Last.FM, a social music site, now gives listeners recommendations for performances, concerts and festivals based on their location and musical tastes. Anyone can add events and the lists are steadily growing. This is how all events in he world, all listeners can respond and invite their friends and Last.FM will earn through the use of affiliate programs (provisions per sold ticket). This is how artists will stop earning money from music on discs or downloads, but from performances and merchandising. This is a step in that direction.

Public transport adviser 9292ov.nl now also includes car transport in your search. After clicking a special link, it will give you a comparison of the various types of transportation. Even the car park closest to for example public transport to Amsterdam's city center will be shown. According to Reisinformatiegroep, the organization behind 9292, this is the first service of its kind in the world. It is definitely a step in the direction of a mobility coaching brand, a brand that selects for us the best way to get from point A to point B, independent of transport suppliers. The next step will be the integration of car transportation advice in the standard public transportation advice, and the building of customer profiles by ov9292: maybe somebody doesn't have a drivers license, he or she hates buses, or can't stand for a long time and so wants to avoid traveling during rush hours. And an even further step would be to give international travel advice. Earlier or later we will get instant spoken advice on when to leave, which way to walk and where to sit. Reservations, payments and tips will all have been taken care of. We won't have to think about traveling any more. This is a small step in that direction.

YouTube now also contains fragments of Uitzending Gemist (Missed Episode). It's undoubtedly an experiment because it only contains four fragments. Yet this will spread rapidly. YouTube is developing itself as a home entertainment coaching brand and like with any coaching brand it's all about completeness. Home entertainment coaching brands will soon have contact with the consumer, so also on the television, and transaction brands such as producers will look for maximum distribution. This is a step in that direction.

Dutch newcomer Lootzy is a vertical search engine for jobs. Lootzy however doesn't search job sites: it searches companies' web pages. A company which has a job opening puts the job description at its own web site (this so happens anyway) and Lootzy puts it in its index (am, Dutch). This way, Lootzy will soon be on its way to completeness. Especially if through standardization of specific web pages (like a vacancy page) Lootzy will be able to gather very specific details of the jobs (full time or part time, exact location, what kind of organization, etc.). Offering the complete supply, Lootzy can then develop into a career coaching brand and have itself represented by a coaching brand agent. You can already see its face.

Joost, the biggest and fastest growing video distribution platform which is still in beta, has reached agreements with independent film and television producers All33Media International, Alliance Atlantis, September Films and Wall to Wall, and also with the independent distributors IndieFlix and Shorts International (bm, Dutch). As up and coming home entertainment coaching brand Joost's focus is on being complete. That's why the company earlier signed contracts with the biggest producers from the US. In the end, Joost will contain all content that has ever been made, in all languages, no matter how old. Then Joost will help us select the right supply, or even better: "just give me something." This is a small step in that direction.

Through Intellifit's newest scanner we can now get automated brand advice. You are in a clothing shop, you step in a scanner (with all your clothes on), you push a button, step out of the scanner and your advice is right there. With 200.000 measuring points the form of your body has been determined, right through all your clothes. Your sizes are printed on a small card (via fc). This is the starting point for fashion coaching brands. Once they also start recording our skin structure, eyes, hair and lifestyle, then we can get real personal fashion advice. Video clip below.

If companies become more and more international, and their interests in strategy, creation, production, and distribution are globalized, how can a labor union still be a valuable discussion partner? How can a company that increasingly has to compete with India and China, listen to ONE labor union that has only one goal: to keep its members in the Netherlands (or another western country) satisfied. In this situation it is merely impossible for a company to keep a lot of people employed in only one country. It is all about adding value to the lives of people world wide, as an employer as well as a supplier. National labor unions will lose their power as discussion partners, and it looks like there is only one solution: an international labor union. A point of focus for career coaching brands?

Dutch consumer organization consumentenbond has recently started to show all of its tests online. The organization originated in a time we saw many products on the shelves, of which we didn't have more information than the information provided on the box. In those days, people had less money, and consumers wanted to reduce the chances for a mis buy. A gap in the market the consumer organization jumped into. These days we have much more information, reviews of our friends and other people available to us through our mobile at any time. Besides, we can compare many more products than just the pre selection of the consumer organization. To my opinion, the consumer organization will have to extend their database (include all products), mark the products that have been tested and those that haven't been tested, invite consumers to add information to tests (or further involve them in the testing), and at the same time facilitate purchasing, for example through testing stores and linking to them. In the end, a business model only survives when it adds value to the lives of people. And once you have made your choice, you want to order directly, and get help in that process. If the consumer organization then also splits its activities in different brands, a nice foundation is laid for the development of several coaching brands.

Related trends

• Coaching brands

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.