Last week we said goodbye to a great social media intern (aka Lab Rat), Shastri Gayatri. She sent us a really inspiring, sweet and terribly praising goodbye mail (which we will not publish because you would never believe we are such terrific colleagues:-)), but we do want to share the last part:

If a picture speaks a thousand words, Infographic speaks millions. So, I’ve captured the awesomeness of Porter Novelli Brussels with this one (click on the image to enlarge):

Thanks Sasha!

By Kathy Van Looy

This week is SP&R (Strategic Planning & Research) Week at Porter Novelli Brussels! If you are not a Porter Novelli citizen, you are probably wondering what on earth that means… so let me explain

Our strength at Porter Novelli lies in our consistent and systematic approach to providing insight-based solutions that differentiate us and our clients in the marketplace. We get there through Compass, our approach to communications planning. Compass empowers us to uncover underlying assumptions about our clients’ needs, identify target audiences we hope to influence and generate the Big Idea that will motivate them to change. And, ultimately, create value – both for our clients and for ourselves.

So what will we be doing exactly?

• On Tuesday 31 August the PN colleagues will be split into three groups, and each group will be running a PNPoint Insights® session on a specific project for a client. During the session, we develop specific insights about what drives the target group to think and behave in a certain way. The PNPoints Insights® process is our proprietary approach to uncover the key motivators for the target group to help us understand why our target audience does what they do today, in order to help us change what they think/feel/do tomorrow.

• On Thursday 2 September, the three groups will be running Big It Up sessions during which they will brainstorm and in the end develop “The Big Idea”: a novel, compelling expression of the insight-based strategy that helps us activate the “change” we want in the target’s beliefs and behaviours.

The results of each group will be presented at the next staff meeting in September.

Interested to know more? Email us!

Inge.boets@porternovelli.be

kathy.vanlooy@porternovelli.be



Dabbing my toe left and right in the stormy waters of Social Media, I bumped into a fascinating quote from Google big boss Eric Schmidt (Google him, it’s impressive ). He said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal: “I don’t believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time… I mean we really have to think about these things as a society… Young people may one day have to change their names in order to escape their previous online activity.” This is a concern I have voiced for a long time now. Do people really know what they are sharing? Do people really want to tell every last detail of their most private lives online, for Google to index? Do people realize that that very cute picture in that minuscule teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini is available for their future boss? What about the massive tagging of pictures taken by smartphones in the dark of a hen night? Do people realize Tweets are indexed and kept, long after their authors have deleted and forgotten them? Schmidt has a point. Digital citizens should be more aware of the digital traces they leave behind. Some social auto-responsibility is required, indeed. Some social clean up even: map your real friends. Find a circle where sharing is mutual and well defined. Un-friend and un-follow the shady ones. Be online street-smart. And we need more e-netiquette. The freedom of waving your digital camera around ends where someone else’s freedom (for privacy) begins. An opt-in/opt-out for tagging? We all can become social-digital smarter. But we’ve all been young. We’ve all partied. We’ve all made big, social mistakes. Luckily, for my generation, the memories of those mistakes have been blissfully eroded by the softening hand of time. Should we now be merciless on youngsters that made that one drunken mistake online? Should we continue to judge that one girl for loving the wrong guy just a bit too much, and ending up tagged on exgirlfriends.com? Maybe Eric Schmidt and his all-powerful Google have a responsibility here: can you get a second chance from Google? Imagine, mister Schmidt, if a youngster made that one online mistake, and motivates why he/she would like to see it blown into –permanent- oblivion. Could you alter your logarithm, and give the kid the rest of his/her life back? Would that not be easier, more respectful, and more educative than just offering future generations the possibility to change their names? But I do not want to put the entire burden on Eric Schmidt’s shoulders, I agree with online consultant Suw Charman-Anderson who said somewhere: “As a society, we are just going to have to become a bit more forgiving of the follies of youth.”

Shopkick is a new geo-location app that will allow retailers send coupons and special offers to customers’ mobiles when they enter a store!

As opposed to other location based apps like Foursquare or Loopt, Shopkick does not rely on GPS or Wi-Fi but uses a custom system that only works with certain hardware installed in the partnering store (for now only US stores e.g. Best Buy or Macy’s). That means that shoppers, who download the application, will get discounts and promotions when they physically enter the store – is there a better way for brands and retailers to directly communicate with the potential customers?

The app will be available in the next few weeks on iPhone, and later on other smart phones.

Wanna know more? Check out the Tech Crunch video below:

By Kathy Van Looy

Last weekend, my very own colleague Marta Majewska was quoted in Het Laatste Nieuws on Doodle. Doodle? Huh? I cannot help but see images of very ugly dogs and I don’t know what on earth she is talking about, but since she is our Digital Media Expert, it is not that strange that I am (again) on another planet. However, when I start talking about it in the office, it looks like 70% of my colleagues are using it. OMG. How did that happen?

Guessing (and hoping!) I am not the only one who doesn’t know what it is, here’s some info about Doodle:

Doodle is an online tool that helps you to schedule group events. An example of how we use it in the office: my colleague Tim works in an international team of 4 people and he needs to arrange different teleconferences every month. How many emails does it take to set a date that suits everyone? A whole lot! And the time it takes waiting for the others to respond: it’s all just a big hassle. But not when you use Doodle: it only takes a few mouseclicks and within the hour you know who is available when. Easy!

