Making my debut on tv and in a Dutch newspaper

Making my debut on tv and in a Dutch newspaper

Last week was a week I’m not likely to forget that easily. It was special because I was very busy with a training session and there was an afternoon about Social Marketing for non-profit organisations which I organized (and spoke at) for the DDMA. But there was something else last week which was fun: I made my debut in both a national newspaper (the Algemeen Dagblad) and on National television!

It started on Tuesday when a reporter from the AD called me to ask about a website which had what they said was a revolutionary idea in Holland. When you tweeted from the website you would get a 5 euro discount voucher. Now this is nothing new in other countries, but the Netherlands has to get used to this.

The question was how new this really was and whether or not this was something which people would actually like. After all, you are sending a commercial out to your friends. The article appeared in the newspaper on Wednesday:

(click to enlarge)

That same day I got a call from Editie NL, a Dutch show who wanted to know more about this. After a talk they asked me if I would be willing to appear on camera. Off course I did :).  A cameraman and reporter came by my house on Friday to record several things. This was broadcasted on Friday evening.

The item was all about “Social Whispers” or in a better sentence: using Social Media to advertise, giving away free stuff to those tweeting about your product.

We talked for almost half an hour, in the end only a very very short part (seconds!!) of that was aired. This is nothing strange, that always happens, but it is a shame that not more was aired because I think I said some pretty sensible things. But it does make sense. For the item they wanted three different views. The things I said could have overlapped with what somebody else also stated so they took this part.

I was asked a lot more than what you see here (somewhere in the middle of the item), but in this part I was specifically speaking as the Social Marketing Ambassador of the Dutch DMA. We are working on a code there to regulate this.

It may be short, but I’ve made my debut on TV. And I can get used to this ;). I’ve placed the item on YouTube and embedded below. I hope it stays there, I’m not sure why they don’t allow embedding of the item from their website. The item is in Dutch, but I’ve subtitled it as well as I could. I hope it can stay online (not sure why they don’t offer embeds themselves). Tip: if you want to read the subtitles put it on full screen, I’m still struggling with Camtasia…

ps. What is it with journalists by the way? Both the newspaper and the TV got things wrong: I am a Social MARKETING ambassador, not media. Plus, the DMA is not a marketing agency, but an Association….