for and from the curious - web 2.0, social media and cause marketing explored

Who are they endorsing and why?

I made a shortlist of some international leaders that won’t be allowed to vote. But I have their endorsements for you;-)

Nicolas Sarkozy – President, France
McCain – Sarkozy would be terrified to bring his wife Carla Bruni to the states when the President looks way better and is way more charming than him. That won’t be a problem with McCain.

Wladimir Putin – Russian Czar or whatever his current title is
Obama – McCain is no match for Mr. Superfit.  He likes to wrestle his opponents down and drag them into all other kinds of physical exercises. Can’t do that with a 72 year old that might die of a heart attack. He’ll expose Obama’s smoking habit.

Silvio Berlusconi – Prime Minister, Italy
McCain – Obama has plans to actually do something about education. Berlusconi has plans too: Stick all immigrant kids into special ed and cut 8bln Euro of the education budget. Obama would give him an earful and he won’t have that. He can also show off next to McCain as the better looking guy in retirement age. Read the rest of this entry »

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Well spoken Tim O’Reilly

I like when people get it right. So did Tim O’Reilly at the WEB 2.0 EXPO BERLIN today (surprise, surprise;-)

He stated that all the web-clones are unnecessary - How many Twitter copies do we have now? He also told everyone to stop looking for the quick buck - these days are over. “Ignore the wealth of the Mark Zuckerbergs and do something meaningful”. Read the rest of this entry »

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Meeting Biz Stone at the Aloha Summit

I had the great pleasure to meet Biz Stone, Co-founder of Twitter at the Aloha Summit in Boulder earlier this week.

He spoke a bit about the reasons for Twitter:
In 2006 phone companies would allow SMS to go from one network to another. That’s when the idea of Twitter become something worth pursuing for him. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in This n That | CommentsMeeting+Biz+Stone+at+the+Aloha+Summit2008-10-09+15%3A55%3A57Klaus+Holzapfel

A case for cause marketing

Cause marketing is being defined as a cooperative effort of a “for profit” business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. Sometimes it is also defined on a broader base as marketing effort for social and other charitable causes.

Why would a commercial marketer engage in this?
Under a cause marketing scenario part of the proceeds of a sale of product or service will be donated to a good cause. The resulting PR might very well lead to an increase in sales that will offset the cost of the donations.

Think about all the ways a meaningful cause marketing story can be spun:
It can be embedded in your website - yes it is ok to brag about doing good - it will encourage others to do the same!

Your consumers will potentially identify with your cause. They’ll talk about it and in many cases will encourage their friends to buy your product instead of your competitor’s. This can result in free word of mouth marketing for you - online and offline. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hot at the Bakery | CommentsA+case+for+cause+marketing2008-10-01+22%3A34%3A48Klaus+Holzapfel

Letter from the random CEO

Ooops, we really didn’t see that one coming.

Well, kind of:
This is just a little note to let you know that all our board members are fine. They sold enough stock before our entire little shack vanished.

As for our 50,000 employees:
We are glad to announce that the weekend is coming. That gives you TWO full days to figure things out!

Shareholders:
You mean you are one of the little guys that owned some of our stock and didn’t jump ship in time? We’ll that just stupid. You’re a moron. I wish I could tell you different.

BTW: Does anyone know a good HR person?
I’d be looking for a part time job since I want to work on my golf handicap a little bit. Therefore I’d settle for something in the 15 million $ range + plus benefits and options. Deal?

Fellow “vacationers”:
I know a couple of awesome golf courses and I’d also be up to a trip to Vegas or Hawaii pretty much any time. Heliskiing is ok, too. Twitter me: @LastOnePleaseTurnOffTheLight

PS:
I didn’t find this letter from Washinton Mutual in my mailbox today but I wouldn’t have been surprised about it.

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New moviebakery video - Why I don’t have a piercing

Wondering how we’ve been spending our time at moviebakery?

I usually will share our commercial videos via a widget in the sidebar or just by pointing to our YouTube channel. But here is a video that is pretty outstanding in its simplicity and therefore deserves a bit more mentioning.

This video has to do with a product that deal with magnetic connections. The product will be launched in late October and therefore I can share more at this time.

YouTube DirektWhy I don't have a piercing!?

Manuel Diemand from Germany had the idea and did a great job with the realization. This is not just your regular kind of “user generated content”.

Let’s see how the video does on the web…

Enjoy!

Posted in Web Videos | CommentsNew+moviebakery+video+-+Why+I+don%27t+have+a+piercing2008-09-25+17%3A30%3A00Klaus+Holzapfel

Brief BlogWorld 2008 Recap

I won’t go over all the great speeches and podium discussion at Blogworld 2008. 100’s if not 1000’s of other bloggers have covered this already via Twitter or in depth on their blogs.

