Opening Conversation: Freedom Media

Freedom has broken out in world media. Viewers are now participants – even insurgents – in a popular revolt. Creators have become publishers. The “armchair revolution” impacts what’s happening on the world stage, the implication for brand marketers and the power of new pipes to deliver real change.

 Philip (PJ) Crowley, Rick Stengel, and Amr Salama

In a conversation moderated by Rick Stenge, Managing Editor of TIME Magazine; Philip (PJ) Crowley, Chair for Strategic Leadership at Penn State and former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs; along with Amr Salama, blogger and filmmaker and author presenter of “How to Advertise a Revolution” they explained how social media is truly revolutionizing our world.

In times of strife, social media has provided an important tool to organize, socialize, and drive political and social change.

There has been a push for change in Egypt for years, but with social media forces in place, it allowed individuals who may never have been given a voice to become powerful think tanks and change agents that helped revolutionize their country, according to Crowley.

Before the revolution in Egypt, only 15 million of the country’s 80 million citizens had access to the Internet and only one-third of those were on Facebook. On the day after the revolution, an estimated 25 million had access to the Internet in one single day.

“The people just needed one spark,” said Salama. “One change to create a movement, and just imagine if you gave all 80 million Egyptian citizens’ access to the Internet. I have to believe our world would completely revolutionize.”

But with so many people given fast access to social tools, Stengel asked Salama if there is a chance for the surge of social conversations to curdle.

“Maybe I’m more optimistic than most,” Salama said. “But I believe that this is only going to keep shaping positive change for our people, our country, and the world at large.”

The Digitas New Front 2011: Pipe Dreams/Pipe Reality

Today’s theme for The NewFront 2011, “Pipe Dreams/Pipe Reality” was deliberately themed. It’s hard to deny the seismic shift between dream and reality as related to technology, content and social media.

In just the four short years since Digitas held our first NewFront Conference (or 1,460 days), we’ve seen:

• Social media become a powerful force for consumers, brands, and content creators
• Social has led to political change in Egypt.
• Content has become portable. Content can now be consumed anytime, anyplace and at the fickle hands of anyone.
• Our dream of having live events have an interactive component has become a reality. The reality is not only are they live, but they are alive and active.
• The dream was that original content would live online. The reality is not only does it live online, they’ve made a permanent residence in our living rooms and in the palm of our hands.
• We’ve seen YouTube creators build audiences larger that television shows.

The “Pipe Dreams” of converged and co-viewed content are now “Pipe Reality.” This is a fortunate challenge.

 Mark Beeching, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer for Digitas

Mark Beeching, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer for Digitas, who kicked off The NewFront encourages us to take on this challenge by seizing and shaping opportunities together.  Allow audiences to become the executive producers of content of everything we do. 

5 Tips for Better Branded Content Part II

Of Branded Content, Prince and Innovation

By Paul Kontonis, VP, Group Director, Brand Content

A new branded web series is born every day. 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. There's no doubt that discovery is a big problem. No longer can a brand just develop online video content, wrap it in a paid media plan and launch it upon a target audience with hopeful expectations. 

To succeed, marketers must move beyond serving up content alone. They need a larger, strategic program. 

There are four content innovations that I encourage brands to explore as part of a branded content program. Although valuable on their own, they are also very complementary. By fortifying a content innovation strategy, you can create richness of experience, an increase of value for both the brand and its audience, and you can leverage the power of an audience design plan.

1. Your brand as a publisher. It's time to think about video content as part of a long-term publishing strategy. This includes the origination, co-creation and activation of content. Brands can tell their own story through content that reflects their core sensibilities. It is an opportunity to connect with consumers in a deeper, more meaningful way, and a way to generate earned media far beyond your last paid impression.  

The goal is to ensure your current branded content program can survive past your flight dates. At this point, the majority of content in the marketplace will not and, frankly, should not survive. Make sure yours does. 

Consider an unscripted series featuring moms talking about healthy eating. Is there opportunity to extend this to your brand's principals and become recognized as a valuable publisher of smart eating habits for families? There just might be.

2. Don't forget to curate. Once a viewer has decided to engage with your content, you have the opportunity to provide additional value. Through the curation of content, you can add additional value for the viewer and complement your content.

Do not mistake curation for aggregation. There is an editorial process involved in curation, which if done right, will increase the amount of time your audience will stay with your content program. Remember, running pre-roll at the beginning of curated clips is a simple way to connect your messaging to the curated content. Curation is a powerful tool that will make content destinations more relevant and more robust.

3. No branded content should be an island, so where is your community? Some brands have an audience but no content. Some have content and no audience. It's time to meet in the middle. Start with your target audience profile and then elevate it to the communities they participate in.

Do your research. Is your audience already getting their content needs met from elsewhere? If so, identify how you will differentiate. By developing content for a community, whether established or underserved, you understand not only where the fish are but also what the best bait and tackle is. 

4. Plan for "live & alive" content (no, not the Prince album). Live streaming content through YouTube, LiveStream and Watchitoo are amazing supplements to a branded content program.  

Live injects excitement into a content program, and connects directly to your most enthusiastic audience. Give your live audience a chance to participate and watch your branded content come alive. Simple tools such as chat, live tweeting with hashtags and polls can turn a live stream into a show with an engaged virtual studio audience. Plus all the content generated during the live show can be released on-demand for even more audience engagement.  

Brands create content to affect behavioral changes and to drive brand value, relevancy and sales. But to drive real results, implementing a complete content strategy today is a must. By tomorrow, these content innovations will be a checkbox in every branded content program.

Piece originally posted on MediaPost

Talent and Branded Content: A Match Made in Heaven

I’m excited to participate in the The NewFront during a time of great opportunity for brand content.  The merging of brand messaging and multiplatform entertainment is on the verge of broad success.  Since The NewFront began in 2008, there have been sizable and meaningful advances in the role of talent agencies working with brands to package and distribute brand relevant digital content.
 
