Branded/Social Engagement: Embracing New Economic Models
From my former boss and mentor, Jon Feltheimer, CEO of Lionsgate, speaking at MIPCOM.
I especially liked his paragraph below – which I’ve sliced up – as branded and social engagement is where audiences now permanently live; whether consumers “own” legacy technology or “rent” the next-generation digital devices…:
We need to create new relationships, relationships with people who install telephone lines and build mobile networks, relationships with people like billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, 26 years old, who connects millions of people through bits and bytes.
Ironic that tv networks have since been surpassed by social “networks,” where the direct to consumer, or network effect, moves the needle faster to the right than any and all traditional marketing and distribution means.
That movement will be hastened as traditional devices which many have owned (like optical drives, physical media, storage, analog/early digital TVs) are replaced with highly networked devices with mobile reach and cloud controls.
And, when we speak to them, we need to monetize these new relationships…and the problem is we don’t know how.
Interestingly, Feltheimer talks later about “The moral of the story is don’t make a deal— make a show” (referring in part to “Mad Men”s success); however, this later moral perfectly fits Zuckerberg’s model of creating community before creating revenue opportunities.
Clearly, it’s not apples-to-apples here, but better to build audience, develop discussion and consumer connection before requesting upfronts and minimum guarantees.
What should we charge for our content over these new distribution systems? What about terms? What about exclusivity? There are no precedents, there are no models, there are no defined terms and conditions. So we have to take a chance, we have to take risks, we have to be willing to make mistakes.
In large part, finding these new models takes betting on the “social share” before the “revenue share.” Community over commerce.
If enough digital word of mouth arises – as it has both in the traditional and digital sense around “Glee,” “Mad Men” and “Family Guy” to name a few – then the audience is “found”.
And if assisted by the content companies in terms of their marketing and distribution engines (again, leaning heavily in time to digital), then the best of the content becomes monetizable. The conversation becomes calculable. Witness iTunes and Netflix.
All said, the pairing of ”branded and social” engagements, productions and marketing, distribution and you-name-it is the way forward for media and lifestyle - where again media is but an input to lifestyle…
Quote/photo via Jon Feltheimer: Embrace New Economic Models – indieWIRE.
