just a quick note to announce that the new bonnaroo site i consulted on for threshold just launched yesterday.
it ain’t just your regular music festival website, that’s for sure.
check it out:
just a quick note to announce that the new bonnaroo site i consulted on for threshold just launched yesterday.
it ain’t just your regular music festival website, that’s for sure.
check it out:
“We read to know we are not alone.”
– C.S. Lewis
in retrospect, it’s not so surprising that while i was studying film in college i was also producing art and music events as an extra-curricular activity. i joke that producing a movie and producing an event are pretty much exactly the same process, except with events you only get one take. in both cases what you’re producing is a story and an experience, so the transition, post-college, from film to festivals was, in a sense, really just the transition between one medium of story/experience creation to another.
whether written, filmed, experiential, or any other kind, i think stories in general appeal to us for the same reasons, yet we experience and appreciate them in different ways depending on the medium. just because the book might have been better than the movie, doesn’t mean it would make a better movie to film the pages of the book, dig?
which is the kind of analogy i think about as i read the NYTimes’ recent bit on Quarterlife, “Can NBC Do for ‘Quarterlife’ What YouTube Could Not?”:
Scripts by Marshall Herskovitz, the Emmy award-winning writer and producer, have drawn millions of viewers to movie theaters and television sets over the past two decades.
But on the Internet, where his 36-part series “Quarterlife” is unfolding on social networking sites like MySpace, the audience metrics are starkly different.
Some episodes of “Quarterlife,” a drama about a group of good-looking people in their 20s, have yet to attract 100,000 video views, according to combined view counts from MySpace’s video site and YouTube.
The low traffic numbers are significant because the series has been touted as the first television-quality production for the Web, as well as the first to be introduced online as a warm-up for its network debut. NBC will broadcast “Quarterlife” in one-hour increments beginning in February, and the Web-to-broadcast process is being closely watched as a potential business model for television on the Internet.
i wrote about quarterlife a few months back, before any of the episodes had come out. the prospect of what an “online series” could mean in terms of a new format for creating stories was really exciting to me. i even thought it was pretty neat that the show came with an accompanying online social network app aimed at being a resource for those going through their quarterlife crisis. (at least in theory. i’m not a member on quarterlife.com so i don’t really know for sure, but the impression i got is that the site seeks to facilitate collaborations among the nascent members of the creative class, and if that goal is actually being fulfilled then i sincerely applaud the effort.) that there was no indication at the time about the online series simply being a “warm-up” to a network debut is an interesting aspect unto itself, but there are more interesting things i’d like to talk about, in particular:
The Folly of a “Web-To-Broadcast” Model,
and the Tragically Misguided Concept of “Television on the Internet”
according to the NYTimes article, quarterlife’s sponsors, which include toyota, paid well above standard rates to appear with the series on the web. and perhaps the folks involved with quarterlife may want to consider why it is that they might have been willing to do that.
the same day as the NYTimes asked, “Can Web ventures like “Quarterlife” turn a profit? The answer is unclear,” online media daily reported:
CONSUMERS ARE 47% MORE ENGAGED in ads that run with television programs that they view online than those watched on a TV set, according to new research findings. A cross-media study by Simmons, a unit of Experian Research Services, also found that viewers are 25% more engaged in the content of TV shows that they watch online than on a TV.
what are the chances that toyota, what with their experience with integrating the scion brand into whyville’s online tween world, would have some understanding of the benefits of being on a medium with a much more elevated engagement rate?
as a marketer, one of my favorite things about quarterlife is that the brand integration is so seamless it makes the traditional concept of “product placement” look like cave drawings in comparison. two of the characters on quarterlife, aspiring filmmakers–the pragmatic producer and the visionary director, of course–pitch a local toyota dealership to shoot a commercial for the business. of course when they deliver the ad to the client, the owner of the dealership, says he can’t see his cars enough in the ad. how are people supposed to buy his cars if they can’t see them? so the duo then has to recut the ad to make it less high concept and more car-y, they screen the revised version for their friends, after which one of the other characters–the typically self-righteous activist stereotype who’s being positioned to become the lead character’s love interest–gives them shit for selling out and making a commercial in the first place, and bashes the “corporate hegemony” in the second. after which they deliver the revised ad only to be told it’s STILL not car-y enough, and then get scolded by the dealership owner for not being serious about their business–which is supposed to be helping HIS business sell cars. oh he also tells them that they don’t know what they’re talking about when they insist that the ad is supposed to be selling “the experience” of the car, which i thought was a particularly interesting touch. then after that other things happen, but my point is that this whole time that you’re watching several key plot points and delving into various bits of character and theme development–and this stretches out over several episodes–you’re watching toyota in the show.
it may not be subtle, but then neither was carrie bradshaw’s love for manolo blahniks. that’s the thing about authentic character development now, you and i express ourselves through the brands we buy, so why should it be different for the characters on our favorite shows? in fact, can we even identify with a completely brandless persona in a character-driven series enough to keep watching week after week?
