Bringing Fame to Advertisers
http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/thinkbox/archive/2011/06/14/rose-tinted-testicles.aspx
This started as a random collection of ideas but since I genuinely don’t know what I think until I say it – it turned into a bit of a manifesto
One I didn’t know I believed in!
I’m going to talk about what Event TV is
I’m going to talk about how programming has changed
I’m going to talk a bit about business models
I’m going to talk about how we can work together differently
I’m going to try and do this exclusively through the medium of David Bowie
Not just the man who sold the world but also the man who securitised all of his rights into a neat financial package, thus creating a market for forward selling which led to the downfall of the entire banking system of the western world!
The Laughing Gnome is there because somebody bet me I couldn’t get it in
My name is John Nolan - I work for North One - part of the All3Media Production Group
North One makes things like the Gadget Show, Fifth Gear and World Rally
All3 makes things like – Midsommer Murders, Shameless, Skins, HollyOaks, The Only Way Is Essex, PeepShow, The Cube, Look Good Naked, Kitchen Nightmares
Its my job - I used to proudly boast - to investigate future models of television production. My job is all about the implementation of those models now
This started with events Sport and Music – Formula One Rugby World Cup - Ive helped but The Prodigy in Red Square and Coldplay in a pub –Ive even thrown sixteen people out of an airplane for Honda to help create an event
But Im now trying to take those learning of events – things that mean something in peoples lives and feeding them back into our wider programming
Brand extensions – websites – phone apps – product licensing – on pack promotion – the book, the DVD – the product placement – integrated sponsorship, title sequence with an in store promotion
If any of that sounds familiar it might mean something different to me than it does to you if you're a Marketing Director or Brand Manager or an Account Exec or a Senior Planner
Programme Producers and Advertisers, Agencies, Brands, Media Planners, Broadcasters
We all look the same and in fact at dinner parties often get lumped as you lot in the media
However we are very different beasts – we speak different languages
It may sound the same to the untrained ear –but it’s different
It’s a Venus and Mars thing - Producers are from Venus , Advertisers are from Mars
Television production has got to change
Television production has long been considered a lifestyle business –
I was at a conference where a well know executive asked a panellist what challenges were there for him to move from B2B to B2C
The answer he got back – try and behave like a B first!
Production has never had to behave like a B – not really
We got paid too much money to make programmes that you had to watch
There was nothing else for viewers to do
We were in a very privileged position – not that we were on our own
Advertisers were onto a sure bet – broadcasters could rely on a sizable audience. Let’s face it, there was too much money in the system and there was enough to go round
What’s changed is that there’s too much choice
Too many other things to do
So we all have to work a little harder
I genuinely believe that the proliferation of choice and the introduction of digital technology, both in production and distribution, has made the world a better place – alright its made our telly better
What were struggling with is that All TV used to be an event – it all had an appointment to view.
And because now theres so much of it - Its our budgets that are under pressure
We all have to work a little harder
There is even more money in the system – its all gotten a bit bigger but it is spread much thinner
But let’s be honest when the risk is greater the reward is better
The production company business model is one of collusion with the broadcaster
It’s fantastically subjective and not entirely scientific
Broadcasters decide what programmes they want and the producer makes them
Producers pitch ideas and broadcasters decide whether they like them
The broadcaster calls the shots – they take the risk they earn the rewards
Remember what I was talking about risk and reward – I’ll keep coming back to it
As I said its not entirely scientific – commissioning editors sit above the creative process and tweak the programmes in their own image – or into that of the broadcaster
If you’re making a programme about dogs
BBC1 will have Dog of the Year
BBC2 will have Grumpy Old Dogs
ITV will have Dogs Do The Funniest Things
Channel 5 will do When Dogs Attack Their Owners
And Channel 4 will make Dogs are Delicious (with Rice ) probably with Hugh!
The thing is as choice has increased there are now another 50 variants on the dog and pony show
Dave will show the Beeb’s show in a retrospective When Dogs Ruled the Beeb
Discovery will do Dogs with Sharks
You Tube will have the Dog on a Skateboard
And the facebook group for Dog Lovers will have more members than watched any of the programmes
As broadcasters fight for ever decreasing audiences they are morphing into each other – there is very little to distinguish between the prime time schedules of most broadcasters –
A consumer affairs show morphed into an entertainment format
A life change life swap social experiment
Some expensive American Drama
Some gritty British detective series
Is it any wonder that amongst this clutter wwe are now struggling to find cut through
Something has got to change
The funding model isn’t working as well as it used to
Having a good show is no guarantee that anyone will watch it
And there are simply too many other things to do let alone watch
Under the current relationship – the broadcaster takes control
They fund the show – they decide when its scheduled
They also take creative charge of the promotion of the programme
But to be fair they do take the risk and whilst behaving like a B they reap the reward
These 3 things - the budget ,the schedule and the promotional activity - all help define whether the show is going to be an event or not
Whether its any good or not is another matter –
It doesn’t have to work like this though
There have been some artificial boundaries between broadcaster, producer and advertiser and their agencies – remember that golden age with too much money flowing about
It is these boundaries which are breaking down
There is a culture of growing collaboration between different companies. I’m not here to talk about adfunding or product placement
More about the creative process and what we can learn from each other
Independent television tends to out source its creativity to the independent producers and this is where the talent has gone. The big hits tend to come form the indie
They have a vested interest in the success of their shows
But so does the broadcaster and surely the advertiser might be interested in success too
How we can collaborate and win more often and win more easily?
