Techie and the Media

Happy New Year's Eve

The best to you and yours.

The Holidays

Happy holidays everyone!

What Did You Say?

 

So, I am experiencing one of my more esoteric moments, thinking about macro issues and how they impact my everyday life at work.

As many of you know, I am a TED (the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference) freak. I love to listen to the podcasts, love to share the knowledge with my friends and am also fortunate enough to be asked to attend this year.

There was one podcast in particular that I came across last week that I have been going over and over in my mind. It had to do with listening.

In 1971, John Francis witnessed an environmental catastrophe that began a journey that lasted 22 years. During those 22 years, he walked, trekked and sailed around North and South America, delivering a message of respect for the Earth. What is most fascinating is not that he did it all on foot, but that for 17 of those 22 years, he was totally silent. And by the way, he earned an M.A. in environmental studies and a Ph.D. in land resources -- all without speaking a word.

Now, I am not suggesting that we all take a vow of silence, but it would be great if we stop and think about what it means to really listen. Every day, we ask people to listen -- listen to the words, ever so carefully scripted -- in TV advertising, to listen to us when we are telling them about the best campaign, the best product, the best service, the best way to save their business, the best way to woo customers, the best interactive application, the best new gizmo or gadget that will save the future of television and advertising. But do we ever really listen to the answers? The feedback? The other person's point of view?

Over the last week, I have made a conscientious effort to listen, not just keep silent waiting for my moment to offer a rebuttal, to offer my opinion, to persuade others of "the better way."

And what I have finally heard is miraculous: If you really take the time to listen, the answers are self-evident. Clients give you the tools to build the winning argument; they will come to the same place as you if you ask more than you preach. In these tumultuous economic times, when markets and futures are uncertain, clients will look to us for help, for understanding, for tolerance and for guidance. We just need to clam up long enough to hear them.

NBC Gambling on Variety Format

In less than two weeks, we have seen the boom and bust of Rosie O'Donnell's variety proof-of-concept special and the announcement that Jay Leno will stay at NBC with a new prime-time week night talk and comedy show. So why all the attention on these shows? Easy, advertising.

Compared with the cost of production and the product integration and sponsorship opportunity of of a scripted series, a weeknight show is a veritable gold mine of opportunity. A word of warning, though: the good ones aren't just about celebrity interviews and off-set antics. The good ones combine format with compelling content. If NBC plays this card right, Leno's show could be one of the most favorable interactive television opportunities of the 2009/2010 season.

How? Let's take a look at some interesting scenarios that could be played out:

1. Interactive voting and polling. From viewers voting on politicians to celebrity outfits to movie ratings to true or false questions, there are two-screen and single screen applications that have been tried, tested and are proving to be true.

2. Off-air product-integrated call to action. Let's think out of the box here. There are iPhone apps, BlackBerry apps, widgets and gidgets -- it's not that hard to figure out some kind of integration with data aggregation on the back-end.

3. In-show interactivity. Have a contest, have a call-in, be the 100th voter and win. Make these interactive features live and really make the show DVR-proof.

Many of you will read this and say that it is easy for an outsider  to come up with all these pie-in-the-sky ideas, but these things are impossible within the "reality" of the television band advertising business, due to real "business" reasons. And the outsider's answer to that would be, quoting Arthur C. Clarke, "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."