Welcome to Jewels, Apples and Eggs

I welcome you on my first blog. The next ten weeks I will post messages about my study Business communication and Digital Media (BDM) at the Tilburg University. Just random, anything that crosses my mind during one of my classes, walking on the campus, waiting for the train or studying at home could be the inspiration for a new blog. It started as an assignment for the course Business Information Technology, but probably I am going to like this. I appreciate any forwards, reactions, questions or messages referring to my blog.

Sometimes people are asking me why I study Communication. I like talking, I like sharing visions, I want to hear the stories of other people, I want to understand other ones decisions in life (maybe that’s why I like to read autobiographies?), let’s say that I am a normal young guy who is filling his backpack with life experiences and information. One of the things I start liking during my education the last years ( I studied Sportsmarketing, Communication Design and now BDM) is the communication of companies. That’s very wide I know, but I like the creative and funny commercials, the ideas of companies to communicate to customers, how they try to build a business network, how these companies try to manage this relations, the struggle of companies how to use social and other new media (sometimes very successful and sometimes too stupid), and so on, and so on. Thinking of all those things which I like about the communication in businesses, I make the conclusion that communication is the only tool that can distinguish your business of other businesses. There is no business without any competitors. Every product of service is offered more than ones. Think about everything you paid money for the last year, with all those purchases were decisions involved. Which brand, which product, are you going to buy it online or offline etc. Untill the time that the nano technology will gives us the opportunity to develop a new kind of products, communication will be ‘the’ tool.

This asks for a lot of creativity and that’s why I really like this next example of a jewellery store in Den Bosch. As a jewellery store in Den Bosch, you are not the only one. So you start thinking about something that will increase your name popularity. Jeweller Verdonk created a run on their Facebook page and on their shopping window. As many jewellery stores, Verdonk has nice watches, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. But on some of them was no price tag attached. One day a watch appeared in the shopping window accompanied by a little note: ‘for an apple and an egg’. Funny joke or a nice way to give your sales some attention, were the most reactions. Until, somebody really entered the store with just an apple and an egg. It turned out to be a promotional stunt! That guy bought a very nice watch for literally an apple and an egg. The same day, Jeweller Verdonk communicated their first prize winner through Facebook. Everybody started checking their website and facebook for the next clue. People started to talk about it on the streets and passing the shopping window more and more for clues. The next watch, with the next note: “For one Dutch guilder”. Within a very short period of time the second prize winner was a fact, some one still had an old Dutch guilder and got a brand new watch for that.

This example shows the creativity of a local business. There are probably ten Jewellery stores in downtown Den Bosch. Verdonk used creativity and new media to introduce itself in the business. Creative, funny and effective. They didn’t spent millions on a campaign, that’s not realistic for a local business. The distinguished themselves of the competitors by a funny, creative and modern way of communication. And that’s what I like. That’s why I keep filling my backpack with this study. Cheers to Jewels, Apples and Eggs.

See you next time,

thijs