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Wake Up, Hollywood.
Kara Swisher at WSJ’s new blog area (blogorrhea?) All Things Digital (which has some real good potential) covers the EconSM Conference put on by PaidContent — specifically a dinner panel featuring Variety Editor Peter Bart and longtime producer Peter Guber, both of whom host AMC’s Sunday Morning Shootout.
Kara heard something that floored her, and frankly, I’m even floored-er.
But I nearly fell off my well-upholstered chair when Bart said, in an off-the-cuff remark, that YouTube might be history within four years. He came out with this particular nugget in the midst of a discussion about the nature of the audience and its desires, which Bart said did not change that much from era to era. He noted that great love stories always were going to do well (he actually used “Love Story” as the example) and that basic tastes don’t really vary.
I could agree with that, until he also noted that today’s youth could be compared to that from the 1950s. Well, except for those iPods and mashups, except for MySpace and video games, except for cellphones and blogs and, most of all, except for the fact that they have complete comfort in a highly interactive universe and, in fact, are not ever going to allow the kind of top-down control that Hollywood has wielded for so long.
When I piped up that kids today really seemed to have a lot more digital tools at their disposal and also seemed to like the whole Internet thing a lot, with all its social networking and user-generated content and interactivity, both Bart and Guber said that that kind of media was still not very compelling and has not produced the kind of hits that Hollywood was famous for. I am not sure they were exactly calling the current digital era a fad, but it was telling to me that Hollywood attitudes still center on the unshakable belief that their businesses will outlast all comers.
Have you seen this last weekend’s box office? Disturbia, #1 for the third week in a row, led the box office with a whopping 9.1 million. Several other films followed ranging from $2.5 to $7 million. Moviegoers did not turn out this weekend. You can blame it on the weak films, you can blame it on some nice weather, but you can also blame it on the fact that there are just more media choices than ever out there. Choices that compete with physically going to the movies.
Bart’s and Guber’s point just re-highlight the problems Hollywood is having with today’s consumer. Unless Hollywood adapts to an evolving use of media by consumers, limits the amount of content it produces to better content, and embraces digital distribution while not over-relying on over-used DRM, they are going to be dinosaurs. Not only does an industry leader (on the inside of the studio system) need to step up and set a precedent by changing things for the better (think EMI’s non-DRM deal with Apple’s iTunes multiplied exponentially), but the MPAA needs to change its draconian stance on content sharing, selling, and distribution.
Consumers’ habits, tastes, and technologies are all changing. Wake up, and step up, Hollywood.
**UPDATE**
More fuel for the fire from GigaOm.
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MySpace China Launches.
It probably doesn’t mean much to you as a marketer, but it should as a world citizen.
It’s going to be fascinating to watch this play out.
Mashuppacultcha Rules.
Mashup culture isn’t just for tech-geeks, YouTubers, and Google employees. Sometimes, it can actually enhance your life. And when two companies get together to mash their services up together, all because consumers spoke up and said it would make their lives more organized, it’s a thing of beauty.
LinkedIn and Plaxo have joined forces to allow Plaxo Members to sync their LinkedIn contacts with their Plaxo address book, effectively mashing their flagship products.
I’ve synced my two accounts, and it worked splendidly. I feel more organized and connected already.
While mashups have been around forever (Shakespeare, anyone?) the modern, corporate interpretation (Nike+Apple, TiVo+DirecTV), holds tremendous promise not just culturally, but financially.
Bonus points if you can tell me (in the comments, please) what the title of this post is a pop-culture reference to.
Infiltrate or Facilitate? The Deep Focus View of Online Public Relations.
The world of online public relations and publicity is a strange one to many - even to publicists and PR professionals.
I get calls all the time from companies looking to change or shape the perception of consumers via online PR strategies. I often have to clear the air and explain just what it is that we do. So what better way than to do it in a public forum.
At Deep Focus, we’ve pioneered the adaptation of the “old” publicity model and have made it more relevant. In doing so, we’ve adopted a set of beliefs.
