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y SPRING 2009brieft h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f m e d i a ma r ke t i n g , p r o m o t i o n a n d d e s i g n
CAREER PLANNING INTHE NEW ECONOMY
PROMO HOUSESAVOID IMPLOSION
MI6 PREVIEW: VIDEOGAME COMPANIESSEEK NEW BLOOD
PLUSJ.D. ROTH WEIGHS IN
ON BRANDING “THE BIGGEST LOSER”
1 coverNOMAILINGLABEL.qxp:brief magazine 3/18/09 11:51 AM Page 1
U P F R O N T10-11 Watch Dog
12-17 Creative Brief
18 Brand/reBrand
F E AT U R E S19 Market Watch
20 Spot Watch
22 Media Brief
24 Brief Encounters
26 Design/Dissect
S P EC I A L R E P O RT S
28 Career CornerOur first salary survey and executive round-table look at how the economy is affectingthe work and paychecks of marketers and de-signers around the world.
38 Green MachinesNetworks continue to cash in on the mone-tary and branding value of environmentally-friendly marketing, but how are theypositioning the strategy long-term?
40 Promo HousesWhile the industry continues to feel the stingof cutbacks, some companies are using theopportunity to blaze new trails.
44 Game On!A look at the evolution and road ahead forvideo game marketing as MI6 prepares toconvene in April.
L A ST LO O K52 Picture Tube
54 Shuffle
55 Op Ed
O N T H E COV E RThe cover illustrationwas designed by Transistor Studios. transistorstudios.com
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Contents S p r i n g 2 0 0 9
ABC/Vivian Zink
2 TOC.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 12:07 AM Page 1
4 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
Letter from the President Like co-dependent couples, when industries rely upon each other it’s easy
for their business models, habits and dependencies to become intertwined.As the American automotive industry (and General Motors in particular), flirtson the edge of extinction, I can’t help but recognize parallels shared betweenthe automotive and television industries. To that end, I hope that our industrywill recognize these uncomfortable similarities and change our ways in orderto avoid the similar fate that GM now faces.
Say what you will about business decisions and economicrealities companies like GM contend with. The fact is their exec-utives weren’t listening to their customers.
As one of the biggest beacons of American business, GMbelieved its responsibility—indeed its right—was to create aproduct and make it available for consumption.
The reality has become clear; the self-absorbed, self-right-eous executives sitting in posh offices high above Detroit neg-lected the importance of marketing and design. That is not tosay they didn’t advertise (though that too left much to bedesired), but rather that the fundamental approach to businesswas not accomplished with a marketing mind.
This was their downfall. With ubiquitous content available on every conceivable plat-
form, television is beginning to resemble a dealership-jammedautomotive strip in some suburban drag of highway: over-
whelming selection without a coherent way to deliver the right customer tothe right car.
As marketing, promotion and design professionals, it is our job not only todeliver the right customer to the right car (or the right car to the right cus-tomer), but also to understand that customer and develop the cars they willseek. It is our job to appreciate their changing needs and desires, their con-sumption models and patterns. We must interact with them and understandhow they make their decisions—and why, and then use this information tobuild viable, sustainable, responsible businesses.
And this is why Promax|BDA is so fundamentally important—especially in ayear like the one we all face.
Promax|BDA is where marketing, promotion and design professionals canhone their craft. It is where they can develop their skills and learn new ones.It is where we can share information and understand the changing entertain-ment consumer.
By attending the upcoming Promax|BDA conference, you’ll hone your skillslearning the most innovative, effective and meaningful ways to engage yourviewers. You’ll gain incomparable insight into how technology is changingyour business and how to strategize, capitalize and monetize these develop-ing opportunities. You’ll hear about emerging revenue models and how toprofitably integrate them into your businesses.
You’ll learn how to do what you do better, more effectively and efficiently. But mostly, you’ll learn to become better at delivering the customer to the
car. And in the end, that’s what keeps you in business.I hope to see you there.
Sincerely, Jonathan Block-Verk
President, Promax|BDAExecutive Publisher, brief
Promax|BDA is a global, non-profit association dedicated to being the lead-ing resource for education, community, creative inspiration and career development for marketing, promotion and design pro-fessionals within the entertainment andinformation industry.
P R E S I D E N TJonathan Block-Verkjbv@prom axbda.org
G E N E R A L M A N AG E RJill [email protected]
C F ORandy [email protected]
SVP OF GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS Lucian Cojescu [email protected]
VP OF CONTENT INNOVATION Chris [email protected]
C R E AT I V E D I R EC TO RJennifer [email protected]
E D I TO R I A L CO O R D I N ATO RShanna [email protected]
D I R EC TO R O F ST R AT EG I C PA RT N E R S H I P S A N D S P O N SO R S H I P I N T EG R AT I O NLaura [email protected]
ACCO U N T M A N AG E RSean [email protected]
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONSRicardo [email protected]
W E B D E V E LO P E R A N D DATA B A S E M A N AG E RSunggyun Noh [email protected]
AWA R D S M A N AG E RStacy La Cotera [email protected]
AWA R D S CO O R D I N ATO RJessica [email protected]
MANAGER OF MEMBER SERVICESAnush [email protected]
ACCO U N TA N TWolfgang [email protected]
E X EC U T I V E A S S I STA N T A N DO F F I C E M A N AG E R Jessica [email protected]
STAFF
4 JBV letter.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 12:09 AM Page 1
| every project is a passion project |
Campaigns.Promos.Shoots.Branding.Online.Design.Print
6 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
Letter from the Editor I have been blown away by all of the responses we’ve received since
the debut of brief in January. We at Promax|BDA are excited at the oppor-tunity to engage with our members, and are thankful for all the companiesthat have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help us grow andrefine our outreach.
I think it’s safe to say that few people feel assured given the state of theeconomy, and we have dedicated this issue to helping our members navi-
gate those waters with career advice,tips and tricks to help you work better,research you won’t find anywhere elseand some terrific stories to boot.
For our Spring issue, we delve intothe depths of jobs hunting and salariesvia a candid discussion with industryheavyweights on navigating the corpo-rate ladder, as well as the first ever Pro-max|BDA salary survey. The initial surveyprovides a solid foundation for futureendeavors as we plot the future of ourindustry.
You will find a thorough look at howpromo houses around the world are far-ing in the economy, as well as gainsome insight on how they are evolvingdue to shrinking client budgets.
With video game conference MI6ready to roll on April 8, we’ve exploredthe state of the industry, which contin-ues to thrive despite the economicdownturn. We’ve also partnered with
market research provider E-Poll to deliver exclusive data on where, exactly,gamers are going for their entertainment and what demographic is mostlikely to be converted from casual to hardcore player.
And, as you can see by our cover, we dissect Hollywood’s latest “Green”campaigns and deliver strategic insights from some of the most successfulminds in the business.
As we roll into our biggest issue of the year in June for the Promax|BDAconference in New York, I hope you continue to deliver the same type offeedback we’ve seen so far this year, and I look forward to hearing more ofyour ideas.
Chris PursellEditor and VP of Content Innovation
Spring 2009Volume 1, Issue 2
E X EC U T I V E P U B L I S H E R Jonathan Block-Verk
G E N E R A L M A N AG E R Jill Lindeman
E D I TO R Chris Pursell
C R E AT I V E D I R EC TO R Jennifer Ciminillo
DIRECTOR OF STRATEGICPARTNERSH IPS AND SPONSORSH IP INTEGRATION Laura Coones
A S S I STA N T E D I TO RShanna Green
CO N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S Kate Bacon, Marie-Agnes Bruneau,Anita Engelman, Wayne Friedman,Shel Perkins, Chas Salmore, DaisyWhitney
ACCO U N T M A N AG E R Sean Godsick
E X EC U T I V E A S S I STA N TJessica Henning
All letters sent to brief or its editors areassumed intended for publication.brief invites editorial comment, but accepts no responsibility for its loss ordestruction, however it arises, while in its office or in transit. All material tobe returned must be accompanied bya stamped, self-addressed envelope.Nothing may be reproduced in wholeor in part without the written permis-sion of the publisher.
US Postmaster: Send address changesto brief, 1522e Cloverfield Blvd., SantaMonica, CA, 90404. Printed in theUnited States.
brief is a quarterly publication, plusspecial issues as a part of memberoutreach for non-profit organizationPromax|BDA, which publishes thismagazine. For a membership to Promax|BDA, please contact our mainoffice in Santa Monica, Calif. email: [email protected].
brief 1522e Cloverfield Blvd.Santa Monica, CA 90404-5567(310) 788-7600www.promaxbda.org
Jenn
ifer C
imin
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June 16-18, 2009 — New york city The Hilton New York Hotel
promaxbda.org
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Register today! Contact Anush Payaslyan 310.789.1509.
Navigating the New EconomyPromax|BDA 2009 is the only three-day professional event where you’ll discover the
business trends, strategies and ideas for success in this new entertainment economy.
Why you should attend:
Network with industry leaders driving the international entertainment business Meet decision makers from all segments of marketing, promotion and design Develop new relationships and reinforce existing ones Learn about new business trends and revenue models to apply immediately Understand how new media technologies are affecting your business Discover creative inspiration and develop production skills Gain exposure to emerging designers, agencies and creative services Find new opportunities to grow personally and professionally
Register NOW at promaxbda.org!
Credit Crunch CreativeThe economic collapse has forced unprecedented levelsof creativity. From champagne spots on a beer budget tostellar strategy on a dime, you’ll learn how this year’smost innovative and creative commercials were producedfor less. Way less.
CMO Summit An exclusive roundtable of television’s most importantadvertising clients, we look at the evolving needs of clientside marketers, and what the television community mustdo to facilitate constructive and profitable partnerships.
Obama for President: The Campaign that ChangedEverythingIn this incredible of strategy and creative, Senior CampaignAdvisor and Chief Media Consultant for the ObamaCampaign, Jim Margolis explains how the most importantmarketing initiative in history utilized every medium attheir disposal to mobilize a generation.
Strategy WorkshopLearn about business strategies and creative executions aswe dissect three of the most important television rebrandsof 2008/2009.
Sessions Include:
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Design Shops You Won't be Able to Afford Next YearWe’ve scoured the earth to bring you an exclusive lineupof the world’s coolest, newest and most innovative motiongraphics, broadcast and interactive designers.
Big Idea 3.0: Redefining Media and Creative in a Digital AgeRenowned media strategist and planning expert PaulWoolmington guides you through five principals andbehaviors that every media and creative executive needsto know.
Talent is not Enough Learn how to find the right career path, determine pricing,avoid legal pitfalls and sustain your business long-term aswe discuss the essentials for success in the graphic designand creative industries.
State of DesignFrom advertising to film, and gaming to promo, Motionographer’s Justin Cone provides an exclusive lookat the most compelling, innovative and eye-catchingdesign work from every corner of the globe.And more…
Keynote Speakers:Peter Liguori: Chairman, EntertainmentFox Broadcasting Peter helped elevate the FX channel to one of the topfive basic cable networks with critically acclaimedprograms “The Shield,” “Nip/Tuck” and “RescueMe.” As President of Entertainment for the FoxBroadcasting Company, Peter oversees all FOXprogram development and scheduling, as well asmarketing, business affairs and promotions.
Jim Margolis: Chief Media Strategist and Senior Advisor for the Barack Obama Presidential CampaignJim works at the intersection of politics, advertising,and advocacy on behalf of candidates, foundations,government agencies, and corporate clients. Mostrecently, he was a senior strategist for BarackObama’s presidential campaign, where he oversawadvertising, and provided message guidance. Jim’sclients have included Cisco Systems, The Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, ATT,and many government agencies.
Tom Kelley: General Manager, IDEO
As the general manager ofIDEO—the widely admireddesign and development
firm that brought us theApple mouse, the Palm V andhundreds of other cutting edge products andservices—Tom knows how to foster a culture ofcreativity. Tom also authored “The Art of Innovation,”and “The Ten Faces of Innovation.”
David Verklin: CEO, Canoe VenturesAs the CEO of a joint venture by Comcast, TimeWarner Cable, Cox Communications, CharterCommunications, Cablevision Systems and BrightHouse Networks, David's vision is the change theway America watches television. He’s leading theeffort to build the foundation for the next generationof cable TV advertising by providing a nationwidefootprint for advanced advertising capabilities.
Randi Zuckerberg: Director of Market Development, Facebook Randi manages marketing initiatives at Facebook,where she has led the company’s U.S. election andinternational politics strategy. Most recently, Randirepresented Facebook as a correspondent forCNN.com’s Inauguration Day live broadcast.
Ralph Steadman: Illustrator and DesignerBest known for his life-long collaboration withHunter S. Thompson, including “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” Ralph has becomeone of the most recognizableand outspoken illustrators ofour generation. His work hasbeen seen in everything
from such magazines as “Rolling Stone” to thebooks “Alice in Wonderland,” “TreasureIsland” and “Animal Farm.”
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n Academy AwardsDate: Feb. 22Rating: 29.1Key to Success: Promoting the show in
the same way as the movies it honors.ABC’s strategy was to market the Oscars
as “The biggest movie event of the year,” sothey played into that concept by thinking of
it like amovie.
“We askedourselves‘How would astudio marketa big block-bustermovie?’” saidABC Entertain-ment EVP,MarketingMarla Proven-cio. “We thenapproachedall our on-air,off-air, paidmedia toreflect that
tone and event-like nature of a big movierelease.” Instead of marketing individual cat-egories, Provencio said they chose to show-case the movies and stars that had thebroadest audience appeal and strongest boxoffice results.
“Along with the host being the ‘sexiestman alive’ and the emotional nomination ofHeath Ledger, I think we were successful inappealing to a broader base, making theshow feel more inclusive and turning thatnight into a ‘can’t miss’ event,” said Proven-cio. l
n American IdolDate: Feb. 25Rating: 24.25Key to Success: Giving viewers a
chance to dream. For season eight of“American Idol,” Fox chose to moveaway from teasing the bad auditionsthat had previously been marketingfocal points, and instead highlightlast season’s winner David Cook’sjourney from his “American Idol”auditions to his current rock star sta-
tus by telling his story in reversefrom where he is today to where hewas when he first tried out.
“It was a wonderful way to kick offthe campaign and to show howmuch this show truly changes peo-ple’s lives,” said Brian Dollenmayer,Fox’s SVP On-Air Promotion and Cre-ative Marketing. “Our tagline was‘Dreams Begin Again’—a reminderand promise to viewers that wewould do it all over again in the newseason.” l
Week 11Dec. 1-Dec. 7
Week 12Dec. 8-Dec. 14
Week 13Dec. 15-Dec. 21
Week 14Dec. 22-Dec. 28
Week 15Dec. 29-Jan. 4
Week 16Jan. 5-Jan.11
Week 17Jan. 12-Jan. 18
“Top Chef” Super Bowl XLII promo spot
T h e c a m p a i g n s b e h i n d t e l e v i s i o n ’ s s u c c e s s s t o r i e sUpfrontWatch Dog10_11 watchdog_newsbrief1.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 12:41 AM Page 1
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n Super Bowl XLIIDate: Feb. 1Rating: 42.0Key to Success: Giving it the Olympic
treatment. Gathering his troops for their firstSuper Bowl meeting in March of 2007, DickEbersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports &Olympics, made clear that his goal for the2009 broadcast was to make Super BowlXLII “the most watched Super Bowl ever.”
Enter Mike McCarley, NBC VP of strategicmarketing, who faced the challenge of beat-ing Fox’s record-setting 2008 telecast, whichfeatured NFL heavyweights from big marketteams. To accomplish the task, he utilized anOlympic mentality in his approach to thegame. The network promoted the event,
which featured the Pittsburgh Steelersagainst the Arizona Cardinals, across all ofthe company’s platforms and daypartsincluding: “Today,” “The Tonight Show,” Bra-vo’s hit “Top Chef,” “Access Hollywood,” “TheMartha Stewart Show,” iVillage, UniversalTheme Parks, CNBC, The Weather Channel,primetime, NBC stations and in retail stores.
The number was helped by the wealthof resources available to the company totarget women, which included propertieslike Bravo, Oxygen, IVillage, “Access Holly-wood” and the “Today” show.
The promotion and production blitz, inpartnership with the NFL, as well as a gamefor the ages, helped drive the broadcast toa new ratings record, drawing 151.6 milliontotal viewers. l
Week 17Jan. 12-Jan. 18
Week 18Jan. 19-Jan. 25
Week 19Jan. 26-Feb. 1
Week 20Feb. 2-Feb. 8
Week 21Feb. 9-Feb. 15
Week 22Feb. 16-Feb. 22
Week 23Feb. 23-March 1
Campaign Spotlight: Burn Notice
Alexandra ShapiroSVP, Brand Marketing and Digital USA Networks
For the second half of season two of “BurnNotice,” USA was faced with the challenge ofbringing back a top-rated cable show that hadfound success in the summer when faced withbroadcast reruns, but was now up against newcontent in the winter season.
