http://www.luon.comumbracoLUON blogenhttp://www.luon.com/blog/2011/9/26/how-to-maximize-the-return-on-your-digital-presence-1.aspx#comment-298http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/9/26/how-to-maximize-the-return-on-your-digital-presence-1.aspx#comment-298http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/9/26/how-to-maximize-the-return-on-your-digital-presence-1.aspx#comment-296http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/9/26/how-to-maximize-the-return-on-your-digital-presence-1.aspx#comment-296http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/8/18/google-analytics-global-stats.aspx#comment-291http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/8/18/google-analytics-global-stats.aspx#comment-291http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/4/21/5-steps-to-creating-custom-facebook-tabs.aspx#comment-192http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/4/21/5-steps-to-creating-custom-facebook-tabs.aspx#comment-192http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/4/21/5-steps-to-creating-custom-facebook-tabs.aspx#comment-191http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/4/21/5-steps-to-creating-custom-facebook-tabs.aspx#comment-191
Thanks so much for the tutorial. Very easy to follow! -have you ever run into an error:

"The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for cannot be displayed because an invalid method (HTTP verb) was used to attempt access."

I'm not sure how to deal with this..]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2008/3/21/620-kilometers-of-cruel-advertising-space.aspx#comment-167http://www.luon.com/blog/2008/3/21/620-kilometers-of-cruel-advertising-space.aspx#comment-167 Whilst he was working on a mural on the Apartheid Wall (or, as the Israelis disingenuously call it, the 'Security Fence') a Palestinian taxi driver pulled up next to him.
Taxi driver - "What are you doing?"
Banksy - "Painting something on the wall."
Taxi driver - "You make it look beautiful."
Banksy - "Thank you."
Taxi driver - "We don't want it to look beautiful. We want it to go away."
]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2012/3/26/marketing-csi-means-opportunity-and-motive.aspx#comment-425http://www.luon.com/blog/2012/3/26/marketing-csi-means-opportunity-and-motive.aspx#comment-425http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/25/instagram-is-taking-off.aspx#comment-157http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/25/instagram-is-taking-off.aspx#comment-157 ]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/21/top-topic-alert-week-13-the-flemish-cycling-week.aspx#comment-156http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/21/top-topic-alert-week-13-the-flemish-cycling-week.aspx#comment-156 more like 2 seconds :)]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2012/2/27/call-to-action-7-tips-for-munch.aspx#comment-416http://www.luon.com/blog/2012/2/27/call-to-action-7-tips-for-munch.aspx#comment-416http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/18/mad-men-today-why-copywriters-never-finish-their-novel.aspx#comment-134http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/18/mad-men-today-why-copywriters-never-finish-their-novel.aspx#comment-134 As for Rushdie: he probably still regrets the career move.
And Elsschot, well, that was the other way around: he wanted to write novels, but didn't make enough with it. So he started an agency to get by.]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/18/mad-men-today-why-copywriters-never-finish-their-novel.aspx#comment-133http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/18/mad-men-today-why-copywriters-never-finish-their-novel.aspx#comment-133http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/17/a-pencil-sharp-fnac-guide-for-tablets-and-smartphones.aspx#comment-131http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/3/17/a-pencil-sharp-fnac-guide-for-tablets-and-smartphones.aspx#comment-131http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/18/why-your-site-should-have-a-customized-404-page.aspx#comment-101http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/18/why-your-site-should-have-a-customized-404-page.aspx#comment-101 (Never make a white rabbit angry - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg)
]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/18/why-your-site-should-have-a-customized-404-page.aspx#comment-100http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/18/why-your-site-should-have-a-customized-404-page.aspx#comment-100
Why the @@!xx!!!@ did you forget to mention that brilliant Ello Mobile 404 page in your best practices?

Kisses,
Schmutzenbacker]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-93http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-93 Basically, they had one brilliant idea: inbound links for Pageranks. The rest was sheer geeky fun, and it proved attractive. By the time they launched gmail, they had gotten pretty good at it (remember the invites? The 1 gb promise - for webmail, while you got 2 MB at hotmail). And again, they didn't hire an agency.

