Mostly from the Internet, sometimes by Conrad Lisco.
Some really great data and insight from the Economist. Essentially, the film industry, which has seen it's ups and downs in the digital age, is facing new challenges. Home entertainment numbers are down, online consumer behavior is changing the way movies are purchased (now rented) and studios can't agree on standards that would, perhaps, de-mystifiy the business for consumers.
Despite confusion (studios & consumers), there are some interesting things happening:
1. More renting - In developed countries, people have switch from buying to borrowing (since 2007 the number of films rented in the US has grown by 10%).
2. New distribution formats (analog) - Redbox, owned by Coinstar, has nearly 30,000 machines installed at big box retailers among others, representing a hugely imporant retail outlet for film discs. While Hollywood and video stores like Blockbuster were focused on piracy and video streaming, they were undercut by a vending machine.
3. New distribution formats (digital) - Warner Brothers is bringing movie rentals to Facebook. For 30 Facebook credits ($3), users can view movies on Warner Brothers' official Fan Page. Users can take up to 48 hours (24 more than iTunes) to watch the movie.
A few weeks ago, I gave McDonald’s a hard time for their media buy on Pandora. My beef (no pun intended) was with their conspicuously irrelevant Big Mac radio station. Today, however, I’m applauding Mickey D’s presence on Pandora. I’ve never seen a brand do this type of thing before – below are screen grabs of the execution. Essentially, you can change the background of the page. Not terribly exciting, but certainly different.
Acquiring fans, friends and followers is formulaic these days. And it’s not as complicated as you think. PAID MEDIA.
Brands spend boatloads of money on ATL/BTL media every day. They spend it to get eyeballs on a new message, to create awareness of a new product or to drive traffic into stores. Why should social media be any different.
Sure, if you are the most genuine, conversational, open, community-driven, dynamic and personable brand, perhaps you don’t need to buy media. You simply open your digital mouth and people pay attention and invite friends to hear what you have to say.
But you could be all (or none) of these things and people still wouldn’t know you have a Facebook page. Paid media let’s people know. This could include a TV ad tagged with a Facebook URL. This could be something innovative like Gap’s “Born To Fit” campaign where the URL (www.borntofit.com) redirected to Gap’s Facebook page. But it could also be a paid media buy on Facebook (you know, those sponsored ads on the right hand side).
Many brands are taking advantage of Facebook’s paid media and they’re putting up huge numbers. There are a whole host of new ways to buy fans. Yes, I said it. Buy them. And once you’ve hit a critical mass, that’s when the “viral” growth will come.
Just saying.
In today's interconnected world, young adults, teens and even kids have become so comfortable with media technology that they flow from one platform to the next. The problem is that their content is not flowing with them.
Thanks to @edcotton for putting me on to this article.
Skål is Norwegian for bowl and is pronounced [sko:l]. This [wooden] bowl sits on the table and a range of physical objects can be placed in it. When an object is placed in the bowl related media is played back on the TV. Skål lets you control all kinds of digital media; movie-clips, YouTube channels, Flickr photo streams, home videos, online radio and more.
I can see Nintendo jumping on technology like this...think about the Wii...
Sent from my iPhone
- Accept and embrace reality (stop dreaming)
- Deal with change like grown ups (stop bitchin’)
- Spend your time and energy fixing up your businesses and planning for the future (stop blaming)
- Understand why links are important (isn’t it weird to bang on about this as we approach 2010?)
- Embrace websites that can drive traffic (you already do this, judging by the amount of effort you spend on generating links / traffic from sites like Digg and the blogosphere at large. PS - it’s not their fault. Guaranteed.)
- Get closer to your audience and give them the tools they need to engage (social media helps, as you already know)
- Stop bastardising your brand (The Daily Mail’s web readers are presumably wholly different from the newspaper's readers, given the focus on celebrity content… is this quest for traffic helpful, or harmful?)
- Figure out what your advertisers want (and what they don’t want, because they'll be sure to tell you)
- Train your staff (for the love of somebody else’s God, please start training your journalists in the ways of the web. Ditto your commercial people, your HR people, your management staff, etc)
- Build out a multichannel business (the sooner you do this, the better it’s going to be in the long run).
Beneath the waters of our increasingly digital world, a future awaits where enterprise 2.0 and Social Media efforts meet and form the backbone for real innovation, future profits and deeper relationships with customers.
