Who are they endorsing and why?

November 3rd, 2008

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

October 24th, 2008

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

October 9th, 2008

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 »

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A case for cause marketing

October 1st, 2008

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 »

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Letter from the random CEO

September 26th, 2008

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

September 25th, 2008

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.

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!

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Brief BlogWorld 2008 Recap

September 22nd, 2008

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.

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

September 20th, 2008

Blogworld Expo 2008Imagine 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 »

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

September 7th, 2008

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 »

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

August 22nd, 2008

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 »

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Thanks for letting me in

August 20th, 2008

Today marks a special day on my calendar as I turned into an American Citizen.
I have arrived;-)

I visited this country the first time in 1983 and figured that this is where I will eventually end up. I don’t want to bore you with the details and all the different Visa (F1, E2…)  I had over the years.

I have enjoyed living here for over 11 years now and this country is my home. But something felt incomplete: I wasn’t allowed to vote.

Since my wife and my daughter are American it also felt a bit strange not to have the same nationality as my family.

I feel appreciative of the fact to become a “full” member of this society. Not everything here is perfect and I rather look at an “American challenge” than an “American dream” when I am thinking of our future.

But this is a place that let’s me live my life the way I want to.

I can speak my mind. Everyone who knows me knows that I do.

I have the freedom to pursue my interests. Business or personal.

I know I can make a difference and I feel accepted.

I won’t run around draped in red, white and blue. I won’t put flags up on 4th of July. I won’t start singing the anthem before sports games either. God bless America sounds to me like something is missing. All this is simply not my cup of tea.

But America knows all that and it is still letting me in. And for that I am thankful.

I have to confess: I will still root for Germany in soccer;-)

PS:
I did some older ladies injustice on Twitter earlier today. The gathered to sing the anthem and actually did a fabulous job.

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Aloha Social Media Summit Colorado coming up

August 18th, 2008

Aloha Social Media Summit ColoradoHere is a rather unique opportunity to get in front of the experts: Dave Taylor and Andy Beal will be hosting the Aloha Social Media Summit Colorado.

The event will be held in Boulder at the “Techstars Bunker” on October 6th & 7th.

It is labeled to be an un-conference. The price is $2499. Sounds a little steep?

You will get one on one time with some of the leading experts in the field of social media.

Depending on what you are up to their input could help you to develop new ideas for your business – hopefully worth much more than $2499.

Take a look at experts:

Om Malik, CEO of GigaOM
Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter.com
Peter Shankman, founder of Help a Reporter Online
Susan Stratton of Personal Life Media
Charlene Li – co-author of Groundswell
Roxanne Darling – host, Beachwalks With Rox

Sounds like a pretty strong line-up to me. Especially since these guys will actually sit down and talk to you.

Learn more about the event here…

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Dinner With The Namibians

August 11th, 2008

Dinner with the NamibiansGuest Olympic Post From Rohit Bhargava

When I boarded my flight to Beijing, I didn’t have a single ticket for any Olympic events and I wasn’t worried. To understand why, I need to tell you about my best day during the Summer Olympics in Sydney in 2000. I was living there and had one night where I was heading out to see a Handball match (by far my favourite Olympic sport, by the way). I got two tickets last minute and knew nothing about the sport. When I turned up, I was surprised to learn that the sport is basically a cross between soccer with your hands and water polo without the water. It is fast, challenging, and amazingly fun to watch. I discovered a new sport that day, but that wasn’t even the most memorable part of the day. Right after, I managed to get a table at famous S-shaped bar at the one hotel which was at Homebush Bay (the main Olympic Area) outside of Sydney. At the table, we sat with several athletes from different countries including an Eastern European gymnast and an African track and field athlete. I don’t remember their names, or even what we talked about … only that it was one of the most authentic and powerful Olympic experiences I could imagine. And it wasn’t about watching an athlete break a record or win a medal. It was a quiet moment at a shared table over a bottle of wine talking to two athletes who were considered the best in their countries in their respective sports. Read the rest of this entry »

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Our own games won’t happen this August, but…

August 8th, 2008

We had an Idea last week to host our own (Olympic) games. After a week of discussion with our sponsors and our legal counsel we decided to reschedule the event. We wanted to do this in Germany and the legal situation in Germany is just too unclear and to many issues remained unsolved. Germany is a contender for the 2016 games and doesn’t want to mess with the IOC.

It would have put us into too much jeopardy to purse our original plans at this time. We are a pretty adventurous team and up for a lot of crazy stuff but we also have a company to run and wouldn’t want to spend the next year and half in court.

BUT: We found a ton of support for the idea and will move on with it at a later time. I’d like to thank everyone for their sympathy with our efforts. We will take our time and revise our concept. As a result we will come out even stronger.

You’ll hear more about this when we are ready to launch!

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Jacques Rogge wakes up from his nightmare and calls it off

August 7th, 2008

My name is Jacques Rogge. I just woke up from a long and bad nightmare. I just spent 7 years being totally delusional.

Wishful thinking ruled
We had an idea that awarding the games to Beijing would make a difference in the lives of one of the wonderful people of China. Of course we also thought that we could make a boatload of money by attracting sponsors to one of the biggest markets on Earth. After all, that’s how Mr. Samaranch taught us.

Of course our contract with the Chinese government about the terms of our cooperation was top secret. In deed it was so secret that I don’t even have a copy of it.

We knew that a lot of construction would take place and that people would need to be relocated. But we were told that this would be for the better of the people. Really: How could we not trust the Chinese governments’ good intensions? Read the rest of this entry »

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