As Head of Digital Media for Innovative Artists, I represent top creative and production talent and package projects for advertisers, brands, and media companies.  I’m also defining new revenue models for production, distribution and sponsorship.  The emergence of digital media is generating new opportunities for our clients to connect with audiences.  I evangelize these new non-traditional platforms and explain that the new buyers are advertising and media agencies, traditional network and studio digital and branded content divisions, online portals, digital studios, distributors and brands.   The speed of change makes many heads spin, personally I love being part of an industry where “back in the day” refers to last year.

I help clients navigate the developing financial models, understand the implication of technology, and the value of creating a brand by utilizing Facebook, Twitter, videoblogs and other social media platforms.  I want them to understand the value of owning and controlling their own intellectual property, and how that gives them more creative and financial control over their  ideas.

The one constant theme is the role of the brand.  From the earliest days of live television through the current explosion of online platforms, brands have always been not only sponsors but storytellers.   Brands have an incredible ability to tell a story in a 30 second commercial, and brand content presents a new and exciting creative challenge.  Brands are emerging as publishers and entrepreneurs, with new distribution models and metrics enabling them to reach targeted audiences. And as social media, interactivity and technology put more emphasis on the consumer audience, inventive content is even more important and brands are integral to the creative process.  

When asked how my role as an agent has changed, my response is that my role didn’t exist until a few years ago!  As the digital media industry grows, forward thinking talent agencies are expanding to take advantage of new platforms and revenue streams.  Spending and budgets for online and digital content are up and creativity is at a high point.  There is amazing and groundbreaking work being created that is crossing over multiple platforms from online to television, and agents not only package talent and material, but now also production, distribution, metrics, social design, interactive technology, games, and mobile. 

This type of nontraditional agenting provides not only new options for our clients but also the opportunity to be a partner to brands and agencies in the thought leadership driving the process, working to create and execute great content and new strategies. Companies like Digitas are leading the way, and I’m looking forward to this year’s NewFront.  And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that our client, 11 year old Chef Lizzie Marie Likness will be on stage with Jane Pratt Thursday at 4:30!

David Tochterman was a senior television executive and producer for hit shows including That 70s Show, 3^rd Rock From The Sun and Grace Under Fire before becoming one of the first traditional executives to expand to digital media in 2005 with the launch of the brand sponsored video website ChannelBlast.

Location Innovation

Questions to inspire innovation in Location Based Marketing
Location Innovation by Sheri Kaufmann

Positioning your brand for success
Brands are starting to experiment with location. But most initiatives are focused on delivering offers. While it’s great to get your coupon in the hands of a woman walking past a store, the bigger opportunity is to delight her by anticipating a need — by being there for her in the moment your brand can help make her life a little more convenient, interesting, or fun.  Marketers should begin thinking about how location data can help them reach consumers in new ways and create more meaningful brand experiences. This is a good time not only to learn, but also to innovate.

Here are a few questions to help spark ideas among your team.

1. If your brand were a person tagging along with a consumer, when and where would it speak up?

Think about places where people could benefit from your brand’s knowledge. How can you provide value by anticipating a need? Think about creating helpful services, not ads.
The North Face started using geofencing as a coupon-delivery mechanism, but has announced plans to evolve its alerts to include lifestyle info when people are in outdoor recreation area.
History Channel often rewards its followers on Foursquare when they check in with interesting facts about nearby historical sites.

2. How can we mash it up?

Think about potential brand partners who could enhance your location-related value proposition. Here are a couple “what ifs” to illustrate this kind of thinking.
What if a grocery store could trigger a person’s shopping list upon check in?
What if a bank populated a map to the closest ATM when someone checked into a restaurant that only accepted cash?

3. Can we make a game out of it?

Nike+ now offers a Tag game where people challenge their friends and view each other’s runs to determine, based on time and distance, who’s “it.” It’s a fun way to use peer competition to fuel running.
With the app EpicMix, Vail has layered a game into the skiing experience at its family of resorts. Devices installed throughout the lift system track chips embedded in ski badges so skiers can track real-time progress, unlock achievements, and share updates with friends. It differentiates Vail’s resorts by making a day of skiing a more fun and rewarding experience.

4. Can we use APIs from location apps to create compelling content?

Services like Foursquare allow you to pull data via API to create interesting new content or services. What interesting or fun utility could your brand create by curating this data?
Ratio Finder lets people view the average male/female ratios at local bars.
WhenShouldIVisit.com figured out that if Foursquare can tell you where people are, it can also tell you where they aren’t. Its app helps people figure out when London-area museums will be the least crowded.

5. How can your brand save the day (or at least the moment)?    

We have an unprecedented opportunity to intercept consumers just at the time a need arises. Make sure your brand is there at those times.
Tide’s Stain Brain already lets people find stain solutions wherever they are. If location-services were enabled, it could also potentially give them the shortest route to a store carrying Tide to Go, plus a coupon.

Look for what’s missing

This space is in its infancy. The killer apps in the location-based marketing space have not yet been defined. Right now, the opportunity to innovate is there for the taking. So think creatively. Get into the head of your consumer. Solve a problem that no one has figured out how to solve yet. Create a moment of delight. And if you have an idea that you think could be game changing, don’t be afraid to take a risk. This quote from The Innovator’s DNA sums it up nicely: “Innovators try things just to see if they work, while others want to know if they will work before they try them.”  Now is the time to innovate.

This piece is excerpted from Location Innovation by Sheri Kaufmann, which will be published in Digitas Cache vol. II Infinity. To read the entire article, download Digitas Cache II from the iTunes App Store after June 9.