“With this, unlike previouscampaigns, it was really aboutreach, reach, reach,” said Alexan-dra Shapiro, SVP, brand market-ing and digital for USA Networks.
Shapiro said the big questionwas how to bring back theircore fan base and get them towatch at a time when they nor-mally hadn’t. For the summerpremiere of the second season, they had brand-ed the show with the themes of “sun, surf andthe beach,” but for a winter launch, they had tothink differently.
“While that works beautifully and tookadvantage of summer consumer patterns, thewinter is slightly different,” said Shapiro. “So wehad to be sure that we readjusted our messageto reflect what people were preoccupied with inthe January month leading up to our premiere.”
Shapiro said the strategy was to take advan-tage of the January landscape in order to marketto men who were interested in news, politics andsports, and since the show premiered the week ofPresident Obama’s inauguration, they bought adson MSNBC, “The Huffington Post” and CNN.
The second phase of the campaign was apush around football, since the Super Bowl wasthe next week.
“We made sure we were in the NFL playoffs,we were in college basketball, all the placeswhere young adult men are consuming media,”said Shapiro.
They took to the streets, sending out womendressed in “Burn Notice”-branded gear to almost500 bars in 10 different markets to promote theseries. The promoters distributed “Burn Notice”mini footballs and entered patrons into a contestfor the chance to win tickets to next year’s SuperBowl XLIV in Miami, the location for the show.
Although radio, print and digital were heavi-ly-used avenues, including print ads in “RollingStone” and “Entertainment Weekly,” ultimately,they spent more than 50% of the campaignbudget on television.
By looking at the current conditions viewerswere living in, a bad economy and cold weatherthat pushes them indoors, as well as the currentbig entertainment events happening around thepremiere, USA was able to position “Burn Notice”once again to the top of the ratings chart.
“Not only was it our best season ever, we’recontinuing to grow,” said Shapiro. “While mostshows on television are continuing to decline,we’re continuing to grow, and I think that sayssomething not only about the show but also theway we marketed it.” l SHANNA GREEN
s u c c e s s s t o r i e s
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Q u i c k h i t s , t r e n d a n a l y s i s a n d e a s y - t o - c o n s u m e i n s i g h t
Creative BriefUpfront
12 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
BY CHRIS PURSELLDespite its theme, NBC’s hit series “The
Biggest Loser” has stepped up into theheavyweight division of primetime televi-sion shows.
Not only is the series drawing 10 millionplus viewers this season, the show’s brandextensions alone have grown into a seriousbusiness behemoth for the network asbooks, scales, DVDs and other consumerproducts fly off the shelves as audienceslook to improve their health. The show’sonline business is booming. In addition,advertisers are lining up to be a part of theseries and join the likes of Subway andWrigley’s in relatively seamless integration.
The series is a production of ReveilleLLC, 25/7 Productions and 3Ball Produc-tions. Ben Silverman, Dave Broome, J.D.Roth, Todd A. Nelson and Mark Koops serveas executive producers.
“brief” editor Chris Pursell spoke withJ.D. Roth about the steady growth of “TheBiggest Loser.” Roth, who has producedsuch staple reality series such as “For Loveor Money,” “Beauty and the Geek” andVH1’s recent series “Confessions of aTeenage Idol,” also has a long resumeworking in front of the camera. His previous
hosting jobs include ABC’s “OpportunityKnocks,” the children’s reality show“Endurance,” on NBC, and the DiscoveryKids Channel and children’s game show“Fun House,” which aired both in syndica-tion and on Fox.
In the conversation, he discussed thedifferences in programming and promotingto kids, the role marketing should play inthe development of a series, as well as thebrand integration process.
How involved are you in the marketing of your shows?
Roth: Very involved, because if you thinkabout it, the only way you can tell stories isif people are watching them. So, you needto be part of the full package, they don’t callit “show” they call it “show business.” So,I’m definitely aware of both sides, and Ithink you have to ride the fence on boththe creative and the marketing side.
Reality shows have matured and so hasthe audience, and I think you have to besmarter now in knowing how to get anaudience to tune in, although you can’talways be right. But you start to get a feel-ing for what flavor works.
J.D. ROTH FINDSHIMSELF AT THE
HELM OF ONE OFTELEVISION’S HEALTHIEST
BRANDS
LeaguesLeagues
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Social Media Activationfor Television Properties
With the recent explosion in online social-media engagement channels (includingnumerous blogs, message boards, video-shar-ing sites, social-networks, micro-blogs, posts,forums, etc.), the ability to reach millions ofactive television viewers is more accessiblethan even before. This trend increases daily, asTwitter, MySpace, Facebook and other fast-emerging social-communities afford impressiveopportunities for broadcasters. The result of adynamic digital outreach strategy can amplifyyour traditional advertising and marketingefforts and support the launch of new shows,promotion of existing programs, building tune-in and even spiking an increase in ratings. Loyalviewers and new audiences will become pas-sionately engaged in the show promotionthrough dynamic digital word-of-mouth market-ing and online social-media activation strate-gies. Best practices to reach and transparentlycommunicate with audiences require anextremely delicate balance of “Seed,” “Lead”and “Ignite” initiatives when speaking online tothese communities. Do it “the right way,” andyou will witness impressive results.
Seed: “Skins,” a new primetime series fromBBC America used Twitter, a fast-growing social-networking and micro-blogging utility, to reachthe audience demo target: 18-24. Another mar-keting strategy included entering numerousexisting competitive program fan sites (such ascommunities where viewers of “The Hills,”“90210” and “Gossip Girls” were already hiving)and provide “easy-access” to provocative teaserhighlights of the “Skins” premier episode. Thiscreated a stir and high-level of curiosity withinthose communities. The results drove significanttraffic to the “Skins” landing page and yielded aratings increase 25% over projections.
Lead: Nickelodeon drove 80+ million par-ticipants to the “Kid’s Choice Awards” registra-tion page using a variety of social-media activa-tion strategies. Deploying genuine 1:1 onlineconversations (peer-to-peer) between passion-ate fans, Nick created massive audienceempowerment, tremendous buzz and realizedthe highest rating in the program’s history.
Ignite: To launch the premier of “Kill Point,”a new short-order primetime dramatic one-hour series on Spike TV, outtakes and behind-the-scenes cast interviews were provided toleading bloggers and numerous “key-influ-encers/evangelists” who expressed interestedin spreading this sought-after content to others.Quickly a powerful viral effect was created sur-rounding the new show, stars and log-line.Provocative teasers where placed on video-sharing sites and tagged to track reach andspread. The buzz created mass-interest in “KillPoint” action-format, which was a new pro-gramming direction for the network. l
Charles “Chas” Salmore is CEO of MWKS, aleading agency exclusively focused on digitaloutreach and social-media activation for theentertainment industry. www.mworks-inc.com
“The Biggest Loser” continues towork in effective brand extensionsand integrations. At what point inthe creation of the series does thatenter the equation?
Roth: The integration scenario on the TVshow always gets a little tricky. What I meanby that is that we understand that TV is thefiller around the commercial; it’s not theother way around. That drives the ability forus to make television shows. If the ads stopand people stop watching them, then theywon’t get TV shows anymore. We all needto be aware of that.
We are super sensitive to the fact theseintegrations into the show need to makesense. That said, I like to make sure thatthey compliment the creative and thatthey’re not wedged in there. The perfectexample on “Biggest Loser” is 24 Hour Fit-ness. They are a great integration partnerbecause people looking to lose weighthave got to go to a gym. They’ve got towork out. Where’s the one place whereoverweight people feel insecure more thananyplace else? The gym. That’s a perfectintegration partner.
It’s always our goal to try to make themas natural and meaningful as possible so it
creates takeaway for the viewer. We’re say-ing “Hey. Oatmeal is a great product, butour doctors and nutritionists have lookedinto it to back up what we’re saying.”
You’ve worked on a number oftremendously successful kid’sshows. What is most important todrawing children to a series, andhow is marketing different for thatgenre?
Roth: The best thing about kids is thatthey’re honest. If they don’t like something,they just tell you; there’s no agenda. They
don’t tell you what they think you want tohear.
Kids are the best. Kids are made for real-ity television, because nothing hurts, it kills.Something is not funny, it’s hilarious.
They hate and love in the same hourwith a friend. From a production point ofview, if you take a lunch break and you’vegot a great big moment going on, you couldmiss the entire thing. They are really madefor reality television.
For me, storytelling is storytelling whetherit’s for kids, adults, animals—it doesn’t reallymatter, a good story is a good story andwhether I tell a story to my two young kids orto adults, I tell it the same way.
“Confessions of a Teenage Idol”and “Beauty and the Geek” wereall about personal branding. Isthere a lesson for companies totake away from your successeswith those shows?
Roth: The lesson, I think, is to do whatyou love. Usually, after that, success follows.So, we always chase stories that we like totell. Even with “Confessions,” you’re talkingabout guys that are in so much pain, likeChristopher Atkins, who has basically been
putting in pools by himself, in peo-ple’s backyards for 20 years. Here’shis chance to come out and rein-vent himself, and it’s so beautiful tosee someone regain their confi-dence and get their swagger back.That’s the type of television and sto-ries that we like to tell.
I usually don’t try to chaseshows or stories that don’t fit whowe are.
Where do you take the company from here?
Roth: I’m standing 150 feetabove the Cotton Bowl right now.
We’re doing a show with Hall of Famereceiver Michael Irvin to find the next DallasCowboy. I’m looking at Michael Irvin as wespeak. Again, define a passionate personwho loves what he does so much. Whenyou find authentic people like that, thenyou’re always going to make a great show.As far as what’s next, I’d love to keep mak-ing shows that we care about. It doesn’tbother us to get up at four in the morningto come somewhere to work until four inthe morning the next day, when you lovewhat you do. You can have great backdropsbut if you don’t have a great a story to tell,then no one is going to watch it. l
“lhe Biggest Loser” utlized a successful integration with24 Hour Fitness as one of the program’s key sponsors.
12_13 QNA_newsbrief1.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 1:23 AM Page 2
Q u i c k h i t s , t r e n d a n a l y s i s a n d e a s y - t o - c o n s u m e i n s i g h t
Creative Brief
Nintendo’sPortablePathway
14 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
Upfront
BY DAISY WHITNEYIf you carry an iPod with you wherever
you go (and admit it, you probably do), thenyou might have Nintendo to thank.
Because when Nintendo’s iconic GameBoy first landed in consumers’hands 20 years ago, it revolu-tionized entertainment by mak-ing it portable. We could finallytake it with us.
“Twenty years ago, the GameBoy opened a new world of pos-sibilities for electronic entertain-ment,” said Chris Swain, an assis-tant professor at the USC Schoolof Cinematic Arts. “Suddenly, you could putyour game console in your pocket and playanywhere – the playground, the subway, at afriend’s house, wherever. This was a big deal,especially for kids. This was a time before cellphones and iPods.”
Fast forward to now: Nintendo has soldnearly 200 million units of the Game Boy.
The Game Boy has been popular since itsinception, igniting the handheld gaming rev-olution when it was introduced in 1989because it tapped into a voracious consumerappetite for video games and also appealed
broadly to kids and adults. The Game Boy’simpact is evident in last year’s Nintendosales: the company sold more than 10 mil-lion Wii systems and 9.9 million Nintendo DSunits, a portable device.
This sales success started 20 yearsago because the Game Boy wasintrinsically better than its predeces-sors, explained Rob Talbert, a gamingexpert and the host of several onlinegaming shows. It was the first hand-held device that could play multiplegames, he explained.
“This led to an enormous selectionof titles that appealed to a very broad
selection of gamers at the time,” he said.Nintendo seized on the one-size-fits-all
benefits in its marketing, said Scott Steinberg,author of Videogame Marketing and PR.
“It also got consumers to buy into theidea that such a gadget could be safe, funand, more importantly, approachable by theeveryday user, regardless of age, gender orhigh-tech experience,” he said.
The Game Boy had other selling points too,such as sensible pricing, a simple look andfeel, a long battery life and a size that was easyto carry. Most importantly, a portable game
player meant freedom from the living room.Just as iPods have un-tethered televisionshows, Game Boys did the same for games.
The Game Boy also played host to thehyper-addictive Tetris. The popularity of thatgame in the mid-90s drove additional salesof the Game Boy, said video game marketingexpert, Sam Guilloud.
“Nintendo really caught lightning in a bot-tle by packaging the Game Boy with the sim-plest, most addictive game ever, Tetris. It wassimple to understand, contained a steadychallenge, was non-threatening to parentsand had no end, making it perfect for travel.”
Hollywood to Madison Avenue paid atten-tion to the handheld device, making note ofwhat worked and what didn’t, said Ted Owen,CEO of gaming network Global Gaming.
“The name of the game was and still iscramming as much fun, and now functionali-ty, into as small as an environment as possi-ble with the largest possible screen. What theearly innovators did has paved the way for adevice that has telephony, social networks,email and personal media in 100 flavors ofsmall, and it’s all screen dominated.”
That sounds a lot like today’s iPod, cellphone and iPhone. l
AT 20, GAME BOY LAUNCHED MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT ERADonkey Kong Country 2
14 CB_gameboy.qxp:brief mag 3/9/09 12:48 AM Page 1
1. Especially when they’re trying to get into your pants. your pants. your
2. Unless the DJ has rabies or you’re or you’re or in France.
3. Even MC Hammer. He’s still not talking to us.
4. Sometimes our mom our mom our makes us call it “Barry” when
it spends the night.
5. Followed by the sound of the of the of bullet collecting unemployment.
6. Elk are Elk are Elk not known for their for their for foreplay. their foreplay. their And you can just forget about cuddling afterwards.
7. Easy like Helen Keller. Not the famous deaf mute deaf mute deaf chick, but Helen Keller the deaf mute deaf mute deaf chick from chick from chick accounting.
8. Okay, most libraries can. But probably not in Esperanto. So there.9. Supplies of uranium, of uranium, of wild platypus and transsexuals in the military.10. A live A live A human being at another company, another company, another because that’s
not our phone our phone our number.
3
4
7
5
66
1
2
9
10
8
MUSIC HAD A
ONE-NIGHT STAND
WITH SOUND
DESIGN. AND THE
CONDOM BROKE.chapter th r ee:
T H ET H ET H ET H E M O D U L E S M O D U L E S M O D U L E S M O D U L E S M O D U L E S M O D U L E S M O D U L E S M O D U L E S M O D U L E S LI B R A R Y LI B R A R Y LI B R A R Y
Q u i c k h i t s , t r e n d a n a l y s i s a n d e a s y - t o - c o n s u m e i n s i g h t
Creative BriefUpfront
16 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
BY CHRIS PURSELLApparently, we’ve only seen the tip of the
iceberg when it comes to uses for the iPhone.With its 2009 video game marketing con-
ference set to take place on April 8 in SanFrancisco, MI6 teamed up with onlineresearch provider E-Poll Market Research toprovide information on the entertainmenttrends and habits of video gamers. The studywas conducted with the objective of identify-ing ways to market to gamers who are at dif-fering levels of usage and involvement, withthe specific objective of understanding theintersections between the various types ofgaming platforms, including the red-hot Appledevice.
The results provided key insights on a newshift of where eyeballs are going for hardcoreas well as casual gamers. In addition, thestudy showed the impact of a rising gamingdemographic and how that group might beexploited in the future.
E-Poll randomly selected qualified respon-dents from a nationwide proprietary panel toparticipate in an online survey. Participantsranged in age from 13 to 64, all owned a gam-ing device and played one or more hours perweek on a game platform. The full report, with
specific details on where to reach target audi-ences, as well as breakdowns of gaming andentertainment habits, will be provided for free toall attendees of the MI6 conference.
“One of the key takeaways from this is thatcell phones, particularly iPhones, have insert-ed themselves in the middle of consoles anddesktop gaming as a real game changer in
how people are going to learn about games,”said Gerry Philpott, president and CEO of E-Poll Market Research. “Only a year ago, cellphones were essentially a secondary toy,whereas consoles and PC dominated all gam-ing. People were predicting how TV program-ming would be taking over cell phones, butthat’s a small percentage compared to thegaming side.”
Indeed, the study showed that iPhone andother smartphone owners offer the greatestmarketing opportunities. Owners tended to bethe heaviest users of all other gaming plat-forms, buy the most games, be the biggestusers of social networking sites and are thefastest growing group of gamers among allplatform owners.
One key audience segment of casualgamers that has remained relatively untappedby the bigger platforms remains women,according to the study. Women are nowincreasing the amount of time they spendplaying games at a greater pace then men.
