Digital

It seems somewhat fitting that I came across the below video on the heels of Valentine’s Day and  the “annual celebration of love.” While many have snarked that yesterday was a “Hallmark Holiday” I would contend it’s a great opportunity to stop and reflect about the ones who do and have meant a lot to you – especially those who may no longer be with us.  This may be why the Smilow Cancer Hospital’s flash mob video struck a certain chord (pun intended) with me.

One way or another, we’ve all been touched by cancer. And while media coverage and attention keeps us all aware of the disease, the frequency and context with which it is covered can sometimes dampen the message. That’s why it was so refreshing to see this creative video (below) from Smilow, spotlighting their unofficial theme song “Closer to Free” (originally made famous by the band BoDeans). As communicators, I think we can all agree that it's a great use of video and digital media solutions to express the great work they're doing for their patients.

As we head toward the weekend, check out the below video and take a moment to think about / call a loved one who has been touched by cancer. Here’s hoping we can move toward a world that is “closer to free” of this terrible disease – and kudos to Smilow on a job well done.

You can also watch the making of the mob here.End of Story

 

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ft125

As the Financial Times celebrates its 125th birthday, it’s the perfect moment to consider where our media landscape is heading. Today, as the OSB (One Southwark Bridge) building along the banks of the Thames is lit up in pink and Lionel Barber writes his feature piece describing the FT as an “authoritative digital news organisation with global reach,” it’s fascinating to map the history of the FT and even more fascinating to look ahead to the future.

From its launch in 1884, the FT has gone from strength to strength: with the 1995 launch of FT.com; followed by the integration of print and online editorial operations in 1999/2000 (interestingly almost five years later); to 2012 when their digital subscribers surpassed the circulation of the newspaper, it has constantly evolved with the times.

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2 comments Written on February 13th, 2013 by
Categories: Digital, From the News, Social Media
Tags: , , , , , ,

Recently the bastions of online video, no longer satisfied with “digital dollars,” have made some of their boldest grabs yet at television’s multi-billion dollar advertising business by emulating the look, feel and business of…television. Welcome to progress.

Let’s review:

Netflix, Yahoo, Web TV, HuluYouTube, the birthplace of the web series, the king-maker of online celebrity, the petri dish of viral video, spent $100 million on re-positioning itself as the second coming of cable television with 100 new channels of advertiser-friendly, day-parted original programming.

Netflix paid $100 million to exclusively distribute two seasons of the Kevin Spacey/David Fincher drama House of Cards; then dropped another tidy sum to revive and distribute new episodes of the Emmy-winning Fox comedy Arrested Development. Wanna bet Netflix leads a lobby with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to get streaming originals on the Emmy ballot?

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Shira Lazar TweetInteresting question posed on Twitter recently by What’s Trending host Shira Lazar: "Lets just stop calling online shows “web series”- instead go with “original series” on x platform - thoughts?"

Short answer: AGREED!

Long answer: Whenever possible, I avoid the term ‘web series.’ Sometimes a client will insist upon qualifying whatever we’re producing as such (typically a scripted, longer-form series) and I do my best to convince them we’re better off going with ‘original series’ and here’s why: The average media consumer judges their entertainment by the platform it’s released on. They just do. I’ve always believed one of the more obvious roadblocks online programming faces in achieving mainstream awareness (and mainstream money) lies with how the mainstream perceives the web itself.

I recently asked my 64 years-young mother to email the Hulu link to the Leap Year trailer (the web series we produced for our clients, Hiscox Small Business Insurance) to 10 of her friends of similar age and introduce it as an “original series.” All 10 watched and responded favorably. Then I asked her to send the exact same link to 10 other friends of similar age, but call it a “web series.” This time, four people claimed “the link doesn’t work;” two said the “video won’t play;” one asked “what channel is this on?;” one asked “How do I find this so I know when to watch? Only two out of the second 10 watched the trailer without any questions or issues.

Not exactly a scientific study, but it made me wonder even more if placing the word “web” in front of “series” or “show,” is hurting our cause at raising the broader awareness we need to grow. Send a link promising an “original series,” it gets opened with no problem; send the same link but call it a “web series” and suddenly the same content becomes confusing and inaccessible. Just something to think about. CJP

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1 Comment » Written on November 17th, 2011 by
Categories: Digital, Social Media
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For Sale: HuluAccording to a recent article on the WSJ, Fox is killing free next-day viewing on Hulu (which it co-owns with NBC and Disney/ABC) for all of its shows unless you can be authenticated (assimilated?) as a paying cable subscriber. Just the latest example of Hulu being slowly suffocated by its own owners.  I thought this was a good occasion to share something I posted on Quora July 6 answering the question:“Why is Hulu for Sale?” So here it is…

Q: Why Is Hulu for Sale?

A: I’m sure there are many reasons, but I imagine Hulu has paid an enormous amount in licensing fees to NBC, Fox and ABC, not to mention their sister cable networks, movie studios, etc. to distribute their programming which doesn’t leave a lot left over to spend on actually growing or marketing the company (nevermind sustaining it).

To offset those hefty fees Hulu added the subscription-based Hulu Plus service and significantly upped the volume of ads it served (1.3 billion in May alone). The problem with that is, having that many ads takes a bite out of the audience experience. Hulu is distributing one of my web original shows right now and they’re serving an average of 4 minutes of ads per each 8-9 minute episode (2 minute pre-roll, 2 minute mid-roll). It’s enough to make folks want to watch it on other platforms where we’ve chosen to make it an ad-free viewing experience.

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No Comments » Written on August 5th, 2011 by
Categories: Business, Digital
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