Write the texts for the website 'kraskaarten.nl'. It should be business to business, with an informal, to-the-point tone to it. And the texts should 'sell'

What I did

I developed an 'in between'-style; one I use for normal business direct marketing, but shortened for internet attention span. I think text on the web should be engaging, developing a relation between site and ready. In best cases the 'voice' is a signature. If possible, the text is entertaining.

Screenshots

kraskaarten.nl

Working with

APSBB

This was the call

Quite literally: 'Yes, I know it's 10.30 p.m. but listen, I am at the Dutch Annual Film Awards and guess what: we won 6 Golden Calves! We need to congratulate and thank the makers in Monday's newspaper. I need some concept, but mostly text tomorrow-morning'.

This is the context

IDTV does not have a firm campaign-style. Since it is a production house for television, film and documentary, it took the claim of 'storyteller' in regular advertisement. The general concept uniting all advertisement is that an everyday object, related to the subject IDTV want to talk about (a film or a television program), tells its story. So if IDTV would have made Pixar's Up, it would be The Story About a Balloon.

This is however not a very strict format.

I wrote:

Last spring, untamed co-developed the format for a 5 minute television show. The show is part of a nation wide campaign to tell the benefits of drinking milk and is currently running on the Dutch Nickelodeon channel. I helped Ab and Fabienne (@JuniorSenior) to draft out the format, find unique recognisable style-elements that give the show a signature and basically compose the minute to minute flow of the show. And I wrote the lyrics to the opening tune.

What the show is about

In ‘De Klas Uit!’ (‘Get out of the classroom!’), we visit schools where we invite children to show some brave, smart, funny, creative skills they picked up outside of the classroom. A hobby, a sport, something they are passionate about and devote a lot of time to. Some of the children will show us something really unique and outstanding, others may not excel but show energy and excitement at what they do.

Key element composition

The format is driven by a ‘searching camera’ moving through the classroom. It focusses, finds, selects and then ‘beams’ the child out of the classroom onto National Television like Wonkavision. The dynamics of the show stem from the variety in the children’s acts. They are shown in various different orders: sports, arts, jokes, circus et cetera.

Take a look

The lyrics

Zing een lied, bak een pot, speel gitaar.

Blaas je kauwgom tot maatje sigaar.

En ga nu. En ga nu.

De klas uit!

Schop een bal, bak een taart, doe een mop.

Neem een slok en boer dan het alfabet op.

(Op melodie)

Als je iets heel goed kan

laat het zien aan Nederland

Dan mag je nu

De klas uit!

Working with

JuniorSenior

Heya Bas, we're going to do a charity event. We actually do it every year, but this year, we do it differently. This is the idea: the guests bring their own entertainment!

Now that really is a good idea. So I said that I was in. And then I asked what I was in for.

Oh you know, everything.

But he didn't mean that. It was almost everything.

This is what I needed to do

1. name the event
2. give it style
3. develop and produce 3 videos
4. develop and produce the website
5. develop and produce all communication (flyers, banners, decor, table numbers, booklet

Act now

As I am a sucker for wordplay I came up with 'act now' using the pun on 'act' (stop explaining Bas, you'll ruin everything). I designed a style, with a logo and fun stuff. But you can best check it out at the website.

The result

We collected a lot of money. And I bet, next year, they want to do it again!

Project Video

Project Links

Rotary Groot Bilthoven

Act Now

They make displays. Well, they don't just make displays, they compose displays. And when people are as devoted to their craft as SDB International, they want to tell about it. And they want the voice with which they talk to reflect their enthusiasm, their drive and the care with which they build those displays.

Untamed's clear style

When The Progress Factor developed their website, they asked me to design that voice. So I did. And in writing I tried not to emphasize on the result, but on the process. To get across the sincere drive to make each display better than the one before. So without too much adjectives and with a simple clear style I drafted out their entire website.

Project Links

The Progress Factor

SDB International

Project Pics

Like many companies, each new year NykamNyboer sends Best Wishes to their clients and suppliers. This year NykampNyboer asked Bureau voor Reuring to come up with the idea for the mailing and produce it. Together with Bureau voor Reuring, I developed the following.