“With the economy continuing to look sour,there are opportunities there for video gamecompanies to boost their audiences, withwomen 35 and older in particular,” saidPhilpott. l
How Many Hours Per Week Do You Spend Doing Each of the Following Activities?Xbox Nintendo Any Gaming Nintendo Blackberry/ iPhone/ Internet
Total 360 PS3 Wii Console PC PSP DS Palm Instinct Cell Phone
Watch TV in real-time 14.11 12.38 14.56 13.49 13.31 14.38 13.80 13.37 13.33 14.26 13.64Watch standard definition channels 13.28 11.15 12.61 12.98 12.66 13.45 13.97 13.43 11.16 11.89 12.41Watch High-Definition channels 12.13 12.42 14.00 11.87 11.96 12.20 12.26 11.44 13.23 15.28 12.83Watch movies or programs on a DVR 10.02 9.84 11.66 10.78 10.04 10.43 11.23 10.08 10.98 11.54 10.31Play any video game or game on any media platform or device 9.11 10.19 11.00 9.22 9.20 9.31 11.44 9.94 9.52 11.80 9.54Watch programs or movies on a DVD or BluRay player 5.58 6.84 7.08 5.44 5.72 5.64 7.42 6.43 6.55 8.91 6.02Use a social networking website (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, etc.) 5.53 6.93 7.40 6.11 5.81 5.44 6.87 6.31 7.71 10.20 6.68Read hardcopy newspapers or magazines 4.60 5.34 5.88 4.71 4.40 4.53 5.88 5.19 5.88 7.33 4.93Listen to or watch a podcast on your MP3 player (e.g., iPod, etc.) 4.07 5.34 5.56 4.48 4.10 4.12 6.63 4.90 4.96 8.10 4.33Watch video content on the Internet 3.97 5.31 6.24 4.01 4.21 3.98 6.25 4.72 5.31 7.32 4.57Read newspapers or magazines online 3.93 4.78 6.05 4.10 3.98 3.82 5.29 4.79 5.79 7.13 4.58Watch video on demand (VOD) movies and programs 3.59 5.03 5.86 3.93 3.73 3.60 6.49 4.41 5.06 8.13 4.32Watch programs/movies over the Internet 3.38 4.43 5.22 3.63 3.55 3.43 5.46 4.14 4.96 7.06 3.87Watch TV programs on your cell phone 3.34 4.50 5.23 3.73 3.38 3.31 6.55 4.55 3.88 6.95 3.14Download a demo or watch video game trailers on a gaming website 2.19 3.04 3.97 2.42 2.18 2.26 4.10 2.83 3.32 6.21 2.57Watch Pay-Per-View movies 2.07 3.03 3.99 2.44 2.25 2.09 4.48 2.90 3.45 6.04 2.40See a Movie in a Theater 2.00 2.94 3.73 2.26 2.16 1.97 3.79 2.74 3.15 5.35 2.25
Change in Video GamePlaying By Platform
Male Female100
80
60
40
20
0
28%
46%
19%
48%
32%26%
Where to Find the Gamers
n Increased n Decreased n Stayed the same
Overall, about three in tenhave increased their gameplaying in the last 12months. Interestingly,those indicating and in-crease in game play overthe past year is higheramong females comparedto males.
E-POLL AND PROMAX|BDA REVEAL HOW TO REACH GAMING AUDS
16_17 epoll_newsbrief2.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 7:09 PM Page 1
Promo Producers Hopefor Closure with IATSE
Executives for a number of promo compa-nies are hopeful that a deal will soon beworked out with the International Alliance ofTheatrical Stage Employees after union repre-sentatives threatened to shut down productionon a number of shoots last year.
According to executives, the IATSE hit anumber of companies last summer, demand-ing that the companies sign a contract or face awork stoppage when union members on thecrew were pulled from the production. Now,group executives from the promo houses arehopeful that a deal will be reached that pre-vents further production problems.
“There isn’t a deal yet,” said one executiveinvolved with the negotiations. “But one of thethings they are struggling to understand is thatthere are some 3,500 companies that do thisstuff, and most of them are very small. Unfortu-nately, if only five of us are made to sign thecontract, that puts us at a serious disadvantageto the thousands of others that don’t. Then ofcourse, the teamsters will want a piece too.”
Executives involved with negotiations spec-ulate that any deal that gets completed willlikely echo of the deal IATSE made with musicvideo producers earlier this decade. That agree-ment, between IATSE and the Music Video Pro-duction Association, a Los Angeles-based tradegroup, resulted in an agreement that allowedthe union to negotiate wages and provide pen-sion and health benefits to music video crews.
However, the deals also made provisionsbased on the amount of money involved withthe production that tiered the mandatory bene-fits.
“There are a lot of parallels with what hap-pened with the music video organizations,”said the executive, who asked to not benamed. “Maybe with the economy, they thinkthat there could be a lot of money on this sideof the industry. The good news is that it’s beenquiet since we’ve been engaged in dialogue. Ido hope it’s resolved soon.”
A call to the IATSE was not returned bypress time. l
— CHRIS PURSELL
BY DAISY WHITNEYIt’s hard to imagine a more perfect fit
between brand and character than Windexand “Monk,” the obsessive-compulsivedetective in USA Network’s hit show of thesame name. It makes perfect sense thenthat the cleaning fluid would sponsor“Monk’s Germicide,” launched on USA’scasual gaming portal CharacterArcade.comin January, which lets players zap germswith their mouse.
It’s one of the newest of about 50 casu-al games on the network’s gaming portalthat plays a role in promoting networkshows to existing USA viewers and in nab-bing new viewers from the casual gamingcommunity. Casual games, some of whichare based on shows, also represent a grow-ing revenue stream for the network: USAhas inked deals with Capital One, Windex,Pledge, GM, Saab and others to sponsorgames.
The network’s casual gaming strategytook root more than three years ago with a
“Monk” game, leading to the rollout of theportal in late 2007. The CharacterArcade.comportal is also accessible via USANetwork.com,and usage figures are rolled into the mainsite.
“We found our online demo matchedthe casual gaming demo,” said Jesse Red-niss, VP of digital at USA. “The average ageon our site is 38 years, and 55% are female,similar to casual games.”
The dual-pronged strategy to engageexisting viewers and reach new ones seemsto be working. USANetwork.com has grownfrom 300,000 unique visitors each month in2005 to 2.8 million per month in 2009 sofar, Redniss said.
In addition, USA is second among allnetworks in time spent on its site per ses-sion, at 12 minutes, behind leader Fox.comwith 14 minutes per session, according toHitwise data provided by USA. That com-pares to about seven minutes on averagefor network websites, Redniss said.
Ratings on-air continue to rise too. l
USA’s Digital Gaming PlayReaps Rewards for Channel
www.characterarcade.com
16_17 epoll_newsbrief2.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 7:05 PM Page 2
IONCreative: spark and ION’s in-house team Target Audience: General entertainment, adults 25-54Objective: To warm up the brand and make it much more
personable and relatable to the viewer. Steps taken: Brand strategy, logo design and tagline
development were the first priorities for spark. They workedwith ION to come up with the tagline “positively entertaining.”Warm colors were added to the logo to help reinforce thewelcoming message they were trying to convey with therebrand. The tagline and logo provided the building blocks forthe 30-second promo spot. “There’s a fine line that you walk,” saidElaine Cantwell, founder of spark. “You want to make sure the brandlooks contemporary and confident and smart but was also familiar andwarm and has the ability to connect with the viewer.”
Results: The consistant effort from the in-house team at ION to thecreative team at spark, along with key programming changes, elevatedthe quality of the network since its relaunch last September. “ION has
evolved from a cold, hard-to-relate-to network to a network that hasembraced it’s ‘positively entertaining’ mantra by creating this warmplace with something for everyone,” said Cantwell.
Lessons learned: “We changed the perception of the brand com-pletely,” said Cantwell. “The ION of today is nothing like the ION of 12months ago. It really illustrates the power of message, mark and colorand how it communicates the brand as a whole.” l
ESPN AmericaCreative: Bruce Dunlop & Associates (BDA) in London.Target Audience: The expat living in Europe missing their
favorite sport or team; Europeans who have an affinity with theU.S.; millions of people across Europe who play or want towatch American sports. And sports fans who want to see mar-quees events such as the Super Bowl and the World Series.
Objective: “We wanted a campaign that would help peo-ple know that ESPN America is the place to watch the bestlive and authentic coverage of U.S. sports, including regularseason and championship games, the best talk shows and thebiggest stars 24/7,” said Damion Potter, ESPN communications director,Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Pacific Rim.
Steps taken: The rebrand included a complete transition of all of theon-air, off-air and online components of the channel’s brand identity.The marketing and creative teams worked on images that convey thescale of U.S. sports along with everything that is good and heroic aboutAmerica and its sports. The channel was launched with a media cam-paign that included print, outdoor and digital media in London and oth-er major cities and markets across Europe. “As we want fans to know
that we carry big events, we re-branded ESPN America on Super BowlSunday,” explained Potter.
Results: Potter said the responses had been overwhelmingly postivefrom both the sports fans and the media and that the clients and part-ners were also very impressed with the rebrand.
Lessons learned: “We are still in the process of analyzing the cam-paign,” explained Potter. “But on the whole, we are pleased with theexposure we have achieved for ESPN America and the feedback we’vehad from sports fans, media and clients.” l —BY JENNIFER CIMINILLO
Cartoon NetworkCreative: Kid Robot and CapacityTarget Audience: Kids 6-11Objective: “We wanted to go back and really stand for
something,” said Michael Ouweleen, SVP and creative direc-tor, on air, for Cartoon Network. “We wanted to unite every-thing with one simple, big idea.”
Steps taken: CN capitalized on the “filling in the BLANK”concept with the tagline “Cartoon Network is _______.” Thisallowed CN to maximize the strong connection between theirbrand and content. The “blank” in the tagline evolved into areoccurring graphical device called “noods” that transformed into thedifferent characters that define the CN brand. To make the impact of there-face even greater, CN retooled their programming and created aThursday night block. The process started in March 2008 and was on airin June.
Results: The re-face created an undeniably strong connectionbetween the network and its content and provided everyone involved
with the brand a common thread to work with. According to executives,the viewer can now use the new brand as a starting point, and theopportunities for expansion are endless.
Lessons learned: “The unattended consequences of an idea onceother people start to play with it has been fun and healthy for thebrand,” said Ouweleen. “The key to success is turning an old paradigminto something new.” l
s t r a t e g i e s a n d t a c t i c s b e h i n d t h e p r o m o t i o n
Brand/reBrand
18 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
Upfront
www.capacity.tvwww.kidrobot.com
www.sparkcreativeinc.com
www.brucedunlop.com
18 brandrebrand.qxp:brief mag 3/9/09 12:52 AM Page 1
BY MARIE-AGNÈS BRUNEAUPresident Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to
drop primetime ads from state-owned tel-evision is prompting branders to rethinkstrategy within the country. With commer-cials set to be phased out of the scheduleentirely by 2011, eliminating some $700million in advertising, media marketersare already using the policy to reinvest inbranded entertainment.
However, that hasn’t stopped the net-works from injecting new life into theirchannels’ branding campaigns, especiallywith more competition on the way aspay-TV outlets continue to bloom. In fact,the historical networks continue to loseaudience shares to these channels. TF1,France 2, France 3, France 5, Canal+, Arteand M6 combined for 73% of the ratingsshare last month, down 0.8% comparedto January but off 4.6% from 2008.
Some branding executives see the per-fect storm of economic recession andmore competition as a chance to retooland refine.
“It all makes sense as the vision wehave corresponds to the evolution of
behaviors and of the global media land-scape, driven by the digital revolution andnew generations,” said Lucien Boyer, whoruns Havas Sports & Entertainment divi-sion and has called for a deregulation ofadvertising practices on TV in order tobring in new ad revenues.
Traditional on-air branding elementscontinue to decorate the airwaves whereeven interstitials are treated as art in thecountry. Visual effects company BUFremains a trendsetter, having recently fin-ished the acclaimed “Partie Gratuite"campaigns for Canal+, but other artistsare earning praise of their own. The net-work also tapped Graphic Essence tohone a finely-crafted campaign for thechannel’s EuroCup coverage.
Paris-based company nobrain recentlycreated a slew of IDs for TF1, France’sbiggest network. Although each of theclips was only five seconds long, all ofthem were loaded with detail and fluidanimation that reflected the TF1 brand.
However, the rise of digital terrestrialchannels in France, combined with asurging rise of online outlets such as
Facebook (up 443% over the past yearsince launching a French interface) haveopened the doors for television broad-casters to explore new ways of reachingaudiences.
“Traditional advertising is missingsome targets” said Boyer. “Television adbreaks are tending to be bypassed. Thenew generations know the brands onlythrough their own personal experienceand via the Internet, as they are quitereactive in sharing the advert they like.Social networks are getting more andmore important.”
Boyer pointed to Nike’s associationduring the Euro 2008 football cup withFrench player Franck Ribéry that led to theTV special “Le Franck Ribéry Show” fund-ed by Nike, which was recorded live infront of 3,000 fans and broadcast simulta-neously on digital terrestrial channelDirect 8, radio station RMC and MSN.fr. Itgarnered 6 million television viewers andone million video downloads. l
Links: www.buf.comwww.nobrain.frwww.havas.com
SPRING 2009 | 19
MARKET WATCH: FRANCE..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
TV GIANTS FACE CHANGES IN POLICY, ECONOMY AND COMPETITION
French Networks Open FireGraphic Essence’s UEFA EuroCup Campaign for Canal+
BUF nobrain nobrain
19 marketwatch.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 2:43 AM Page 1
United States of Tara Titleswww.duckstudios.com
Director Jamie Caliri designed this pop-up opening piece as by working with a combi-nation of real pop-up books and animation to guide the viewer through the multiple per-sonalities of the title character. From the lacey paper trees to the intricately unfolding teenbedroom, the titles are a show of their own.
Client: Showtime; Production Company: DUCK/LA; Director: Jamie Caliri; Animation: Anthony Scott;Illustration: Alex Juhasz; Art Department Lead: Morgan Hay; EP: Mark Medernach
Dante’s Inferno www.psyop.com
Psyop does it again. This time upping the ante for video game trailers by re-creatingthe characters and environment of the brutally dark “Dante’s Inferno” into a commercialanimation that gives the video game a lot to live up to. The detailing is so intricate, you’llwant to pause to get a better look. Hell never looked so good.
Client: Electronic Arts; Agency: G-Net, Los Angeles; Executive Producers: David Getson, David Moodie,John Rosenberg; Creative Director: David Moodie; Writer: David Moodie; Production Company: Psyop,New York; Director: Psyop; Psyop Creative Director: Eben Mears; Executive Producer: Lucia Grillo
Channel V Rewindwww.startv.com
Channel V India went delightfully retro for their promo packaging for their music show“Rewind.” Drawing on classic video games, the in-house team used stop motion to createa vinyl record Pac-Man that devours CD “dots” and cassette tape tanks that have to dodge“Space Invaders.” All set in a border of vintage album covers and matched to a funky beatthat you won’t mind getting stuck in your head.
Client: Channel V India; Production Company: In house; Producer: Sachin Samuel Pawar;Design/Animation Director: Sachin Samuel Pawar and Sunil Nene; Photography: Sunil Nene
Special Guest: The Journeywww.specialguest.tv
New directors at Special Guest traditionally are asked to create a short film about theirconcept of “The Special Guest,” and in his debut for the studio, Vinicius Costa does notdisappoint. His 80-second short combines animation and stop-motion and is a take ontravel with the “guest” as a suitcase that contains more than just neatly folded shirts. Thereal catch of this piece is that the ending is seamless with the beginning so that it can bewatched on loop without even realizing it.
Client: Special Guest; Production Company: Special Guest; Director: Vinicius Costa
NASCAR “Underground”www.foxsportsdesign.com
Fox Sports Design teamed with Madrid-based visual effects company La Huella togive audiences a look at the undercarriage of NASCAR racing. Live-action footage wastaken from underneath actors who stood on glass floors 14 feet off the ground, andthe footage was integrated with the 3D CG cars. The result is a promo that looks goodfrom any angle.
