Communities Dominate Brands

Every Second Counts in Zurich: Film Festival invites 24 second movies by amateurs

I had the honour of presenting to the First Tuesday Thought Leadership Forum in Zurich on Tuesday of last week, between hectic days at Oxford's 3G TV course and then customer workshops and a presentation to the regulator and IT/telecoms industry leaders in Jakarta Indonesia. But the hosts at the Zurich meeting mentioned an interesting event at the Zurich Film Festival. There Nokia sponsors a contest to enter the best 24 second film(s) shot by cameraphones, entlted "Every second counts". To truly squeeze some emotion of horror or humour or romance into a 24 second clip, truly for it to work, you have to make every second count. The film festival entry line has closed, but their pages are here. The three finalists will receive Nokia N93 phones, and the overall winner gets a trip to attend the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. How are winners decided? By viewer-voting of course.

Watch miles online - earn frequent flier miles

As if the traditional advertising business models weren't under enough threat. Now an enterprising new media ad service in America has launched an opt-in ad service online in the USA. according to USA Today of 3 Nov, 2006. The gimmick? The more you watch ads, the more you earn frequent flier miles on your fave airline. For every minute watched, you earn between 20 and 30 miles. At increments of 500 miles, your earned miles are transferred to your account. There is no limit to how much you can earn. The first four airlines signed up are Delta, Continental, US Air and Northwest. The service is offered by e-Miles, and a few major USA advertisers like Hilton Hotels and 1-800 Flowers have signed up already.

So, on one hand, the viewers of advertising are migrating from traditional media like TV to internet and mobile. Then the ads online can be made ever more interesting, engaging, such as advergames. While the TV industry innovates with technologies to help skip ads (TiVo/Sky+) at the same time the internet industry innovates in ways to pay customers to view ads.. Big changes coming...

Oh, and in my workshops this autumn, as I've discussed the mobile as the newest, ie 7th mass media - I've also said next year - 2007 - will be the year of mAd (Mobile Advertising). For all the innovation we're now seeing in broadband internet and very basic SMS and WAP, expect next year to bring massive innovation in mobile advertising. You heard it here first...

Advertising falls out of the bottom of Kids TV

It doesn't hurt till it bites you in the bum, or when the shit hits the fan it never spreads evenly.

Are two sayings that come to mind when reading Kids TV in crisis?

As the government bans junk food advertising and here

Kids TV as we know, or have known it, is under threat. With growing support for a ban of high fat, salt and sugar foods (HFSS) alongside children's programming, it looks likely that ITV will seek to reduce its children's output to compensate for the lost ad revenue. Many in the industry are worried about what this will do to kids TV in this country. But is this just a load of old fashioned television types trying to protect their jobs, resisting new media and not embracing the multi-channel market?

And so the rupture of funding to childrens TV programmes via the banning of junk food advertising

The potential clampdown on HFSS ads means that less money will get fed into commercial television for the commissioning of new children's programmes. With TV ad revenues already falling across the board, ITV earlier this year put a proposal forward to regulator Ofcom to reduce its children's output from 8 hours to just two, but Ofcom rejected it.

But the issues are not as simple as junk food vs junk TV. While the reduction of advertising unhealthy foods to kids does seem like a sensible argument, the irony is that by taking away such advertising, those who are trying to protect one area of children's lives are jeopardising another - their enjoyment of quality, UK-produced children's TV.

But is that like saying, banning the selling landmines to warring factions is bad for war?

I say it ironically, but what is at stake is the survival of quality childrens broadcast programming

Many say that children's television has always faced some kind of threat when there is an economic downturn in the media industry. But Robinson sees three main differences now. Firstly, the strength of the anti-junk food lobby, secondly the regulator Ofcom, which he believes is far less interested in the consumer and the craft, than its is in the interests of the market and international capital; and thirdly, the fact that ITV is mainly concerned with making itself as "lean and mean as possible" in order to become attractive to the highest bidder. "So much so," he says, "that we can't even necessary guarantee that it is interested in remaining a terrestrial broadcaster, let alone a public service broadcaster."

And there is no doubt Ofcom has bowed to market pressures and here – 'Ridiculous' ad rules threaten ITV, Ofcom warned

Hostile to TV

So if the future of kids TV is so vital to the children in this country, why aren't the powers that be already dealing with the problem? Tony Robinson has the insight that some of us won't have, having spent four years as part of the Labour Party's National Executive. What he learnt there was that politicians know nothing about television. "Many of them are actually hostile towards television," says Robinson. He also co-chaired the Labour Party's policy commission, which among other things was responsible for feeding information into the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Its a good question... which needs an answer.