But I think we agree - whether you call it clever or creative :)]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-96http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-96
Or would it?

If I were in the market for a new DSLR, or some other product where there are many similar options, my first action would be to scour the web for user-reviews, forums, etc... to see what the consensus amongst the enthusiasts is.
My final decision will more likely be influenced by those opinions than by any commercial they might have. And if I should happen to read a review that says Brand X's customer service was rude or unhelpful...

Of course, that's just me.

I think that Product Strategy, Word Of Mouth/Social Marketing and UX will control the marketing landscape of the future, with Creative acting as the lubricant holding it all together in some conceptually consistent way.

... aaand that's enough marketing-speak for one day for a coder as myself. Back to work now.

(and if any more hilarious e-mail chains should occur, I'll try to keep you in the loop :) )]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-94http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-94
It might still work once or twice, but if you want your product or service to remain relevant and gain loyal customers, clients should look at their own product first and foremost.

The age of features is over. Releasing a new product that has X more features than a competitor isn't enough to sway customers to buy in anymore. What sells things today is the User Experience, which includes everything from the product itself, how they can buy it, to how customers interact with support or after-sales.

User Experience is why Google rules today and Yahoo is on the way to the morgue. UX is why people prefer to buy an iPhone when there are cheaper smart-phones that have more features. And IKEA has some great design at affordable prices, coupled with a great shopping experience.

(the only products that are likely to remain stuck in the traditional marketing scheme for the time being are the consumables & necessities, such as food & drink, as they can't really change their product or don't fully control the distribution or shopping experience. Their campaigns will still require the Don Drapers of today to come up with a fresh line of bullshit now and then)

I see marketing evolving from just taking the client's message and re-packaging it, towards directly advising the client on how to build, expand and grow their products or services, and *then* communicating them in some creative and effective way.

This of course, will mean that you sometimes have to tell the client that they're doing it wrong...


PS: VHS won out over Betamax because all the porn was on VHS. Sometimes, having a better product just isn't enough :p]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-92http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-92
Let's continue on Google. They launched a superior product in an emerging marketing (competition couldn't keep up) and they positioned (active, important part of marketing) themselves against these competition (yahoo, altavista, ..). This positioning was critical in gaining market share.
Then they marketed their branding. The simplicity/minimal. The colors. The OOOOOO's. The design in general. Later the "don't be evil" mantra. It all had it's place in a) getting and remaining market share; and b) opening the door for other activities, like search advertising, that would've never been possible without the previous marketing efforts (if people wouldn't have perceived Google as the friendly company the moment they launched ads .. different ballgame).
There's more, no doubt.

In a way, there's always marketing. Saying "you don't need it" is building your image as well. And marketing is in the product as well. It tells the story: product to user, and any interface between them can be improved, and this improvement is what (at least) I like to call marketing. Whether it's product innovation, advertising, PR, social, service design, events, promotions, .. whatever.

My 2 cents. We still need clever people in marketing and advertising. Creative, no doubt, but more than that (as Fré is pointing out as well). Anybody who can help make sure a) the message stands out (whether creative, smart, beautiful, ..); or b) the right messages reaches the right people; is an asset. Toasted or not.]]>http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-95http://www.luon.com/blog/2011/2/16/mad-men-today-just-how-toasted-are-we.aspx#comment-95 However, 99.9% of the brands out there are not Apple or Google. Most of us have real and smart competitors.
Say you want a medium range Digital Camera. Will you go for Nikon? Or Canon? Both offer a very comparable user-experience, quality and price. The difference in sales is made by marketing. And with equal marketing budgets, it's going to be the smartest or most creative marketing that will win the battle. Just because they said it better to a broader audience.
Is that limited to purely advertising efforts? Nope. A marketing decision might be: we're gonna sell our videoformat by making deals with content providers. The one who thaught of that, is what I like to call a true creative mind. A Don Draper so to speak. Because our business is way bigger than thinking up catchy lines and fancy images.

And hell, your last line in the comment made me miss your replies to all. Please forward me some? ;)]]>