<nettime-ann> osocio: where marketing and activism collide

[geert lovink <geert@desk.nl>]

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http://osocio.org/

Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. 
It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as 
the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad 
agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good 
Samaritans from around the globe.

Despite there being hundreds of other ad blogs on the web, Houtlust 
stood out by focusing exclusively on social advertising. Unlike 
commercial advertising, which only attempts to influence purchase 
decisions, non-profit ads seeks to connect us with other human beings. 
Social advertising has an uncanny power to make us stop, think and then 
take action to help a person, or a group of people, who we don’t even 
know, who might be from a foreign culture, living thousands of miles 
away. And for that reason we celebrate these ads, study them and 
discuss them at length. We hope you will too.

Created by Marc van Gurp in October 2005, Houtlust began as a personal 
collection of non-profit ads. Originally the site was only written in 
Dutch, with no thoughts of a wider audience. But the demand for an 
English version quickly grew. The tiny niche blog got bigger and 
bigger. And it wasn’t long before Houtlust became known as the 
authoritative reference of non-profit advertising for the ad industry 
and socially minded people everywhere.

In the spring of 2007 discussions started on how to take Houtlust to 
the next level. Interactive agency Onstuimig and branding agency Alef 
de Jong were quick to volunteer their services to help with the 
re-brand and re-launch of new website. The result of this cooperation 
is where you are now: Osocio.

Osocio is more then a blog. It’s a complete resource for all things in 
the world of non-profit and social messaging. It’s a platform for 
global and local social issues, both large and small. It’s a community 
of social thinkers and marketing do-gooders.

While Houtlust was curated by one person (Marc van Gurp), Osocio has 
several contributors, each of whom are specialists in a specific field 
of the diverse non-profit sector. We are glad to welcome these experts 
to the Osocio team (see below).

Of course, we have our own ideas on how to make the world a better 
place. However, Osocio promises to never push any political agenda of 
its own. The campaigns we publish in no way directly express our 
personal stance on a specific issue. Our focus is solely on the 
communication of social messages.

If you feel you can collaborate in any shape or form, please contact 
us. We’re always keen on new social campaigns. So please send us the 
non-profit marketing you’ve been working on, or the work of your 
agency, along with news, links or tips.

Although you can read this text in many languages, all the content of 
Osocio is originally written in English.

Tags: abuse, activism, advertising, animal rights, awards, animal 
rights, campaign, communication, culture, design, drugs, education, 
entrepreneur, gender issues, grassroots, environment, fundraising, 
government, health, human rights, marketing, media, ngo, non-profit, 
politics, religion, poverty, road safety, social, social aid, 
solidarity, third world, violence, war, woman issues.

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