Client: Fox Sports Marketing; Production Company: Fox Sports Design; Agency: Fox Sports Design;EVP Marketing: Eric Markgraf; SVP/Creative Director: Robert Gottlieb; Creative Director: Mark Sim-mons; Live Action Director: Mark Simmons; VP On-Air Promotions: Bill Battin; Editor: Kirk Smith; VFX Company: La Huella l —SHANNA GREEN
20 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
N o t a b l e s p o t s f r o m t h e w o r l d o f d e s i g n
SPOT WATCH...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
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MEDIA BRIEF..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Marketing Gets Googley BY DAISY WHITNEY
With more than two-thirds of Internetsearches in the United States starting on itssite, Google is not only the first stop for mostWeb users, it’s also become a vital componentin marketer’s plans. Entertainment companies,movie studios and television networks call
upon Google to drive tune-inand Web traffic, to delivernew ad formats and to dis-
tribute programs online. There’s more to Google than just search
though. Because it owns the world’s biggestvideo site in YouTube, which itself commandsmore than 40% of all video views on the Inter-net, Google’s got a lot of marketing tools tooffer entertainment companies.
As an example, Bravo markets its popular“Top Chef” show by buying search words for theshow’s name and also for broader terms like“New York Best Restaurants” in an effort to lurenew viewers to the show. Internet users search-ing for where to eat might then click over toBravo’s site and then tune in to the show on-air.
Bravo’s not alone in relying on Google. Vir-tually every TV network and movie studio usesthe search engine to spread the word abouttheir content.
“We are seeing entertainment companieslevering search like they always have withsmart keyword buys, but now you’re seeing anevolution in the strategy behind those buys,”said Lori Schwartz, SVP and director of the IPGemerging media lab. “It’s not just a title andkey talent search, but trends and behavior key-words surrounding the demographic you aretargeting so that it becomes more about asearch strategy behind lifestyle.”
There’s also the Google content network, afar-flung group of websites that marketers canadvertise on. Bravo, for one, also purchased dis-play ads for “Top Chef” through that contentnetwork on sites such as NYMag.com. “Bravoworks with Google to secure this highly relevantplacement where we see a higher interactionrate due to the strategic targeting,” said EllenStone, the network’s SVP of market-ing.
This type of marketing can rein-force the connection betweenonline and on-air. “We’re seeingentertainment companies useGoogle and YouTube to strengthentheir core businesses by driving TV
ENTERTAINMENT COMPANIES TURN TO GOOGLE SITES FOR AUDS
tune-in, subscriptions, movie sales and brandengagement and to develop new online mod-els by increasing traffic to their websites, sam-pling their content on YouTube and distributingtheir shows,” said Adam Stewart, director ofGoogle’s media and entertainment vertical.
That includes a recent online programmingventure from television writer Seth MacFarlane.Last fall, he released his Burger King-spon-sored web series “Cavalcade of Cartoon Com-edy” across the Google content network and
generated 14 million video views in the firstthree weeks.
With YouTube, movie studios and networkswill often purchase space on the home pageto promote films and shows. Showtime haseven used the site to run full episodes ofshows, like the network’s “United States ofTara” that premiered in January. On the day ofShowtime’s YouTube homepage ad buy, thepremiere episode of the show drew more than500,000 views on the site, a record for long-form content on YouTube, said Ken Todd, VP ofcontent and digital media at Showtime.
“We will handpick a show that does wellon YouTube, and sometimes create piecesspecifically for YouTube or for user-generatedplatforms,” Todd said. “It’s a powerful tool toattract a younger demo looking for short formcontent.” l
Did You Knowl In a recent YouTube homepage campaign by amajor gaming company, users exposed to ads were29% more likely to buy the advertised game duringthe holiday season, according to Google.
“Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy”
22 mediabrief_google.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 12:59 AM Page 1
REGISTER NOW at mi6conference.com or call Anush Payaslyan at 310.789.1509
Master the Momentum.April 8, 2009 l San Francisco
Television isn’t dead. It just sucks.
If your audience is playing video games, they’re not watching your program.Learn from the most influential marketing executives in the video game industry about the tools, trends and developments affecting the fastest-growing sector
in the entertainment business including:
Tony Key, SVP, Sales and Marketing, U.S. Ubisoft
John Pleasants, COO, EA
Pete Hines, VP Marketing, Bethesda Softworks
Suzie Reider, Head of Ad Sales, YouTube’s Google Display
Michael Pachter, Senior Analyst, Wedbush Morgan
Kym Nelson, VP Game Sales, IGN.com
Peter Moore, President, EA Sports
Gary Osifchin, Marketing Director, Stride, U.S. and Canada, Cadbury
Nicholas Negroponte, Futurist, Author and Founder of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop Per Child
And many more ...
MI6 conference registration ad:Layout 1 3/10/09 5:28 PM Page 1
24 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
‘Society’ is Sizzling BY SHANNA GREEN
Late night impromptu dance parties,kegerators and working with your bestfriends may sound like a designer’s dreamjob, but the tight-knit team of Williamsburg,N.Y.-based Lifelong Friendship Societyassures it’s not all play and no work.
Founded in 2004 by four friends whomet while doing broadcast design at VH1,the young studio can now boast FUEL TV,VW, Zune, The N, Spike, The Grammys andStarbucks among their high-profile clients.
With backgrounds ranging from creativewriting to math, Co-Founders Jason Jones,Travis Spangler and Brian Close are aneclectic bunch, and were joined by Execu-tive Producer and Partner Dan Sormani in2007. The fourth co-founder Kaori Sohma isno longer with the company.
All of the co-founders met while doingbroadcast design at VH1, which is wherethey decided to splitoff and start theirown company. Theyfirst began workingfrom their homesbefore moving toChelsea and then toWilliamsburg wheretheir nine-personoffice is currently setup with a full stage,green screen andkegerator.
“We all had a pullfrom the beginningand wanted to do our own thing,” Spanglersaid. “VH1 was a great company to workfor, but you’re constantly doing the samekind of work for a network, and it all had aresident tone. We wanted to do our ownwork with our own kinds of styles as wellas some advertising work in differentareas.”
The company’s first big break was forVolkswagen, which approached LifelongFriendship Society about doing some workfor their Passat website, after seeing someof their experimental animation shorts.Volkswagen wanted to use their animationas the basis of their marketing campaign,and so working with a few other compa-nies, they created a viral campaign consist-
LIFELONG FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY SEEKS CONVERTS FOR DESIGN WORK
ing of 25 five-second animationsthat teased the Passat’s features, butnever actually showed the car.
Being able to keep things play-ful and a little bit mysterious is partof how Spangler said he likes towork.
“I love communication, and Ilove being able to have somethingcommunicated to the audiencedirectly without a lot of pretence,”Spangler said. “In art, there’s com-munication, but you’re dealing with a lot ofpersonal-type things. With design, I really likethe idea that you can communicate with amass amount of people and do it personallyand directly.”
Although all of the creative directors havetheir own inspirations and design processes,Spangler said that his usually begins with lis-tening to music.
“I like Dove, I like techno; I like music like
VH1
Grammy Awards
FUEL TV
DARE
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that,” Spangler said. “I also really love shapesand geometry. Whenever I look at things, Ilook at negative spacing and a shape’s spaceand texture, how things are formed andthose kinds of relationships.”
One of their most recent and favoritecampaigns was a spot for Starbucks donearound the time of President Obama’s inau-guration. Starbucks wanted to showcasethat they were offering a free cup of coffeefor people who volunteered for five hours.The spot involved illustration and typedesign set to a hip hop track by MC Yogi
with the words illustrated as theywere being spoken.
Lifelong Friendship Society tookon the project and completed it inabout a week and a half. The teamplus freelancers were workingaround the clock with many 3 a.m.nights.
“There’s definitely an hour thatbecomes kinda insane,” Spanglersaid. “You’re riding around the stu-dio on bicycles and saying stupidthings. You’re getting upset for no
reason. Richard our producer did the occa-sional dance party.”
Still, they agreed it was worth it. “That was something that attracted me,”
Sormani said. “Yes it’s for Starbucks. Yes it’sfor a corporation, but it was volunteer work.”
Spangler said one of the advantages toworking for your own design company isbeing able to do more jobs that enable youto carve out who you really want to work for.
“We want to care about everything thatwe’re doing and not just do work for work,and that’s one of the hardest things to culti-
vate and maintain,” Spangler said. “That’s theone thing we’ll always want to have: to enjoyit, to do it well.”
And when reminiscing about those latework nights, Sormani said it made them real-ize the one thing they’re sorely lacking.
“It messes with our credit as a design stu-dio, I know, but we don’t have many gameshere,” Sormani said. “There’s no foosballtable. But there will be now. There will be.” l
Link: www.lifelongfriendshipsociety.com
SPRING 2009 | 25
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Jason Jones
Dan Sormani
Brian Close
Travis Spangler
CACTUS
mun2
VW
Starbucks
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DESIGN/DISSECT..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
BY ANITA ENGELMANThe new Cartoon effect in After Effects CS4
allows you to create new looks for your videoor other animated imagery, instantly applyingthe appearance of cel animation or watercolorpaintings to live action footage or to comput-er-generated 3D imagery. It’s a creative toolthat allows you to quickly stylize footage,using a powerful, yet simple-to-use, set ofcontrols to create your own fresh looks. Thismakes it equally useful for motion graphicsand for interactive designers interested incrafting new visual styles, as well as videogra-phers and editors looking to create a uniquelook without the painstaking manual processof hand-drawing every frame. You can evenuse it to rescue low-resolution footage bysmoothing and abstracting it.
Advantages: This effect applies threeessential enhancements to your footage:
1. Smoothing to remove distracting imagedetails.
2. Finding the edges between the remain-ing details to highlight them and provide aborder to help separate the areas of color.
3. Filling in colors and gradients betweenthe edges detected above. You have full con-trol over each of these enhancements througha set of separate Fill and Edge parameters aswell as Advanced parameters.
Get Going: Stylize footage with the Car-toon effect:
1. Create a composition containing the
footage you want to manipulate so it looks likeit came to life straight out of the pages of acomic book.
2. Select the footage layer, and then chooseEffect > Stylize > Cartoon. The Effect Controlspanel should open. (If it doesn’t, press F3 totoggle it forward.) The initial results look prettygood, but you can customize them very easily.
3. In the Effect Controls panel, click the val-ue for Fill > Shading Steps and drag it slowlyto the left while observing the changes in theimage in the Composition panel. Lower Shad-ing Steps values result in a starker, less realis-tic, more posterized look.
4. Click and drag the Edge > Threshold val-
ue to the right. This adds more black edges tothe image, more clearly defining the folds inthe face and clothes.
5. Click and drag the Edge > Width effect tothe left. The result looks like you used a finerpencil to draw the edges.
6. Click and drag the Edge > Softness valueto the right. This gives the effect of using asofter pencil when drawing the edges.
7. Press 0 on the numeric keypad to RAMPreview the scene. Cartoon-style effects arecomputationally intensive, usually resulting inlong render times. The Cartoon effect in AfterEffects CS4 is GPU-accelerated, making it ren-der quickly for such a complex effect. l
Before effect applied
After effect applied
Fine ‘Toon Your FootageADOBE’S NEW CARTOON EFFECT OPENS DOOR FOR FRESH STYLES
After effect applied
26 designdissect.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 1:05 AM Page 1
Insight. Inspiration. Beer.
BY SHEL PERKINSAs a design manager, I love reading salary surveys, so I was
delighted to be offered a sneak peek at the data being published aspart of the very first salary survey from Promax|BDA. Because mem-bers are involved in a wide range of professional activities, it’s justabout impossible to get this informa-tion from any other source—no otherdata matches our profile so closely.
As you’ll see, the results are veryinformative. In some sections, they’realso a bit tantalizing. Some very inter-esting questions are raised that meritfurther and ongoing research.
We also need to keep in mind that,of the total responses, 59% camefrom members within the U.S. This willaffect some results, especially in termsof salary levels. As we go through thesections, I’ll highlight where U.S. datadiffers from global results.
Organization46% of respondents said they
worked at a content channel, and38% said they worked in creative serv-ices. “Content channel” indicates in-house employment. In this section,“creative services” is used to indicateoutside agencies. By segregating U.S.responses, there is more balancebetween the two categories: 44%from content channels, and 42% fromcreative services.
DepartmentThe largest responses were grouped into two categories: 33% in
on-air promotion and 46% in creative services. Looking at the U.S.,the creative services percentage jumped up to 52%. One point ofclarification: “creative services” is the context of department is beingused to identify the title of an in-house department, whereas withincontext of organization, “creative services” refers to an individualcareer path.
This raises a further issue of global semantics where differentcompanies apply different names to the same function or depart-ment. For example, one company’s creative services department
might only produce off-air work such as print ads, marketing materi-als and advertising sales packages. Conversely, another company’smight be responsible for both off-air and on-air work. This is often thecase at small stations where jobs tend to be less specialized andemployees sometimes perform several functions.
Years in Industry47% of respondents said they’ve
been in the industry for less than 10years. In contrast, the U.S. had a slightlymore experienced group: only 44% saidthey had less than 10 years of profes-sional experience.
Job LevelVery few responses were received
from people in entry-level positions. 33%said their jobs were mid-level, which weinterpret as working within a departmentor a team. 27% said their jobs were atthe director level, which indicates thatthey are leading a department or team.
Current Salary and Past SalaryIn broad terms, responses indicate an
upward trend in terms of salary. Over afive-year period, most salaries shifted upone bracket. If we look at the big picture,a combined total of 63% of the respons-es currently span the three bracketsbetween $51K and $150K, whereas fiveyears ago that same majority of 63%spanned the three brackets between
$26K and $100K. If we look at U.S. data in isolation, fewer individualsreported salaries under $50K. Furthermore, all responses in the topcategory of $500K+ were American.
High, Low, or Appropriate?Total responses to this question were equally divided between
“appropriate” and “low.” However, things get interesting when we fil-ter responses by gender. The 32% of female respondents wereapproximately one pay grade behind their male counterparts. Further,fewer female executives have passed the $300K level. This disparity isreflected in the fact that male sentiment about pay is 53% ‘appropri-ate’ and 44% ‘low’, whereas female sentiment about pay is less posi-
28 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
SPECIAL REPORT: Salary Survey
Marketing and Design’sKings & Queens of Cash FIRST ANNUAL PROMAX|BDA SALARY SURVEY EXPLORES THEINCOME TRENDS AFFECTING THE ORGANIZATION’S MEMBERS
Which one of the following best describes your organization?
n Content Channel—Network, Cable, Local Station, etc.n Creative Services—Agency, Promotion,
Post-Production, Design, etc.n Content Producer—Television, Film, Online,
Video Game Publisher, etc. n MSO—Cable/Satellite Provider, Internet Content
Provider, Video Game Console, etc.
46%
38%
14%
2%
28_29 salary survey.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 1:25 AM Page 1
tive with 45% ‘appropriate’ and 54% ‘low’.
Location59% of total responses came from the U.S. and 41% were inter-
national. If we look just at U.S. responses in isolation, 48% of them were
from New York/Los Angeles. This reflects the concentration of net-work and cable headquarters and major agencies in those two met-ropolitan areas. The other 52% were spread fairly evenly across therest of the country, including responses from employees at manylocal stations.
GenderTotal responses were 68% male and 32% female. Responses
from just the U.S. were 66% male and 34% female. Clearly, moremen responded to this particular survey, but the question remains
whether this response rate is representative of the overall gendermix of the industry.
Age23% of respondents were between 18 and 30 years old. 44%
were between 31 and 40 years old. 26% were between 41 and 50years old.
Many people describe media marketing, promotion and designas being a young person’s field. In this survey, the small number ofresponses received from people under the age of 30 might simplyreflect the current economic recession.
Some Thoughts for Next YearThis first Promax|BDA salary survey has gotten us off to a very
good start, and we intend to build on this foundation. Next year, wehope to attract even more participants and increase the tangiblequantitative and qualitative data collected from each person. Withthe current economic realities, next year’s survey is sure to tracksome interesting trends within the business. l
SPRING 2009 | 29
What is your current annual salary?(Results are shown by percentage for each sector of the industry, i.e. 23% in marketing earn $51-$75,000)
In which geographic region are you located?What is your current annual salary?(Combined tally of all survey participants)
n $0-25,000
n $26,000-50,000
n $51,000-75,000
n $76,000-100,000
n $101,000-150,000
n $151,000-200,000
n $201,000-250,000
n $251,000-300,000
n $301,000-350,000
n $351,000-400,000
n $401,000-450,000
$451,000-500,000
$500,000+
200%
150%
100%
50%
0%Africa Asia Australia/
NewZealand
Canada Europe (Excludingthe UK)
MidwestUS
NewYork/LosAngeles
NE US(Exclud-ing NY)
South/LatinAmerica
SE US SouthernUS
UnitedKingdom
WestCoast US(exclud-ing LA)
23%21%
19%
16%7%
5%3%
2% 1%1%1%
625 19 25
73
46
191
5232
49
24
84
40
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%$0-
$25,000$26,000-$50,000
$51,000-$75,000
$76,000-$100,000
$101,000-$150,000
$151,000-$200,000
$201,000-$250,000
$251,000-$300,000
$301,000-$350,000
$351,000-$400,000
$401,000-$450,000
$451,000-$500,000
$500,000+
n Marketing
n On-Air Promotion
n Digital Production
n Media Planning
n PR
n Creative Services (Including Design and Production)
55 6 6 67
1714
4 4 48 8
22 2 1 1 1 12 2 3
17 17 17
12
17 1721 21 21
2426
14 14 14 1418 1819
23232625
29
67
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W
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SPECIAL REPORT: Roundtable
FUTUREOF PROMOTION AND MARKETING
THE
ith changes in the economy and growing cuts thorughout the entertainment
industry, Promax|BDA President Jonathan Block-Verk met with studio marketing
and design leaders to discuss the fundamental shift in the working culture.
