Andres Wittermann on international media relations trends

It's getting warmer - and the future looks nice

Reuters publishes a research done by the European Forecasting Network. It says in 2007, the economic recovery in the Euro zone (those European countries having introduced the Euro as a common currency) will remain stable. After a 2.2% growth in 2006 they expect another 2% growth for the next year.

Let's just hope so - Germany is going to increase the VAT by 3% next year, and the latest numbers for Germany, still the key engine for European economy, were not so optimistic.

Research shows European bloggers behind

An interesting research by Fittkau & Maass (which I found on PR Blogger) shows that blogging is still not as popular in Europe as in other regions. Based on evaluating the blogging behaviour of 24,000 OpenBC users (in case you shouldn't know it, a LinkedIn competitor) the survey seems to show that the larger the potential readership is, the more online bizzers are blogging.

Whereas in China nearly 35% of the OpenBC users are running their own blogs, and in Australia / South America and in the US still between 20 and 24 per cent of OpenBC'ers are maintaining a blog, the number for Europe is a mere 14.8%.

The survey also asked if they are reading blogs and the difference here is not as big as in the numbers above (more than half of European OpenBC'ers are using blogs - which is still less than in any other region).

What coudl be the reason for that? I am not sure myself, but I don't think it is technophobic tendencies or even access to other kind of media. I think the real reason is that in Europe your potential readership is far smaller than in the US, in South America or in China. In the US and in Australia you are blogging in English and the world is reading you. In LatAm you are posting in Spanish or if you are unlucky in Portuguese - still, many people around the world will understand you. China is another matter.

A German or Polish blog just won't catch as much attention. Your target group is smaller. Is that why people tend to blog less? Because they think there are not enough people to pay attention to you anyway? Or are Europeans just lazier?

Where you don't find stories anymore

A while ago I was writing how you find the best stories sitting to your neighbor traveller writing confidential stuff into their notebooks.

(Unfortunately) technology has rapidly looked into this issue. At CeBIT last week (sorry, this show also prevented me from writing a new post for a while) I ran into the 3M booth and they are now offering protection transparent plastics that you can stick onto your notebook - someone not sitting right infront of the screen will not be able to read from your notebook then.

This certainly makes your mobile working a bit more protected and by that more effective. I am just sad that this source of entertainment will stop - I expect ikt will soon become general corporate policy for everyone to have to use this kind of stuff on their mobile computers.

What I learned in the Nordics

I am currently on a trip through our Northern European LEWIS offices. And it was here that I found a massive market opportunity for Germany (and other comparable markets, see below).

Stockholm and the Swedish media are full with ads for online poker. At first I thought the reason for that is that the people here have to live through four to six months of darkness and have to distract themselves by something.

I have been told now though that this sort of entertainment is banned in Germany (and probably other countries). Thinking of it I remember that I have seen online poker ads and promotional stuff around it in the UK as well. Here it definitely is a massice industry - actually the biggest global online poker software company is Swedish.

So expect the rise of a new industry once the laws will be changed in Middle Europe.

How to build a tech trend - create your own religion

Being a religious leader certainly has got its positive aspects. Most of all it provides you with a reliable followership, you are going to be accepted as a visionary, you can set up rules that everyone has to follow, you will increasingly become richer - well, you know where all this can lead to.

Creating a nearly religious followership around companies is something more accepted and credible it seems. A good example is Apple, who when they were in danger of becoming a negligeable entity in the world of IT (let alone global business) started to build an image very much based on the principles of a religious cult. One of the main drivers behind that 'success' was a guy called Guy Kawasaki.

As Apple's evangelist he created a community which today must be seen as one of the most enthusiastic and money-spending communities since the days of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Guy's Top Tips for Being an Evangelist have today been published on the internet, very interesting reading for every PR and media person I think.

Now go and build a cult around your vertical niche B2B application. The tools are all out there!