Fleur Versteijnen

In today's society we create a personality makeover to ‘a perfect angel’ according to Stefanie Bottelier. We are all using the hashtags: #powerfood #unsaltednuts #healthy and #happyfamily. We live in an age where personal branding is essential. Everything you do online is an expression of your personal brand and is likely to affect it. Everything is public so everything has become marketing. There is a kind of consensus on what we see as the ideal personality: healthy, sporty, cheerful, positive and social. We all create an image of ourselves which is exposed only the positive side. We also markets towards friends and family ourselves all day. We are faking our perfection. It is worser than change a face to the smallest pores at a beauty campaign, because that reality is still to be seen. We know that it is a lie. That's pathetic and vulnerable. But we are photoshopping our characters nowadays. And that is anything but pathetic, that's scary.

We know that more than 50 percent of the feed that we see on social media is fake. It's weird that we impose this standard on each other. It is a terrifying social development, a major problem is that there is little to laugh as if we just drop the deadly serious version of ourselves. The worst thing in this case is: you have no leg to stand on because it's much better and more beneficial to pursue a life of health and positive thoughts. What is negative about a good and healthy life? We are copies of each other and we are going to think it is normal. But it isn’t. A recurring counter-movement is that we yearn for true originality again. In my own life I notice that I also needed a refreshment in my online world. 90 percent of what I see is the same as what I saw before. And the urge for something beautiful, perfects and throbbing to post is terrifying. How do you think the perfection continues in the online world?

Can a robot build a human connection with someone? Can a robot replacing a man of flesh and blood? Can a robot really care for someone?

Some interesting questions if you ask me. In health care is much talk in recent years about the use of technology. If we are to believe stories and outcomes, this could be a solution to the problems that currently exist. But is the society ready to live with a robot?

I think this is an interesting case to think about. To meet the future demand for care for lonely and elderly people with dementia, Sander Burger is trying to build a care robot.

Ageing is defective. Isolation is one of them. There is not enough staff. Family is not there, because of distance or pressure. There are too few people that the elderly can make life as pleasant as possible in the last part of their lives. Maybe the care robot can do. The documentary fascinated me, because i’m skeptical about robots interacting with humans. But in this case it really seems to work. The goal of this project is to help lonely elderly out of their isolation they live in. 

Challenge after challenge follow us on social media. So we all know the ALS ice-bucket challenge and neknomination. I was asked to give my opinion on this subject and to answer the question: "Are these challenges called a trend?"

The excessive share of actions on the internet can not be called a trend. We speak in this case of a hype. A hype is a phenomenon that temporary excessive media attention and will therefore seems important. In reality, it is not so important.

Of course, the ice-bucket challenge is raising a higher social purpose, namely, funding for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. But it bears for this reason, along with other challenges, not the term trend. A trend indicates one or more requirements that are going on in society. With that in mind, we can cite a number of reasons which demonstrate the underlying thoughts behind the hype.

Below I highlight three reasons:

1. First, it is very accessible to participate in a challenge. By uploading a video with high "fun factor" you show that you want to commit yourself to a good cause.

2. Sharing is caring. In other words, sharing is very powerful and makes the action increases rapidly on the internet. The range of people that we can create together is very huge. Almost everyone with a social media account has seen an ice-bucket challenge in its timeline. Thereby it quickly called a "trend" in popular parlance.

3. Finally, transparency is also a reason for the tremendous growth of these challenges. One is nominated online, all Facebook friends are immediately informed if you refuse to participate in a challenge. For that reason, the group of very high pressure. That makes one rather take the step to join an easy challenge, because all in all it's easily done.

From a masculine society, we now move to a more feminine society. In the masculine society was status in the sense of a high income the highest goal. The feminine society is more about who you are and what you have to offer. This instead of 'I have money and you do not have money’. In the above sentences clearly shows that we are changing in terms of mentality or perhaps have changed already. We want to hit other people with the knowledge we have and not with the level of our income. We are always going to appreciate the meaning behind things, so also in the advertising. Brands can make beautiful advertisement, but when it is meaningless, it is our eyes and ears over. We don’t care about meaningless advertising, so content-rich advertising is a must nowadays. Everything is transparent. We have the means to find out the truth. That also means we do no longer believe false advertisement.

Consumers will be tempted with the knowledge available from companies and brands. It is the task of creating a ‘social army’ with the people who really love your brand. In other words create a connection with your target group. So brands and brandlovers can build together something strong. Something that really tells a story. Something you want to tell about as a brandlover. Because at this moment people make campaigns together. It is not about an one way thing from the business anymore. It is the combination of the company and the consumer. Together they create stories to tell.