Joining the roundtable were Lifetime Co-CMOs Bob Bibb and Lew Goldstein,
EVP and Creative Director of CBS Marketing Group Ron Scalera, Twentieth Televi-
sion and MyNetwork TV EVP of Sales Marketing, Research and New Media, SVP of
Design at FOX Broadcasting Michael Vamosy, and Dan Bragg, VP and Head of
Creative at Discovery.
The roundtable discussion, held at Promax|BDA’s headquarters in Santa Moni-
ca, saw the executives break down how they’ve adapted to the new market, how
job hunters can stay relevant while waiting for opportunities, as well as the grow-
ing relationship between marketers and advertisers.
Continued > > >
30_34 roundtable.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 7:41 PM Page 1
32 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
SPECIAL REPORT: Roundtable
How are you preparing for what has clearly become a major economic downturn?
Goldstein: Basically we’ve been through this many timesbefore and the great thing about management at Lifetime is thatwe’re not cutting anything that will affect the viewer experience.Where it hits the screen also affects ratings, which affects man-agement, so if we’re all keeping our minds focused and keepinga competitive focus, we’ll be just fine. The interesting thing isthat this is a fantastic time for the freelance community becauseas we have to cut down on staff, we have to beef up on free-lancers, so I think it’s a tremendous opportunity.
Bibb: The freelance community is going to have to adjusttheir expectations as well. Meaning everybody is looking for adeal. Everybody is looking to cut costs.
Scalera: You can’t show cuts on the screen, whether you’rein marketing or programming. The true effects of this whole eco-nomic meltdown have not really even touched us yet. As bad asthings are, believe me, it’s going to get bone drying. It really isgoing to test everybody’s will. It takes me back to Fox. I thinkthat in a way it’s going to have to get all of us to say “I’ve got toget back to how it was when I had no money.”
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, and I don’t want
people to lose their jobs, but the idea of having to do thingsleaner and meaner does kind of push you back to what it is thatgot you to where you are now.
Goldstein: We have been hiring some people. Most of thepeople in New York didn’t want to relocate, so we do have jobs.What’s interesting is that besides falling in love with a new cre-ative personality, the first question is “That’s really a great spot,that’s really a great project. Can you do it with three quarters ofthat budget?”
Burns: When you’re on a tight budget at home, you impro-vise. You find new ways to do it. You find a cheaper better wayto do it. When you’re flush, you get a little more lax. We’re sittingback and saying “How can we do this creatively?”
Bragg: Well, we have challenges because we’re in Washing-ton D.C., which is a little bit of bastion of creative outlet. Because
people are hungry, it sort of opens a lot of doors that I don’tthink we had before. Because they’re hungry, they want to tapinto a lot of markets that they didn’t have before. We’re trying totake advantage of the downturn and take advantage of compa-nies that are hungry. We’re making calls to people that we neverreally made calls to two years ago and we’re saying, “We’ve gotthis work to do, do you guys want to work with us?” and they’rewilling to pitch. They’re willing to jump in and put their A teamsand directors in to work in a way that I don’t think we reallyeven saw two years ago. We’ve had to cut our promo time downtoo. We’ve had to make really hard choices in terms of whatwe’re going to promote, how we’re going to promote and whatshows we can combo. Try to make a consumer experience cre-atively appealing and it’s hard.
Vamosy: The amount of people is very small compared tothe level of work that we turn out. Its not that we are losing peo-ple, but I’ve had to cut back on freelancers. I’ve had to get rid offreelancers which is a shame in this kind of marketplacebecause, yes, talented people do become available and it’s agreat time to reinvest and mix it up in the talent pool. But we’realso shrinking our budgets for outside work. For us, it meanswe’ve got to get focused, we’ve got to think about our creativeapproach to it. We want to make sure that when we talk toresearch, we know where we are going instead of taking someof the time to explore. We want to get really focused right away.
I think that’s going to make us think quicker, faster.
Bibb: We do exactly the same thing. Instead of going to ven-dor and asking them to send over ideas, you really go to themwith a plan.
Scalera: It forces you to think through your project that muchmore carefully. That’s not a bad thing.
Burns: We’re learning how to work smarter.
Goldstein: It’s interesting because I had a conversation theother day with (Lifetime Network’s President and CEO) AndreaWong and I said to her, “There’s a big target right there, and ifwe’re going to cut, everybody in the company has to be realisticabout what the outcome of those cuts are going to be.” Andthat’s as simple as that; it’s gonna hurt something.
Bragg: You can cut the bottom line of the marketing budget,but at what cost, because you lose a share of voice out therewith the public. It’s easy to cut a number, but you have to realizewhat the effect is before it’s too late.
How has the economy specifically affected yourmedia buys and strategies?
Goldstein: There is a lot more negotiating. I think people areworking harder. We all are working harder to try to make thebucks go further, and that’s how you want to do it. Hopefully, thepeople who you have negotiating on your behalf are going tohave that in mind, or they probably won’t be around very longbecause you are going to get tired of them not doing what isneeded to happen.
Lifetime’s Goldstein and Bibb and CBS’s Scalera note that cuts in budg-ets can’t be noticed on the small screen or audiences will turn away.
30_34 roundtable.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 7:42 PM Page 2
Bragg: Esquire magazine did a front page cutout for “One WayOut,” which premiered last month, and they have never done thatbefore. I think we are seeing a lot of publishers, especially on themagazine side, saying “What kind of units can we build for you,” or“Do you have ideas for groups that you want or that we can create?”
Vamosy: We are pulling back on the media, but we are also try-ing to figure out how to be production savvy and pull back onsome of those costs. We are pushing a lot of stuff onto online. Weare getting the same amount of eyeballs, and we are trying to donew and creative things with the space, and a lot of different placesand different sites are making these new opportunities available forus to be extremely creative, competitive and, hopefully, get as much
impact as we would get with an outdoor campaign.
Scalera: We are looking for what we can do to maximizewhat little we may have, and when it comes to print media, that’sa sore point. Paper print is the one side of the business that isreally going to suffer.
Bibb: Last year was the first time that we actually saw youcould shift major media dollars to digital and see a return onyour investment. Without mentioning any type of publications,we are now learning that you can survive without having thatdouble-page spread in that weekly and be just fine. Thisallows you to put dollars elsewhere, and that publicationknows it.
Burns: Television is still the king of all media, so it’s causingus to be introspective and look at our own on-air, our own prod-uct and see how we can maximize and go beyond the traditional30-second episodic to see what else we can do. I go to my affili-ate body and swap inventory so that I increase my GRP’s and Iam using their open inventories that they can’t sell anyway. It is awin-win situation. It’s a spiral up instead of a spiral downbecause now their ratings will go up because they’re utilizinginstead of putting in another traditional promo spot.
It’s not just our promotion, but programming. You want toprogram to the mindset of the people right now as well, and takethat into consideration for the promo spots or your promotion.Drive people to television, play to the DVR. DVR penetration isalmost at 30%. How about telling viewers “Take this and play itback in three days”? There was a period in time where one of thenetworks looked at their competitors’ schedules and said net-
work “A” and network ”B” are all in repeats. Why not tell theviewer and teach them how to watch the DVR. Say “You don’thave to choose. Tape it and play it. But play it back in three daysso we get the credit.”
Vamosy: It’s also creating some opportunities for the sales. Tosell different items and to make sure the advertisers have differ-ent opportunities. Maybe our prices won’t come down, butmaybe we can offer them extra elements, different ways toadvertise other than just a 30-second spot. It’s about differentideas to get them back to the table so we can take advantage ofthe higher ratings and more people watching. We’ll play aroundwith some ideas, we’ll start to see what works, what doesn’t.We’re open to trying new things.
What do people who are trying to break into the business do? What should they prepare, and whatkind of skills should they be developing?
Bibb: Integrated promotions and marketing is the futurebecause we are not seeing enough people who are loving it andthat savvy about it to really see what works. We say that it’s a newmodel, but there are not enough people who are really creative at it.
Scalera: I think the relationship between marketing and sales isonly going to get tighter. We are trying to creatively work out ways,although nothing forced, where the show, the marketing depart-ment and the sales department can work together and do more ofthat as long as no one is put in a creative straightjacket. Whereproduct “A” is integrated into the show, but hasn’t been integratedacross the board, in promos and that sort of thing.
Goldstein: That’s where the creative comes in, and people canliterally write their own ticket if they can come up with those com-binations on their resume reel.
You know, I would be very interested in that.
Bragg: We are seeing a lot of advertisers coming directly to thenetworks. They are going to start cutting out high-paid agenciesand going directly to the networks who know their brand muchbetter than agencies do. They’ll partner with them to create inter-stitials with little captions that will capture the audiences’ interestand sell the products and the shows at the same time.
Bibb: We are dealing with the media agency, the creativeagency, the network and the studio. So, you have these four fac-tors, and everyone does not want to lose their piece of the pie andtheir importance. So there are some interesting battles going on.
Bragg: Generally, you are either creative or you’re strategy; itdepends upon where your heart is. But you can’t do creative with-out good strategy, and you can’t do strategy without good creative,so they’re partners.
Bibb: It really is a loser’s mentality to say “Well, they are not hiringright now,” or “There is a hiring freeze.” Good companies are alwayslooking for great people. Everyone wants that next Ron Scalera.
SPRING 2009 | 33
Bibb, Scalera and Fox’s Vamosy agree that the industry is undergoingintrospection and will result in new branding and marketing models.
Continued > > >
30_34 roundtable.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 7:43 PM Page 3
Scalera: Thanks Bob!Burns: You really have to prove yourself. It will be good for
them because they will have more patience to learn, to stay with acompany, to not necessarily expect a right of passage that they willget that promotion and not demand a big salary because theyhave their MBA and have to be paid. To that extent, I say freelancework, and I’m going to have to consider that quite heavily withinmy department.
Vamosy: I get a lot of resumes emailed to me. They seem greatand talented, but, unfortunately, I don’t have a place for them withthe hiring freeze and me already losing freelancers, but I still wantto keep in contact with these people. There are still going to beopportunities that come up in the future. I still need people. I stillwant to see the talent out there. If you can educate yourself andpractice your craft, then you can stay creative, even if it’s not on TV.I will take a look at a resume a year from now, and I will see thatthey have been doing work even if they have not been paid for it.What I don’t want to see is someone who says “I could not find ajob for two years. I wasn’t out there.”
Scalera: I think that if you are looking to get in the business, say“Look, I can put stuff on screens, I come up with great ideas, and Ican express it visually.” That is really what it comes down to withoutany kind of format distinction. You either have it, or you don’t, and
that’s what we are going to hire—the kids that walk in and say“Dude, I can make that presentation in 12 hours.” Okay you got it.
Bragg: I totally hear what you guys are saying. You are lookingfor that creative juice or spark that looks different and feels differ-ent, and that they can recognize a way into a problem that youhave never seen before is gold. If you can nurture that, it’s worththe nurturing. If you have the time and the patience to work withsomeone who has the spark, you’ve got to wrap them up like anewborn baby because they don’t come frequently.
Marketers are emerging as the clear leaders in drivingthe success of this business. What are the most inno-vative or successful things you’ve done at your com-panies in the past few months?
Bibb: Since a lot of our inventory are off-net or second-run
series, we’ve started to take a model we had at Christmas timeby having these interstitial skits of our stars celebrating the holi-days. We spent a good deal of money on these and we wanted itto look real slick, but it’s a way of having these “laugh-inmoments” that we sprinkle throughout the inventory, and wefound that the advertisers loved these. It’s a soft way to integratea product into a comedic sketch about buying greeting cards atChristmas.
Goldstein: It’s that time of the year when their business isgoing to be in needof that kind ofthing. They are alllooking for it rightnow. We knowbecause we talk tothem all the time.
Bibb: When wecame to Lifetime,our biggest obser-vation was that itlooked like some-body was in a tapelibrary, pulling out
tapes and putting them on the air. There was no life, there wasnothing new to the schedule unless there was a premiere prime-time movie. So that’s what we tried to do, we’ve got a very differ-ent business than Ron, Michael and Dan, but it seems to workand its gotten a very good response on Madison Avenue andwith the public.
Burns: For us, we haven’t implemented it. It’s just been a cre-ative concept that we are putting out there, testing the watersand gotten good feedback. That would be advertiser integrationinto our promo spots. So it would be organic, because we wouldutilize either the storyline, the actors or the characters to dosome kind of storyline that would promote the product as well asthe show.
Goldstein: I think in the beginning, there was a real rejectionof any of that. What’s interesting, and we had to do this at theWB when we were there, we needed to get noticed and weneeded to have our advertisers get something from us that theycouldn’t get elsewhere, so we started doing these integrationsway back then. We did some wraps, but we also did somethings like, for instance, with Verizon during the summertime,we created original content from a series for “Smallville.” Weshot things going on and played it back to the audiences ontheir cell phone with where we left off in the cliffhanger.
There was content being driven to them early on, before a lotof people were doing this. We’re talking about five or six yearsago. So that was a necessity for us at the time, and other peoplebasically didn’t need to do it. We did, and now it’s interestingthat it’s come full circle so your sales people are coming to yousaying, “Have you got an idea? What can we do for this?” Now,even the advertisers are saying, “I’ve got a production unit thatneeds to go to work and do this. We’ll do it.” So now it’s inter-esting that you’re getting that creative contribution from bothends of the spectrum. l
SPECIAL REPORT: Roundtable
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Goldstein noted that advertisers are steppingup as key contributors to creative promotion.
According to Vamosy, the best way to stay relevant during staff cut-backs is to stay busy, even if you’re not being paid for the work.
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The Global Game Industry Network
FUT_Games_BriefAd_v3.indd 1 3/5/09 3:05:47 PM
BY WAYNE FRIEDMANUnlike many television networks’ cause-
related marketing efforts, green campaignsare no-brainers. They provide good PR, view-er support and have plenty of on-air talentbehind them. But it has one major problem.
“The challenge is how to keep it going allyear long,” said Vince Manze, who spear-headed one of the biggest green marketingefforts by a TV company, NBC’s “Green is Uni-versal” campaign while president and cre-ative director of The NBC Agency.
For many media companies, basic year-round efforts come down to a green websitewith periodic on-air reminders about how to“green” your routine. Not only that, but greenefforts offer up a bit of internal “greening” —ideas on how to make TV productions moregreen.
Helping fund this process are major TVmarketers, such as SC Johnson, the consumerproducts company who has made a big com-mitment across a number of TV-related greenprograms, and carmakers such as GeneralMotors and Subaru.
Showing their commitment for long-last-ing green efforts, many TV and Hollywoodcompanies have taken this one step furtherby throwing down the gauntlet with goals tobe carbon neutral in a few short years.
With this goal in mind, Joshua Marks,executive director of special event produc-tion and creative services for Fox Broad-casting Corporation, said much of Fox’swork in green marketing comes from with-in. Fox has a whole site of greening tips forTV producers, writers and production per-sonnel to use.
Suggestions include using rental setswhenever possible, as well as working green-based products into storyline.
While green routine suggestion sites areimportant, entertainment marketers say thisshould go further. NBC’s Beth Colleton, VP of“Green is Universal” said while NBC hasgreen tips on its Green Is Universal website,the ultimate goal is to make green effortseventually transparent.
“We want this to be an economic innova-
tion,” said Colleton. “It’s got to beomnipresent and integrated.”
Unlike other media companies, NBC hasproduced a plethora of green events for TVviewers. For the past two years, especiallyaround the company’s “Green Week” inNovember, the network has offered up awide-range of green TV show initiativesacross its platforms.
NBC partnered up with marketers in anumber of areas: Subaru co-sponsored a PSAwith “Heroes” star Masi Oka. Nutritional barmaker Soy Joy launched their product lastyear in conjunction with “Green Week.”
Colleton said many television marketershave decided being green is a long term proj-ect which, in turn, aids NBC’s efforts.
“This has been woven into the fabric ofcompanies’ businesses,” she said.
