people all around ....

it has been so nice lately spending some time with a the most diverse people you could imagine. From a swedish guy in who ended up in Barcelona with a passion for Porsche to some dear colleageu digital marketeers moving back to their home country ... but most of all meeting up with the old gang of my team was such a blessing.

during my last visit to London i took the opportunity to meet up with some relations from the industry and we start discussing the future of digital marketing. With Ashley Friedlin from the e-consultancy group i had a very nice discussion on the shift that is taking place within marketing. We discussed that Sir Martin Sorell was right when he said that the traditional marketeers are in no position to react properly to digital marketing, but they are desperately trying. This results in digital marketing being concquered by the old habits without regarding the specificity of digital.

We must keep in mind and never forget that digital marketing is the marriage between technology and marketing. This marriage needs to be based on mutual understanding and respects for each limitations and possibilities. It is now in that balance that lies the challenge for the marketeers. Contrary to the traditional forms of marketing, digital requires a certain skill set that goes beyond putting a good idea and some creative people together and at the same time goes beyond having some whizz kids that can do magic with technology.

Digital is not an advertizing medium that has a passive audience sitting there and absorbing the message, but put the user in control on how they want to interact with your brand. Digital consumers want to have the choice and they judge with the mousse by clicking onto information they can relate to or engage with.

Digital needs to be and remain a center of excellence that services and initiates marketing programs and campaigns from out it's own specificity: the marriage between creativity, usability and technology.

Anyhow it leaves us with the never ending challenge to convince marketeers around us that bringing digital under marcoms or advertizing is not a step towards a better integration, on the contrary since it is underestimating the need for a digital marketing approach in all customer facing layers of a company. Thus the struggle and fight for a truley integrated digital marketing departement (technology and marketing) on the same level as marcoms and brand continues.

Happy travels

.... a thought ...

Memories come down and me once again
caught without an umbrella
memories come down and me once again
caught without an umbrella

... in London today and that is how i felt .....

... The big thrill and the big chill ...

well, it's been a while that I took the time to write something for which I feel guilty I must say ... it feels good to stay in touch with all of you that read the blog and it gives me the feeling that I'm still amongst a group of friends that I do not see that often anymore ...

so many things have happened the last month. I finally had the house warming party and sorry James, but the bottle of whisky was opened. I will buy a new one for the day you come over to Belgium. The party was complete madness :-) 50 people in the house and a swinging party till 5 o'clock in the morning. It was good to have some many people around that enjoyed themselves. A complete wonder that the cops did not pass buy since we were playing the music loud with the windows open ...

The week after everything needed to be prepared to go on the ski holiday with the family ... .... Riens and Lauran even took up snowboarding, something that we did not do before. It was a week to cherish as a treasure .. everything was really relaxed and all troubles seemed so far away .... It is in that period that you suddenly realize that the time you spend with the people who you love and the ones that make you happy is way to short ....

It was also nice to talk about other business with our friends. We were three couples with kids there. One of them Jan has his own company in the world of design. You should check out www.domani.be .. I like the website. although I have known Jan for already quite some time it was fascinating to hear him talk about his business and especially his clients. I know people who would be jealous to know the he has a very famous client list featuring Will Smith, Melanie Griffith, Nicole Kidman, .... and has been selected to decorate Ground Zero in the new project .... And that when in a sense he is still just Jan to us .... by the way you should try the trick with the spoon at the office ... I know somebody who manages very well ....

Also Bart another friend is doing really cool stuff.... building factories, warehouses and industrial buildings around the globe. Not to mention Catherine (Jan's wife) and Nathalie (Bart's wife), both working for the Museum of Art History. They just opened a new Museum for Japanese art ... maybe time to invite Sasaki-san and Kawagoi-san ....

From the Swedish Japanese front I hear that there is a lot of motion and commotion. On the one hand there is the tremendous succes of the results , on the other hand a number of people are moving on. Next week I have the pleasure to be in London for some days, so I'm trying to meet up with some of the old gang.

In the rubber world all is moving along in a steady pace. It is a very tough business that is transforming completely. From an car supplier to a marketing organization, sometimes you don't realize, but it feels like being on a ship in the middle of a storm ..... It is sometimes difficult to convince people of new ideas and new ways of working, but it is in that that lies the challenge .... I guess future will tell ..

happy travels

Toon

.. The mind travels from reality to dream and back ...