Instead of addressing the card to the contact, NykampNyboer was to address the corporate identity  of the contact. So instead of wishing you all the best for 2010, NykampNyboer wishes all the best to your corporate identity. By doing this, NykampNyboer expressed their, close to obsessive, care for your corporate identity - which is of course an exact expression of NykampNyboers mission statement.

This is how it (roughly) translates:

P1: 2010 - THE YEAR OF THE CORPORATE IDENTITY

P2: Dear corporate identity of {name},

We hope this will be a beautiful year for you in which your glory will shine more than ever. We hope you've treated yourself with the best New Years resolutions. So that you will look even better in 2010!

We know, being a corporate identity sometimes is tough. Weather conditions, departments or suppliers that just have their way with you. But this year will be your year, dear corporate identity of {name organisation}. You know why? Because 2010 is The Year Of The Corporate Identity. So if there is anything, anything at all we can do for you this year, don't hesitate to ask. We are at your service to make this year truly your year.

Oh, and if you happen to come across {name}, wish {him/her} all the best for this year too.

The entire team at NykampNyboer

Something not many people know about untamed, but we not only write words that are meant to be read. Take this for example: kingcanary produced a television show / live event, the Gouden Loeki. It is an award show; the public votes for the Best Commercial of the Year. The biggest event in the advertising industry in the Netherlands and a good hour of old fashioned glamour show.

This year, kingcanary chose keep it classy and traditional: a hostess, guests, dance, pyro, clips et cetera. To keep the evening going, they needed the hostess to take the viewer from item to item, quick-witted, sharp and fast. Chantal Janzen hosted the evening, a presenter that can perform memorable improvisation and is quick-witted herself. To help her keep the evening together, kingcanary asked us to write every single word Chantal says.

And so we did.

1.3 million people watched the Gouden Loeki.

And if you want your show-host to be the best version of him- or herself - drop a line!

They're clever at In2-focus. And they sell their cleverness - for free!

They sell 'customers'

From the outside, In2-focus looks like just another online marketing company. But it really isn't. In2-focus decided that, in contrast to every other marketing agency (that I know of at least), they didn't want to provide a service, but deliver a product. And that product is: customers.

In2-focus will take care of all the necessary steps between you (small business) and a new client. And you won't have to pay for anything until you get the product: a new customer.

Internet but not per se

1. So the company focusses on helping small business with a clear niche market and a local orientation. Lawyers, dentists, notaries, psychologists et cetera. Businesses you'd search online.
2. Then the company makes sure their clients become #1 in search engines. And they make a website that fits the expectations of potential clients. And they make it easy for customers to contact them.
3. When In2-focus' clients have new, paying clients via their website - then they are charged (a reasonable amount). Everything else is gratis.

If you'd not go look online for a dentist, notary or lawyer but instead checked your TV, In2-focus would look like a television production company.

Niche branded product groups

In2-focus is a start-up, planning to grow fast. It aims to pack their product per target group. So you will get: psychology.in2-focus.nl, lawyers.in2-focus.nl et cetera.

Name, design, develop, produce

So initially I was asked by the sweet people (yes you Jalbert) @ XEED to co-invent the name of the company and give some ideas on the marketing strategy. One thing led to another and I came to design everything IN2-focus and write all of their clients sites.

So yes, I am enthusiastic.

Some examples

Untamed

Logo design and visual identity, website design and production, all copy for In2-focus and In2-focus clients.

NykampNyboer in all those years only changed its own corporate identity twice: nine years ago and last month.

Bureau voor Reuring supervised all PR and communication regarding the brand renewal - they hired me to design NykampNyboer's corporate tone-of-voice and provide all texts (web, brochures, case-sheets in Dutch and English for NykampNyboer and their international equivalent VIM-Group). Not your everyday assignment since everybody in the business got their eye on NykampNyboer - the professionals in corporate identity management now changing their own appearance. It should be no less than perfect.

Together with Bureau voor Reuring and NykampNyboer, I took one three paragraph text and composed four shades of voicing, varying words, syntax and use of adjectives and metaphors. This resulted in a definite style, personal but not popular, concrete but not just factual.

www.nykampnyboer.com

www.nykampnyboer.nl/en

www.vim-group.com

www.bureauvoorreuring.nl