Young-skewing network The CW has usedits core audience as the jumping off point forits efforts ever since the network started uptwo and a half years ago. It didn’t hurt thatthe new network’s primary color is green forall on- and off-air graphics, or that The CW’starget demo, young adults and specificallyyoung females, have a keen interest in greenmarketing.
Rick Haskins, EVP of marketing for The CWsaid while previous young viewers, such asGeneration X, were interested in green activi-ties, few really did anything about it.
“It was the next generation who was notonly interested (in being green), they tendedto be active advocates,” he said.
If the goal is how to keep green market-ing campaigns humming all year round, mar-keters say it’s tough to outdo Discovery’s“Planet Green,” which launched in mid-2008as a 24-hour green TV network.
Planet Green obviously believes in greenmarketing and programming as a long termeffort, and Planet Green’s SVP of marketing,Tom Carr, believes that message is evenmore important these days.
“We know that in these (difficult) eco-nomic times it is more about communicatingconsumer behavior,” Carr said. “Thriftiness isabout being green.” l
Green HousesGet Big ReturnsSTUDIOS FINDING ROUTES TO MAXIMIZEENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY CAMPAIGNS
SPECIAL REPORT: Green Marketing
36 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
Sundance’s “The Green”In 2007, long before Discovery’s “Planet
Green,” the Sundance Channel became thefirst cable network to offer an ongoing greenprogramming slate entitled “The Green.”
Much of its efforts surrounded its ongo-ing umbrella green series, “Big Ideas for aSmall Planet.” Sundance’s effort comes from13 weeks of original green programmingthat begins around April of each year. Forsponsors, Sundance had Lexus and CitiSmith Barney.
Sundance also offers on-air news seg-ments called “Eco-Biz,” which exploresfinancial environmental issues, and “TheEcoists,” where celebrity activists, includingSheryl Crow, Laurie David, Carole King,Stephanie Powers and Kerry Washingtontalk green.
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The CW’s Free 2 B GreenWeb Destination
The CW morphed its “Free ToBe…” network brand line into a“Free 2 B Green” marketing site,with SC Johnson, makers of Windexand other household products, asits main sponsor.
This included on-air PSAs fromits entire lineup of show talent—from “Gossip Girl” to “Reaper”—offering up tips on saving big whengoing green.
While many entertainment web-sites have plenty of tips on how tosave energy, The CW also offers up acarbon calculator as well. Drive12,000 miles and know you are pro-ducing about 12,200 pounds of car-bon dioxide.
Fox’s Teen Choice AwardsFossil fuel-saving TV productions of the future will look back at
what Fox did this past August with the first biodiesel power-run TVshow, “The Teen Choice Awards,” as revolutionary.
Red carpet? Not here. Instead an environmental-friendly, recycla-ble blue carpet rug was used for its guests parade on. The carpetwas rented, to be used again, of course.
Fox went a step further—literally. To all those participants of theaward show that took public transportation to the event in Univer-sal City, Calif., there was a complimentary gift courtesy of GlobalInheritance, a non-profit organization. Show sponsors Neutrogena,JCPenney and Dr. Pepper provided the gifts.
HGTV’s Green Home Giveaway
For more than 10 years,HGTV has been givingaway multi-million dollardream homes. In 2008, itadded green homes tosweepstake efforts.
The first green abodewas at Hilton Head Island,S.C., and in 2009, HGTV isbuilding another in Port St.Lucie, Fla. On-air and websponsors have includedShaw Industries, Sears,General Motors and Kohler—companies that also hadproducts featured in theprogramming.
A key extra feature isHGTV’s Green Pro sitearea for building profes-sionals, which discussesmodest room constructionto “human scale,” andhomes with solar tubesand eco-friendly recyclednylon carpets.
Planet Green’s “Greensburg”Planet Green, an entire network built
around a green theme, is in itself a massentertainment green marketing message.But one show in particular stands out —“Greensburg” from actor and activistLeonardo DiCaprio.
The show is about the perfect greenmarketing brand-named Kansas town,which was hit by a heavily destructive F5tornado in 2001, and forced to reconstruct.Rebuilding the town gave residents a cleanslate to start over as a total green communi-ty. General Motors, who had a car dealer-ship in the town and is a subject of theshow itself, decided to be a major sponsor.
Viewers of “Greensburg” are asked viaan ad on the show’s website to contributeto town’s fundraising efforts.
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BY WAYNE FRIEDMANSlowing work and lower pricing has hit the television promo-
tion and marketing agency business as agency executives grapplefor answers to stay afloat in a weakening economy.
“People are cutting budgets and our margins are getting cut,”said Chris Sloan, president of Miami-based 2C Media Inc.
For example, Sloan said a typical advertising package for a syn-dication off-network show keeps getting cut. A package of televi-sion promos that includes 10 and 15 second spots has been cutdramatically in half over the last several years from a high of $7,500to around $3,000.
What to do? Diversify said Sloan. His agency has done a varietyof other marketing work – upfront video presentations, NATPE salestapes, on-air cable marketing and even web series show promos.
Blake Bryant, SVP of marketing for Buena Vista Television saidthat at best “marketing projects are stagnant.”
“It’s challenging right now,” Bryant said. “There are not a wholelot of projects out there.”
This is especially true when it comes to new syndicated shows,where only a handful of shows will be launched next season. Few-er of the better paying off-network syndication shows have also
been trimmed this year.Many problems for promotion agencies are the same ones that
television programmers have had for years—a fractionalization ofthe audience.
“With diversified viewing audiences, you have to pick your pri-ority,” said Bryant. “No companies have the dollars to fund every-thing. You have to pick your tent-poles.”
Not helping is the fact that technology has become more effi-cient for television clients. Sloan noted that “anyone with an Avidworking out of their garage” can be a competitor.
To stay ahead, bigger promotion companies such as Studio City,in Studio City, Calif. have made some major investments in highend HD editing equipment that they are hoping will separate itfrom single entrepreneur companies.
While some promotion agencies are feeling the pain, others aremaking gains —- all because certain studios are outsourcing workand through increased share in a stagnant market.
Stu Weiss, president of Studio City, said they currently havesome 19 projects.
“We have never had more product,” said Weiss. “Every studio hasbeen hit with layoffs. All the work still has to get done.”
Now, he notes because of some outsourcing—in part due tothe economy—his agency could be close again to doing long-termnetwork deals.
Even with all his good fortune, Weiss is leery: “We are waitingfor that other big shoe to fall out of the sky.” l
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SPECIAL REPORT: Promo Houses
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In order to get the greatest perspective of both the challenges andthe triumphs facing the television promotion industry, brief spoke withexecutives around the world on the issues facing their business, aswell as their philosophies toward projects.
Below, you will find snapshots of 10 companies from Boston to LA,from Europe to Australia, that gauge the road ahead for these busi-nesses.
Motion FoundryFounded: 2005 by Alex
Edwards and Gregory LoweBased in: Sydney, AustraliaRecent clients: Channel 9, the
7 Network, Network TEN, Discov-ery Channel, Australia Network
www.motionfoundry.com.auMotion Foundry has become
one of Australia’s leading promohouses and creative studiossince co-founders Alex Edwardsand Gregory Lowe establishedthe business in 2005. Edwards,who serves as the company’screative director, and Lowe, who is director of production, broughtwith them more than 20 years experience in design and production.The company generally staffs between two and 15 people, dependingon the complexity and timelines of the projects.
On project philosophy: “We always put the client’s needs first. Wehave to give them a solution to their problem,” said Edwards. ”There’sno point creating something beautiful for the showreel that doesn’twork for the client, or it’ll be rejected. The trick is to find that magiccombination of producing something original and creatively satisfying,which is also effective in terms of answering the clients brief.”
On challenges facing promo houses: “Remaining profitable in anindustry where budgets are shrinking,” he said. “Competition is alsoextremely high as there are so many talented,small companies and individuals. Ten years ago,you might have needed some seriously expensivekit, but now, anyone can produce this kind ofwork on a desktop PC that costs $2,000. The keyto getting the work is your interpretation of thebrief and your ideas. That’s what your clients willkeep coming back for.”
spark CreativeFounded: 2002 by Elaine CantwellBased in: Santa Monica, Calif.Recent clients: ION, ABC, Showtime, Hallmark
Channelwww.sparkcreativeinc.comUnder the leadership of Elaine Cantwell, spark
provides powerful branding, marketing and pro-motional campaigns for broadcast and commer-cial clients worldwide. Following a decade ofexperience in design and art direction, Cantwell notes that the companyis lean by design, enabling them to expand or contract according toproject needs.
On importance of chemistry with the client: “It’s about listening,”said Cantwell. “The largest part of my job is listening to people andhearing what they have to say. Once we start a project with a client, ifthey are open, we can build a rapport with then quickly. This allows us
to find a creative solution that is much more on target with them. It alsomakes working together that much more enjoyable, because we canthen visualize what’s in their head by putting words, images and soundto what their brand needed to say. We have a lot of clients we’veworked with for a long time, and once we build that chemistry, the sec-ond , fourth and sixth projects are easier because that history is there.”
On economic impact on brands: “TV brands are constantly evolv-ing, especially as they become interactive,” she said. “It’s up to us tohear what the brand has to say at that time. Of course, given the econo-my, we need to listen even harder now and figure out the smartest wayto approach their needs. That’s an advantage of being nimble, becausewe can be chameleon-like and work with those different needs.”
FrameStorming Founded: 1994 by Juan
Rodríguez de Sadia and José BarrioBased in: Madrid, SpainRecent clients: Disney Channel,
Antena 3 Tv, Canal +, Fox, AXN,Sony Entertainment Television
www.framestorming.comAfter jumping from the promo
department of Antena 3 TV inMadrid, Juan Rodríguez de Sadiaand José Barrio launchedFrameStorming and recently re-organized the company in differentdepartments, which are under theumbrella of the brand ACIDMEDIA.While FrameStorming serves as theproduction company, 2con3 takesthe role of being a low-cost produc-tion office that works for specialtyadvertising with low budgets, while
ACID oversees thecreative part of the group and ACIDLIVE events andstreet. In addition, the promo house has addedFrameStorming Cine for long-content TV and theatricalswith two documentaries last year and a fiction projectcoming up in 2010. The company has a core group of14 with an average of 20 freelancers also in the mix atany given time.
On the philosophy of a great promo: “A great pro-mo is about being able to surprise,” said Barrio. “Tosurprise the audience is the most important. If we areable to surprise him or her, our promo will come out ofall the ad noise. It will be unique, It will be remem-bered and It will be notorious.”
On the timeframe for a great campaign: “We baseall our energy into a good idea,” he said. “When a jobenters ACID, all the creative department gets the infoand take home and sleep on it. The next day, we putthe ideas together and select the two best approaches.Then we work in those lines until we are ready to go
into production. Depending of the project the creative process mighttake weeks (a season campaign) or minutes.”
Stun CreativeFounded: 2000 by Brad Roth and Mark FeldsteinBased in: Los Angeles
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Recent clients: ABC, Bravo, TBS,TNT, FX, MTV, E!
www.stuncreative.comAfter launching their business in a
small office next to a tape room, Rothand Feldman have grown and fine-tuned their company to handle creativedevelopment, as well as execution, andto act as both agency and productioncompany, which allows them to serveclients with varying budgetary and out-reach needs. In addition, the companylaunched motion graphics design studioBuster Graphics four years ago. Afterstarting with five people in 2000, StunCreative hovers around 65 people now.
On the importance of flexibility: “What’s exciting is that we don’thave one look,” said Roth. “Some shots you can look at and know itwas done by company ‘X’. We like to have variety and work with differ-ent types of people. In addition, it allows us to keep high-level caliberpeople in-house because they don’t get bored since they are workingon different types of projects.”
On the evolution of the company: “As we’ve grown and evolvedand developed, besides the on-air campaign, we moved into brand-integrated spots as well as cross platform extensions that provide awide range of possibilities across the board,” said Feldman. “As part ofour growth, we built a design stu-dio (which allowed us to getinvolved with digital original con-tent), and have been repping anddeveloping original series. Thisnow allows us to be creative in adifferent way, as well as get ourclients what they want for themoney they have.”
2C Media, IncFounded: 2005 by Chris SloanBased in: MiamiRecent clients: CBS, NBC,
MyNetwork TV, The WeatherChannel
www.2cmedia.comWith more than two decades
of experience in television pro-gramming and promotion, ChrisSloan turned a resume of seniorlevel executive positions at thelikes of NBC, USA and Discovery into 2C Media, which specializes inhigh-end promos, campaigns, ad integration, interstitials, andgraphic design from the company’s all-HD facility. While based out-side the Hollywood mainstream of New York or Los Angeles, Sloanmaintains that his location works to his benefit.
On the advantages of Miami: “Content speaks a number of dif-ferent languages,” said Sloan. “While we are outside of the industrycenters, we are able to gather a bunch of different perspectives andstill deliver high-quality NY/LA type of work. We have the top adschool in the country down here, plus we are able to use our networkof writers form all over the country.”
On the type of people who thrive in the business: “People getin this business not because they want to make a lot of money, peo-
ple get in this business becausethey love it,” said Sloan. “However,this economic climate has madepeople afraid to have fun. Every-thing is so serious and heavy andthat suffocates creativity. Weshould, instead be utilizing slashedbudgets to our advantage to findnew and better ways to reachaudiences.”
Bruce Dunlop & Associates Founded: 1999 by Bruce Dun-
lopBased in: London with offices
in Munich, Germany; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Singapore and Syd-ney, Australia
Recent Clients: ESPN America, Starhub, CBC, Sky Italiawww.brucedunlop.comCo-founded in 1999 by Bruce Dunlop, BDA has grown from its
original three founders more than 100 employees in five locationsaround the world. Specializing in news and sports, BDA has become aworldwide creative company.
On why BDA specializes in news and sports: “I have always lovednews and sport, having worked on both as a director through my
career,” said Dunlop. “Any business should exploit what they'regood at, and we have a good track record for designing Newsand Sports channels. Broadcasters have a long term investmentin both of these areas so they will spend what’s required to get itright and amortize that investment over many years.”
On the inspiration for founding BDA: “I’ve always believedin the talents of ‘Television People’ and was keen to prove that TVpromotions and design could be the cornerstone for a business,”said Dunlop. “I started my career in advertising and left it aftertwo years because I thought it was full of wankers. Our area of TVis a much more honest business. When I started in TV in Australiain the 60’s, there were no promo departments, only show pro-ducers who cared enough to cut some scenes together to flogtheir program, that’s when I discovered that there was a job todo, and that’s what I did.”
Tooth+NailFounded: 2008 by Marilyn Kass and Linda ButtonBased in: BostonRecent Clients: Food Network, BIO, Oxygen, CNNwww.tooth-and-nail.com
Personality is the driving force behind the one-year-oldstrategy and branding agencyTooth+Nail. Founded by CreativePartners Marilyn Kass and Linda But-ton, formally of Smash Advertising,the company focuses on helping net-works best express themselves toboth consumers and advertisers byhighlighting their true personality.
On how personality is impor-tant when it comes to branding anetwork: “Personality is whatattracts us to people,” said Button.“You like someone based on their
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personality and it connects people. Personality is also what connectssomeone to a brand. We really feel like it’s the age of personalitybecause you have social media. You have Facebook and Twitter and somany ways of reaching a consumer now that personality really has topervade everything. We help our clients to express their personality.”
On approaching a campaign: “It’s really a part of our process that wethink brings success to our client,” said Kass. “We have our own specialbrief that we do, even if our client comes with a brief, we create our own,and we really engage our client in the whole process creatively. It’s a col-laborative process, so ourapproach is that we reallywork closely with our client,not only in the creativebrief stage, but throughoutcertain tough points. That Ithink creates a sense of ashared exploration and ashared discovery.”
Studio CityFounded: 1995 by Stu
WeissBased in: Studio City,
Calif. and New York CityRecent Clients: Disney
ABC Domestic Television,CBS Television Distribution,Sony Computer Entertain-ment America, NBC
www.studiocity.comStu Weiss, president
and founder of promotion agency Studio City, brought more thaneight years experience of doing primetime promotions for NBC withhim when he launched the company more than 14 years ago. Weissnow uses that experience to approach work for nearly every majorentertainment agency studio.
On how the company stays fresh: “I think what’s set us apart isthat we’ve really kept ourselves young,” Weiss said. “We’ve promotedfrom within and have young people coming to our company from allover the country. Our diversity and our youth has really kept Studio Cityperpetually young.”
