OddFuture – No Budget Domination

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Adam

Kids are bored. Their steady diets of radiology, twitter trends and overly padded athletic events is creating a generation of Avatar risk takers.

So let me introduce OddFuture (Odd Future Wolf Gang Crew Kill em All) a group of California misfits who have capitalized on the status of the crippled recording industry to kick down the doors using nothing, but free social media platforms to galvanize an audience of indoor kids across the world.

The band, which is the brainchild of the aptly named Tyler The Creator has creating a wild feeding frenzy among record companies, based off of little more than a series of mixtapes and no budget music videos that are more disturbing than a Sarah Palin White House bid. A group of rowdy, unruly, punk/skate/rap/minimilist grime/ musician/entertainer/filmmaker/web developer/ conundrum from Odd Future have literally ignited the internet with disturbing images of teenagers doing excessive amounts of drugs while brandishing fire arms and threatening to dress like Nazis. In recent weeks, they have appeared in the Guardian (UK), The Fader, The NY Times, Village Voice and an unfathomable amount of blogs across the WORLD, which have lead to sold out shows in LA, New York, London to name just the last month.

And all of this from a basement.

The hustle is impressive, but what’s shocking is how effective their model for success has been. By attacking the status quo directly, through channels like interactive blogs and websites, they were able to garner such an intense amount of support within months. The group has literally created a small media empire that is completly self-sustainable and synergistic. They have literally proven that record labels are useless to them, which is why labels have all begged to sit down with the crew.

Love it or Hate it, the ability to successfully create an underdog/rebel with the potential to win will always make people pay attention.

-Vic Reznik

The Talent Owns The Building

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Adam

TALENT OWNING NETWORKS – A GROWING TREND

Seacrest, CAA and AEG are possibly partnering to start AXS cable channel. What’s crazy is in this same article there are murmurs of Comcast purchasing AEG due to their portfolio of the some best arenas/stadiums in the world, in order to compete with Live Nation/Ticketmaster. At this rate, we’ll have one music-live-event-tv-cable-premium content-set-top-box-ticket distributor to go to and we’ll just call it the ministry of live entertainment come 2015.

All joking aside – what’s in it for Mr. Seacrest?

It’s no secret that Ryan has had a consummate show biz resume starting from his youth. Idol and E! Entertainment exposure lead to overall deals, tv, radio, producer credits, first-looks, back-end participation – you name it – Ryan’s done it and has a reputation as one of the hardest working men in show business. What is Seacrest’s rationale behind this latest strategic move?

The little known fact about the what makes the cable business go round are extreme affiliate fees. It’s a $32B dollar a year business. It’s why Oprah Winfrey is opting to hang up her hosting shoes and go into retirement off of Oprah Premium Programming. Click on this link to learn more about the cable biz from the awesome VC, Bill Gurley.

When you are an Agent in Hollywood – you yearn to put together mega-deals like this CAA/Seacrest with AEG. These type of deals are headliners and they make both you and your client a lot of money – something CAA’s been good at for quite some time. This is why Seacrest’s former agent, Adam Sher left to become President of Seacrest Productions in 2008. It’s what a good agent should always be trying to accomplish. Take a brand name talent and connect to the proper business model. See Oprah, Ashton, Ellen, Lady Gaga, Diddy, Paris Hilton, Kardashian and Lebron. Vertically integrate the talent and those revenue streams!

Another example are the Jonas Bros (who are already a multi-million dollar a year biz) partnership with AOL in Cambio, which gives the talent from their label The Jonas Group a platform to control their message and brand to their core demographic. Cambio is a web-site/platform that aims to be MTV-meets-online programming.

For AOL, Cambio (Spanish for “change”) represents a move to more premium content as opposed to the creation of lower-cost niche sites aimed at various slices of tech aficionados, sports fans and women. The focus on “premium” content is also an extension of the plans AOL has been working on for its advertising business.’

Major talent partnering up with major companies is nothing new – been happening for years (See United Artists and Charlie Chaplin.) Major talent partnering up with big media for ownership stake in the property is all about equity.

