Trafic.ro (providing free traffic audit for Romanian websites, NCH ownership) was the first website to shape the online advertising market and 90% of the agencies still use it although BRAT (independent audit) published its first results. Of course, online marketeers plan to use BRAT in 2008 but it’s very hard to educate planners when they are used to click the “trafic.ro” icon in order to check out a website and interpret the graphs.
For the third time (officially, for the second time) Neogen decided to quit using trafic.ro as they suspected one of the companies owned by NCH (Activesoft) to use the data gathered by trafic.ro in order to develop inhouse projects.
Archive for December, 2007
Sanoma Hearst Romania (Startpage.ro, Cosmopolitan.ro, Femeia.ro, Mami.ro, fhm.ro, National-Geographic.ro, miresici.ro) aquired parinti.com, the second most popular community for parents in Romania.
Sanoma Hearst Romania already has its own online sales department and a budget for online acquisitions.
Continue reading ‘Sanoma Hearst Romania buys parinti.com’
From China Telecom 2008 conference – Vice Minister of Information Industry (Jiang Yaoping) said that over 60% of Chinese Internet users are connected through the broadband Internet – broadband users in China has reached 122 million (ranking first in the world).
Ministry of Information Industry showed that China’s telecommunications industry revenues increased with 30% comparing to 2002 while the main fixed-line operator China Telecom announced that figure has exceeded 38% (1/3 new broadband subscribers from rural areas in 2007). China’s rural demand for broadband Internet services is still very strong.
Continue reading ‘China’s broadband users has reached 122 million households’
Google launched today the Romanian beta version of Google Book Search.
ARBOmedia Romania imported from Poland the VIDEOstitial format and they started to prepare the sales for 2008. The VIDEOstitial was introduced in Poland in 2004 but this is also a sign that the Romanian online dept. will be closer to ARBOmedia Poland in the near future (maybe Calin Rotarus will have a new boss).
You might find very interesting the 270 000 RON offer with a 67,6%!!! discount available at 87 500 RON – of course, it’s a special offer for the holidays (probably there are some impulsive agencies out there, that cannot resist this offer and also get a free bottle opener or something like that).
Although the offer presents 3 million views, the VIDEOstitial is one of the most annoying and intrusive formats out there and there is a serious risk to stress 12,6% of the population with some kind of weird movie forcing sudden death 
I’m not sure how it works but it’s available here in a beta version.
Now, the publishers have to fill in the blanks (demographics, traffic, banner types, etc). The website aims to provide a virtual portfolio for the media agencies.
Maybe visiting Afghanistan in 2008 can be a new year’s resolution but since then I’m happy to connect with 2 volunteer friends I have over there using social networking (e-democracy works).
Btw, Khabir – I still have your Pakol*
*The Pakol (Men’s Traditional Hat) originated in a region of Afghanistan called Nuristan. The Pakol was worn by the Afghan Mujahideen who fought against the Soviet invasion, and today, they are worn by the forces of the United Front (Alliance).
This weekend I was busy recovering from my malicious cold and getting down to a very interesting business simulation.
It all started this autumn when Dan Petre invited me to attend a 3 day business simulation developed by Business Today (UK) and implemented in Romania by Interact.
CONSUMER MARKETING TODAY as a simulation was designed for management staff and focused on the different aspects of consumer marketing and how they impact on the business as a whole. The simulation dealt with issues such as supply chain management, branding, seeking potential growth areas, product positioning and marketing.
Since Nestlé powered the simulation (not only with tons of Lion & Kit Kat), our task was to manage a growing FMCG company. We had lots of things to learn, we had fun and I sent a positive feed-back because I think that this type of business simulation is a great idea.
My special thanks goes to Paul Nuber (Nestlé), Afrodita Blasius (Bridge Communication), Dan Petre (D&D Research) and Stefan Palarie (Interact). I appreciate their attitude, volunteering and their efforts for returning something to the community.
Valentin Oeru (NetBridge Executive) has an interview on AdPlayers declaring a 8,5-9 million EUR sales target for 2008 and 40-45% of the market.
Since Valentin Oeru is often very reserved and tries to “keep it down”, their real plans probably target over 50% of the market 
Achievable.
I had a post yesterday about AdEvolution “losing blood” – today Boom announced on their official blog two new deals with Unlimited Sports Media (a powerful sports networks with over 20 websites) and Trilulilu.ro (local video sharing).
I’m guessing these are not the only surprises Boom has for 2008 (since there are some delicious pies in the oven)
Alexis Bonte (Co-Founder & CEO at Erepublik.com, board member: SEII, Centrofarm, GeneralCom, CPH Pharma, Farmacia y Salud, Fitnesskit), bought 10% of Romanian video sharing website Trilulilu.ro with 100,000 euro. Continue reading ‘10% of Trilulilu.ro sold to Alexis Bonte’
iMedia – returning home:
- Eva, Bumerang, Cinemagia, Automarket, BizCity etc. developed by iMedia (part of NCH) will be represented by Boom. Eva is very often sold out;
- they bought Astromax.ro from Mircea and implemented it into Eva.ro;
ARBOmedia – free fall:
- they lost the niche TV stations they were representing (poor sales);
- still loosing people from the online dept.;
- things don’t look good for 2008;
AdEvolution – losing blood:
- losing the websites developed by iMedia (see above) – 15%-20% of their online income;
- still serving corporate ads among naked women;
MPI – focusing on content:
- relaunched apropo.ro, enigmaElodiei.ro, Procinema.ro;
- bought Conquiztador.ro;
- launch Descopera.ro, Clujeanul.ro;
- to follow in 2008: their focus on sales/the relationship with AdEvolution;
Boom – life is great:
- party and team building last weekend;
- no.1 in online sales – the investments made in the last 2 years are showing the first results;
- more than 90% of their network is sold out (very hard to find ad spaces in December);
- still improving their portfolio (already rule Teen-Youth/Women segments);
- still working on the ad server;
Neogen – spending money:
- the outdoor campaign not returning proper results (the offline has different rules);
- some employees have no idea about their own products;
- they lost the fight with Google AdSense;
- interesting approach for blogging;
Splendid – learning
- how to use the adserver;
- how to implement the IAB standards;
Realitatea Catavencu (tmctv.ro, newsin.ro, cotidianul.ro, catavencu.ro, 24fun, iqads.ro, etc) & Sanoma Hearst Romania (mami.ro, fhm.ro, femeia.ro, natgeo.ro, newsreport.ro miresici.ro) – start their own online sales dept. Won’t be easy
Google – ok:
- the biggest contextual network;
- started to serve “enlarge your penis” ads (worrying);
- many local online shops started to invest their budgets in AdWords;
- more personalized services for Romania;
- still not answering my e-mails;
It seems that Google & Yahoo will spice things up in 2008. We’ll see.
