Super Bowl commercials overlook an important target group

Brent Bouchez - an advertising veteran and founding partner of Five0, a New York-based company specializing in messaging, content and relationship marketing for people age 45 to 65 - expressed his discontent about the choice of Super Bowl marketers to ignore or to make fun of people over 50. He refers to several studies to prove that consumers over 50 buy more than any other age group and since a lot of those consumers were watching the game last Sunday, it would have been a good move to make the commercials more attractive to them.

Nevertheless, people in their twenties and thirties were obviously the target group of this year's commercials and we will have to wait until next year to see if marketers will listen to Bouchez's plea to make ads more attractive to people over 50.

By Liselotte David

Source: BusinessWeek

Advertising is overrated!

I just read an article in The Observer which immediately brought me down to earth with a bump! Apparently well-known sites such as Twitter are not very profitable. Twitter has money at its disposal because of investment funding, but has not earned a penny. So whoever is considering setting up a new social website, should either come up with a USP or think twice.

It is common knowledge that online revenues mostly stem from online advertising. However, most people tend to forget that this only applies to sites that specialise in search, such as Google. The reason is simple: when people are searching for something, they are interested in the results, which means they will be more likely to click through to an advertiser. Conversely, most banners on social websites are ignored. Moreover, research has proven that only 8% of all internet users are responsible for about 85% of all banner clicks on the web.

So what should we do next? If we want to earn a fortune by creating a new social website, we should first try to develop a solid ROI plan.

Liesbeth Derycke

Looking for new ways to make money fast: create an app!

Games on Facebook like Farmville and Mafia Wars may seem silly to you but these software programs – called apps – are actually raking in millions of dollars and this is just the beginning. Two years ago, this app economy did not exist at all and now at least 100.000 apps have already been created. Startups that create apps could become lucrative businesses overnight because there are almost no barriers to entry and apps can be sold right after they have been created. The most famous companies that have made an incredible profit by providing apps are Zynga and Apple. Zynga creates game apps that can be played on social networks like Facebook or on mobile phones like the iPhone e.g. Farmville. The Apple App Store offers 85.000 apps to its iPhone users. Analysts say that the app economy is at least a $1 billion market today and that this figure will rise in the future.

Source: BusinessWeek

Liselotte David

Want to become filthy rich? Learn more about IT!

You’re probably all wondering why we’re writing this blog… Well, initially we wanted to learn more about social websites, because we’re trying to come up with a brilliant million-dollar idea for an internet start-up. Then I suddenly bumped into a very interesting article in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard.

Apparently a study by the market research firm IDC pointed out that Belgian companies and consumers spend about €9 billions on IT (Information Technology), i.e. on computer hardware, software and on corresponding services. These are some of the other mind-blowing facts the article mentions:

- The Belgian government collects €11 billions of tax revenues on IT in 2009.

- 14,000 to 16,000 new jobs are expected in the IT-sector.

- The biggest part of the IT-pie stems from software.

We are definitely going to keep this in mind in our search for an ingenious website!

Source: De Standaard

Liesbeth Derycke

Belgian police remove insulting tweet

Twitter user Koen Delvaux will think twice before he posts another message on his Twitter page. Recently he complained in a tweet about his jeweller Timmermans by calling him a scoundrel and accusing him of lying to his wife. Apparently, his wife's watch battery was broken but the jeweller told her the watch itself was broken and suggested to choose a new one. At home, Mr Delvaux successfully repaired the watch himself by simply placing a new battery. Being very displeased with the service of the jeweller, he promptly posted the insulting tweet.

Coincidentally, Mr Struyven of jewellery Timmermans regularly enters the name of his shop on Google to check its popularity. To his utter astonishment he read the tweet of Mr Delvaux. Mr Struyven is shocked and considers the message to be rubbish. He is afraid his business will get a bad reputation due to this negative publicity. Subsequently, he contacted the police who urged Mr Delvaux to remove the message from his Twitter page. Mr Delvaux obeyed, but he does not regret posting the message. In his opinion he only told the truth. Mr Struyven considers taking further legal action against him.

Communication expert Dirk De Grooff agrees with the police. According to De Grooff freedom of speech needs to be defended, even on the Internet, but there are certain lines you do not cross. Publicly insulting someone is one of them. He also predicts that people will be encouraged by this case to take legal action when they are insulted on the Internet.

Source: Het Nieuwsblad


Marcey Missiaen

Google Wave: the new e-mail?

Google’s engineers have come up with a new app called ‘Google Wave’. Their spokesmen have described it as “what e-mail would look like if it had been invented now instead of 40 years ago”. It allows its users to send their friends virtual messages which they can read, alter and edit.

Moreover, Google Wave enables you to interact with your friends by sending them photos, movies, games, polls, Google Maps and other mini-apps. On top of that, you can put your wave in a website or publish it to a blog.

However, not everyone gets to enjoy this exciting communication tool (for free!). You cannot use Google Wave if you have not been invited by someone else first. Unfortunately, enthusiasts will have to be patient, because Google Wave will not be fully launched until the first half of 2010.

Source: Time

Liesbeth Derycke

Retrosexuals: finding back long-lost loves on Facebook

Facebook and other social network sites make it easier to rediscover your long-lost loves. As social network sites become more and more popular especially with people aged between 30 and 50, they are ideal tools to get in touch again with those persons you have not seen for a long time. Meeting your former crush again can turn out to be a big disappointment if time has left ineradicable marks but may sometimes lead to romantic endings. Starting a new life in a whole new environment is not impossible. So in a way Facebook has the power to change your life.

Marcey Missiaen

Source: Time