Jaap GrollemanLearning Chinese has taught me about languageIn high school, I was never good at languages. Not in Dutch — learning advanced grammar — and not in French, German, or English. The…Mar 31, 2021Mar 31, 2021
Jaap GrollemanJudo versus karateVegans have grown a bad reputation because (or so the stereotype goes) they’d call out anyone eating meat — citing that meat is bad for…Jul 2, 2019Jul 2, 2019
Jaap GrollemanRecycling is a massive red herringPhilip Morris launched Mission Winnow for a smoke free world, even though it’s nothing but a sloppy website with pointless terms like…Jun 19, 2019Jun 19, 2019
Jaap GrollemanLANGUAGE IS ABOUT PEOPLE AND ADVERTISING IS ABOUT LANGUAGEIt helps my job to see advertising as a language. Even if it’s not literally a dialogue, you are communicating to someone’s mind, tapping…Jun 10, 2019Jun 10, 2019
Jaap GrollemanStrategy is specific, specifics are semanticsThere is a distinct difference between probability and possibility, between rationality and reason, empathy and sympathy, between dogma…May 1, 2019May 1, 2019
Jaap GrollemanStrategy lessons from racingRacing is life under high pressure, and I think advertising (or any industry) can learn a lot from how racing cars are designed.Feb 26, 2019Feb 26, 2019
Jaap GrollemanThe difference between “wangDIFFERENCE BETWEEN “WANG” AND “WOEF”I’ve now taken two months of Mandarin classes, and last week our teacher taught us the words for cat (māo) and dog (gǒu) — and as a sort…Jan 2, 20191Jan 2, 20191
Jaap GrollemanWedding rings bring worlds togetherLake Victoria is a huge fresh water basin that lies in between Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. For over 500,000 years, rainfall and thousands…May 18, 2018May 18, 2018
Jaap GrollemanTrees of ShanghaiTwo out of three trees in Shanghai are London plane trees.Feb 4, 2018Feb 4, 2018
Jaap GrollemanTuring TestsAs an individual, we’re never certain whether others have thoughts and inner workings just like our own, simply because we can never look…Nov 17, 2017Nov 17, 2017