But are kids watching tele like they did of course the answer is no

What was the VLV conference was lacking was a full discussion about the role of new media in this debate, and the widening opportunities for children's independent production companies in this area. Kids are increasingly watching more channels - multi-channel penetration is now at 67.3%, and yet children are watching less television overall. The future surely lies in digital media, and where kids are spending more of their time - online and on their mobiles. 91% of 12 year olds have a mobile and 40% of 8-11 year olds use the internet. A recent Ofcom study said that 49% had interacted with a television show through a mobile or internet platform.

I watch my son... he said to me the other day,

you know what I can spell loading. But what I dont get are the 3 dots (...) after the word loading

Point made :-)

But the cash has got to come form somewhere.... right?

Better to be on the front foot... right? rather than dragging your feet

The BBC is has also embraced this message, but ITV has dragged behind for a while on the digital media journey. Not only at the detriment to its business but now to its ability to entertain future generations of children in the UK.

And this is what amazes me, government, Ofcom, the commercial sector must be aware of what has been happening. Being proactive enables one to deal with change in a manner which is less disruptive.
The fact is we don't want an obese nation and we don't want the NHS bill in 10 years time.

It requires a bigger rethink, as to what is the purpose of kids audio-visual content and who pays for it. Yes we need a strong economy we need cash to flow. But I would argue we need to be careful of what type of legislation we adopt - Do we really want a US style broadcast experience?

Though from my recent experience, denial is a powerful drug.

SaveKidsTV
Voice of the Listener and Viewer
PACT: PACT
Ofcom

What will organisations look like tomorrow – today

In my presentations I show a slide of a Lego style house, conventional in design and style with a conventional family standing around a conventional picket style fence.

Next to that image is a photograph of two famous silent movie stars,

My comment

conventional notions of how business are structured and organised are equivalent of the silent movies of the 21st Century

Moreover, we have been deeply influenced by Shoshana Zubhoff. Zubhoff discusses how individuals change as affluent society develops referencing Robert Englehart and the work that he has done

As Zubhoff notes

Psychological self-determination describes the ability to exert control over the most important aspects of ones life, especially personal identity, which has become the source of meaning and purpose in a life no longer dictated by geography or tradition. The sense of meaningful existence is intimately linked to the possibility of hope and optimism

They shun traditional organisations in favour of unmediated relationship to the things they care about. The new individuals thus demand a high quality of direct participation and influence. They have skills to lead, confer and discuss, and they are not content to be good foot soldiers.

The new individuals seek true voice; direct participation, unmediated influence and identity based community because they are comfortable using their own experience as a basis for making judgments.

Thinking about business and social issues in this context allows one to reframe perhaps how we might our organizations in the future. And of course the phrase digital immigrant and digital native has now become part of the English lexicon.

Or, in other words are you with me or are you like a rabbit stuck in the headlights of the oncoming car.

Nice to see the Financial Times nod towards understanding these issues. They are the Future and they are coming to a workplace near you. (FT September 20 2006)

A few key points on the employees of the future

1 They are video gamers with different expectations about how to learn, work and pursue careers

2 They are technology literate, but that does not necessarily make them media literate.

Hmmm I am not so sure about that one

3 They are content creators and that shapes their notions about privacy and property

They think the internet as a place where they can express their passions, play out their identities and gather up raw material they use for their creations.

4 They are product and people rankers and that informs their notions of propriety

amihot.com
Amazon metacritic.com
Amazon rankings
Current TV – would you vote to watch this on television
Ebay rankings

5 They are multi-taskers, often living in a state of "continuous partial attention," where the boundary between work and leisure is permeable

And they mash and mix and bleed,

They see no boundary, nor distinction between the digital world and their physical world.

And it is fascinating to watch companies in every industry struggle to tackle these issues.

Yet if we all agree we live in a super connected world where digital information technology, the economics of networked information production and the social practices of networked conversations, qualitatively change the role that individuals can play in cultural and knowledge production and dissemination. As Yochai Benkler argues in his book the Wealth of Networks.

Then there is no doubt in my mind that will impact on how organizations will operate in the very near future.

