Author Archives: Adam

Network Down

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If you want to be a global brand with longevity you must continue to find new audiences to reach out to and do so tastefully.  Jay Z is the master of this – collaborating with rock music acts that exposed his brand/music to new audiences.  Here, Pharrell is adding to his legacy by going after the kids.  Tweens of today are the most connected most discerning customers who will be the backbone of consumer behavior in the next decade.  So establishing a presence in the world can pay dividends in keeping your name alive and your brand healthy.  Networking down to the kids – that’s how you create more than a flash in a generation.

Design, Behavior and IDEO

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Many times ‘change’ is just looking for the right vehicle or infrastructure to prosper.  Providing a low cost, easy to use, widely available tool can create the type of macro change necessary to impact a society.  This is one reason why apps have so much potential.  With more people using smart phones and downloading relatively easy/inexpensive apps – we can share data and enact change with these simple tools.  I love the example of the CDC’s campaign for washing hands which has been a big success.  Washing hands.  So simple and yet it needed that designed interference (advertising) to enact the mass changes.

Food Revolution

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Check out Jamie Oliver’s fantastic new show on ABC.  TV is still the most powerful medium to getting your message out and Jamie has created a new hybrid muckraker reality show..  This show takes the worst of our eating habits – personified in Huntington, West Virginia and aims to re-educate our food beliefs.  While cities like NYC have fully embraced ideas of organic vs. processed, or locavore or even the ‘outrageous’ belief in vegetables – many parts of our country have lost their most basic skill of feeding their kids and themselves.  Our ancestors would be shocked at the loss of culinary skill.  Just because we are more technologically savvy does not make us advanced.  I support the move towards slow and right instead of fast and now.

Action Ratner

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While all film exec and filmmakers have their passion projects– they are also on the lookout for a great business model as a steady stream of revenue.  Brett Ratner has always been at the forefront of finding lucrative business models to match with his interests.  Here he is taking aim at the reasonably priced action thriller.   Sam Raimi does it for horror, Peter Jackson for sci-fi and now Ratner for action.  Its smart – they become producers and factory owners for burgeoning talent.

Mattelwood and Transmedia

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Toys have long been thought of as the after effect of a franchise.  Its an additional revenue stream after TV and movies established the characters or its been a longstanding toy that is turned into a movie.  But in the new age of toy companies leveraging their assets in savvier ways – Mattel is revolutionizing their R+D process.  Instead of relying on Hollywood to drive the ship – Mattel is taking matters into their own hands.  They asked their developers for new toy ideas that can be turned into properties – took the top five and picked the best one.  By creating a new line of toys with its own back story and hiring  producer Neal Mortiz (Fast and the Furious), Mattel is taking control of their ‘transmedia’ options.  Transmedia being the ability to spinoff their product into every conceivable market. – play with, see, hear and eat.  Now they can control all parts of the process.  By exercising more control over the creative – Mattel will enjoy more equity and more financial responsibility for the product.

Thrilling Video

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Thrillist.com brings great content to a desirable demographic (young guys)but content companies can no longer be in one medium.  Here they are developing a visual style to their editorial content.  Video is not an option anymore – if you want to be relevant, you need to have at least the option of video.  The hardest part for places unaccustomed to making video is changing mediums and creating something cool.  The expectation for someone who has dominated one mode of communication is much higher.  Thrillist.com cannot afford to put out sub standard videos because they already have a great written content.  Excited to see how these guys manage that transition.

The Sound of Your Writing

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Easier than organizing a table read – this site reads your script…with readers appropriate to the role.  This is just another way to hustle.  A writer’s toughest task after finishing a script is to get someone to read it.  And as someone who has read my share of scripts over the year – it’s an uphill climb.  Might be easy to get your friend to read something but industry folks is another story.  The moral of this – be creative.

If you wrote something amazing do whatever you can to get it in front of someone – including making it an audio file.  That way someone might be able to consume it in the car or on a run.  Tee it up when you’re asking someone to do something for you.   Make it easy and make it fun.  Also, not a bad idea to hear your characters come to life… I am sure there will be some lines you want to change!

Oprah’s Second Act

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Every now and again an icon risks it all for a second act.  Howard Stern was one example.  He got paid when he switch to Sirius but lost some of his cultural significance.  It’s almost heresy to suggest the same thing might happen to Oprah but who knows.  She is ending her show in 2011 where she was the main talent and moving to overseer of a network.  OWN has strong distribution and lots of resources but a channel’s strength depends on the hits.  Even if Oprah takes a version of her show to OWN – will it have the same impact?  No one knows – buts its insanely fascinating to watch the process play out.  This article is a behind the scenes exploration of cable economics and politics.

Interactive Fashion Show

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Brilliant marketing by Ralph Lauren.  This is a fashion show online with commentary and the ability to purchase items as they walk towards you.  There is a big trend across all industries of cutting out the middle men or the ‘arbiters’ and going straight to the consumer.  Online shopping first made its mark because of the convenience factor but now retailers are realizing that creating an embedded experience for online shopping is important.