My Expertise

 

In my career I've been active in several online related activities, all with a focus on innovation.

Today, you can hire me when you are looking for ways of bringing together traditional business models with the disruptive change that is happening in media landscape.

I don't only work for media-companies, I work for all advertisers, companies and organizations that are using media and communication in one way or the other to reach an audience and to engage with it.

 

What do I do?

 

I am a man of ideas. As a consultant it is my mission to define new creative concepts for each customer and to create strategies that find a new balance between the certainties of traditional business and the opportunities of disruptive innovation.

I am a manager. I have 15 years of business experience, setting up several companies and growing each of them into real teams of real people, with tangible business objectives and results. I use this business experience to help you execute, measure and steer your new media strategy and concepts. I help you find the right partners and can benchmark them against the market.

I am an evangelist. I can help you, your customers, your teams, your stakeholders, your audience, understand the power of the change and the essence of the innovation we are currently going through. I can be an inspirational coach for your teams in workshops or a speaker for your events.

 

My domains of expertise

In this section, I list some examples that I realized directly or via one of the companies I was engaged with at the time.

 

1. Social Media

I am probably one of the strongest advocates in Belgium for the use of social media by companies to better engage with their clients. Already 3 years ago, I founded ONE Agency as an interaction agency to deliver solutions for this social promise to the market.

I am proud to have initiated some of the first social media innovations in Belgium. A short list of projects I was responsible for the social media strategy:

ConnectR.be

The ConnectR is a user generated travel portal for and by travellers. It is a media-sharing platform that people can use to prepare their next trips and to get inspired by the travel adventures of others. The ConnectR got several national and international awards.

MNM.be

When VRT replaced Donna by MNM, the hit radio, a new site was needed. I created the strategy that turned a regular site into a real social platform with tens of thousands of followers, a permanent dialogue between the radiostation and its audience, and active integration with Facebook, Twitter, ...

GoedenWel.nl

When Achmea (one of the largest insurance companies in the Netherlands) was looking for a new strategy to revamp their GoedenWel.nl portal, I pitched from Belgium and won the deal. My strategy to create a social media portal (like a Hyves for the elderly) was at the basis of what is today one of the largest niche social sites in Holland.

Future Talking

In 2007 I asked Insites Consulting to start a entirely new research program. The idea was to do qualitative "connected" research via a large online community. The aim was to measure media innovation where it actually happens: with the people. Partners of the research where Nationale Loterij, Belgacom, De Post, Telenet, VMMa, amongst others.

Social Media Sessions

This is one of the initiatives that I am especially proud of. There is an ongoing need to tell people about media innovation and the specific role that social media plays in this. In order to facilitate this, I created a multi-channel concept of information spreading around the topic, called the "Social Media Sessions", using Google technology, Wordpress, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to reach a broad audience. Every month, we also organize a "real live" event at the SAP Lounge that gets broadcasted thanks to Rambla.

Euroconsumers

Euroconsumers is the international consumer organisation behind "Test Aankoop", active in Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France and Brazil. Over the years I have been advising them on finding a new balance between the 5 decades old traditional publishers models, and the challenges of web2.0, user participation and social media (certainly in consumer affairs). I have been advising them on several product lines (general publication, Food & Health, Financial Products).

VCOB -> Bibnet

In 2006-2007, I advised the VCOB (a support organization for all Flemish Public Libraries) on their digital strategy for the next decade. Soon it became clear that the advice was not limited to the online and digital activities of libraries, but that it would impact all aspects of the future library. The results was a policy document that eventually led in 2009 to the change of VCOB into Bibnet, a new organization, empowered to support the huge change the publishing and library world is undergoing.

Glowbox

One of my initiatives that I am especially proud of, is the strategy and concept for Glowbox, a SaaS platform to rapidly deploy powerful social media sites. Glowbox will be available from Q4 2009 on.

 

2. Rich media and iDTV

I have a strong passion for TV and the challenges this medium is facing. One of the drivers of this change is of course iDTV, that fundamentally changes the way viewers consume TV-content.

I was actively involved in all trials and initiatives regarding iDTV in Belgium:

  • Belgacom CyberTV in 1997
  • the VRT IO project in 2000
  • the commercial launch of Telenet iDTV in 2005-2006
  • the introduction of the Philips NetTV in the market in 2009

In 2006 I took the initiative to write a book on the business case of iDTV ("Who's Afraid of iDTV?"), co-authored with my colleagues of theOriginals, and sponsored by Telenet, VAR, Sanoma Belgium and others. This book eventually became a series of one-week workshops with attendees from all over Europe.

But the fasted change of TV consumption behavior is coming from another, unexpected side: the web itself. While propietary iDTV platforms and walled gardens, like those of Telenet and Belgacom, slow down development of new applications, the web is an open environment that evolves at the speed of light. In recent years the boom of online video distribution and alternative ways of consuming other media (radio, games, ...) is creating a new eco-system that might be a bigger challenge for TV-professionals than iDTV will ever be.

I conceived the strategy and concepts for a whole range of rich media innovations in Belgium like the corporate video portals "the AXA experience" (for AXA) and "Meet Roger" (for ING)

I took the initiative to create a partnership with Aristo Music. This led to the launch of innovative internet radio for brands like KBC, TMF (MTV Networks), Mars, Kreatos, Overtoom and others.

Other initiatives in this domain where the creation of CarChannel.be (a daily news video portal on cars and related topics), now owned by Groupe Rossel, and of course the Interactive Radio Strategy for VRT.

 

3. Mobile Internet

I was involved in most of the mobile internet initiatives in Belgium:

  • the introduction of WAP in 1996-1997
  • I-mode in Europe (by Base)

Today I am actively following the change that the iPhone is sparking in the industry introducing us to entirely new mobile user experiences, Location Based Services, Augmented Reality, Micropayements, ... Mobile is finally here, and it is the future!

 

4. General E-Business Strategies

Over the years, I have helped dozens of companies and organizations to develop and implement general online strategies. A short list of some of the people I worked for:

  • Test Aankoop
  • Telenet
  • VDAB
  • VRT
  • Samsonite worldwide (from London)
  • Van Gansewinkel
  • Neckermann.com (mail order)
  • InBev
  • CM
  • Cultuurnet
  • Stad Gent
  • Agfa Healthcare