator Hi puts your friends, and their current activities, on a Google Map. By sending text messages Hi can directly determine the location (based on information of the cell masts, the CellID), and what you are doing there is, thanks to a connection with Hyves, automatically inserted into the 'WhoWhatWhere' field in the user's Hyves profile (mf, Dutch). Thus communication slowly becomes realtime. Now we still have to explicitly pass information, soon we will give our friends permission to see where we are, what we are doing, who we are talking to, and what our plans are. Only with our permission of course. Thus the virtual world more and more becomes a reflection of the real world.

Ellen is European energy supplier EON's new chatbot. Ellen is shown as a real woman. For every subject Ellen has a new picture. For example, for the subject 'moving' she is carrying moving boxes, and on the rates page she is holding a calculator. Your own question history is shown so you can look up earlier questions and answers. Ellen doesn't just cover the customer service pages: she appears at different pages on the website (cb).

Thus brand agents slowly come to life. Now as an extra on the website, soon Ellen will be the main person to turn to with your questions. Especially for low interest products people come around with their question, want a quick answer, and then want to leave again. When visiting brands with a symbolic function (like fashion brands), you might stick around and explore a little bit, to get some inspiration maybe, or meet fun people or even your friends. Even then a (virtual) specialist will always be present to answer any questions.

Korean mobile phone operator KTF offers a 'Love Detector' service which analyzes if someone talks with love and affection. Users can test themselves. They have to aim their mobile phone at themselves during a video conversation, see a 'love meter' bar on their screen or mobile phone, and later get a text message with the analysis. The service costs $0.32 (yh). Brands thus get better at understanding us. Not only our written language, not only our spoken words, but also the way we say them. In the end brands will be better listeners than humans. It will take at least another thirty years for that to happen though.

Through SpinVox users can have spoken text in their mobile phones converted to text. It is handy for example to have voice mails delivered as text, or to record a memo which is delivered in your mailbox (dc, Dutch). The world consists of our environment, animals and ourselves. Images are part of that. Sound is part of that. But not written text. We have made that up ourselves a long time ago. Now we get more and more devices we can control with our voice. Now it is converted in text, but soon if we say 'refresh oil for car', we get a spoken message at the gas station the next day: 'grab a bottle of oil while you're here'. The phase in between will then be skipped. That is the direction we are going with this.

Music lovers have unlimited possibilities to discover new music with Musicovery. Although the interface counts five languages, almost all interaction is visual. We click something, and fast as lightning get new, similar music. The service is free. Registered members can listen, save their favorite music, and exclude certain songs. Songs can be ordered or downloaded at Amazon, eBay or iTunes. Besides, paying members can listen to HiFi music, and don't get any advertisements (dc, Dutch).

Thus new business models in music slowly evolve. It is all about being entertained musically, to discover music, and to re-experience music (and the emotions that go with it). The better a brand is capable to offer this experience, the more money they can charge. And advertisements then are only disturbing. It is very simple: the more value you add, the more money you can charge. This is a nice example.

Through Viddix users can easily place extra content next to an uploaded video. Ideal for a personal product presentation, an online course, or, yes, an inspiring presentation (ab, Dutch). Thus video and other interactivity slowly mix. Now you can place extra static content, soon you will be able to upload an interactive layer. We then more or less build a website based on the video, which you then can easily share. Or the second screen controls our mobile phone, or the TV. Thus the virtual world slowly integrates, with different screens to look at it.