As talent needs to sustain traction/exposure in the marketplace to demand a strong dollar so do major media brands. Its a safer bet for both teams – big media gives up some ownership but keeps talent happy and committed and talent becomes an owner instead of a hired gun. As the battle for the consumer’s attention grows even more intense – entertainment brands – people and businesses will push hard to remind you who is the best at the premium entertainment experience.

Mitchell Kapler

Interesting Things – 8.31

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Adam

Be afraid, be kinda afraid

Dattoo

The Dattoo would be a printable tattoo that users would wear for a day and then wash off. This tattoo could be used just like a cell phone or a computer, with users being able to communicate and identify each other with their Dattoos. Five years ago, Frog Design founder Hartmut Esslinger envisioned a technology that “could influence notions of community, identity, and connectivity with minimal impact on the physical environment.” Today, the company is close to making this a reality.

http://www.gizmag.com/datto-concept-from-frog-design/15944/

GazeHawk

The GazeHawk eye-tracking service was created to help companies see which areas of their sites were getting the most attention. Finding a number of participants to view the website, the GazeHawk eye-tracking service then sends these results back to the requesting company. With this information, companies can then optimize for the ads which get the most stares and then generate methods to profit accordingly.

http://www.gazehawk.com/

Neuromarketing

What people say and what they think is not always the same, and new developments in the world of neuromarketing hope to lessen the gap between those two divides. The goal of neuromarketing is to extract “hidden information” directly from people’s brains by not asking questions at all, but by recording responses at a deep subconscious level with the aid of an electroencephalograph (EEG) machine.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727721.300-mindreading-marketers-have-ways-of-making-you-buy.html

Social Media & Television

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Adam

Maybe Television isn’t dead.

Maybe Liz Murdoch was 110% spot on when she said at NATPE at the top of the year that social media is the key to TV’s success.

There are so many examples reflecting how these two mediums are converging and quite frankly – I LOVE IT!!!

There’s MTV’s first ever TJ – Twitter Jockey which was a show on MTV were @gabifresh won the new job and $100,000.00 salary. $100,000 to Tweet? Anyways.

Then there’s Comedy Central’s success of Tosh 2.0 where comedian Daniel Tosh stands in front of a green screen and deconstructs the latest nuttiness videos on the Internet. This is a hit for Comedy Central because it’s uber cheap to shoot (I mean – uber cheap) and is perfectly suited for the male 18-34 demo. The show is most watched program on Wednesday nights within that age group.

The online media-tv hybrid model has been such a success for Comedy Central that they are going to take a crack at it with Dwyanebook – a show that is entirely about social media and adopts the same programming model as Tosh 2.0.

What I find the most fascinating is how computer usage goes up during certain TV programs – especially major hit shows and tentpole specials such as the Super Bowl and Academy Awards. Data shows people are going on to their computers to chat and engage with other content while watching these programs. There was an increase in computer usage from 2009 in 2010 during both the Super Bowl and Academy Awards. Thus, this is creating a different type of water cooler effect – one that doesn’t have to wait until the next day at the office but happens live – on the moment – as the program is happening.

This presents such an interesting opportunity for marketers. As this 360i blog posting mentioned:

This means marketers can reach consumers through two separate media simultaneously, creating a richer and deeper single brand experience. Brands like MTV, Bravo and MLB are leading the way in this new era of television – and you can be sure others will soon follow suit should the opportunities be right for their programming.

Interesting times indeed. Endless opportunities to change the TV format model and make the television experience that more engaging, creative and quite frankly – new.

@MitchKapler

Ready, Set, Market!

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Adam

A documentary leverages emerging digital tools and marketing techniques to get people’s butts into the seats

Ready, Set, Bag! is a new documentary that has leveraged social media to promote the film’s release in local theaters as well as take advantage of cause marketing. The digital savvy filmmakers partnered up with Groupon, a website that enables businesses to offer great deals to people in their communities. Through Groupon the filmmakers made pacts with local theaters, $1 of each ticket sold will go to food banks near the theater to help feed the community. So far 100% of theaters have agreed to carry the film. Furthermore, the filmmakers are playing the trailer on Blip.tv (see below) and all advertising revenue is going to support the charity of Feeding America.