... It has been such a strange but inspiring week-end. On Thursday and Friday is was speeding like a mad man through France, going back and forth between Paris and Montlucon (about 350km south of Paris) on Thursday and Friday risking my life to get in time to catch a train to London. I doubted long and hard, but finally I decided I needed and wanted to attend the revolution awards on Friday evening, hence the mad hatters race those two days. ...

It was all going to be so interesting and professional the start of the week-end, meeting up with all the colleagues in the digital space, applauding for some stunning work and less stunning awards, networking with all important people ... And in a way I did.

it was good to see all the people, seeing people being proud of their work and to catch up with Dare gang. But the further the night progressed there was a something changing ... This years presenters made it clear: too us it all sounds all very interesting and important, but he really took the piss out of digital and put it a bit more in perspective ...
talking to a number of people made me realize that being successful in business is not about the being a genius in your field of expertise, but the capability of being a team. The capability to communicate, talk, discuss and jointly reach higher ground ... Talking to Flo and Gavin made it clear that we reached the results not because we were genius or experts but the fact we could talk and exchange opinions in an open way , reaching the level of kindred spirits towards a common goal ..... If only some people we all know would understand this ....

... Saturday London was calling: a wake up call brought me back to living. The philosophy of the day before combined with too much alcohol made my body scream for the shock therapy of a really full blown blood Mary, a good steak and eggs and potatoes .... At least I owed it to Jo to be awake when I had to look at the pictures of a beautiful wedding .... There was in a way something strange about the talk, although it was almost 6 months I saw Jo it felt as if it was only yesterday , the contacts with all of you remains a vivid memory, or even better a continuing story .. A story that continued with Danielle In the afternoon shop walking and exchanging thoughts. It was interesting to listen to somebody who decided to leave the rat race for what it is and just take the time to find a new path without having a road laid out already ..... In a sense it became more and more clear that sometimes it does not matter if there is for a short moment nothing. It was also too nice to just chit chat all afternoon about everything that was passing through..... Only one missing was Gavin :-) .... But I forgive him I guess he needed some time to recover. But anyhow Gav: you missed a very nice walk along the Kings Cross and Chelsea shops .... The evening was topped off with a mixture of a real Italian dinner served in the lovely new nest of super Salv, an Italian Karaoke show, an analysis of the human psyche and of course the most delicious Italian wines and limoncelo ....

going back to the hotel I was so much looking forward to the journey home: a 7 hour train trip since I had to go home over Paris to Brussels due to my late decision. Since the dreams about the bike I get more and more drawn towards books about Africa and the book from the Long way Round from Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. .... The book was calling me, but I wanted to keep it as a little secret like I did when I was a kid, keeping my candy for a quiet moment out in the yard. The journey would give me ample time to let me drift away in my dream of driving of towards a deserted place .... Putting behind the buzz of the modern city life ....

tucked away in a half empty train I started reading the dream journey of two friends going the Long Way Round. I was living the same anxiety as he described to get away from it all and the almost endless routine of work/plane/hotel/bed/work/home... Getting deeper and deeper in the world of visiting deserted places, facing the hardness of nature and going deep emotionally and physically, I was no longer in the train, I was riding along them through Mongolia up to Siberia. It set my mind so free and connected so much to the discussion I had before on the fact that the business is all about people who are capable of thinking things through in a team and consistently arriving at the right shared answer .... My god I was eating the pages like somebody who had not been on bread and water for 20 years, it was setting me free in my mind at least! Just when I finished the chapters that took them from London over Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia , finally the Road of Bones close the the Bering Strait the train rolled into the station of Paris Nord ...

