There’s a mantra for writers that says one can only be a good writer if he or she writes lots, but reads even more. Some Japanse painters observe for hours, only to paint the object in mere minutes. Others, argue you can only become good by doing, whatever the skill. Whatever the balance, or theory, you […]
On my first day at Vandebron — or Republiq, as it was then called — I had to construct a password that contained numbers, for which part I picked the date, ’10_2’, which is today. Working here, as a writer, blogger, brand journalist — or whatever you would could call what I do — is […]
When the clutch of his Ferrari 250 GT failed, Ferruccio Lamborghini had enough. The Italian, rich from building tractors, had already returned four times that same year to the factory in Maranello. With his fifth return, he stepped to the office of the twenty year older Enzo Ferrari, to tell about the woes of the […]
The past five years I’ve spent a lot of time blogging. Yesterday, during the fourteenth edition of Pancart, I got to share some of the things I’ve learned from that, with an momentous bunch of people, from Switzerland, Namibia, South-Africa, India, Hungary and France. In Amsterdam. This is my presentation from yesterday, in, obviously, a blog post. […]
Mid-February this year, I joined the startup Vandebron as a copywriter, two months before its launch. The small team was working at full speed to meet the deadline for launching the world’s first online peer2peer energy marketplace. In joining I had little time to learn, so I figured out the things I didn’t fully understand […]
Last Sunday I was at the People’s Climate March, in Amsterdam. I really enjoyed the songs, the insights, the jokes, and it was fantastic to see so many people committed for a better climate. I’m committed as well, although I don’t bring banners. Saving the world should be fun, otherwise it’s not going to happen. Calling […]
I’m not religious. I don’t go to clubs. I don’t like patriotism and I don’t like people who are lazy or inconsiderate. I don’t smoke and I think watching television is a waste of time. Yet of all things, most often I need to explain why I don’t eat meat. There’s a stigma on vegetarianism, as if – […]
Whether spoken out or written down, I love words to a great deal. Put in form like the 1843’s tale The Ugly Duckling, the video-game Heavy Rain or the movie Zodiac, words tell us so much. And stories entice me. I love reading about the Black Dahlia murder, the life of Vasily Zaytsev or the […]
If not for the essential difference that it is a lot smarter, strategic lawn would be a lot like normal lawn mowing. With strategic lawn moving, instead of mindlessly mowing the closest patch of grass available, you would pause for a moment to look over the about-to-be-cut lawn to analyse your battlefield. Think about the […]
Microsoft bought Nokia for $7.2 billion and Skype for $8.5 billion. Google spent on $3.2 billion on Nest and $12.5 billion on Motorola. Facebook splashed $1 billion on Instagram, $2 billion on Oculus and $19 billion on Whatsapp. Brands like Starbucks, Red Bull and Oreo have well beyond 35 million followers on Facebook each, a […]