AOL France, web2.0 & french bloggers

The old school Internet Service Provider AOL has invited the French media to discover its new "Web 2.0" strategy for the coming months. It was interesting and refreshing to see AOL, that was previously renown for proprietary content and limited access to non member, opening its content and including comment capabilities.

- AOL will offer more and more exclusive contents with 15 new channels such as Music, Football,...
- The portal is definitely adopting a Consumer Generated Media strategy by offering web users and selected bloggers to collaborate with AOL to the content.
- Multimedia (vidéos, clips, mp3 radio) is one of the key point of their offer

One of the interesting point was that AOL (with the help of one of their blogging employee : Benito) had invited a dozen of influent french bloggers to the press conference in addition to the usual journalists. Brands seems to understand better and better that Bloggers & buzz are pretty well connected... Therefore I had the pleasure to meet Raphael, Benoit Dausse, Charles Liebert, Jacques Froissant, Mry, Fanny, Laurent Valembert,... to name a few.

Without being totally revolutionary, AOL seems finally to adopt the right way by opening itself more and engaging web users (aol member or not) to collaborate with them in order to create a ore interactive content...

 

More photos here.

Conférence Stratégies "Marketing Alternatif" / Séminaire "buzz, blog, viral & guerilla marketing"

J'aurai le plaisir d'intervenir lors de la conférence Stratégies sur le Marketing Alternatif le 5 et 6 juillet 2006. Pour les marques intéressées par le marketing viral, les blogs, le buzz et le guerilla marketing, j'animerai (toujours avec Stratégies) un séminaire d'une journée intitulé "Buzz, viral, blog, guérilla, Exploiter les nouvelles voies du marketing alternatif", le 7 juillet 2006.

PS : Bénéficiez de 300 euros HT de réduction et d'un an d'abonnement au magazine Stratégies pour toute inscription avant le 13 avril 2006 (Offre valable uniquement à partir de 2 jours d'inscription) Responsable de la conférence: Cécile YEUNG 01.46.29.47.22 cyeung@reedbusiness.fr

Plus d'info :
- Le programme en ligne de la Conférence "LE RDV DU MARKETING INTERACTIF".
- Le programme du Séminaire "Buzz, viral, blog, guerilla"

FlyMarketing : The future of marketing by Culture-Buzz!

Culture-Buzz, our viral and buzz marketing agency, is innovating once again with a high impact way of doing marketing : the Fly Marketing. Mor info here (in french).

Guest blogger on Guim Weblog for the week end

Wow, I just have been invited as a guest blogger for the week end. Guim is one of the most active French blogger and he was kind enough to invite me to blog for few hours. I have been emailing, chatting, phoning with Guim for few months now but we did never meet. And now Guim just gave me a complete access to his blog... Another interesting example of the effect of blogging on socialization... I just hope I will be up to the task ;-)

Last week in few words

Because time is moving fast, here is a turbo summary of the last week...

Tuesday ///  PR2.0 or Everyone is an opinion leader : As we just launched BuzzParadise, I am always interested in other's people insight regarding PR, opinion leaders and word of mouth. This week, I suggest to read 2 interesting thoughts : RP 2.0 from PRland and "Tous leaders d'opinions" from Sébastien Bailly, who just joined Yadès...

Wednesday night /// Luxembourg's, Nico Magazine, new edition launch party at Nude Shop : In luxembourg, Nico is a local creative monthly magazine presenting all the art/fashion/trends/culture & music news. For french people just imagine a mix between Technikart, Nova, Blast and l'Officiel des Spectacles. Last wednesday, I was happy to attempt the new edition launch in one of my favorite Luxembourgish shop "Nude", animated by the trendy owner Ture. The party started with a small fashion show with some pretty models, continued with some of the best local Djs, local beer and animated discussions between the guests. It was nice to meet Brav, a Luxembourgish blogger I did not knew, Aurélio Angius from Tempo or Fred Theisen from Rockhall.

      

Thursday /// TV Spot shooting : yes you read it right... we are shooting our first TV spot for a major french brand... Our creative director Galienni did really a great job and you should be able to watch it soon on TV. Stay tunned for more info to come soon.

Thursday night /// Paris CEO bloggers' club dinner : with a dozen of enthusiatics entrepreneurs and bloggers such as Rodrigo, JB Plantin, Jacques Froissant, Christophe Ducamp, Marie Hulin, Henri Kaufman, Rmen, Christophe Ducamp, my partner Nicolas Van Beek, a quick visit from Mry,... under the organization of Guillaume du Gardier. I was happy to meet a new member and an old friend : Godefroy Jordan. My first job was indeed in B2L webagency, that was managed at the time by Loïc Lemeur and him. Welcome in the blogosphere Godefroy.

Alexis Juncosa - Nico Mag - Luxembourg

Alexis Juncosa - Nico Mag - Luxembourg
Vidéo envoyée par culturebuzz

Mini interview of Alexis Juncosa, Chief Redactor of Nico Magazine. Nico is THE trend and culture news zine in Luxembourg. Despite being small, Luxembourg is offering many opportunities for fashion show, music and cultural events. Alexis is a passionated watcher of Luxembourg night and cultural life. This interview just took place during the Marketing and Communication Awards Night in the RockHal Luxmebourg (23/02/06).

Deborah Causton, Creative Freelance

Deborah Causton, Creative Freelance
Vidéo envoyée par culturebuzz

Mini Interview of super creative Deborah Causton. Talented marketing and design freelance, creator of the Design Club, Deb represents the dark side of communication in Luxembourg ;-) She just created the buzz during the party by launching Alternative Communication Awards the night before (the Golden Ducks Awards). This interview just took place during the Marketing and Communication Awards Night in the RockHal Luxembourg (23/02/06).

What is it to be a creative freelance expatriated in Luxembourg?
Difficult to crack the bigger market and very little benefits for being a freelancer in this country, the focus seems to be about making money and not having free time. Something the government should address if they are wishing for encourage creative entrepreneurialship or persuade talented people to hang around.

Tell us about the Golden Ducks Awards?
Golden Ducks was organised by Linda Bos (Freelance Designer), & myself, as a Design Club (www.designclub.lu) initiative it was initially a test run for an event to be staged in the summer here in Luxembourg (keep your ear to the ground on that one!).

The Golden Ducks are the Alternative Design & Communication Awards. They are a sarcastic slant on the official 'Communication & Design Awards' (Markcom as they are known here in Luxembourg). Award categories include Best Use of a Semi Clothed Person (The Nudist Award); Most Creative Use
of an Animal Cousin (The Quack Award), The Most Obvious example a Translator was Not Used (The Lost in Translation Award). We are not aiming to make a point and are just highlighting common 'mistakes' in design & communication in a light hearted way and not necessarily being critical of the work.

What is you opinion of Luxembourg Communication and Marketing Market?
It's ok. As a London lass it is difficult to compare the quality of work produced in the UK to here. Obviously more money is spent over there because there is a larger market/audience. Luxembourg does have moments of genius. I think to continue there is a requirement to encourage more
young people to be expressive and bend the rules a little. Look out side the Grand Ducky Box!

How do you see the future?
For the ducks it is all good. Nominations start on 31st March for 2007 (www.goldenducks.com). Linda & myself are looking to be better prepared for the event next year and will be considering some international categories.