Does reality TV encourage bullying

A small story in the UK news today, a representative of the British teachers union complained that reality TV shows promote bullying in schools. Sad side-effects from innovation.

Digital immigrants speak a different language to digital natives

John Naughton electrified last week's Society of Editors conference when in a passionate personal polemic he savaged newspaper coverage of today's youth.

There is much here to commend Naughton, the sad thing is he "electrified people." Who is he electrifying? Its common sense... its well documented... we have blogged on the subject Big media vs. The people. Rupert tells it how it is || The digital holes in the digital cheese as two examples. But perhaps Naughton like us, speaks a different language? Or, our accents are so heavy we are cannot communicate with some of those around us

Here's what he said ...

Today's 21-year-olds were born in 1985. The internet was two years old in January that year, and Nintendo launched 'Super Mario Brothers', the first blockbuster game. When they were going to primary school in 1990, Tim Berners-Lee was busy inventing the world wide web. The first SMS message was sent in 1992, when these kids were seven. Amazon and eBay launched in 1995. Hotmail was launched in 1996, when they were heading towards secondary school.

Around that time, pay-as-you-go mobile phone tariffs arrived, enabling teenagers to have phones, and the first instant messaging services appeared. Google launched in 1998, just as they were becoming teenagers. Napster and Blogger.com launched in 1999 when they were doing GCSEs. Wikipedia and the iPod appeared in 2001. Early social networking services appeared in 2002 when they were doing A-levels. Skype launched in 2003, as they were heading for university, and YouTube launched in 2005, as they were heading toward graduation.

A Parallel Universe

These kids have been socially conditioned in a universe that runs parallel to the one inhabited by most folks in the media business. They've been playing computer games of mind-blowing complexity forever. They're resourceful, knowledgeable and natural users of computer and communications technology. They're Digital Natives - accustomed to creating content of their own - and publishing it. (Remember the motto of YouTube: 'Broadcast yourself!')

Digital curated consumption

They buy music from the iTunes store - but continue to download tracks illicitly as well. They use BitTorrent to get US editions of Lost. They think 'Google' is a synonym for 'research' and regard it as quite normal to maintain and read blogs (55 million as of last night), use Skype to talk to their mates and upload photos to Flickr. Some even write entries on Wikipedia. And they know how to use iMovie or Adobe Premiere to edit videos and upload them to YouTube.

And thats the thing, its really understanding these issues - because if you can - one perhaps can start to see a strategy emerging of how to survive. Thanks John Naughton for sticking a poker up the Society of Editors I do hope everyone was listening?

The young disengage with politics || Generation "C"ers growing up on digital technology || Smart learning for the future || What happens when majority access web via mobile phone || Henry Jenkins et al on participatory culture and media literacy || Democratising TV. The Al Gore way || politics - communities and communication technologies || Prime time vs peak data vs mobile peak; and the Y of convergence

Yochai Benkler in his book the Wealth of networks argues

Today we live in a networked society. Digital information technology, the economics of networked information production and the social practices of networked conversations, qualitatively change the role that individuals can play in cultural and knowledge production and dissemination. Communities are sticky in ways that mass media never was, it requires a very different approach to what we create, how we create it and how we market it.

Enabled by technological change, we are beginning to see a series of economic, social, and cultural adaptations that make possible a radical transformation of how we make the information environment we occupy as autonomous individuals, citizens, and members of cultural and social groups. It seems passe´ today to speak of “the Internet revolution.” In some academic circles, it is positively naïve. But it should not be. The change brought about by the networked information environment is deep. It is structural. It goes to the very foundations of how liberal markets and liberal democracies have coevolved for almost two centuries.

Is British Television at a tipping point?

Powerful comment from Will Hutton... British TV must be saved for the nation

British television is at a tipping point. Every night, our screens are filled with programmes that represent two conflicting traditions. On the one hand, we see examples of the great television culture Britain has created over the past 50 years. Use the remote and you get the new trash which threatens to spread throughout the networks. There are still many great programmes to watch, and much creativity on display, but unless something changes, our culture and civilisation are about to be seriously impoverished.