well, to be honest, i don’t know. i haven’t really watched TV since i started college, (except for netflixing the whole run of sex and the city, and going on a 24 bender last year, and 2005 when i lived with some roommates who had a TV set, and i got all into the sopranos) but, i HAVE watched all 14 episodes of quarterlife out as of now. and if i was watching this on TV (well, if i owned a TV and was watching this on it) i think i would love it. i’d be telling my friends to watch it too, it would be significant that a television network had had the vision (or nerve) to create a show about our generation–a generation which is watching less and less TV though, and hence less and less incentive to make content for it, but regardless–if this was on TV, it’d be great!
except it’s not on TV, is it? while we allow a certain suspension of disbelief for the contrived nature of scripted programming on TV we have a dramatically different relationship with online content. we may not expect it to be TRUE, but we don’t expect it to feel artificial either. here TV’s forced quality feels almost…invasive, like getting a friend request from your mom or dad on facebook (or if you prefer: walking into your room to discover your mom or dad already in it). like, TV! what are you DOING in here?
the whole time i was watching those 14 episodes i felt like i was waiting for something to happen. some subtle yet hugely important aspect in the very nature of the show to change. i mean, great, it’s “television-quality” production for the web, but who exactly was lamenting its lack here in the first place? i’ve seen ipod billboards that felt more real and compelling than quarterlife. (and that’s coming from someone who really wanted to like the show!)
to be fair, i think the internet community too is just barely scratching the surface of the possibilities for online video content, but writing a TV script for the web is about as powerful a use of these possibilities as writing a TV script for a feature film, and given the results of that Simmons report, a “web-to-broadcast” strategy seems rather pointless considering that consumers are practically 50% more engaged with content the medium you’re starting out on. we’re by no means all looking for the same kind of content on the web, but we are not looking for the same old same old, either. i can’t wait for something to really take advantage of all the medium’s potential and uncover whole new ways of creating stories.
what do i think looks like it could be one such possibility?
i’ve been driving past this construction zone on the corner of vermont and washington for the past two years every time i need to get to the 10 onramp, only recently was the hard-hat area gauze removed to reveal what this building actually is: a school.
a couple of days ago i heard a really interesting bit on KCRW about a new kind of thinking that went into the construction of a particular school building, and before they even mentioned the location, i knew immediately which building they must be talking about. west adams prep.
among a lot of other great ideas they discussed on the show, the developers talked about approaching the creation of this facility for learning by researching the kinds of places that kids in l.a. actually LIKE spending time out of their own free will, and modeled the space to provide the same kind of “hanging out” experience as popular L.A. malls. they also asked the students to participate in various school-identity decisions like school colors and mascots. these are just some of a whole number of very conscious steps taken not only by the architects to create a space that would deliberately create a great experience for those in it, but also by the administrators to turn the school itself into a “concept” that kids would feel a part of and identify with in a positive way.
so basically they took the same kind of experience-creation and interaction/community-development approaches that brands are using in their strategies to win over the affections of the coveted high school demo, and applied it to–HOLY SHIT!–creating a high school.
you can listen to the full piece HERE. and you should. really cool stuff.
working on music festivals has gotten me to thinking about the kind of presence that these events develop online.
p.t. barnum pretty much laid the template for the concert promotion industry, and in that process also invented the advertising industry. thereafter events and promotions have been inextricably linked, like a codependent couple stuck in a mutually-enabling relationship.
which is not to say that that relationship hasn’t become totally dysfunctional in the past century. after so long getting completely ignored by concerts, which has no passion for anything but venues, promotion turned what was once an innocent flirtation with media into a full-on, often illicit, always exhilarating love affair.
see, because concerts makes its money at the venue door, it doesn’t really see why it oughtta give a crap about “engagement” since “the draw”–that is, the band–changes every night. and so in this precariously maintained way, the concert industry gets away with more or less letting the bands have engagement be their cross to bear.
which is why the music festival website is such a bizarre little anomaly. it’s the rare occasion when a concert promotion company must use its own brand as an element of the “draw,” and thus needs (whether it understands it or not) to deal with engagement media.
that’s like…. imagine having to work with your partner’s secret lover on a big work project that you’re not really feeling that confident about, and you might start to get an inkling of the sort of awkwardness with which the concert industry approaches this whole process.
essentially there are three things that a festival is selling:
1. the event lineup
2. the event brand
3. the event community
like toilet paper, tissues, and paper towels, they’re all made up of the same stuff, and to a certain degree serve an interchangeable function, but at the end of the day, you do buy each for different reasons.
after lightning in a bottle, the do lab’s coachella installation, now working on the street scene music festival, and with all the various other festivals around the world the do’s negotiating with right now, i’ve been looking at more festival websites than i can even recall. but what keeps catching my eye is the way that they all address the above three selling points:
1. Virgin Festival – August 4 & 5 – Baltimore, MD.
Lineup: HOLY SHIT!
