The Plight of the TV Refugee

Houston - we have a problem! No one is watching our channels anymore. Where have all the TV refugees gone?

Who actually uses Cable TV anymore - I most certainly do not? I would argue that my generation is getting more and more comfortable with the on-demand capabilities streaming websites can provide (who wants to be told what to watch anymore?) Moving away from the you-only-have-x-channels-be-happy-socialist-dynamic, individuals are turning to online content. The extremely malleable nature of the internet has been more than capable of accommodating new viewership.  

Colorful Digital Solutions to Cable TV's Headaches

Style Haul is a youtube channel, but don't let this fool you - the channel was founded by Stephanie Horbaczewski, the former director of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue. This isn't your average youtube user channel. With more than 1,800 video bloggers in 81 countries and 72 million subscribers, Style Haul is quite the online media network. In the future, Stephanie hopes to incorporate videos with online stores so that shoppers can see products in action. The popularity of this online channel demonstrates the viability of sustainable digital content distribution. 

“Not only has the internet been able to accommodate television refugees, it is constantly looking for ways to harness video more dynamically. ”

Media overload has made it impossible for consumers to read all of the content they desire. To solve this, our app turns your favorite online news, blogs, and social streams into video. We're using the latest generation in avatar and text-to-speech tech to read and present this content to you so you can watch your favorite content, passively, instead of reading it.

Another digital solution is gui.de (which for the purposes of my own sanity I will spell as "guide" from here on out). Guide's approach is to make convertible the internet's boundless amounts of written information. Instead of reading a news article, blog post or social media post, guide hopes to convert the text to speech WITH accompanying video. The videos, reminiscent of traditional broadcast journalism, give you the option to watch internet content. Instead of scrolling through the morning news as a ritual, you can cue up videos and watch the news in the background as if it were a TV show. This makes news articles more appealing and dynamic. Plus, you can choose which character reads the news to you - man, woman, child, robot etc. 

“Personally I find that impactful news stories, such Iran’s recent election, to be more compelling and relatable when they are read to me by my trustworthy kitty cat anchor...felines are just more trustworthy than humans”

With ads sales continually being dwarfed by internet marketing dollars, cable TV is slowly becoming a thing of the past.  These two examples really point to the fact that Cable TV needs to adapt - not fight against the tide. By no means is it the 11th hour for Comcast or Cox, however a change is coming.  

Cable TV has to find sustainable plans to integrate itself with online media - providing more customization, personalization and relevance to the viewer. Television manufactures have already taken cues on these trends and introduced "smart" TVs that connect to the internet and provide a greater range of materials, interface and connect ability.

It is time that cable giants stop being so lazy. It's time to wake up and smell the 21st century media landscape. 

Foursquare's Professional Brainstorming

Recently I read an interview with Ian Spalter, the director of design for the Foursquare mobile app. In the article Spalter talked about his use of the creative process and how he kept his design team on their feet. I was happily surprised by the techniques he used to push his team further in the development of the foursquare app. I've listed the three methods he used below. 

Pre-Press Release |

One technique had his team develop the press release for a product that hadn't even been created yet. He describes the process as "mad libs" - putting down the frame work and having people fill in the details so that the entire team was on one page - working towards the same goal. After the press release was finished, then the team would begin work on the product. 

Customer Sketch |

Another exercise required his team to really visualize the end users of their products. By visualize Spalter really meant it - he expected everyone to create a person, name, personality and one sentence description. The team's "customer sketches" would then be put on a board for inspiration. Designers could focus on these actual people rather then nebulous demographics for design insights. 

Monopoly |

Most interestingly, Spalter took a Monopoly board and replaced all the properties with "foursquare scenarios" - ie. checking into a movie theatre. The team would roll the dice and land on a scenario and everyone had to sketch up how they expected the user to interact with the mobile app. 

Improvisational techniques (as those listed above) really do work. They help individuals work to break up assumptions and innovate past unsolvable or unforeseen problems. I would highly recommend any team to take one hour off every week to practice one of these exercises above or any of the example improv exercises here on my website. 

Who says engagement doesn't translate to sales?

Everyone complains that sometimes engagement isn't enough!

People wan't to see the bottom line increase as well right? - not just the conversation of the brand and its products. Well, I say they are not thinking creatively enough about engagement.

Introducing Hijack - an app designed by a shoe store called Meat Pack in Guatemala. This engagement piece actually gets customers RUNNING to their stores - extremely creative and ingenious! 

But why do people run? 

1. Customers download a Meat Pack mobile app that tracks their location using GPS.
2. When the app senses you have entered a competitior's store (Nike, Adidas etc) a  message pops up.
3. It gives you a challenge - gamification ( a very powerful tactic to drive interaction, turning brand or purchasing activities into games). Customers are given a 100% discount on any product in the Meat Pack shoe store - even though they are still standing in a competitor's store.
4. THE CATCH. this offer is time sensitive - for every second you wait 1% of the discount disappears. This translates into significant customer behavior - people begin running to the nearest Meat Pack to claim their discount before it becomes too low! 

Think that engagement pieces can't translate into sales - think again!

Hijack By Meat Pack

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Who knew there was a Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity? Apparently it is an international advertising festival that people attend from all over the world concerning marketing, brand management, market engagement and advertising. As expected, there are workshops, seminars, talks etc. It sounds like the TED of marketing - can someone buy me a ticket please! Much appreciated. 

The seven-day Festival is also the only truly global meeting place for professionals working in advertising and communications, from creatives to marketers. Over 11,000 delegates from 90 countries attend seven days of workshops, exhibitions, screenings, master classes and high-profile seminars by industry leaders such as Dan Wieden, Sir John Hegarty, Bob Greenberg, Maurice Lévy, David Droga, Mark Tutssel, Sir Martin Sorrell and Tham Khai Meng, as well as people like Mark Zuckerberg, President Bill Clinton, Malcom Gladwell, Robert Redford, Ben Stiller, Yoko Ono, Debbie Harry, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Ballmer, Dick Costolo, Jeff Bewkes, Eric Schmidt, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Philippe Dauman, Kofi Annan, and Bob Geldof.

Not to mention it takes place during the summer - in Cannes - FRANCE!! Sold!