SOCIAL ARMY. 

 We zijn van een masculiene samenleving, waarin status in de zin van een hoog inkomen het hoogste doel was, naar een meer feminiene samenleving gegaan. In deze feminiene samenleving ziet men status als een manier om duidelijk aan de omgeving te laten zien wie men is en wat men te bieden heeft in plaats van ‘ik heb geld en jij niet’.

In bovenstaande zinnen komt duidelijk naar voren, dat we qua mentaliteit aan het veranderen zijn of misschien wel al veranderd zijn. We willen anderen raken met de kennis waarover we beschikken en niet met de hoogte van ons inkomen. We zijn de betekenis achter zaken steeds meer gaan waarderen, zo ook in de reclame. Merken kunnen wel mooie reclame maken, maar wanneer het nietszeggend is, gaat het onze oren en ogen voorbij. Reclame met content maken is anno nu dus een must. Alles is transparant. We hebben zelf de middelen om achter de waarheid te komen, dus leugenachtige reclame geloven we niet meer. Consumenten zullen verleid moeten worden met de kennis waarover bedrijven en merken beschikken. Het is de taak om een 'social army' te creëren met de mensen die echt van je merk houden, de doelgroep. Om zo samen iets sterks op te bouwen, wat echt een verhaal verteld en wat je merkenliefhebber graag doorverteld. Zo maak je reclame, SAMEN. 



Samen maken we dus reclame, maar welke manier van communiceren werkt tegenwoordig het best? Campagnes die idee gedreven of story gedreven zijn? Bij idee gedreven communicatie wordt er een sterk en onderscheidend concept bedacht rondom de boodschap die het bedrijf wil overbrengen. Bij story gedreven communicatie spreken we over verhalen die krachtig en effectief zijn zodat de visie en strategie van het bedrijf er in terug te zien zijn. Momenteel is er veel discussie gaande over deze thema’s en tijdens het 24festival in Amsterdam proberen we een antwoord te vinden op de vraag welke manier van communiceren het meest effectief werkt. Discussieer jij graag mee over heersende trends, ontwikkelingen en vraagstukken in de media? En vind je idee gedreven communicatie versus story gedreven communicatie interessant? Laat dan je stem horen tijdens een van de boottochten 7 oktober aanstaande. Aanmelden kan via [email protected]. En wie weet vaart de reclamewereld in de toekomst door jou wel de juiste koers!

'Mens wat ben je mooi' in dutch or in other words 'Human, you're beautiful' is the new campaign by Menzis. It is a real feelgood campaign. The living force of man is the inspiration for this campaign. It is a personal video with hardly any actors. It is an ode to the beauty and and living force in all its aspects.

The good thing about this campaign is that they raise the authenticity. It is personal and everyone can recognize themselves in it. It offers confidence. Menzis is a healthcare provider. Keeping in mind that trust is the new currency, this campaign fits very well with the current thoughts in the society. I'm very curious if there is more hooked on 'real-life' campaigns. It is not very new, but I'm wondering if there is a rising trend of such campaigns in the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPBnQKP1nDM

Walk your city - Matt Tomasulo. It is a project that lets people generate customized street signs. This to encourage people to walk more in their cities.

The project aims to build a stronger sense of community, create a safer community, and help boost local businesses by bringing more people closer to them.  The project also aims to encourage folks to exercise more by walking.

CuliSol. I couldn't resist not to write about the CuliSol. It is a funny but simple product. But if we look at the idea behind the product, I understand the makers of the CuliSol.  The description of the product on www.culisol.nl: 'The CuliSol is a very beautifully designed tray with integrated flexible gooseneck and a parasol. Because the gooseneck is flexible, is in all solar teeth full shade created just above the tray. This stand snacks - and drinks - from the sun and they stay much longer tasty and cool.'

COLOR TREND: COPPER Spotted at Maison et Objet and many living blogs.

Breathing Wall - Finalist Electrolux Design Lab 2013. The Breathing Wall is the name of an idea for an air-cleaning concept. The wall changes shape when it cleans the air. It can be customized to suit individual needs as it also scents the air you breathe and changes color according to your choice.

The smallest things are the most interesting.

A lamp that fascinates me. The Big Bubble - Alex de Witte. The Big Bubble is a big light made of blown glass.  The light won the first price for best product at Design District Amsterdam 2013.