the smashing pumpkins AND the police! M.I.A.!? how the hell did they get M.I.A. i thought the dept. of homeland security wasn’t even letting her in the country?! WU TANG? i’m sorry… WU TANG FUCKING CLAN? wait…. a third time… WU?! (ok, how many members of wu tang do you need to book to be able to put them on the bill? i guess now that ODB’s out for the count it’s easier to get the full mishpucha, but… still, really?)
brand: what else would you expect from virgin?
they’ve been doing the festival thing in europe for a decade now, and while i have never heard of the venue, and i’ve never even heard of baltimore insofar as any music festival conversation is concerned…and i don’t care! i trust virgin’s gonna do me right. way to put the east coast back on the music festival map in a big way.
community: the what now?
ok, granted they’re only a year old, so it’s not like they’ve got a huge community legacy to capitalize on, but really, just getting the chance to vote for a band to get booked to the lineup via mobile text voting is not a legitimate substitute for even so much as a token myspace page link so far as “getting people involved” goes.
* bonus points: motherfuckin KILLER site.
2. Vans Warped Tour – all fuckin summer – all the fuck over the place
lineup: does it matter?
with 45 shows in the space of three months, there’s single bands that can’t even handle that kind of touring schedule, but somehow warped, the pop-punk travelling circus makes it happen. each date has a different lineup, so in a buddhist sort of way, there’s no constant, solid, separate, unchanging, lineup there. but even if you look at the roster for a random showdate all the bands are just listed in alphabetical order, and there isn’t even any kind of top billing to be had here. clearly for warped, it’s not about the bands.
brand: keepin it real.
the 07 site’s few creative elements hearken back to traditional punk tattoo designs. that intimate kind of “we know you know, and we know you know we know” insinuation gets a 10 on the identity marketing meter.
community: THAT is fuckin brilliant.
check it out! warped turned their whole site into a COMMUNITY site. any given showdate’s page gives you pictures of the people who have made profiles for it. the login is actually ABOVE the purchase link! imagine that! having to scroll down to buy tickets! it doesn’t even say “buy tickets” it just says “onsale now” (cuz we know you know to buy them). there are soooo many reasons this whole approach is just genius, i’m not even going to go into it. (if you’re really interested, send me an email: jenka@social-creature.com). suuuper smart long-term strategy thinking.
* bonus points: i’d just like to reiterate again how incredibly brilliant turning a festival website into a community site is.
crap! i’ve run out of time gotta get back to work, so i’ll just rush through a few more, but you get the gist…
SOS live earth – al gore’s green music festival
* bonus points: that scrolling lineup banner plus the green mission are just like LIB! if only al was running for president! a movie, a book, a music festival?! he’s like a branding empire… it’d be like p diddy running for president.
electric picnic – ireland
with nav. sections like, “comedy and spoken word,” “theatrics,” and “body and soul” in addition to “the music,” it’s evident that this event is all about the experience.
* bonus points for addressing the silent fourth element in addition to lineup, brand, and community: experience.
* negative points for a stupid useless splash page! come on, i get that this year’s festival is sold out, but seriously, having a splash page on a music festival site is like dousing it in bird flu. just… GROSS!
summer sonic – tokyo & osaka
aahhh! the site’s in japanese, i don’t understand anything but that lineup, which actually ALSO doesn’t make sense: black eyed peas, avril lavigne, gwen stefani, googoo dolls? SUGAR RAY? this is like the anti-virginfestival. (does that make it the whore festival?) god you could NOT sell this lineup to a cohesive enough demo in the US to get away with it being a massive festival AT ALL. foreign people are weirdos.
just saw a great bit by sarah dopp about the trend of an established company’s new community site campaign that involves an outdoor advertising strategy to drive traffic–case in point: reebok’s goruneasy.com that i already wrote about glowingly HERE.
what i find particularly interesting about this approach that’s being adopted not just by reebok, but starbucks as well (letsmeetatstarbucks.com), among what’s sure to be a coming slew of others, are the kind of pre-web 2.0 strategies–and their benefits–that are getting incorporated in this technique.
from sarahdopp.com:
- Billboard-to-web community-oriented marketing is being adapted with high visibility.
- By sending people to a campaign-specific website, they can monitor their campaign’s site traffic ROI without any confusion.
we’ve been employing this tactic in concert promotion for ages. the simplest way to determine the effectiveness of any ad is to isolate an offer, for example, letting radio station X promote a particular kind of discount offer that no other outlet is pushing.
it’s incredibly interesting also to consider the significance of using outdoor media to promote a web 2.0 site of a consumer goods brand. this is the multi-platform kind of “meta-strategy” that i think is going to become the standard for a new kind of campaign. one that fuses the best of the old (it don’t get much older than billboards, yo) with the new, and in the process fuses engagement WITH awareness instead of relegating the two to their own separate ghettos.