|
The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. We are a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and marketing skills. Check out thousands of cutting edge examples at our web site. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Sent via TVSpy's email servers. Visit TV Spy's Marketing Matters.
Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
In This Issue
TV's Dead-End Web Linking
Major Brands Plan Adaptation, Innovation to New Landscape
Platform, Not Content, is King
A New TV Ad Marketplace: Add $30 Bil?
Study Reveals Ratings Nonresponders Habits
Health Care a Major Topic for Left-Leaning Talkers
Cooper Stands Up for Gulf Residents
Larry King to Lead Star-Studded Gulf Fundraiser
ABC Nets Its Top NBA Telecast
Betty White Brings TVLand Record Ratings
Turkish Soaps Infiltrate Arab Culture
PBS Makes Progress on File-Based Delivery
Google to Unveil One-Click Payment System
Apple Unclear on Racy Apps Policy
Webbies Honor 'Father of the Internet'
Best Webby Speeches
Quotes
“Innovation is not the product of logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure.”
- Albert Einstein
“Don't confuse the art of the possible with the art of the profitable.”
- David Tansley
"Leap and the net will appear."
- Zen Saying
TV's Dead-End Web Linking
by Graeme Newell
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.602communications.com
Twitter: gnewell
Facebook: facebook.com/gnewell
How can an encyclopedia be so damned entertaining? I am an avid user of Wikipedia but I have to be careful because looking up a simple definition can cause me to blow through a whole afternoon. Those little magical blue links take me on adventures I never planned to take. Wikipedia is the alpha standard for web linking. Each entry typically has dozens of links that allow the user to traipse through the world of information unfettered by form or structure. Each journey is as individual as the interest of the user.
This ability to link is one of the most valuable characteristics of sticky web sites. It just makes sense. The user has already shown interest in a topic and satisfying their need for related information is the best way to keep them on a site. One of the ways YouTube achieved its incredible popularity was by mastering linking. It uses sophisticated database techniques to showcase videos that the user finds irresistible. For example, check out "The World Series of Uno" on YouTube. An obscure entry, to be sure. The stickiness voodoo comes from the video list on the side. Using correlation science, YouTube has mathematically calculated the most irresistible videos for someone who is weird enough to watch a four minute video on Uno.
TV web sites rarely incorporate this kind of linking and typically ignore it altogether. Dead-ending readers is the norm. Most articles and videos are "one click and out." A great web site will take users on a meandering path with a long string of links that dig ever deeper into the site. The user will rarely return to a central navigation page. Their search will cross multiple content classes and have a curious structure. Just like an underground cave system, they just keep turning down another corridor, enjoying a fascinating odyssey with little worry about where they will end up.
Most TV web site journeys rarely go past three or four clicks. Far too many sites have a majority of visitors who stay for thirty seconds or less. People zip in, get the info and are off again. People come to the site for specific information, get what they need, then leave.
The problem is a lack of effective promotion on the page - a disregard of enticing links. On TV, we put promos inside of Oprah because the flow opportunities are very high. On web sites, most video content tends to be sorted by media type, not by related content. We put all the text content together. We put all the video clips together. Under the "video" tab you'll find sports, consumer news and drug killings, all right next to each other - three completely unrelated topics that torpedo the chance of linking.
Content should be sorted by demo usability not by media type. Your printed parenting stories should be right next to the parenting video clips, not banished to the "video" tab. Next to these clips should be related topics that appeal to women in their 30's and early 40's. For example, what-to-wear weather. These moms will need this information to send their kids outside. Next to that, stories on crackdowns at local daycare centers. Most television weather is dutifully exiled to the official weather page, never to be seen outside its licensed classification.
Look at this article from the Washington Post. It was created by someone with a newsprint mentality. They just slapped unlinked text on the website as an afterthought. There are no links in the body copy and no help finding related stories.
The problem is most TV web content creators follow the TV workflow when building pages. Just like a TV show, they put one story after another and expect readers to follow the same linear timeline TV has been serving up for years. The beauty of the web is its three-dimensionality. It defies the concept of time because every click has the potential of taking you instantly to any point on the globe. You can change topics on a dime. "Six degrees of separation" is reduced to a single click.
