Today’s sessions were by themselves all excellent, but what I liked so much about today’s sessions was that they were all so completely different from one another. They seemed to each come at the business from a different angle. This made it truly interesting for me and served to re-emphasize just how complex this industry really is.
Session #1: MOWS and Mini Series: A New Dawn
The People:
Jesse Prupas, VP Development and Distribution, Muse Entertainment
Liz Wise, Director – Original Movies, SciFi Channel
Karen O’Hara, Director – Original Movies, Lifetime Television Networks
Tom Zappala, SVP, Program Acquisitions & Scheduling, ABC Cable Networks Group
The Ideas:
1) These panellists clearly LOVE movies and all know full well that good movies can draw huge audiences. Why? Well, the movies may either just be a great fit for viewers of that specific station (i.e. Lifetime’s female- skewed shows are generally emotional in nature with a strong measure of social responsibility, with themes of either health, happiness, well-being, family or jobs), OR perhaps it’s the fact the movies (vs. series formats) are either exclusive airings, theatre quality straight to DVD scenarios, offering huge talent or simply titles that channels can create events around (i.e. Lifetime’s Coco Chanel movie – was heavily promoted, had great audience draw, and easily worth the budget spent). The reasons vary, but if the quality is good and it fits with the viewers’ interests, the project is usually successful for all the players
2) Liz Wise, of Lifetime, says that TV Movies often deal with content that parallels current social issues (i.e. Bullying -and the interest in the “mean cheerleader” themes). This is attractive for them, considering they want to ensure that projects are in keeping with where their audiences are at in their own lives.
3) Karen O’Hara, of the Sci-Fi channel likes movies because they are “self-contained” and there’s no need for viewers to concern about whether they’ve seen the last episode or not. She also says that there’s a trend toward old movies that viewers remember as kids or movies that are “takes” on old popular stories. Case in point, the Sci-Fi channel has had success with Sherlock Holmes. Robin Hood and Little Red Riding Hood re-inventions. The later of these is actually a werewolf movie which is a humorous departure from the Little Red Riding Hood that WE all know.
4) Producers need to be patient with the fact that channels often need to build relationships over time with production teams. Karen said straight out that if she’s never worked with you before, her first deal will always be straight acquisition on a completed project. They are unable to gamble too heavily and until they know you are fully reliable. And unless you can sell her on your great track record, she’ll take the safer route. The panel also says that they all pay better attention to the projects that are pitched with agents and lawyers in place. Their preference is if producers come with a distribution company and any international partners, if they exist. But, in the end, they all said that what they are looking for is good content that meets the needs of their viewers, and that this has come to them in many various forms
Session #2: View from the Top: Factual Forecast
The People:
Julian Rodriguez Montero, Manager, Television Federal S.A.
Beth Dietrich Segarra, VP of Development, Discovery Channel
Vitaly Fedko, New Media Development and Production, Corona Films
Richard Life, Head of Factual Acquisitions & Co-Productions, ITV Global
Loren Mawhinney, VP Factual Development, EI Television
A nice blend of distribution, network and production on this panel.
The ideas:
1) An equation that seems to work well for “Factual” programs tends to be those that give viewers an exclusive, “insiders-view” of something compelling, seedy, spirited or insightful that they would not normally be able to experience. If content producers continue to offer this kind of product, and can also seek ways to extend their brands to online and create appeal for advertisers and sponsors, then this model will continue to be successful. Panellists say that if producers can do this by also generating content that allows viewers to learn something at the end, then better yet.
2) Pulling in great personalities and hosts is also another attractive part of the equation. Whether it’s a popular journalist or a well-known movie star, the leading role needs to be held by someone who is a good fit. They need to be relevant to the material, believable in their delivery and interesting. Or they, themselves aren’t the experts, then viewers need to be comfortable tagging along with this person as they seek out and learn from the true experts.
3) Julian Rodriguez’s station is in Argentina and Vitaly Fedko operates out of Russia. It was interesting to hear that the same models tend to work over there. Vitaly went on to say that, in addition to an economic crisis, global societies are going through many other crises. It’s within these crises environments that content providers may find emerging opportunities (examples included environmental topics, faith and spiritual guidance shows, etc).
