Murder She Wrote

Media companies are having a hard time getting their bearings in the new world. The problem is deep down, and by and large it's tempting to think of this as a surface issue. "How do I monetize the Internet?" In fact, the Internet is a complete game changer. I hope the next post or two will take you from "my revenues are falling, what tools can I use to pick them up?" toward "I see why my current assets and tactics have a limited life span. How do I start creating content that people will consume in the future?"

Look at the way twelve- and fourteen-year-olds consume media and you'll find patterns that are dramatically different from older people's. TV is consumed far less, and when it is watched it's being watched while they surf the net. Radio is almost completely absent. Mobile phone usage rules the roost, mostly through texting but as iPhones and other smart phones get into more hands the phone will be a major media consumption tool.

All of these changes are not analogous to previous generational differences in style and culture--these are major changes in where these kids can be reached and in how they will interact with you and your brand. Even the switch from radio to television was an evolutionary step, still a passive medium for the consumer. The Internet and phone-based social media are dramatically different from television, and four years from now the new blood entering the 18-25 demographic will be much more comfortable watching a webisode on their cell than sitting down to watch a sitcom on TV.

Think about what this means for those demographics that will still come to television or radio. These old media will be consumed primarily by those who have old habits. This kind of "show," including old media repackaged on the web such as Hulu and online streams of terrestrial radio, will appeal to old people with strong existing loyalties--the least valuable demographic to marketers. The other group of people who will still have the Television habit will be lower income demographics--another group unlikely to get top dollar from marketers.

So unless you're prepared to be tomorrow's Murder She Wrote, airing ads for Depends and denture cream to an aging audience in an aging medium, you need to move out of TV and radio. Not just stop making and airing it, but stop thinking in those mediums. Making TV shows or radio shows for the Internet won't cut it. You'll need to think about things in a dramatically different way to appeal to tomorrow's audience.

Is your company looking forward or back?

A lot of companies have spent their history building brands and products that brought them profit. But when it’s time to change your business models, there’s no time to waste. Established media companies seem to have a harder time with this than a lot of other companies. Sports media even more so, and this week saw two stark examples of sports media dropping the ball.

Late last week a dad at a Phillies game caught a foul ball. The stretch catch was caught on camera, as was the family celebration—followed by his 3-year-old daughter throwing the ball back. The dad reacted as perfectly as a dad could possibly hope to, and the video of him smiling and hugging his daughter went viral in a matter of hours. This was absolutely free advertising for Major League Baseball. It was a beautiful picture painting baseball fans as loving families who truly care about one another and know how to have a good time. But if you followed the links being emailed around that evening, you would have only seen a DMCA take-down message that the video was unavailable because MLB was enforcing their copyright.

The other sports media story revolves around the National Football League’s “blackout” policy. If a football game’s seats are not completely sold out 72 hours before hand, the NFL will not let the game air on local television. The theory is that people in the local area should be going to the game rather than staying at home consuming the product for free. So the NFL takes off the table what amounts to a three hour commercial for their product that the television stations pay the NFL to broadcast. This week’s story is that the Lions received a 24 hour extension to sell 1,700 tickets before the blackout would be enforced.

Both of these incidents reflect a profound misunderstanding about what sports is and how it can make money. In both cases, powerful advertising is being thrown away in order to protect revenue streams that are miniscule and rights that are worthless without revenue streams. These organizations are chasing old models that everyone agrees are disappearing, and they’re doing it at the cost of good will and future revenue.

Does your company cling to failing business models, knowing full well that you need to make drastic changes? It would be wise to get a second set of eyes to see where you’re going, and where you’re slowing yourself down. Knowing that you need a new business model to cope with tough times and rapid change—even deciding what the new business model be—won’t help you if when it comes time to execute that new business model your organization goes on reflex and spends all of its time defending the old models.

Putting your Business into Orbit

In the Western world, Copernicus was the first to show that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He published his book on the subject and died within the year. Sixty years later Galileo Galilei began to champion the idea and because of his continued work exploring the subject spent the last ten years of his life under house arrest. It is Galileo who is known today as the "father of science."

Thank you to The Cranky Middle Manager for making a modern-world comparison of Copernicus to business book writers and Galileo to actual managers and for the spark to write this blog entry. I will extend that metaphor a little bit, though. Copernicus stands in for typical strategy consultants, while Galileo represents Creatiators in my metaphor.

You see, a typical strategy consultant works with you to develop a strategy. Perhaps they pay very good attention to your needs and your words, and come up with an excellent strategic document, business plan, or marketing plan. Then the consultant leaves and that plan ends up on your shelf.

Creatiators takes that another step. We implement that strategy, work with you to make that strategy stick, and stand up with you when things seem to be going against you. From our perspective, strategy has only theoretical value without implementation.