I think there are three distinct areas
The second is process management
And the third is marketing – or fame creation if you like
These are my main learnings from trying to behave like a business and listening to the shouting in the corridors of the commercial departments of broadcasters and drinking lattes in chrome escalators in agencies
What gets measured gets made –might be a mantra in media, but in production the most popular measurement is the overnight rating as some kind of bragging rite
God forbid we do any research into audience insight
I doubt less research is done in any other manufacturing industry
Process management is also a good tool for winning easier
One of my biggest shocks was the attention to detail in agency land – and the constant meetings and microscopic detail of development. Production is a just in time subjective dictatorship – where visionary programme makers collude with maniacal commissioner to see their vision to fruition
The third is promo time! Or PR or even the fabled outdoor
The producer generally has no say or involvement in the promotion onscreen or elsewhere of their series
But why should the producer have a say in any of this – they’re not paying for it.
Let’s look briefly at the potential rewards
There’s a rights map – which shows who owns what and where they can exploit it
Simultaneous broadcast via IP +1 +2
Programme support website
“Carve it out!” – cry the business affairs departments
Hang on though – aren't we supposed to be in this together
And doesn’t this start to sound like a marketing plan rather than a disposable watch one and never seen again television programme
We have a chance to build our own model here in the UK
They do things very differently overseas
I have a theory about things that are too difficult
If they are genuinely too difficult then nobody would do them.
I like a phrase used by Nigel Whalley of Decipher - I don’t know who he stole it from but we call it just media
It’s not new media – its not old its just media
We don’t have specialist digital teams at North One we just have people who make stuff – we have tried and keep trying to get rid of the silos which make things different and therefore difficult
The best person to make the digital bits is part of the team that makes the broadcast bits. The person in charge of the editorial might just be best placed to have a say in the brand positioning
Hang on – if that’s the case might they also be best placed to have a say in how the programme brand is communicated
I think that producers are genuinely prepared to go at risk in ideas they believe in
I think that they are also professionalising the process by which they operate and if needs be they will listen to audience feedback and use it to construct even bigger better shows
I am generalising a bit here – not all producers are the same and not all broadcasters are either –
There is one broadcaster who does have the relative freedom from the constnts and pressures of funding – at least until the next licence fee is under review
(I think TVC 15 is a studio on Wood Lane)
It is both producer and broadcaster
It behaves as though it was a big brand
It is answerable and accountable and therefore has to act with due process.
It is market research driven
It has a commercial arm which can extend the brand
In a strange way it has the ability to behave like a big business – albeit one freed from the profit impritiative
It’s also very good at telling us what to watch – across the BBC
On TV, on radio, online, red button, iplayer, local and national
It’s a media planners dream – all of the day’s touchpoints in one.
But if they can do it, and they do it brilliantly, then the independent sector can to – we just need to establish some rules of engagement you might say “some hazy cosmic jive”
For everything to be alright – just fine and dandy
We need to work together – we are after all counter dependent,
Advertisers – their agencies of many different colours – the broadcasters and the producers are all in the same boat
We are all dabbling with digital media – becoming are own B2C entities in comms
We are learning our way around social media and establishing new rules of engagement
But TV is still a mass market driver – and whilst I truly believe that there are better programmes on air today than there have ever been
And that it is too easy to look at the past through rose tinted spectacles - Tele is better today than it has ever been
But it can get even better –
Research and insight can make it more relevant – more engaging – the diversity of opportunity is a plus when it’s used to segment and target an audience and follow their passions
Process management can be a force for good in the creative word – it can help carry some of the burden
Finally I think that how we market our products is something we desperately need to work better at
You may look into the world of programme production with fear – as I use the word risk again
But I’m not advocating risk I'm looking at how we can work together to mitigate it
Prudent business models with a planned process and a well researched development team producing targeted well marketed programmes
This is what event TV really means – its TV that matters that has relevance – theres a growing realisation that its not enough to hope that the cream will rise to the top any more or that your brilliance will be discovered by a mass audience.
The growth of the programme super brands made and distributed by the super indies has upset the balance of power between broadcaster and producer.
I don’t sense we’re going to war on this I hope were starting to collaborate.
If we find a new way of working
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