Paris a wake-up call: and what a wake up call it was . Suddenly was immersed in the big city life of people running hecticley even on a Sunday, homeless left an right asking for a little change, searching the dustbin for left overs .... My god I felt suddenly sick. I ran out the station for a place to hide, but could not find anywhere to go. I looked up a corner of a little bistro and wanted to dive in the book again .... Finding back the magic ...

strangely enough the book lost also at moment all the magic. The last chapters started with: " Arriving in Alaska was a complete shock. " I refused to read further. Instead I paid , got outside, put on my sunglasses, looked up a bench and just closed my eyes and trying hard to close down all the noises and sounds. And off I was again, traveling the great dessert of Mongolia, in my mind. Keeping on to the thought till I got home I started already planning my trip, because you know: one day ...

happy travels

... To all the places that I love to stay ....

it is time I start to give you little warm-up for the house warming party. My neighborhood is carefully chosen since it is in walking, excuse me tip tooing, stumbling even crawling distance from my favorite bars. It was therefore a calculated risk for us to take to buy the flat with only literally less than 50 steps from the door to the first my two favorite bars.

It me be a surprise but the owners are pretty pleased with my move, especially Alain from De Cirque (The circus). A strange name for a rather nice pub bistro like place, but maybe that all changes when I enter and tend to love the flavor of my golden drink of gods: Vedette.

In De Cirque I always try to sit at the bar so I can look at all the people coming in and sitting at the tables, and of course to look at myself in the mirror and asking myself the most deep philosophical questions at 4 am into he morning after having drowned myself in to Vedette, toped off with a nice 25 year old highland Park (yes James I'm still waiting for you to come to Brussels to have a sip from our bottle). If it ever happens that I do not really see the difference anymore between fantasy and reality I tend to start to fight like a true Don Quichote with the demons on the wall .

The bar being my Rosinante, in a gallop to protect my lovely Dulcinea. In many occasions the owner tends to behave like a true Sancho Pancha trying to convince me of my delusions.

one of the last visits we had there was with Brenda and Olly, not taking a too deep dive into the drinks, but anyhow .. my god what a feeling it was again. They world is short of people with whom you can have a lenghty discussions and debates about essentially everything. From the reason why finally Karl Marx is right in his book Das Kapital to the reason why a hole in a sock is a sign of independence ....

My god do i miss it: from usability to IA and back . I remember as if it was yesterday that we discussed the concepts of the product homepages, the my phone area .... Again my dear old colleagues back to reality: you should be proud of what you achieve on the level of digital, the industry is watching and liking very much what they see.

i need to leave you for today, but more to come. So for today i wish you peace love and understanding


Toon

The story of branding

my god, it was such a long time that i had such a laugh in the office. I have been watching one of the best viral video's on branding ever . See for yourself and have a look at : Windows re-branding of Ipod

Reminds me so much of the discussion i have had with so many people during my time at Dell and Sony Ericsson and most of all it made me think back at the period i had the opportunity to work with Tak Kawagoi , the man behind the Sony Ericsson logo ...

i love so much the stylish and very clean design we had in the beginning, but i must admit looking back at the current site Sony Ericsson is doing: they look smashing as well are the e-mails i feel are like gems in my inbox ...

this evening i'm having the kiwi and olly over for a litte drink or two ... will report back on the damages this week-end. There is basically only one challenge: how can we make sure will be on the train back to Amsterdam tomorrow morning at 8 :-)

a late new years present ...

although I could not really enjoy it anymore in real hard cash I was really thrilled to hear from the ex-colleagues that we managed to hit the targets ... as a little reward I bought myself two new pair of glasses as you can see in the pictures . A nice treat is always welcome, one should it do more often ....


ok also on the house warming party: the date is set: Friday 24th of March. Everybody who wants is more than welcome, just drop me a note one week in advance that I know how many people will be coming ... There will be some very nice whiskey, nice Belgian beer and of course a lot of music .....

for the rest things are going their flow ... I have a new thing to look forward to: I'm being fascinated by a new bike: the new BMW R1200GS .. I see myself as some sort of modern Laurence of Arabia going on an adventure from Morocco to Egypt ... I'm still doubting to buy it and bugging everybody close to me with the idea ... i promise to upload all pictures on the blog .. if ever it happens :-) ...



a friend of mine said that planning, dreaming, hoping is the most important .. not the actual living it ... I got a book as a gift from my girlfriend some time ago: The art of Travel by Alain de Botton .... it has been one of the few books I have been reading in such a short time span .. why : because it was so true to my personal view on traveling: it is all about anticipation of what you think you will find in that distant place ..... people have described it to you in all colors and flavors ... when i'm now thinking about the dust I will taste in my mouth when I cruise through the Moroccan Atlas mountains and the welcome of the Berbers in the mountains offering me sweetened goat milk .....maybe the anticipation of my dream is enough not to spoil it with a reality that might be different ....