(more…)
Must Attend Event: Advertising in Social Media (5/21, NYC)
The fine folks at ClickZ are putting on a one-day event on 5/21 called Advertising in Social Media. While I will be speaking on at least one panel, that’s not the (only) reason that you should go.
The speaker list currently includes:
Henry Copeland, Founder, Blogads.com
Peter Hirshberg, Chairman and CMO, Technorati
Greg Verdino, Vice President/Director of Emerging Channels, Digitas
Chad Stoller, Executive Director of Emerging Platforms, Organic Inc.
David Schiffman, Director, Messaging and Social Media Ventures, AOL
This is going to be a good one, filled with best practices, insights, and new learning on what makes advertising in and around social media successful. Many events are filled with 101-level basics. This one looks to be an academic exploration of what works and what doesn’t, as well as what the future might hold.
Be there.
Another Edelman Fiasco
From the what-not-to-do files…
Let me preface this by saying that Steve Rubel (now at Edelman PR) is one of the most important and influential advocates of online PR, blogging, and general do-gooding when it comes to opening up dialogues between companies and consumers. This industry needs Steve Rubel.
Steve has historically praised transparency, but took a foolish misstep in being a little too transparent, thanks to his itchy twitter finger. He literally trashed PC Magazine in plain view of everyone — and is now paying the price.
Check out FakeSteveJobs’ take on this fascinating and developing story.
And stay tuned for a blog post from me that will redefine the way you think about online PR.
Online Video: A Dish Best Served by One Site?
According to a report by Bear Stearns analysts, audiences’ experiences with online video are best when the video is consumed on one site — not across multiple sites.
If this is true (the sample size was 1,000, so take it with a grain of salt), then it’s bad news for NBC/FOX and others planning to go the ubiquity route, rather than deal with YouTube and others.
This could very well be a misleading report, however. The world of online video, and specifically its distribution, is so young, that audience habits are at the very beginning of a societal learning curve. It’s early enough in the process where behavior can still be taught. The ones who lead the way, may ultimately be conditioning the audiences of the future.
My Entire Childhood Just Sold Itself Out in Just One Hollywood Reporter Article.
Spider-Man is coming to Broadway, produced by Sony & Marvel, and directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King). Bono & The Edge (of U2) will be writing the score.
Ironic, since about 5 minutes before I read that, I was considering writing about how every step taken with this franchise has made me love it more.
Just please don’t make a Springsteen musical. Please.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
Review of Four New Comedy Video Sites
Nick Douglas over at Valleywag pens a solid review of SuperDeluxe, Acceptable.TV, Rooftop Comedy, and FunnyorDie.
Nick knows funny. Trust the Nick on this one.
Jaffe Crayons Coca-Cola in Second Life: Schafer Gently Scratches Head
The interactive marketing industry is better off with Joe Jaffe around. He gets us talking about conversations, rethinking the :30 spot, podcasts up a storm, and just generally makes us all smarter. I’ve known him for years, and respect him greatly.
But I just don’t get the Second Life thing.
I mean, I get Second Life. I get why some people use it. I’ve spent lots of time in there (most of it wondering where people were, then realizing they were all in strip clubs, brothels, nude beaches, and casinos). There is just SUCH a limited number of people that are reachable via SL. And one has to wonder just how much influence they actually wield in real life. I can understand if you are trying to reach a highly technical or tech-savvy audience with an appropriate experience, but does an effort like this for Coca-Cola really amount to anything with measurable results?
There are just so many other communities and virtual worlds that cater to teenagers (i.e. MTV’s Laguna Beach, Gaia Online) out there that would make more sense to me if you were going for some kind of brand association (not to mention a bigger, and more influential [and influence-able] crowd).
The era where there was media value in building islands in SL for a press release’s sake has passed us by. If you want to get press from SL now, Crayon’s effort is certainly one way to do it — create an alternative to the “classic” island-building experience. But for the money it cost, I’d love to know if it was worth it.
Without sounding contradictory, though, I do applaud the effort. Someone’s got to do something new, for us to learn something new. But that doesn’t mean it feels 100% right to me.
Or, maybe I’m just still feeling the Nyquil.
**UPDATE**
AdFreak covers this as well.