On doing daytime promos: “We position ourselves as your day-inand your day-out company—as a daily topical house,” said Weiss.“Here’s the challenge that we have. When you have 170 episodes, theclient is paying for fresh creative everyday and you’d better give it to them.We do not have a formula and we nev-er did. We don’t do cookie cutter. Wedon’t do ‘On the next show...’ We reallytry to give our clients 170 differentcampaigns daily. 170 different ways toapproach it so they don’t look at Tues-day’s spot and it looks like last Mon-day’s spot.”
Anatomy MediaFounded: 2001 by Mark Valentine
and Gabriella MirabelliBased in: New York CityRecent Clients: MSG Network,
Comcast Sports, Ion Television, Bravowww.anatomymedia.comAfter launching the on-air promotions department for CNBC and
spending eight years with Lee Hunt Associates, Mark Valentine co-founded creative services agency Anatomy Media with partner GabriellaMirabelli, who has a background in film and theatre and previouslyworked with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Today, Anatomy Media does pro-motion and marketing projects ranging from movie trailers to imagecampaigns.
On creative inspirations: “These days, we’re all working at ourown companies and sometimes it’s hard to see what’s going on inthe industry,” said Valentine. “There’s so much produced on so manydifferent platforms that it’s hard to see everything. I love seeing otherstuff and seeing how other people approach things. How theyapproach a creative idea and solve it. The other place I’m inspiredfrom is things outside the industry, just in real life. Seeing the waypeople interact with each other. Going to museums and spendingtime with my kids. Seeing how they look at the world and how theysee things is truly inspiring because they just don’t have the samecontext and perspective.”
On working with clients in the television industry: “Our clients arespecial because they’re educated buyers,” he said. “They understandwhat we’re doing, so you really have to be up on your game to dealwith them because they deal with this every day, so when they reachout to us, they expect us to be up on our‘A’ game. Our job is really to make lifeeasier for them. Our goal is to do greatwork and make them look good. “
Blue RoomFounded: 2002 by Chris Gargani,
David Gargani and Brian AumuellerBased in: New York CityRecent Clients: ESPN, Animal Planet,
IFC, YES Networkwww.blueroomnyc.comOriginally founded as a music house
in 2002 by CEO/Executive Producer ChrisGargani, Creative Director BrianAumueller and Editorial Director DavidGargani, Blue Room expanded to editori-al before evolving into motion graphics and design. It has grown to astaff of 10 and continues to adapt to the ever-changing industry.
On the best part of working in the promo industry: “It willsound cliché, but one of the most gratifying things for us is watch-ing something our team has created transcend its promo roots andbecome something of a micro phenomenon,” said Aumueller. “Thisis rare, and it’s very exciting. We saw something like this happenwith’Fantasy Files,’ which has taken on its own life on the inter-net.”
On major changes in the industry? “There are beautifulthings happening with the fusion of media formats, as well asthe democratization of creative ideas on the Web,” saidAumueller. “The sheer number of tools available, both to profes-sional companies and the consumer, as well as the unexpectedways people are using these tools, are redefining art itself. Thisalso means that trends are shifting at lightning fast speeds, sotapping into and embracing the right trends becomes the chal-lenge. I would keep my eye on the evolution of interactivity,specifically in regards to new developments in areas like aug-mented reality.” l
SPECIAL REPORT: Promo Houses
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YOURGAME
Our audience of over 32 million*
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BY SHANNA GREENSometimes, it pays to be mature.As the video game industry has grown
exponentially, it has also evolved into some-thing new. Video games are no longer just forteenage boys. They’re for their grandmothers,dads and little sisters too. From the peoplewho play, to the games themselves, the videogame industry is rapidly changing andexpanding to accommodate everyone whowants to play. How marketers can keep upand “Master the Momentum” is at the core ofthis year’s annual MI6 Video Game MarketingConference, April 8, in San Francisco.
Nintendo’s Wii has been one of the driv-ing forces behind the change in the industry,said Michael Pachter, Managing Director ofResearch, Entertainment Software, Publishingand Retail/Movies and Entertainment forWedbush Morgan Securities.
“Had there been no Wii, and Nintendo hadgotten out of the industry before now, thegame industry would be suffering,” saidPachter, who will be hosting this year’s MI6Gaming 20/20 panel. “I actually think thecasual gamers saved the early part of this cycleand I think they’re going to save the late part.”
Pachter said that the Wii’s general afford-
Video Game MarketersPlaying to a Full House
CASUAL GAMERS BRINGING NEW BLOOD TO A THRIVING INDUSTRY
MI6 Preview
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ability is part of what expanded the mar-ket. It’s not that the Wii is replacing thehard-core gamer and their PS3s andXboxes, but that many hard-core gamerswaiting for the price point of those con-soles to come down. Meanwhile, the rel-atively affordable Wii has been able tointroduce new players who previouslyhadn’t chosen video games as an enter-tainment pastime, into the industry.
Seth Hendrix, producer for Trailer Park’svideo game division, who has worked withclients such as Ubisoft, Disney Interactive,Activision, and Sony, said that the other bigthing that’s changed the mainstream play-er is the introduction of simulation gamessuch as “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.”These games have a wide appeal to audi-ences, Hendrix said, because they’re ableto have an interactive experience unlikejust watching a movie.
Craig Relyea, Disney Interactive Stu-dios’ SVP, Global Marketing agreed thatsocial, interactive games will continue tobe a large part of the playing field.
“Three things I know we'll see contin-uing in the future are games that providea greater degree of social interaction, thecontinuing evolution of gaming that imi-tates real-life movements, and furtheradoption of digital distribu-tion in various
forms,” Relyea said. “What I'm most excit-ed about, however, is the further evolu-tion of creativity in this medium -- to thispoint, I think we've only scratched thesurface of what's possible.”
The key though is to know your audi-ence, said executives. As video gamesbecome more and more mainstream andmarketers look past the hardcore gamers,they must also consider what sells to themainstream consumer. Having endorse-ments by actors and other celebrities isgetting some titles more notice and newfans, but marketers can’t use theseendorsements the same way theyapproach their hard-core audience.
“What the gaming industry is missingis that you can’t address someone whoknows who Carrie Underwood is thesame way you address someone whoknows who Slash or Nine Inch Nails,”said Pachter.
Of course, knowing your audiencedoesn’t necessarily mean being that audi-ence. At Trailer Park, Hendrix said thatmany clients ask them how three guys intheir late 20s and early 30s go about mar-keting a game to young girls.
“At its very foundation, marketing iseffective across the board. It’s all the same.We don’t have to be 14-year-old girls tosell to a 14-year-old girl,” said Hendrix.“Looking at it how can we market to this
audience is looking at it a lit-tle backward. You shouldreally look at it from the
core and how do we marketthis game specifically.”
The other thing for adver-tisers to be focusing on is how
to bring new gamers in with-out a big, traditional launch.
Now that video games areno longer looking to big
events like E3 to intro-duce their new titles,
releasing content bit
Publishers Have aRenewed Passion toMake Great Games
What major changes haveyou seen in the video gameindustry in the last 10 years?
The retail sector of PC gamesis certainly giving way to thegrowing console business.When I first started in the gamebusiness, PC games were a lotbigger. PC games have retailedfor a lot bigger, and now they’vemigrated toward a more onlinemodel. Sony was new to the game businesswhen I first got here, and they’re not a rookieanymore. Microsoft has gotten into the consolebusiness, which they weren’t in before either. Thebig difference is the players have changed. Segahas left the hardware business, and Sony andMicrosoft have come in. The only constant thereis Nintendo.
What changes do you see currently takingplace, and what changes do you anticipate?
The growing variety of the product offering hasbeen really dramatic in the last couple of years. Themusic genre has been born and exploded in a bigway. The girl’s market has really taken off on certainplatforms. Women are buying video games now, sothere’s that casual female adult consumer comingin. This is really very recent that this genre hasbecome a part of our revenue stream.
With all of the downloadable content beingproduced, do you think consumers will bemore focused on one game or one brand?
I think that every publisher is trying to figureout how to get more revenue per customer. Itmight not be about raising game prices, it may beabout offering another layer to the experience,and the best way to do that, to get any incremen-tal money is in the digital space. It’s such that Ithink there is a growing momentum toward aservice-oriented side where you’re going to bedealing directly with your customers. For now, it’swith additional downloadable content.
Why do you think the video game industryis growing so quickly? Is the audience actuallygrowing or is it that as more content comesout, it appeals to more people?
Definitely, a large part of the growth this year,if you look at the space, is new consumers, but ifyou look at the quality of the games that cameout this year, I also think there’s a renewed com-mitment of game publishers to making greatgames. There’s so many awesome products thisyear, that when you talk about being recessionproof, I think that’s where you see it. Great prod-ucts yield great numbers. l
—Tony Key is the SVP, Sales and Marketing,U.S. Ubisoft
Q&A: MI6 Board of Governors Co-Chairman Tony Key
Nintendo DS
Halo 3
Tony Key
44_47 MI6preview.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 1:45 AM Page 2
MI6 PreviewHighlights of the 2009MI6 Conference:Casual to the Core
Redefining the Gaming Dynamic: Anexploration into the redefinition of the “videogame” and a look into the seismic “casual”shift in marketing to the preconceived gameculture.
Crack the Social Marketing Code From Facebook to Twitter to proprietary
platforms a unique panel of experts will ana-lyze the social marketing paradigm andassess the strategies that successfully inte-grate the brand.
Getting to the Core of the MMO Hardcore A deep and thorough case study exploringthe multi-faceted and enormously successfullaunch of Sony Online Entertainment’sMMO.
PR Rules of EngagementA discussion around effective strategies,
innovative techniques and getting the mostfrom the unpaid media.
Game Marketing Innovations 2008 World-renowned creative boutique,
Mekanism takes you on a creative journeythrough the world’s most innovative videogame-based advertising, marketing and cre-ative communications.
Gaming 20/20A lively conversation with the top deci-
sion makers in the video game businessabout mastering their momentum. l
April 8, 2009, Grand Hyatt, San Francisco
by bit through viral campaign and on siteslike YouTube has become the wave of thefuture.
“We are being inundated constantly withadvertising, and I think you really have torespect your audience and realize that they’remedia savvy,” said Trailer Park’s AssociateProducer Mitch Cohen. “Give them some-thing that you know they’re going to want tohold on to. If you give them something a littlespecial, something that speaks to them, that’swhat’s going to speak to them.”
Hendrix agreed that marketers are get-ting away from traditional marketing cam-paigns in favor of more viral tactics.
“It used to be that when you had a gamecoming out, you’d do a teaser trailer and alaunch trailer and a movie trailer,” said Hen-drix. “What I think is really the new trend ishitting people from every angle and gettingmore and more work out there.”
And once new players are introduced toa game, the next question is how to keepthem loyal to it.
“Downloadable content is the wave ofthe future for a lot of developers and pub-lishers,” said Hendrix. “You used to see agame just released, everybody would buy abig wave of the game and then it would justdisappear and you would see it in the $5bin at GameStop, but it’s different now,when you buy a game, you’re not just buy-ing an experience that exits in that box,you’re buying a portal into ongoing experi-ences. When you buy ‘Guitar Hero,’ and
every two or three months, a new pack ofsongs is released and you pay another 10dollars and another ten dollars and it’s anongoing game. It’s endless.”
Pachter warned that marketers need to beaware it’s not just about balancing the hard-core gamer with the new, casual one. LikeMcDonalds, which has evolved from ateenager hangout with cheap fast food to adinner stop for families, marketers must keepup with consumers who grew up with games.
“The day that we lose site of the fact thatgames are becoming regular consumers isthe day we’re history,” said Pachter. “If wemarket to gamers as if they’re going to be14 forever, we’re toast.” l
46 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
EA’s “Madden NFL”
44_47 MI6preview.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 1:46 AM Page 3
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at this year’s conference?
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Become a Promax|BDA member, and not only will you save on registration, you’ll also have access to a bunch of cool perks—like networking opportunities, professional and educational development workshops and a lot of new benefits coming in 2009.
And the timing couldn’t be better to join.
For promotion, marketing and design professionals, having access to a community of like-minded colleagues has never been more important. With thousands of members around the world, Promax|BDA is an essential part of your success.As a member-supported non-profit organization, Promax|BDA depends on your support.
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MI6 Board of Governors 2009
As MI6 enters its fourth year, the 2009 Board of Governors extendsthe organization’s run on tapping some of the best and brightestminds in the interactive entertainment industry. From Capcom andUbisoft to Electronic Arts and Activision, these executives represent the driving forces advancing video game marketing.
MI6 2009Sarah AndersonSVP, Marketing2K Games
Sarah joined 2K, a division of Take-Two Interactive, in May 2005 and serves as the SVP of marketingwhere she leads global marketing for 2K’s labels. A veteran in the interactive entertainment industry,Sarah brings more than 17 years of experience managing marketing and communications for games andnew media. In addition to 2K, she has worked at Sega of America, SegaSoft Networks, Egreetings Net-work, Acclaim Entertainment and Kuma Games.
Ira BeckerCEO and Co-FounderWhat They Like, Inc.
Ira is CEO and co-founder of What They Like, Inc. The company’s first product, What They Play, is theparents guide to video games. As the most comprehensive resource of its kind, What They Play providesparents with expert insight into the themes and content of hundreds of today’s most popular interactiveentertainment products. Prior to What They Like, Ira was EVP and general manager of the 1UP Network atZiff Davis Game Group. He also served as VP of business development for Ziff Davis, overseeing strategicalliances and mergers and acquisition opportunities for the company. Ira began his career at Ziff Davis in1989, holding sales positions at various brands including PC Magazine.
Michael Benson Promax|BDA ChairmanEVP, Marketing ABC Entertainment
Michael was named EVP, marketing for ABC Entertainment in February 2007. In this position, he over-sees, along with Marla Provencio, all marketing activities for ABC’s Primetime and Late-Night lineup,while also establishing the tone and brand for the ABC Television Network. His duties include oversightand strategic planning, creative development and implementation of all on-air and off-air marketing,advertising and promotional campaigns for all ABC Entertainment programming, including scripted andreality series, alternative programming, movies and specials. He began his employment at ABC Entertain-ment as SVP, advertising and promotion, in June 1998. Michael joined ABC from VH1/MTV Networks,where he’d been SVP, promotion & program planning since January 1996.
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Carolyn FeinsteinGroup VP, Consumer Marketing Electronic Arts
As group VP of consumer marketing, Carolyn is responsible for the management of all consumer mar-keting activities for Electronic Arts in North America. Leading a dynamic team of creative marketers andthe largest advertising budget of any independent videogame publisher in the world, she is responsiblefor all of EA’s Advertising, Campaign Management, Entertainment Marketing, Sports Marketing, LifestyleMarketing, Consumer Research, Design and Creative Services in North America.
Prior to her current position, Feinstein was the director of sports marketing for key EA SPORTS fran-chises including: Madden Football, NCAA Football, Knockout Kings, NASCAR, Supercross and Formula 1.
Kay GruenwoldtHead of Title MarketingNokia
As head of the North American Marketing Team for NOKIA Games, Kay is responsible for the develop-ment and execution of compelling and engaging marketing campaigns, creating and developing gamesbrands that appeal to a broad range of consumers. Kay also has B2B marketing responsibility managingpartnerships with organizations like the IMGA and others, and cooperates closely with the internal stake-holders across the Services Organization in Nokia.
Kay joined Nokia in 2004 as a producer for the European Games Publishing, where he was responsi-ble for the production and management of external development teams. In 2005, he joined the Develop-er Relations team, and took over Global Industry Marketing for N-Gage in 2006 as the interface to themobile games development community.
Mona HamiltonVP of MarketingCapcom Entertainment
As the VP of marketing for Capcom Entertainment, Mona leads all marketing efforts for Capcom inNorth America. She was previously the VP of marketing for Midway Games and a group brand managerat Ubisoft, and has worked with an array of acclaimed videogames brands, including “Prince of Persia,”“Mortal Kombat,” “Resident Evil” and “Street Fighter.” An industry veteran with more than 15 years ofconsumer entertainment experience, Hamilton’s background is in consumer packaged goods, where sheworked in product development and buying within the gift and toy industries.
Geoff KeighleyEvangelistGameslice
Geoff has covered the videogame business for 14 years and serves as a contributing writer to Enter-tainment Weekly and Business 2.0. He is also the host of SpikeTV’s “GTTV,” the top-rated videogameshow on television, as well as MTVGameTrailers.com’s “Bonus Round” talk show. He is also the co-chair-man of the Game Critics Awards (the group behind the “Best of E3” awards) and the anchor columniston leading game rental service GameFly.com.