Calin Fusu – 41.53%
Nagy Vajda Andras Peter – 10.62%
Bodo Zoltan Ferenc – 9.1%
Laszlo Robert – 7.34%
Neogen SA – 3.4 %
Tiger Holding Four Sarl – 20.5 %
Taxibedrijf De Schinkel 30 BV – 7.5 %
3.000.500 eur
One month ago I was trying to be discreet regarding Yahoo’s interest in Romania.
Not so discreet was Marius Pahomi who announced the Yahoo! launch in Romania for 2008 on his blog from a private talk with Toby Coppel (Managing Director Yahoo! Europe).
Ups
Related:
- Orlando “shocked” to find out
- Media Cafe posting pictures
Wiki: Jean Moscopol was born in Brăila, where he showed ease of learning from his early days. He could play several instruments (including the banjo and mandolin) and, besides Romanian, spoke French, Italian, English, German and Greek fluently. His first formal education took place at Brăila’s Greek school, and he continued learning in that city, also taking classes at its Lyra conservatory, before finishing high school in GalaÅ£i. Continue reading ‘Remember Jean Moscopol: anti-USSR propaganda’
I think we can use the Internet for exporting democracy in Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova/Transnistria and I like to believe that today we made the first step. It’s a new challenge and a new way of looking at things.
“E-democracy, a portmanteau of electronic and democracy, comprises the use of electronic communications technologies, such as the Internet, in enhancing democratic processes within a democratic republic or representative democracy. It is a political development still in its infancy, as well as the subject of much debate and activity within government, civic-oriented groups and societies around the world.
The term is both descriptive and prescriptive. Typically, the kinds of enhancements sought by proponents of e-democracy are framed in terms of making processes more accessible; making citizen participation in public policy decision-making more expansive and direct so as to enable broader influence in policy outcomes as more individuals involved could yield smarter policies; increasing transparency and accountability; and keeping the government closer to the consent of the governed, increasing its political legitimacy” – more on Wikipedia
This evening I was invited to speak in a radio show (Radio Romania) about the educational rights Romanians enjoy in foreign territories. We discussed about e-learning, the use of Internet and common educational matters.
We had a phone call from a teacher in Moldova who told us that he is teaching Romanian language and the “Moldovan language” propaganda was a nonsense. This made me mention the open letter I sent to Google regarding their language policy (still no answer from Radu Tudorache – Google Country Consultant for Romania).
I also had the chance to talk about Transnistria (Europe’s black hole) and about the serious issues Romanians are facing out there (for example, the border control is very strict and they don’t allow books or educational materials for the schools, not to mention the beatings and the threatenings both teachers and students face on daily basis).
These days I’m doing volunteering work again. I’m meeting Romanian teachers from Bulgaria, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine and Hungary. I was happy to find out that they use the computers in their schools and I plan to provide them a training on how to use the Internet and blogging in order to teach Romanian language and to create a stronger community connected to Romania.
I’m also going to present the educational online resources available in Romanian language and I hope to receive a very good feedback.
We’re updating our servers and changing the IP classes/DNS/etc – some services might be unavailable in some parts of the world
Meanwhile you can try some Yeti Snowball games
The movie from our last wine tasting (via Cezar):
Of course, the event was powered by Vinul.ro
Saturday – Cezar cooked a delicious dinner and I could compare France vs. Italy in two bottles: Chateau Bonnet Reserve, 2003 – Cabernet Sauvignon and a of Excelsus, Castelo Banfi, 2000 – Cabernet Sauvignon;
Sunday morning – Coffee at Starbucks;
Sunday at noon – in the park with the kids & making new friends; insights for new online projects; playing with the new “consumers” and “visitors”
Sunday night – Blog & Roll in Coyote Club. If was quite a party with the bloggers in Bucharest (a fun group) and thanks to Magda I got home quite early. Piticu was on the roll (I know the feeling ), Nihasa promoted Netcamp (btw, here is the new Audi viral clip) and I dicovered Vlad Stan to be awine lover. Congratulations to Corina and Ionut (the karaoke winners).
Monday morning – e-mail, breakfast, phones, haircut, more e-mails, design changes, updates, monitoring, keyword analysis, blogs;
In the evening – invited in a TV Show on Euforia TV, talking about corporate ethical behaviour (after a scandal involving a local bank). After the show, a salad and more e-mails.
Today – rain, morning meetings, exploit fixing & spam fighting, fighting with the office router, e-mails, hot tea, afternoon meetings, phone calls, LinkedIn, traffic, dinner meetings and plans for 2008. The night is still young
Ideas from Star Trek come to life – I’m sure that this printer will change the way we imagine the future:
Will printing be the next big thing after consumerism?
