In 2011, author, Martijn Arets, visited 20 inspiring companies around Europe to learn how to build a better brand. The stories and lessons he learned became the book Brand Expedition. 

What Martijn set out to do was to visit these companies and understand them better. This became reality when he quit his job and went on the road to interview CEO’s, founders and brand managers. He captured his findings on video and shared his experiences by blogging and tweeting while on the road. At each stop, he requested that each CEO ask the next CEO a question on video. To engage more with his growing audience, Martijn asked them to help pick out which company to visit next.  

While Arets set out to capture his expedition in a digital format, he found that a book was the best way to share the stories and lessons. The book he wrote based on his experiences was a great success in Holland, and he set about crowdsourcing an international edition.

To improve upon that success and tie his online content to the book, Arets and Layar teamed up. For the release of the international edition, Arets used Layar to enrich the book with video interviews of the CEO’s pan-company interviews. Each page enhanced with video content has the View with Layar logo, indicating to readers when the special videos are available.  

At Layar, we think it’s a cool book and a great way to use our platform. The videos fit nicely with the printed content of the book. It gives the book experience something extra, which keeps the reader more enaged and in tune with the “how to build a brand” message and lessons.

We are very curious how the readers will like it.

Watch the video below to see how it works.  You can buy the book here to experience for yourself.

Last week we introduced you to Klasien van de Zandschulp, one of the fresher faces at Layar who works with user research and interaction design. This week we have another recent hire to profile – Ivo van Barneveld, manager of the Layar Partner Network.

Ivo is a native to the Netherlands with over a decade of work experience in mobile technology, so here’s a bit about him and his experiences so far at Layar.

“I was born in Cadier en Keer in the southern part of the Netherlands (near Maastricht). I lived in the provence of Limburg for the first 4 years of my life and then moved to Dalfsen (near Zwolle) at the age of 5,” says Ivo.

“I have one sister who is three years younger than me and as a family we would spend many, many holidays in Sweden. I really love that country” he adds. “I lived in Dalfsen until the age of 18 when I left to attend college.”

Ivo attended the Delft University of Technology where he earned his Master’s degree in Applied Physics. Before coming to Layar, he worked as a manager at ProRail, which is responsible for the Dutch railway infrastructure.

The majority of his previous work career, however, is from his time with Nokia. Ivo worked for Nokia in several areas, including Networks Forum Nokia and Mobile Video. Now at Layar, Ivo manages the Layar Partner Network.

“As manager of the Layar Partner Network, I provide the premium tier of our developer community with tools, information and business opportunities to make them successful. I organise webinars, develop new initiatives and manage communication between developers, brands and agencies that use Layar,” he says. “The thing I like most about working at Layar is the great group of people I get to work with, and the quick decision making that a smaller company allows.”

Outside of work, for Ivo, family comes first. He is married and has three daughters, ages 3, 6 and 7. Ivo devotes most of his free time to his family, like helping manage the field hockey team two of his daughters play on. With the time left over, he enjoys running and cycling, as well as reading. A book he really recommends is Fermat’s Last Theorem by Simon Singh, even if you’re not into maths!

To get in touch with Ivo about the Layar Partner Network, you can email him at Ivo@Layar.com.