Regular visitors of this blog probably remember that a few weeks ago we organized a social marketing meetup. One of the people, willing to help out and introduced to me by young Thomas Van Orshaegen, was Alain Indria, owner of a “natural food” shop, Lombardia, in Antwerp that got international headlines when one day a journalist from the Wall Street Journal put his restaurant on the top five places to visit in Antwerp, Belgium. Alain was at that time at the Shanghai World Expo, passionately demonstrating his new creation, the GingerLove tea. Among his customers, Alain has a lot of famous people and he took care of the catering when stars such as Moby and others came to Belgium. His passion and enthusiasm struck me. But so did the way he used social media. Strategy? No, sir. Alain’s social media approach and his whole businesses thrive on three things: passion, an incredible sales drive and an excellent interaction with his community. But that’s not all. The amazing stuff still has to come!
interaction
The role of display advertising in an inbound marketing world: what makes a brand?
J-P De Clerck looks at the role of display ads in the inbound marketing and social media era. Please share your thoughts.
Next month, IAB Europe organizes its annual Interact Congress, this time in Barcelona. As you know, the IAB, in Europe at least, is predominantly about interactive advertising (yes, it’s in the name of the organization).
For a few years, I’ve been posting now and then on the blog of the event and, after a break, I started again this year. But what was I going to write about, especially in regard to the more traditional forms of interactive advertising like display ads and even search engine ads (do you still spend PPC budgets on AdWords? I rarely do, CPL too high). What is, in fact, the role of online advertising, and more specifically, display advertising in a world where inbound marketing increasingly rules?