But it gets worse

Within the next two months, the trends look like being emphatically confirmed. Two of the pillars of what made British television great - the BBC and ITV - are to be knocked sideways, one by the government and the other by the market. Gordon Brown and the Treasury, indulged by a weakened Prime Minister, are determined to shrink the BBC. Over the next four years, they propose the licence fee would go up by 1 per cent less than inflation - nearly 3 per cent a year less than the BBC wants, with even bigger cuts planned beyond. By 2013, the BBC would be up to a quarter smaller than it is today.

I wonder if the Blair's Government ever forgave the beeb for its reporting over the Iraq war? The Hutton report, was well... errrr a bit skewed.

Still is does seem a bit over the top to bring all out market forces to bear on UK TV – when there still is a chance to preserve something unique. I agree with Hutton...

Lets face it, we would not have the innovation within broadcasting without the BBC, as their need to survive are different to reporting to shareholders that they can all affors a new yacht this year. Sorry to be so cynical.

ITV and Channel 4 are struggling, we even get a company (NTL) that filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy , and having just got out of jail mentioning that it might be interested in buying ITV.

ITV is a victim sadly of arrogance and hubris - once boating that ITV was a licence to print money

ITV has been struggling ever since its cosy monopoly was broken by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB in the Nineties. Viewers and advertisers have deserted in droves for the internet and pay-TV. How to reverse, or at least arrest, ITV's decline has long perplexed management at the company, which became a single entity following the merger of Granada and Carlton in 2004.

Apparently ITV leaked the news of a merger to the press to help its share price.

Hutton says

In any case, the argument goes, the doom-mongers are old fogeys looking back to a golden age that never was. Television is now better, not worse; it has just become more democratic.

And this is the point – do we bend right over for the capitalist market? Yes revenues have got to come from somewhere - and Tomi and I have blogged about that theme and some, and write about it in our book.

We have have a theory called the 4C's... if anyone is interested

So bruiser Brown - dont destroy our culture, and I am a bit pissed that companies, and marketing institutions have not responded to the obvious changes that have been going on for some time.

Heed these words

Digitalisation does not mean that only commercial television and the market rule. Rather, we have to think differently about how to maintain their same constructive tension with the notion of public-service broadcasting and have the confidence and conviction to do it. And that begins with Brown's decision on the licence fee.

One or two related blogs Why use your TV to watch repetitive drivel when you can plug your PlayStation into it instead || The end of the affair || Coming to a computer near you: television || ITV shares lose more ground || Does King Canute have a long tail? || Media Old World - Media New World || Nielsen study highlights growing power of online communities ||  Dumb and Dumber || Run don't walk! || From Mass media to Social Media || News to mobile video || Connectivity, Culture, Community and Commerce. why it's all happening on the web || The end of TV as we know it. Social networking comes to television || When push comes to pull. The new economy & culture of networking technology

EMI launches latest boy band inside Habbo Hotel

Seems to be a Habbo Hotel day for us here at Communities Dominate.

Our friend David Cashman just left us a comment that EMI is going to be launching the new single by their newest boy band 365, inside Habbo Hotel. See the actual story here. Thanks for the link David!

Everyone can play: 7 million Habbo users in 16 countries

Its one of our continuing favourite stories. A case study in our book Communities Dominate Brands, Habbo Hotel, the youth-oriented virtual community and playground, for the 12-16 year olds, has grown to 16 countries and has over 7 million regular users.

Here is a bit of an update on Habbo Hotel. The 7 million users maintain 66 million Habbo characters, so they average almost 10 Habbo characters per user. The service is run by Finnish company, Sulake, and with offices already in 16 countries and over 160 staff, revenues more than doubling last year, Sulake already makes 28 million Euros of annual revenues (will likely be much more this year). And yes, with age targets of 12-16 year olds - who don't have credit cards - this online community was the first internet service we had found, that collected user payments via mobile phone (premium SMS) payments. Other payment mechanisms are also supported of course, including credit cards and online banking etc.

The biggest lesson out of Habbo Hotel is that online internet community services CAN earn revenues from users and usage, and the "easiest" way to achieve this, is via mobile phone payments. Keep up the good work Habbo Hotel, lets see you break through the 10 million user mark soon...

When Weight Watchers meet Mobile Community? Yes, MyFoodPhone of course

Gotta love this !  Our friend David Doherty over at the 3G Doctor sent over this community on mobile. Yes, for those who want support in controlling their weight, and of course connect with their community, the perfect device - always with you when the urge to eat hits you - is the mobile phone. And yes, a service has launched called My Food Phone.  Beautiful !  Thanks David!