I just want to sum up the things that stood out for me to make this a very worthwhile event:

1. Direct access to people that are simply too busy to answer every email they get. No matter how big their following. I could list  270+ speakers here, go to the Blogworld Site to see who they were.

2. Everyone was pretty much down to earth.

3. This is a relatively small show, which makes it more personable for everyone. I expect it to grow quite a bit in the future. More people will learn that this is an event not to be missed in 2009.

4. All the show visitors will jump on you with both feet if you apply any black hat marketing. Very quickly. This should serve as a reality check for every marketer that still has some of those ideas in their back of their mind.

This was a very refreshing and noticeable difference form Ad:Tech in San Francisco were things were a bit different.

5. There was a huge feeling of consensus amongst everyone I meet. Everything boils down to things like:
Quality content rules (unknown Greek Philosopher, 1250 B.C.)
People buy who you are - not what you sell (Don Crowther)
We make our minds by feeling (Richard Levick)
Culture and brand are the same thing in today’s world (Tony Hsieh)

And of course the number 1 rule which you’ve heard form me many times before:
DON’T SUCK (that includes myself;-)

I think everyone who helped putting this event together deserves a big thank you: You did awesome!

PS:
I laughed & joked quite a bit with the few non-techie people at the show: The kind security guard that helped me out when my bag was locked away and the sweet lady cleaning the tables for instance. They noticed as well that this was a special bunch and a special event and that we are all a bit nuts.

But I realized why I felt connected to these guys - because they live by the same rules listed above. They were authentic.

Posted in This n That | CommentsBrief+BlogWorld+2008+Recap2008-09-22+16%3A18%3A06Klaus+Holzapfel

Blogworld Entrepreneur & Executive conference - what a great place to be at

Imagine a conference center that usually holds 100k + visitors - filled with nothing else but ~ 300 bloggers - many of them leading thinkers and influencers. That’s what #1 of the Blogworld Expo 2008 looked like.

Of course bloggers are interested in growing their “tribe” or following and so a lot of the talk was about marketing (yourselves). I think I’ve hear the word “Twitter” more often than ever before in one day. It has simply been revolutionizing how everyone in the blogosphere operates. Guy Kawasaki asked the question how many people in the room would pay $5 a month for Twitter and every hand hand went up. He even stated that he’d pay $500 a month for it. I’ imagine that model would leave him with fewer followers.

The other words I heard a lot were “YOU MUST” or at least “you should” as well as “don’t”. This is simply due to the fact that all of the speakers are very passionate about what they are doing and have pretty strong beliefs based on their own and others success stories. After all we are living in a time where measuring online success is fairly easy. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in This n That | CommentsBlogworld+Entrepreneur+%26+Executive+conference+-+what+a+great+place+to+be+at2008-09-20+15%3A20%3A28Klaus+Holzapfel

What led to the creation of Project South Africa – Time for Ubuntu?

We just launched a major initiative to help South Africa dealing with rape, HIV and subsequent problems like sky high numbers of orphans. I have been asked repeatedly how I came up ith the idea and why I am so commited to “South Africa Project - Time for Ubuntu”.

I should have a one-paragraph answer ready eventually. But for now all there is, is the longer version. The following thoughts were circling in my head:

POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media has opened the door for average guys (like me) to get in front of  many people – incl. potential supporters. This allows for a bigger vision. I believe that the word “social” in “social media” has been underutilized. I hope our team can create a real success story here that can show others a meaningful way to use all the great tools at our hands.

SHOCKING STATISTICS
I read a lot and came across the latest number in South Africa. 33% of boys stated in a survey that gang raping is a fun activity to do. 40% of all high school girls stated that they had been raped. 1.2 – 1.4 million kids lost both their parents due to AIDS.

IMPACT OF RAPE
Due to my wife’s studies in the field of depth psychology I understand the impact of rape on individuals and on society as a whole. There is no way of peaceful coexistence in an environment that violent.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hot at the Bakery | CommentsWhat+led+to+the+creation+of+Project+South+Africa+%E2%80%93+Time+for+Ubuntu%3F2008-09-07+16%3A25%3A01Klaus+Holzapfel

How much social media and web 2.0 does the “normal” Internet user really want or need?

Let’s add a few more questions:

• Does my neighbor really want to know which websites I have been on today?
• How do you explain to the next guy on the street why any of your hyperconnectivity really matters?
• Are you possible just giving the vibe that you belong to some digital cult? (be honest!)
• Are you losing people that were once close to you because you have nothing in common to talk about except the good old times?
• Do you tend to define yourselves via: # of blog postings, # of followers on Twitter, # of Diggs received, # of friends on Facebook or contacts on Linkedin?

Do any of these questions sound familiar because you are tinkering around with them (and the answers) as well? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Hot at the Bakery | CommentsHow+much+social+media+and+web+2.0+does+the+%22normal%22+Internet+user+really+want+or+need%3F2008-08-22+15%3A14%3A14Klaus+Holzapfel