Want to get started rightaway? Go to doodle.com. Give the name of the activity and a list of potential dates. Send your Doodle link to your invitees. The invitees receive the link by email, and when they open it, they can easily indicate what dates suit them. This way, you get a table with green and red squares, indicating what date suits most of the invitees best. Et voilà!

According to Marta, the power of Doodle lies in its simplicity. You don’t need to become a member or anything and it’s open for everyone. She uses it especially to pick dates to meet with her friends, who live all over Europe. It makes everything so much easier: in one hour they can fix a date.

So Doodle saves a huge amount of time, and a lot of email traffic. It’s becoming a very popular tool: more than 6 million users – and rising! And the best thing about it: it’s for free.

So Doodle with us

Congratulations to Stephanie on a great accomplishment!

Stephanie Agresta, EVP, global director of digital strategy and social media, Porter Novelli, 39

At Porter Novelli, Stephanie Agresta has built a team of social and digital media experts and strategists and driven initiatives for many high-profile clients, including Microsoft, PepsiCo, Hewlett-Packard, and Procter & Gamble. Agresta has also established strategic partnerships with Twestival, Internet Week, and Social Media Week, and was behind the effort that helped the firm win an AOR task for digital activities for Chicago-based Bel Brands USA Inc.’s The Laughing Cow Wedges and Mini Babybel brands. In 2008, she launched “Bloggers Lounge,” a networking hub for digital media influencers and cofounded “The TechSet,” a networking brand. Agresta began her career at iVillage.com. She ran her own digital media and marketing consultancy before joining Porter Novelli.

Sanoma Magazines Belgium recently conducted a study on the usage of iPhone by women.

Below some interesting highlights from the report:

• 2.9% of the Belgian population 15+ owns an iPhone. This equals 257.000 users.
• 1.7% of women owns an iPhone, which equals 78.000 women in the North and 55.000 in the South.
• The prototype iPhone owner is male, between 15 and 44 years and is part of the higher social classes.
• Women get an iPhone relatively more often as a gift. They are relatively recent onwers.
• 6 on 10 female iPhone owners accesses at least once a week the internet thru the iPhone. 4 on 10 almost never does this.
• The most popular sites that are visited on the iPhone are Facebook, Google and newspaper sites.
• 77% of the female iPhone owners has a Facebook account.
• 36% of women have ever installed an app on their iPhone. Only 19% of them has actually paid for it (= 7% of the female iPhone users) Women prefer free apps with ads above paying apps.

My Social Evolution from Nicole D’Alonzo on Vimeo.

We have a new colleague @Porter Novelli New York! Nicole, who works on the Digital Strategy team in NYC, will spend a portion of her time serving as a public facing community manager for the global PN presence.  Using a best-practices approach to community, she will manage the overall editorial calendar for social content and oversee submissions to our blog. She tweets from @porternovelli and serves as a liaison for our staff to integrate great content from across the network into all of our social channels.

A bit of background on Nicole:

Nicole D’Alonzo is an SAE and serves also as the Community Manager for The Laughing Cow.  She graduated from York College of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in English Literature and a minor in women’s studies.  Nicole is also an active philanthropy ambassador and video producer.

You can see her client work in action for a client at:
http://www.twitter.com/thelaughingcow
http://www.thelaughingcow.com/blog/

Are you smart, driven and passionate about social media? You love it and you want to spend the whole day learning and doing it? Then you will fit perfectly into the Porter Novelli Social Media Team! We need an intern who is looking to dive in and get their hands dirty and is willing to do everything related to social media from research through tweeting to blogging and more!

Responsibilities:

• Social media research across any given topic (collecting, organizing and analyzing data)
• Social media monitoring
• Social media outreach
• Blogging
• Developing creative ideas for social media campaigns
• Any other tasks given by a supervisor

Requirements:

• Familiarity and interest in Web 2.0, social media and the blogosphere
• Excellent computer skills
• Excellent writing skills
• Fluent in English (and preferably another European language)

Bonus points if:

• You’re an active blogger
• Have more than 250 followers on Twitter
• Speak several languages

Start date: August or September

Job type:
Full-time (preferred)

Based in:
Brussels, Belgium

Interested? Contact me @princess_misia or send your CV and motivation to marta.majewska@porternovelli.be (don’t forget to include your social media details such as Twitter, blog etc.)

Mom tried to raise me to be an honorable citizen. Thinking of it: so did dad. Greet people. Thank them. Speak with two words. Be helpful. Pay for things you need. Get older ladies safely across busy streets.

Honestly, they succeeded quiet well.  I was managing reasonably good, trying to be mister almost perfect. And then… I bought an iPad. And my world shifted. Because mister Steve Jobs disagrees with mom. He does not want me to be a nice citizen.

My iPad has all this great tools and things. It’s a fully mobile, highly connected dog-and pony show. But to make half of the stuff work, mister Jobs wants me to cheat. I live in Belgium, and iTunes will not let me buy ebooks. ITunes will not let me buy TV-series. iTunes will not let me buy movies. No buying, no renting. God and Steve know why.

I cannot even buy my favorite stuff in another country than Belgium. iTunes will not let me. American Express and Visa ensure there is nothing wrong with my credit. There is something wrong with iTunes. There is something wrong with Steve.

Now that he pocketed a small 1000 dollars, I discover that some nice features of my iPad only will work if I rip or download illegally. Apple will not take my good money for legal entertainment on my kosher personal iPad.

Sorry mom… blame Steve. But nothing will stand between me and an iPad driven Monthy Python.