4) But with respect to the economic downturn, the panel sees huge audience demand for what Richard Life likes to call “lean back” shows vs. “lean forward” shows (certainly I myself have favoured more comedy and escapism programming than ever before). They say that it will be a little while before audiences are ready to se anything too “heavy” or “technical” in nature. But then again, as Beth Dietrich Segarra points out, many networks are looking to fill spots for as far ahead as 2011. The economic landscape could be in a whole new place by then. There in lies another challenge for content producers. Either be reactionary and get a quick green light to produce products that are aligned with our current economic setting, or be proactive and start planning for when things turn around.
5) Another tip from the panel was that if a producer wants to take the reactionary route, then perhaps they may want to look at distributing their material through an online platform. These models don’t generally rely on scheduling and don’t have to contest with such massive lead times.
Session #3: Beyond Broadcast: Engaging your Audience Online
The Presenter:
Adrian Capobianco, President, Quizative Inc.
Quizative is a digital innovation agency that consults with companies and brands on how to best connect with their customers in the digital space. And it was excellent that he defined that digital space isn’t only web-based projects, but also ones that include mobile and live out-of-home digital applications.
The ideas:
1) There are huge opportunities in web projects, search programs, social marketing and mobile activities. Advertisers need to be willing to take risks though. Adrian suggests that advertisers start small and be realistic, or more specifically, be ready to fall. But, he also says that advertisers on the web need to really look at “Relevance” as an extension to their typical review of Reach and Frequency. If a program is small, but reaches a good demo and creates engagement, he would see it as a success. (As I see it, this means that agencies, advertisers and media buyers need to be willing to take their position on some fairly step learning curves for the next few years).
2) He also says that agencies and advertisers need to fully recognize that they are lagging in terms of media spend in the digital environment. Sure, ad dollars have decreased in all mediums across the board, that is obvious, but he asks, what accounts for the fact that Canadian figures show our citizens spending 20 -30% of their time online (excluding gaming, email and mobile browsing) and advertisers only spending 8-12% of their budgets online?
3) His 5 principles of digital marketing:
- Be more conversational, with fewer campaigns (get in front of your customers more often, and do so in an engaging way, either by asking them to view, review, rate, create or react to something)
- Focus on relevance (personally, I’ve watched the Dove brand do exceptionally well in this area. They’ve developed many niche programs that have resonated well with their target audiences)
- Analyze the cost per response (take the cost to develop the web property and divide it by the number of visitors multiplied by the amount of time they spent with that property). This tool helps to optimize your efficiencies. But, sometimes programs are hard to measure. He says, that’s why you need to build in special engagement tools. An example is the successful Tetley Tea web project that asked the public to come to their website to download free brand-aligned music. The artists provided portions of their songs, free of charge and Tetley saw great response from people that matched their typical customer profiles. A success in their eyes.
- Balance the consumer value equation (Sony’s Vaio PC project asked people to submit designs for the PC skins. Later, they’d asked the public to vote on the finalists. This generated a great deal of interest and helped potential buyers relate with the brand on a whole new level).
- Make the target audience your champion. Adrian presented a fantastic example of this with Harlequin novel’s recent 60th Anniversary. A New York gallery exhibit was created featuring old romance novel covers through the years. At the end of the gallery display, the public was able to have their own photo taken and placed into a generated romance cover of their selection. And presto, they had a copy of themselves on a cover in both print and electronic format. This generated a great viral following, with people email it to their friends and family. (Again, an exceptional way to pull a brand experience right out to an audience, and then have them act as ambassadors and push it out further to their contacts. And since the target of this is heavily skewed female, who among us hasn’t dreamed of being in a whirlwind romance?)
So, there you have it. Another exceptional day of people, ideas and entertainment (P.I.E.) I plan to send through one more summary that will likely encapsulate a lot of the learning’s from all three days. Stay tuned for that.
My only complaint about this entire experience is that I couldn’t be in more than one session at a time. And because of this, I couldn’t benefit from the learnings in other sessions. I tried to pick a nice cross section of topics to appeal to all elements of the industry. I do hope that I’ve served you all well!
Thanks for reading.
Wendy Ell