This recent project highlights various trends happening in filmmaking and in business in general. Filmmakers are getting savvier when it comes to leveraging online to support their projects. For example, Kickstarter, an online site that enables you to raise funds for projects is turning into a go-to for filmmakers who need to raise money to fund their films.

Furthermore, filmmakers keep exploring new means of distribution, for example this year Sundance enabled filmmakers to distribute the film through VOD services and the internet.

Lastly, the trend of embedding the pay-it-forward element into you’re your business model is really hot right now. Expert calls this cause marketing and it looks to be a win-win for everyone involved.

In an era of change, new distribution models and business plans are emerging. Sure, Ready, Set, Bag! might not win an Academy Award but you have to tip your hat to the producers for leveraging all the tools available in order to, as they like to say in Hollywood, get people’s butts into the seats.

@MitchKapler

Discover The World With Discovery

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Adam

Discovery Communications welcomes new brand licensing strategies targeting men with the launch of Discovery Expedition and Discovery Adventures inspired by such Discovery Channel shows as Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls and Deadliest Catch. Discovery Expedition will involve adventure and exploration affiliated with high-tech outdoor and lifestyle apparel, accessories and electronic equipment with the first licensees announced later this year. Discovery Adventures will give consumers a chance to explore the world through memorable travel experiences. Trips will be headed by expert guides to cultural, historical and wildlife locations.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT:

Every network is looking for new ways to ring revenue out of their content. Discovery is (finally) taking the step to create their own versions of travel and product options branded by their shows. Ever since BIGGEST LOSER set up their branded weight loss programs – I have been waiting for other shows and networks to take the similar leap. This is a no brainer for Discovery considering the travel and gear inherent in their programs.

Every network must think 360 degrees as they compensate for a loss in ad revenue. To me this represents not a desperate attempt for a dying business but rather a reimagining of the way we interact with brands in our life. No longer to do sit staring at the screen and feel a brand’s power. Now we interact with it – and no better way than through lifestyle options of apparel and travel. Its a richer brand experience.

Characters Very Welcome

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Adam

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT:

I am a big fan of USA Network’s marketing department. Not only do they have one of the best taglines in the business – Characters Welcome – and not only does that tagline perfectly summarize their programming but they are constantly moving beyond the TV to bring consumers to their channel. They took their tagline and created a roving art show – The Character Project – http://www.usanetwork.com/characterproject/ – and now they have turned a social media friendly war between two of their shows into extra content. By treating shows as connective fabric of the network instead of individual properties they drive interest in both programs. Its smart business and opportunistic marketing.

Return to Long-Form

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Adam

As our culture evolves and our attention span expands and contracts, traditional advertising and media shift shapes to keep up. Lifestyle brands like Absolut have started tapping artists to collaborate and do something truly different, hoping it will lead to something exceptional, and attract consumers at the same time. Well Absolut, congratulations. Absolut gave Spike Jonze a brief to write and direct a film depicting creativity conquering conformity, their very own brand vision. What came of it? A 30-minute robot love story. www.imheremovie.com

And before that a 15-min documentary about Jay-Z’s “Answer the Call” benefit concert. http://creativity-online.com/work/absolut-nyz/19439

This video-slash-short-film-slash-advertisement is one of the most popular pieces of longer form content in awhile. It gives us some intimate time with JHOV, and another reason to talk about Spike. It gives Absolut a deeper and better brand experience for their consumers. I consider it a win-win.

And if you need to drive some traffic to your site maybe try getting director, Romain Gavras. I hear he’s the new badass on the block.

- Ashlye Vaughn

Design, Behavior and IDEO

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Adam

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT -

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.

Headsets & Highballs

Tag Archives: Marketing