but you never know: sometimes reality surpasses without any problem all the pictures you saw, the stories you heard : that is why I will always go after that dream without forgetting to enjoy the anticipation as much as I enjoy the adventure itself ...

well it was a pleasure again to have written something on my blog and hope to hear from all of you soon ... back to our daily jungle :-)

it's been a while

that i took the time to write something in my blog... i don't know really because in a sense it makes me feel connected to the world i left behind .... for me things are going it's own way, slowly but surely getting in the treadmill of the new life, maybe spending to much time wondering what all is going on in a world that i can no longer call my own ... I'm surprised how much it impacts the way one looks at things in life ....

sometimes i wished i could just be a fly or a bird that comes over to see how all of you are doing, but one once told me that it is not possible .... My past will remain my past although it is trying it's best to play catch up with me .... But I keep saying to me hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies ... Therefore i hope that once my past will leave me alone to keep the road for the future i had in mind ....

i know i sound a bit bitter, but maybe it is because winter is wrapping me up in cold blanket and the night are too dark , it's time springs comes .....

the kids are doing great and i enjoy the time i can spend with them, help them and see them grow into little persons with their own character and mind ... Sometimes even reminding me how i once was , especially Riens then ... he played basketball again this week-end and scored 10 points , he was so proud. I could see so much the twinkle in his eyes .... We had a little victory dinner with his favorite food ...

by the way had a very funny call from Brenda asking if i knew any nice hotels in Mechelen for last week-end .. of course i gave some tips, but finally it became clear, apparently she was trying to get invited to the house warming party ... the note had an effect i guess, but to assure everybody: i will send a formal invitation to all of you so that at least it's official .. i guess it will be somewhere around end of February that i will organize this ....

anyhow , going to sit back now a little bit making myself the promise to update the blog more regular, for now i leave it and return to a new comic book i bought .... a little fantasy world showing a lot of resemblance with the real world ...

a new day has come ...

it took some time to get in the mood, but finally the new year has started with a splash .... My son went down a black slope during our short ski holiday . Yes indeed, you hear this correctly from the guy who said he did not like skiing.

We decided rather last minute to get away from all the busy new years activities and wanted to energize ourselves on the slopes of the French Vogezen. After having received the keys of my studio in Luxemburg, or what I call my hotel without roomservice (for those who don't know: I work in Luxemburg and have rented there a studio for during the week), we drove down to the snow with the kids.

It is amazing to realize that my son and daughter are becoming better skiers than myself, in other words: maybe I'm getting older :-P . It felt so good to just relax, no conference calls, no late night e-mail checking: just the family. Or how a man can change.

I really enjoy all the things I still receive from all of you: from the figures on Fun and downloads, the new designs of the homepages, the little presents from suppliers, the occasional phone call and e-mail ... It feels still as if I'm a little bit part of the family.

Here the projects are going well. Before march 26th we need to renovate the attic to create Riens his bedroom. A birthday present for Lauran so the little girl can finally have her own room with a princess bed. The plans for the kitchen are still in full development since there is some discussion on how to actually organize it. So everybody who comes to visit is shown the plan and requested to provide input.

Also just realized I still have a nice bottle of whisky waiting for some friends out of London : Highland Park 25 years Old. James it will be served , so everybody who is in Belgium on Friday the 20th is more than welcome ... just let me know ...

and as usual: for all of you I wish you all the peace love and understanding you can dream of for the years ahead

T.

... I feel Christmas coming closer ..

as you can see on the images, Christmas is coming closer for us. It feels so strange not to travel to China, RTP or Miami jus before Christmas. I remember last year I had a crazy time flying first to Beijing and than to RTP and Miami just before Christmas, when I finally got home then it was... mmm is it Christmas now, are you really sure ...

today it was Christmas shopping in town, and we just relaxed out time away, looking outside the window and reading some comic strips (our new favorite hobby) ... Only thing i did not count on is the fact my car is being thowed away for the second time. The picture says you are not allowed to park here between 7 and 18 on workdays.... so i went to the police station for a nice and lengthy discussion. Result: a typical belgian situation: saturday are workdays .... no kidding

My god will I be happy when my week of holiday is there, I feel really exhausted. Changing job is not something you have to do to have a relaxing time, on the contrary ... it will be still very busy days and months since the new business is mainly active in January, February, march and April, after which it starts to slow down to practically nothing in December. As said: a new world with a whole new set of rules ... I'm very much amazed how much time it really takes to find your way around a new place, every company's culture is so different and you really need time as an advisor on how to play the cards. But as you all know me: i have a difficult time being patient, but this time i will try to take that time ...

