Heinz organizes a recipe contest (in dutch). People can vote for recipes, and the recipe with the highest number of votes will win a cooking workshop (mb, dutch). Brands experience their brand coming out, a process of change in which the boundary between consumer and provider fades. Terms like co-creation, user-generated content, user-generated products, open source marketing and even crowd sourcing: they are all part of this process. Consumers now invent recipes, next they will check, change and approve recipes, design new bottles, new sauces and even new forms of distribution. And the brand just grows stronger and stronger. The brand manager however is not in control any longer so most brands will need to change. That is exciting. These are amusing times!

Related trends

• Brand coming out

Dutch marketing community MarketingFacts is starting its own e-mail newsletter. This illustrates the turnaround of the publishing process. It starts with a community: a group of people with shared interest, being marketing in this case. MarketingFacts selects the most important items that have been written on its web log in a week's time, and publishes these in its newsletter. The next step will be a (paid for) MarketingFacts printed magazine, for which professional journalists will do in-depth research on items which obviously interest the community. Traditionally printed magazines follow the other way around. In the end, communities will be leading, and paper copies will just be there for entertainment and more in-depth information. The brand however will be stronger than ever before. This is a first step in that direction.

Dutch broadcast organization BNN is going to make people smarter. Presenter Katja Schuurman in the show Get Smarter in A Week will show it is really possible to become a little bit smarter. Famous and infamous Dutch people will get intensive training and spectacular exercises to learn to use their brains anew (ld, Dutch). TV programs are virtual experiences: experiences from a distance. They become more and more personal. Now still for big groups of people, in the future we will follow a personal training with a small group of people, live or not live. A training maybe 10,000 people will follow at the same time, and pay for with big bucks. But we will get smarter through the training, so it is worth it. Now it is still content for big groups of people, on a small budget; in the future content will deliver meaningful experiences for people to carry on with. The selection of the right experiences in this area will be the point of attention for career coaching brands, brands which help us in our personal development. This is a small step in that direction.

KPN is becoming more and more informal. Earlier employees were called by their first name (Dutch), now consumers are given a leaflet 'we're happy with you!' In this leaflet the consumer is addressed completely with 'je', while the site still uses 'u'. (Dutch, like French and German, still distinguishes between a formal and informal second person pronoun.) Two developments can be seen in this. Firstly brands are experiencing a 'brand coming out' in which they become more equal, more transparent and start to develop, operate and communicate more openly with the consumer. This is shown by being on a first name basis amongst other things. Secondly brands will enter the dialogue with individual consumers and maintain a consistent tone like people have when they speak with one another. 'Je' on the site means 'je' on the telephone and 'je' in a leaflet. Other people who'd rather keep their distance will be constantly addressed with 'u': on the site, in the leaflet, on the phone. By that time you'll be welcomed into KPN's virtual world by a brand agent who recognizes you instantly and continues where the dialogue left off. Currently brands are struggling with this, but the looking for the right tone and equality is a step in the evolution of brands.

Related trends

• Brand coming out

Subscribers of Dutch Psychologie Magazine received the anniversary issue with their own picture on the cover. Through Printing On Demand (POD) more than one thousand subscribers received their own personalized version of the magazine. A selection of these covers can be seen in an exhibition in the 'Kunsthal' (Art Exhibition Center) in Rotterdam (mf, Dutch). Even magazines become more personal. The internet becomes leading, paper is for learning and entertainment. But the more personal, the better. Especially when it is shown on the coffee table, then it is part of you. If you then can adjust it to your own taste, consumers will not turn their backs on magazines.

Since the start of mensmerk.nl, early 2005, the amount of visitors has been increasing steadily. After the Summer vacation however, there was a huge increase. This is when I started writing more, among others in the new categories Media evolution, World evolution, Insight in Humans, Twists, and a couple of other categories. Although the amount of postings has stayed more or less the same after the Summer, all statistics are going up. This goes for the amount of visitors as well as the frequency of their visits, their page views, hits, bytes, everything. Very nice, as that is what I'm working for.

At the moment I'm working on a completely renewed site. The content will stay the same, but the design will completely change. At the moment the design is mostly in line with the book; the next version will be in line with my most important activities: readings, workshops and seminars. But let me comfort you: there will not be any flashing banner trying to lure the visitor into buying a Nokia, upgrade to a better connection or another car. This web log follows changes in media, marketing, brands, people, and society. Nothing less. Nothing more. And it will continue to do that.

RTL GP Magazine is a magazine about car and motor sport, belonging to the TV program with the same name. The magazine will appear six times per year. The magazine does not repeat the information given in the TV programs: instead, it will provide new items (sak van der boom, Dutch). More and more TV programs get not only their own website, but also their own magazine. The website unites the people under a certain brand. In the end the consumers will determine the content, from the site as well as the magazine. RTL GP then facilitates an online car community, with the paper magazine for learning and entertainment. This is a small step in that direction.