Tony Key Co-ChairmanSVP of Sales & Marketing, U.S.Ubisoft
Tony is Ubisoft’s SVP of sales and marketing. Tony has been with Ubisoft since June 2002, and bringsto the company a diverse background of marketing in the video game and music recording industries.Key has achieved multiple successes while leading Ubisoft’s world-class product marketing, public rela-tions, packaging, promotions and customer relationship management in the U.S., including spearheadingthe marketing and retail growth of Ubisoft’s casual games business. In September 2008, Tony wasnamed Co-Chair of MI6, the leading global non-profit association for video game marketing. Tony is aveteran marketer who worked in the music industry for ten years as artist manager and label executiveand then joined the video game business in 1995 at GT Interactive.
Continued > > >
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50 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
Rob KostichHead of MarketingActivision
Rob is currently head of marketing for licensed products at Activision Blizzard, overseeing various cur-rent franchises as well as new license acquisition for the company. Prior to Activision Blizzard, he workedin a variety of industries from Internet services to consumer packaged goods at companies such asVeriSign, Inc., The Clorox Company and Nestlé USA.
Peter Moore Past ChairmanPresident of EA SportsElectronic Arts
Peter Moore was appointed president of EA Sports in September 2007, taking over strategic leader-ship of one of the most recognized brands in sports and entertainment. In his role as EA Sports presi-dent, Peter is responsible for product development, global product management, marketing and plan-ning for all packaged goods and online offerings for such blockbuster videogame franchises as MaddenNFL, FIFA Soccer, NBA LIVE, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR, NASCAR and more. Peter’s global operation of EASPORTS is anchored by studios in Vancouver, B.C. (EA Canada) and in Orlando, Fla. (EA Tiburon) withmore than a dozen videogame franchises in development.
Kym NelsonVP, Game SalesIGN
As VP of game sales for IGN Entertainment, a division of Fox Interactive Media, Kym oversees adver-tising sales for IGN Games. Kym understands the business of gaming and works to develop strategiesand digital marketing solutions that are designed specifically for marketing videogames. Innovation andcreativity are the focus for leveraging the passionate core gaming audience on IGN and harnessing thepassion of those gamers into impactful evangelist-type activity through the use of integrated content andcommunity building. Kym works closely with her team to deliver strategic media solutions that are smart,impactful and efficient.
David PokressHead of MarketingActivision
From January 2000, David has held various positions at Activision, Inc., an interactive entertainmentcompany, including head of marketing owned business unit, VP of new franchise and business develop-ment, VP of global brand management family entertainment division and director of brand managemententhusiast games. Prior to joining Activision, David held various marketing positions in new productdevelopment, brand management as well as sales at ConAgra Foods, Avery Dennison and NabiscoFoods Group.
Craig RelyeaSVP, Global MarketingDisney Interactive Studios
Craig has been marketing packaged entertainment products and high-profile brands for more than25 years. In his current position as SVP, global marketing, he now oversees worldwide marketing initia-tives for Disney Interactive Studios, part of Disney Interactive Media Group, the division of The Walt Dis-ney Company responsible for the creation and delivery of interactive entertainment and informationalcontent across multiple platforms including online, mobile and video game consoles around the globe.Prior to joining Disney, Craig served as EVP at Creative Domain, where he headed up the agency’s inter-active entertainment division and developed marketing campaigns for numerous clients including Activi-sion, THQ, Ubisoft, Vivendi-Universal and Nissan.
MI6 Board of Governors 2009
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Steven F. RobertsSVP, New Media & Business DevelopmentDIRECTV Entertainment
Steven is a 20-year veteran of the sports, television and entertainment industry and currently servesas the SVP of new media and business development at DIRECTV. He is responsible for managing a widerange of activities focusing on the integration of the traditional DIRECTV entertainment experience on theset-top-box with emerging digital technologies. This includes the delivery of content via the Internet onother platforms such as the PC, mobile and portable devices inside and outside the home. Craig, whowas formerly VP, strategic initiatives and general manager, DIRECTV Entertainment, spearheaded thedevelopment and launch of many new initiatives since he joined the company over three years ago,including the development of DIRECTV’s initial IPTV strategy and its initiative to deliver video content viabroadband to the set-top box for its DIRECTV On Demand service.
Chris SalterCEO and FounderAllegro Multimedia, Inc.
Chris created Allegro Multimedia, and turned the original idea into an enterprise with revenues, sub-stantial channel partners (including Mattel’s Fisher-Price, Suzuki, AOL, among others) and a significantmarket presence. In the process, he managed to assemble a stellar management team and achieved,with very little capital and on a shoestring budget, an enormous number of essential business milestonesin record time. Today, Allegro Multimedia is one of the industry leaders in cutting-edge musical videogame technology and products.
Ricardo SanchezVP, Digital, Animation, Young Adults & Kids MediaTurner Broadcasting Systems, Inc.
Ricardo is the former VP of content and creative director for GameTap. In this role, he was chargedwith overseeing and implementing the content strategy, acquisition management and development ofgames for GameTap. His oversight of the GameTap user experience included licensing games for the net-work, determining development, timing and strategy for new games releases, and developing new titlesfor the GameTap Originals brand. Previously, Ricardo served as VP of publishing at IGN Entertainment,Inc., the leading community-based Internet media and services company for video games. At IGN,Sanchez managed operations for IGN.com, RottenTomatoes.com and GameSpy.com.
Jonathan Simpson-Bint Co-ChairmanPresidentFuture US
Jonathan joined Future Publishing in 1991 and came to the U.S. in 1993 as part of the original FutureNetwork USA management team. Between 1994 and 1999, he launched a number of highly successfulproducts including the magazines Next Generation and PSM: 100% Independent PlayStation Magazine,and web portals IGN.com and DailyRadar.com. In 2001, Jonathan was named president of Future Net-work USA and also served a stint as publisher of Official Xbox Magazine. In 2002, the company turnedits first ever profit since its inception, and has continued to be profitable ever since. Jonathan has over-seen numerous acquisitions for the company including the hugely successful additions of the “GuitarWorld” portfolio and CheatPlanet.com.
Marci Yamaguchi HughesEVP and General ManagerGamePro Media
A 14-year veteran in the video games information space, Marci serves as EVP and general manager ofGamePro Media, publisher of GamePro Magazine and Gamepro.com. She is responsible for overseeingthe overall stewardship of the GamePro brands and all aspects of the online and print businesses. Priorto joining GamePro Media, Marci was SVP of sales and marketing for the game group at Ziff Davis Media,which included 1UP.com, FileFront.com and EGM Magazine (Electronic Gaming Monthly). l
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52 | BRIEF MAGAZINE
Animax General Manager Gregory Ho, WWE Japan VP& General Manager Ed Wells, Wild Boar Media CEOEric Calderon and SPE Networks-Asia Creative DirectorTracy Wong
Du Da Sheng, VP multiplatforms solutionsUnit for StarHub, speaks at the Promax|BDAAsia Conference in Singapore
Activision Publishing President and CEO MikeGriffith speaks at the 2009 International CES
Alan Moskowitz, director of strategic alliances,mobiTV and JT Klepp, business development,Storyz at the brief launch party in Las Vegas
Ben Grossman, editor B&C, Melissa Grego, executive edi-tor, B&C and Josef Adalian, deputy editor, Television-Week at the Promax|BDA brief launch party in Las Vegas
Julie Rothman, VPcommunications,Oxygen Networkand Joe Schlosser,SVP Television dis-tribution and com-munications, NBCUniversal TelevisionDistribution at thebrief launch party
Jorge Balleste, VP ofprogramming for
MGM and MarcelloColtro, SVP of sales &
CMO forMGM Networks Latin
America at the brieflaunch party
Roland Glöckner, RTL2, Joerg Zuber, Managing andCreative Director, OPIUM effect and Andreas Uik-ersa, VP Consumer Marketing, RTL2 at thePromax|BDA Asia party
Graham Perkins, Director, BusinessDevelopment for RUNE Entertain-ment hosts the Promax|BDA AsiaConference in Singapore
52 LLphoto page.qxp:brief magazine 3/10/09 11:55 AM Page 1
: the conference 2009
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LAST LOOK
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Shuffle h i r i n g s , p r o m o t i o n s , p e r s o n n e l a n n o u n c e m e n t s
BroadcastingLorena Alcantara to creative services
director of Hearst’s KITV in Honolulu,Hawaii.
Jeff Ballabon is the new SVP of com-munications for CBS News, based in NewYork City.
Ken Bauer to creative services directorfor Hearst’s ABC duopoly KBHS/KHOG inFort Smith, Ariz.
Clyde Becker to creative services direc-tor at Belo’s ABC affiliate WVEC in theHampton Roads area of Virginia.
David Bell to creative services directorat Sinclair’s CBS affiliate KGAN in CedarRapids, Iowa.
John Disciullo to news director frompromotion manager at Granite’s ABC affili-ate WKBW in Buffalo, N.Y.
Kelly Donnell to creative services direc-tor for Tribune-owned ABC affiliate WGNOin “The Big Easy” New Orleans, La.
Hayley Herst to brand developmentmanager at Denver’s FOX/CW duopolyKDVR and KWGN.
Matt Laws to creative service director atNewport TV’s NBC affiliate WOAI in SanAntonio, Texas.
Todd Long to promotions manager atABC affiliate KAVU TV in Victoria, Texas.
John Moczulski promoted to VP/stationmanager from VP programming and mar-keting at Tribune’s KTLA in Los Angeles.
Heath Myrick to creative services direc-tor of Hearst’s ABC in Palm Beach, Fla.,WPBF.
Aaron Putnam to promotion managerat Cox’s WAXN, an independent in Char-lotte, N.C.
David Saich to creative services directorat Asheville, N.C.’s Sinclair-owned NBC affil-iate WLOS.
Rob Thomas to creative services directorat KATV in Little Rock, Ark.
Phil Wrobel to creative services directorat Nexstar’s NBC affil KARK in Little Rock,Ark.
CableEJ Conklin to VP of marketing for Retire-
ment Living TV.Jim McNulty to senior writer producer
for TLC, part of Discovery Communications.
Laura Michalchyshyn to president andgeneral manager for Discovery’s PlanetGreen.
Shirley Powell, SVP of corporate com-munications for Turner Broadcasting Sys-tem, elected chair of the 2009 board ofdirectors for Women In Cable Television.Also elected to the WICT Board was EllenWest, Warner Cable’s EVP and chief com-munications officer.
AdvertisingAndrew Blacker to SVP, marketing and
research for Screenvision.Timothy Bruns to executive creative
director of Cheil USA.
Mike Leathers and Sarah Pierce arenow both co-creative directors at Los Ange-les-based Trailer Park.
MarketingKaren Barragan to VP for broadcast,
cable and digital programming at Sony Pic-tures Television.
Jay Farrell to president of G2 Promotion-al Marketing.
Dominique Goulet to connector for theWest Coast for Lori Pate +.
Stan Melton, Jr. launched Brown Bag, afull service marketing, advertising and pro-duction aggregator.
Carolina Mendoza to director of mediarelations for Sony Pictures Television, basedin New York City.
Julie Riven to VP of consumer marketingat Bravo Media.
Marc Robertz Schwartz to president andexecutive producer of Orlando, Fla.-basedHometown Health TV.
ProductionDrew Bourneuf to executive producer for
design and creative boutique SALT.Jason Cooper has founded 360 Impact
Branding to provide graphic image packagesto small market stations and groups.
Harry Frank to partner of broadcastdesign and production studio Truxton Pic-tures, formally Royal Pictures.
Steve Holiner to executive producer forVFX, design and animation studio Headlight.
Dan Lombardo to West Coast ExecutiveProducer for With A Twist Studio, a computeranimation and visual effects studio.
Anita Olan to Executive Producer/Gener-al Manager for Imaginary Forces’ New YorkOffice.
In MemoriumBrian James, voice artist, on March 6,
2009. l—As an experienced creative director, pro-
ducer and writer, Kate Bacon serves as own-er of Well Dunne! Talent and is a weekly con-tributor to Broadcasting & Cable. She’s alsothe author of the only blog on entertainmentmarketing at http://welldunne.blogspot.com.
Coming in briefSummer 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
A tribute to a face that sparked acultural phenomenon.
Promax|BDA Conference PreviewWhat to expect when the world’s
leading creatives, designers and mar-keters descend on New York City.
Music and Sound DesignAn in-depth look at cutting edge
music and sound design studios andhow innovative sonic branding iskeeping this generation of marketingprofessionals ahead of the curve.
ESPN 30th AnniversaryHow the world’s sports leader
tuned its message to create destina-tion television and change how maleaudiences are reached. l
Bourneuf Robertz Schwartz Alcantara Bauer Powell Pierce Leathers
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...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Op Ed
The Tales of OdysseusBY STEPHEN M. POLLAN AND MARK LEVINE
Metaphors matter. They help us makesense of the unfamiliar and provide us withthe language and framework to tackle sce-narios we’ve never experienced.
The right metaphor can turn a frighten-ing and unpredictable situation into one
which, while still dangerous, feels likesomething we can handle.
In the past six months, all themetaphors we’ve used to
understand careers and themodels we’ve followed to
navigate the workplacehave ceased to fit.
The career lad-der has crum-
bled. Whatwe once
saw asasteady,incrementalclimb up awell definedroute inside a com-pany, industry or pro-fession, to the summit ofan organization, business oroccupation has been replacedby an erratic, ad hoc scramblefrom one precarious ledge to anoth-er, ultimately resulting in either back-ward slides or, worse, a fall off the cliff.
The workplace team has dissolved. Thegroup of mutually supportive and loyal indi-viduals, whose division of responsibilitiesand combined efforts, honed by years ofjoint labor, enabled them to achieve com-mon goals is dead. In its place is a transientmob of self-serving free agents with lesscohesiveness than a pickup squad.
We need new metaphors, ones whichgive us an opportunity to make sense oftoday’s economic conditions and provide amodel for how we make it through thisrecession with our wits and wallets intact.The ones we’ve been using have a mytho-logical theme.
Our preferred metaphor for careerstoday is the journey rather than the climb.This is more than just a trip up and downhills, through valleys and over plateaus,
although the varied elevations and geogra-phy certainly fits. A journey follows an inter-nal as well as external route and encom-passes stops and starts, twists and turns andforward and backward steps. It’s moreinstinctive than planned, and the endpointis less important than the voyage itself. It isan odyssey.
And who better to serve as a model thanOdysseus, the wiliest of the Greek heroes,who won through guile and prudence moreoften that strength and tenacity. He wasplasticity incarnate, able to take on differentroles at different times. At times, Odysseuswas a great leader. But he could also be a
loyal servant. He was a motivatingmentor and supportive lieu-
tenant. He could act inde-pendently or serve as part
of the council. It takes anOdysseus to survive an
Odyssey.Translating this
mythology intopractical
action isn’tas difficult
as you
mightthink. The key
is flexibility, notjust in behavior butin attitude as well.
Aspiring to the cor-ner office in a volatile,unpredictable environmentis crazy. The odds of gettingthere are longer now than everbefore. And in trying to get there,you’re likely to pass up oppor-tunities that could offergreater emotional andpsychologicalrewards. Your goaltoday should be excellence inwhat you do. Look for chances to improveyour skills rather than chances to improveyour position in the hierarchy.
To paraphrase a therapist’s cliché, youare a human being, not a human working.Your career is still part of your identity, butno longer should it be the most important
part. Your family won’t terminate you aftera single bad quarterly performance. Yourkids won’t replace you with a younger, lessexpensive parent. Get your prioritiesstraight.
Expand, rather than refine your skills.Look for opportunities to move into newareas, to acquire new expertise, rather thanto simply continue down the same path.Added skills and different experiences aretoday more valuable long term thanincreased salary. Compensation nowincludes the chance to learn more andexpand your horizons, not just your wallet.
Higher and forward isn’t always better.There are many times when a lateral oreven retrograde move will end up providinggreater long term opportunities than a stepup the bureaucracy. The higher you climb,the fewer your options and the more youbecome pigeon holed. One step backwardmay not result in two steps forward, but it’sbetter than a step out the door.
Raises aren’t always good news. In today’sworkplace it’s the highest paid, not the mostrecently hired, who’s first out the door.There’s more to compensation than salary,and those non-salary elements rarely showup on the terminator’s radar. Ask for thingsother than cash when it’s time for a raise.
Expand your map. A change of scenerycan more than com-pensate for a reduc-tion in salary. Not onlycould it represent alower cost of living,but it could also helpyou refocus on thecentrality of your liferather than your work.You’re on an odyssey,not a climb. Embracethe detours; thetwists and turns ofeach and every day. Itreally is the journeythat matters. l
Stephen M. Pollanis one of America’s
most trusted and admired financial advi-sors and author of more than a dozenbooks including the national bestseller, DieBroke. Mark Levine has been Stephen Pol-lan’s collaborator for 15 years.
KEEP YOUR GOALS FLEXIBLE TO THRIVE IN THE DOWN MARKET
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