I see the awards for our digital work streaming in: Dare Digital agency of the year with a lot of mentioning of the Sony Ericsson work, K750 getting honors, W800 still in the press ... I must admit: I secretly still feel a part of it , but way to go ... It's so nice to have Gavin and Martin keeping me informed.

Going tomorrow to London, but this time by train. On my way i will try to meet up with some colleagues, but we'll see if the schedule allows it ... i hope it does, because it is during this time of year you look back to what has happened the last 12 months .....

I wish you all love peace and understanding ...


Toon

.... A place called home ...

ok .. i know it has been a long time that i have updated the blog, but moving house has some disadvantges: no internet connection at home, even not today. So had to make a little hack in the system here to get to my update page. All in all our move went just fine: what do you expect we were helped by the whole family. Can you imagine my brother and sisters, my dad and my stepmom and my mom as one team: guaranteed efficiency :-) ....

it really feels like a home .. my little nest in the middle of the city. I call it my little New York since i'm in the middle of the city city center .... Just around the corner is my favorite pub and in my street i have the bakkery, the fresh market and the fish market ... all fresh things. So basically there are two option if you see me next time: or i have slimmed thanks to healthy food or i'm a real elephant since i eat too much ...

with Xmas just around the corner i hope all of you will find the time to do the necessary shopping .. our holiday will bring us another move: i'm moving into my studio in Luxemburg beginning of Jan, so still need to get some stuff for that place. Also the things like electricity, residents permit , .. will need to be fixed in the first of Jan, but we still hope to get the time to go skiing 4 days in the first week of January....

Next week i hope to update the blog with some picture. Talk soon :-)

Time is moving fast

.... I just realized that next week-end we move top my new apartment. Today the kids and I called for help from mother and sister to start the packing . Next week the team will be complete for the moving of one end of Mechelen to the center. ... I think I will throw a house warming part, but we still need to decide on the date ...

last Friday I was out on town with Jan from Jip and Janneke the producers/directors of the WorldQuest adventure. He met up to celebrate the award Sony Ericsson WorldQuest received at the Night of tea advertising in Belgium. We won the award for best Interactive campaign and best return on investment .... a pithy we can not go for the 06 version because after Friday we are sure: it was a one of our best experiences ...

Talking about work: it is not only getting used to new colleagues, but also to new agencies :-0 ... it is when you leave a job after 4 to 5 years and then start over again that you realize how deeply interwoven your thinking is with that of the lead agencies you work with ... It feels like in the good relationships I had with the lead agencies there was a common way of thinking and creating which made life so easy on one hand ... Today I have to start the process with the agencies again to come to that common ground from which the best projects are delivered ... But who from the agencies does not remember the first meeting with me :-) .. History repeats itself ...

talk soon - love peace and understanding my friends

Felt like coming home ....

this week-end. Believe it or not I went to Malmo this week-end. It felt good to re-visit all the places of which I parted now already more than a month ago. I thought I was never going to see them again, but there was some reversal of fortune. The food at Hai still tastes wonderful, served with a smile and that little exchange of thoughts with the people working there make it such a nice place ....

Running into Martin and Lisa had something enriching. Of course we talked a bit about work, but the most important things were what we were doing, how we felt and where we were heading to .... a new house, a new life ....

Earlier that week I met up with Cecilia F and Magdalena at the Audi Open in Brussels where I could witness the class of our Team Sony Ericsson in show jumping. Of course I took them out on a little tour in Brussels to show them my favorite places and my favorite bar.

It was a true joy feeling that after all I moved on, there will always be a place and a time to meet. Let this therefore be an open invitation to everybody reading this blog: don't be a stranger, you will always find an open door when you are around ...

