Saturday was a mellow day in Margate. We arrived on the beachfront at about 3pm to have some lunch at one of the seafood/pizza joints there. At 4pm, while finishing off, the Loeries parade made its way past us on Loerie lane ( so renamed for the week-end)
The parade was quite disappointing. Some drummies, a local school band and a number of open convertibles with some beauty queens perched on them.
This was followed by the promotional vehicles form just about every Margate business, including Rhema church, the lifesavers and the police. Oh, yes, let’s not forget the 4 Subaru’s with music blasting from their woofers.
The official “do”, scheduled for 18h30 eventually got on the way at 19h15. The host, John Vlismas, kept the show going with 2 guest performances by Freshly Ground.
The categories awarded were communication design, print, student and experiential.
1,5hrs in a plastic seat was quite a thing without a break. The smokers at the event off course all thought that because it was a marquee that they could smoke as much as possible. Even after being asked twice not to do so, they still continued. Oh well…
The official after party was at Backline. I still had to pay cash for my drink…So much for an official party.
Well let’s see what tonight will bring. Off to the function now.

Well, I just got off the plane from Cape Town to Durban and feel like the only guy on the plane with a pair of jeans that actually fit, a top and trousers that match and without earrings or rings adorning my body.
I guess that’s what happens when you fly Air Loerie to Durbs during Loerie week-end in Margate.
So glad to know that I will actually be standing out this week-end…!

Now that I’ve read in the Sunday Times of yesterday that SA companies spent R 21.4 bn on advertising in the year ending May, up from R 18bn the year before, I am starting to look forward seeing what all this money is spent on.
I already know that only 6,4% of all entries in the awards are for online related campaign. I only pray that this is not also reflected in the % of total spend.
Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to get all the facts and inform my readers accordingly.

So, here I am, the online type of guy, trying to come to grips with what the Loerie Awards are all about.
The 2007 list of finalists were announced this week and I counted a huge 747 entries on the list.
There are 5 main categories, each with a number of sub -categories. The main ones are:

1. Advertising
2. Communication design
3. Experiential
4. Integrated campaign
5. Student entries.

I scrutinized the entire list to try and get a handle on how many actual online/internet entries there are within the various catergories. Excluding the integrated campaigns that don’t specify whether online/digital form part, this is what I found:

• Advertising: online advertising, 9 entries
• Experiential: digital - web site, 11 entries
• Experiential: digital - micro site, 13 entries
• Experiential: digital - email, 2 entries
• Experiential: digital - Viral, 11 entries
• Experiential: digital Mixed- Media Campaign, 2 entries

So, 48 out of 747, a huge 6.4% of the total entries!

Please tell me that it is a reflection of how little the online agencies are interested in the Loeries and not a reflection of how little the advertising industry and their clients think of online as a marketing / advertising tool!

So, one week without blogging. What will it do for my blog? What has it done to me?
Okay, it was not a planned decision not to blog for an entire week, rather something that just happened…or didn’t happen.
So, I thought, what if any effect will it have on me, my blog and those 3 or 4 people that read my blog(s)
My strongest feeling was one of guilt. No, I don’t get paid a dime ( or cent) to make these irregular postings of doubtful meaning. Yet, I felt bad for not having done so in a week.
It does make me think of those journo’s out there who from time to time criticize the whole citizen’s journalism phenomenon. I am however not a full time journalist so I don’t have an entire day just to think about one column for the next day.
The issue of writing just for the sake of it has been blogged about enough for me to know that I would rather say nothing than say something meaningless. It does however not help for those people who come to the blog to read and find nothing there.
Then there were the people who contacted me to ask why I have not blogged for a few days.

What did I learn?
I am often advising my clients to set up a blog and to start doing the blogging thing. I have to take my experience of the last week into account though going forward. What I will advise from now on is:

1. Rather commit to a weekly posting and then increase the postings than doing it the other way round.
2. If you’re not going to be blogging for a few days ( and you know it) , tell your readers as much.
3. Don’t be scared to ask friends, colleagues, even family to contribute to your blog, providing that it is in the spirit of that blog.
4. Don’t compare yourself with a professional journalist in terms of consistent articles and regular postings: they get PAID for it.