Long Tail – Media

You can buy Elvis, Hitchcock or Marilyn Monroe movies on DVD for $9.99. You can watch via a  portable DVD player but that’s about it. I don’t have the time to watch movies, especially old movies which are slower in action, the dialogue can be clunky & I usually know the story so the suspense is negligible. But there are some amazing scenes, Elvis doing the Jailhouse Rock, Marilyn playing the ukulele in ‘Some like it Hot’ or in ‘Rear Window’, the scenes between Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.

Skipping to another format, music, the act of taking samples from other songs, riffs or snatches, turning one song into other versions – Rap, Scratching or Sampling versions. Blondie’s Rapture, being one of the first mainstream versions sampled Chic’s Good Times. The new version of sampling is now ‘mashing up’

A few months ago Tracey Moffat, an Australian photographic and video artist, presented her latest collection at Ros Oxley’s gallery. The fluro paint enhanced images were fun, but the video ‘ Doomed’ was fabulous. For 10 minutes the video showed a mash-up of numerous disaster movies all to a deep funky beat. Although special effects were vastly different the scenes were skillfully edited and then linked via the music. I loved it, but not the price: $800.

Music has been freed from the some of restrictions of copyright but not videos or movies. The content is blocked, held back by the owners or producers, yet there is so much of it, so much disposed content and it’s locked up.

Wouldn’t you love a mash-up of Elvis ? or horror films or Star Wars to a new soundtrack from a leading DJ ? I just want an update or re-mix or interpretation of this art.

This probably a long way of talking about film and tv’s potential on the long tail.

The advantage is there is heaps of content. TV shows, short films, documentaries etc. Imagine what could be done with this if access to the stock was lowered.

Technically, the width and capacity of sharing and downloading video content is still too short, 3 – 10 mins maximum, with improvements occurring daily. (forgive my technical knowledge, just go with estimates)

But it’s all about potential. Release the content & the User will absorb it, play with it, re-create it & thus you have a longer tail of use.

Long Tails

It’s the word (and book) of the moment. The Long Tail by Chris Anderson.

Opportunities on the web vs ‘real life’: the scope of possibilities is now described as ‘the long tail’. . e.g ‘There’s a long tail of sales for books on the web”. I do love a new shorter way of describing something.

In brief, before I start on my thoughts, The Long Tail describes the depth of items and information for sale or on offer in the net. The Big Head is it’s opposite. It’s mainstream vs niche.

For example, in Movies, the film is given massive media budget, is constantly pitched in the media & sales are described in weekend takings. The Big Head is the initial exposure of promotion into the marketplace, using traditional media (mostly) and spend is heavy.

Once the film is on it’s decline revenue is achieved other areas, eg.  in merchandise, home cinemas, international distribution & television/ cable screenings.

A film that turns cult, like Star Wars, has revivals of sales and marketing but lower down the channel, eg. selling action figures on eBay. The difference is the cost to market, the long tail is of course far cheaper to participate in, but the results are impressive. Whereas a store products follow the 80/20 rule, 80% of business comes from 20% of the range, a Web based retailer can offer unlimited products, well, at least 10X. So there is always something to buy.

The Web allows a long tail of items for sale. The choice is unlimited. There are niches for everyone.

There are 3 forces in order to participate fully.

• Make it – either produced or sourced
• Get it out – create the place for the item
• Find it – technologies & methods for searching

The Finding it, is the most crucial part. It’s connecting supply and demand or just letting someone find something they didn’t know still existed. There are two parts to finding. One is you find it yourself, via search technology. The other is someone finds is for you. The someone can be a friend, a collegue or a recorded recommendation on a similar site, like a blog or wishlist or wiki.

The power of recommendation is the web’s strength in long tail marketing. It’s an age of Recommendation, where blogs, wikis, hyperlinks, discussion groups or hyperlinked news page taking you directly to a product or offering. Customers help other find things. No need for sales staff!

next time: long tail & tv. When the Movie, TV and music industry understands how to release their content, there’ll be an explosion.

Integrated Media

As much as I like reading consultant’s and theorists, I like to know what companies are thinking & what plans they have…the actual working part of on-line.

While some people are concerned about where the money is on-line, one executive I’ve been following has not just smart ideas, but has achieved often the hardest part of any marketing part, the ‘Implementation’ bit, and in both internal and external ways. Changing a company’s culture is often the hardest.

Beth Comstock, is NBC Universal Digital’s President of Integrated Media. She was formally with GE overseeing the ‘Imagination at Work’ culture and advertising changes.

To start with she’s looking at how NBC can do business in iPods, MySpace and YouTube (think that article was written before Facebook). NBC then bought iVillage. The objective was to buy a ready made audience, one that is not a TV site audience. She then spent 3 days work shopping ideas with the site’s 36 moderators (understanding the core working element of the site, v. smart) and the focus was on social networking applications (yes, Laurel, there are believers!)

Internally, technologies have been standardized at NBC. A typical part of a large company is often different business units operating with multiple formats. Simple but often hard to initiate.

Comstock is an advocate for the consumer, she says, and her focus is these three questions.

Can we make money ? Do Users want it ? Do we have the rights?

TV has lots of disposable content and one of the biggest issue is rights, then length of shows. It’s a 3 minute land of entertainment. Webisodes of The Office and Battlestar Gallatica have been created to satisfy. Without cannibalising the existing show it can now be stretched out to iTunes, streaming, mobile and then distribution. It’s a long tail of sales.

Comstock’s other focus is the creative side. There are many opportunities for experimentation and boundless new partnerships, she says.

Articles. Fastcompany

Mediaweek

Womens Biz

Idea Struck

I’m swimming in Ideas. I give birth to idea babies all the time, but they feel more like verbal vomits when they arrive. It happens mostly in conversations, then when reading books, magazines or blogs, and then the great ones are in the middle of the night. So it’s time to get some out there & see if any are worthwhile.

Seven years ago I worked in a Dot Com. It was one of those extraordinary times. A virtual gold rush, but only for some. I enjoy the pace, the freshness, the unknown. But the lack of business disciplines got us in the end. Clients weren’t paying nearly enough for the work & the company lacked really innovative staff. Most of the software was ripped & dated.

I worked with one specific client, a film distribution company, on their four sites. It was exciting. Finally putting all my marketing, film and technology ideas to work, plus got to see films ‘for work purposes’ during the day.

When the company was sold for $15million, then collapsed 8 months later and was re-sold for $5, 000 (correct ! ) in Nov 2001. I left to start my own company, importing shoes from Spain and India (hey, I’m a chick!) and did really well for the first few years, then average after that. It’s been fun being in control, getting shoes in magazines and seeing them on people in the street. It’s a case of been-there, done-that & since the change of web to more interactive/ 2.0 I want to be back in it again.

I’m excited by this world. Blogging, Social Networks, & Facebook ! It has potential, it’s already altering business, ideas and friends. When I talk to friends we talk about this new world of web. So I’ll share my thoughts with you lot & hope you’ll do the same.

I value any comments or contributions.