T.

Never realized ...

But last week was the first week in 4 years that I worked and slept the whole week in my own bed.

I'm glad in a way that I was home all week and that I could finally meet up with some friends in Mechelen without having to think about the next flight to catch. In a way it is addictive the traveling and maybe I'm just happy now not having to do this , but I know that I some way I will miss it in the long run ...

this week-end also it got more an more clear that the move is coming really close. We set the date of the actual move to Sunday 27th of November. We have to do this on a Sunday since the apartment is in the city center and on Saturday there is the market and a lot of week-end shopping going on ...

On the work front things are starting to get in place .. I tumbled from budget meeting to budget meeting. In Sony Ericsson it was the last thing I did, within Dunlop it is the first thing I do .. Talking about continuity :-) .... It is really fun trying to find the right tone of voice :-) for this new environment and to figure out the specifics of the business ....

it has been now already two weeks that I closed a very big chapter .... and I'm slowly getting used to my new habitat. Last week on Thursday I had a meting in London (sorry flew in in the morning and out in the evening so no time for a social visit, but next time I will make sure I have the time) and it felt so strange not to get off at the Hammersmith station on the Piccadilly line .... wonder when it will feel strange to do so ....

Life is pretty hectic for the moment with trying to sort all paperwork for my apartment in Luxembourg and the one I bought last month in my home town Mechelen . We can hardly wait to move and to build a new home which I hope to see more often than I did my current place .... a new home, seems like such a big new thing, an opportunity to make a fresh start, but aren't things a bit more simple, since the simplest questions are the most profound: Where is your home? Where are you going? What are you doing? Think about these once in awhile, and watch your answers change.

feels like I have found the answer to the first question, but the second question I hope to have some indications when I have a more clear view on what I'm doing today .....

ons toontje

Good Year (Dunlop) and Good Times

Stay tuned with Toon

To Good Years and to Good Times.

 

the past is never brighter than the future.

the future is only brighter by the day

the day is never here to stay

the road ahead a long and winding way

Brother
Koen
 

There is a part of me ....

that I have to leave behind with all of you at Sony Ericsson. To feel whole again I will have to come back to the memories. It sounds strange but here am I sitting at the eve of a new challenge feeling sad to leave behind the wonderful time and people I had to pleasure to work with the past 4 years.

 

When I was my last day in Malmo-Lund and my last day in London I took the opportunity to wonder around the both cities to pick up memories of the places I visited the most and came to the conclusion that the memories would be meaningless if they were not filled with people. But at the same time I realized that we tend to forget and take the time to just sit down and look at the surroundings and the everyday life we work in .... Malmo and London offered me a tremendous farewell present: under the warm autumn sun I enjoyed watching people at the squares in Malmo, having my light dinner at Hai, overseeing the sea with an setting sun on my way to the airport. London gave me the pleasure of shopping for some nice new shirts at Paul Smith and strolling around Portobello discovering all little shops full of fashion treasures .... A recommendation to all of you: why not just take of one late afternoon and taste the cities you visit instead of rushing in and out ... Ok, I should walk the talk , but what I did not do in the past, I can still do in the future...

 

The last four days I really enjoyed the silence of no mails, no calls ..... the weather in Belgium was superb, as if the last weeks they granted me the favour of sun, good food, great fun with friends and family . But tomorrow reality strikes back ... still haven't decided to which glasses I will be wearing for this first day :-)...

 

I wish you all a nice week, and I will keep this updated on a regular basis (maybe already tomorrow night with the first impressions of the new colleagues)

 

Peace love and understanding

 

ons toontje

PS: for everybody who still wants to make a posting: feel free to send it in on: onstoontje.friends@blogger.com

Wij zullen u missen

Ik wens u veel geluk voor de toekomst en ik hoop u terug te zien in t'kort.

Kieron

Greetings from the AM team

Dear Toon,

It has been a pleasure working together with you over the last years. You have been a tough but fair requirement owner. We wish you all the best for the future and hope that our paths will cross again!

Best regards
The AM Team

Per Pedersen

Good Luck!

Toon,
Lund will be a duller place when it looses the color of you glasses, now we will never know what really hids behind all that glamour!

It has been a pleasure working with you - I wish you all the best for the future.

/Dan