Here are some tips for increasing clickability:
1) Have tons of links inside the body of every article.
Writing the article is just the beginning. Every piece of web content should have many linkable friends. Set goals for your staff. Shoot for at least four or five links in every article.
2) Collect research links as you write.
Writers often say they don't have time to find all these links and include them in their web story. In most cases, there isn't a need to find a lot of new links, but simply to index the links you've already discovered while doing research on the piece. Use bookmark cataloging services like Delicious to keep track of the specific web site locations used to create the story. Remember, try to link to information on your own site as much as possible.
2) Use fewer linear tags to index your content.
Most tags follow strict content parameters. We sort the stories by subject, not by mindset - news, sports, health, consumer, gardening, etc. Add additional tags that speak to lifestyle, attitude and interests. For example: rebellion, hope, intolerance, sarcasm and comeuppance. Expand your list of tags to reflect human interest, not just efficient categorization.
3) Post-roll suggestions
If a viewer takes the time to watch the full duration of a video clip, they are probably fairly involved and ready for more. Make sure you have numerous suggestions for them as soon as the clip ends. Just as YouTube does, put links to related clips right inside the video window.
4) Use tag clouds to invite exploration.
Tag clouds show users other categories that might be of interest. They showcase links they might not have thought of on their own, and help them find related stories. They are a simple way to suggest related content on your site.
Graeme Newell is a broadcast and cable marketing consultant who specializes in relationship branding using core emotional drivers. He guarantees that his teasing seminar will immediately increase your news ratings or his workshop is free. Find out more here.
Major Brands Plan Adaptation, Innovation to New Landscape
Brand owners such as General Electric, Cisco and Microsoft are all adapting their global strategies in a bid to strengthen their positions during the economic recovery. General Electric, the conglomerate, is one firm that has tried to revolutionise major aspects of its portfolio in recognition of the seismic shifts that have resulted from the recession. "This economic crisis doesn't represent a cycle. It's an emotional, social, economic reset," Jeff Immelt, its chief executive, said. "The interaction between government and business will change forever. In a reset economy, the government will be a regulator and also an industry policy champion, a financier and key partner." While arguing the repercussions of the credit crunch amounted to the biggest "challenge of our lifetime," Immelt added that the opportunities have proved to be equally large. General Electric's Ecomagination program and its targeted approach to innovation in countries like India and China are just two examples of this trend. "I've told our leaders at GE that if they are frightened by this concept, they shouldn't be here," Immelt said. "But if they're energized and desire to play a part in transforming the company for the future, then this is going to be a thrilling time." Kate Robertson, UK group chairman of EuroRSCG, also suggested that acquiring an understanding of new media will be essential in engaging the 18–26 year old demographic. "Everything they address in the future, the good and the bad, is actually about a single world," she said. "Digital platforms make the sense of that possible for them and that is a completely different world. Digital platforms also offer them a chance to be heard in a way that's never been possible before." Microsoft, the IT company, is also seeking to roll out a variety of new products as it tries to tap in to the new realities of the market. "In my view, what we now have will be a fundamental economic reset," said Steve Ballmer, its chief executive. "America really has to return to growth that's built on innovation and productivity, rather than leverage and private debt. That must happen," said Ballmer.
WARC
Platform, Not Content, is King
A small segment of young consumers isn't ready to anoint content as king. The price of that content may actually be taking that crown, instead. Nielsen says some 4 million homes -- 6% of all non-cable TV homes -- haven't "cut the cord" because of backlash anger over cable companies. They haven't installed it in the first place. These viewers are young, 18- to 34-year-olds, in "emerging" homes. They are downscale or middle income, college-educated, some of ethnic background. All this make sense: Graduating college students would seem to continue their college habits in the real world, with real jobs. But these viewers bust the myth of their fellow consumers: Nielsen says they are surprisingly "light" TV and video consumers. Here's another busted myth: While viewing levels watching an average TV show are virtually consistent from the first to last minute, viewing levels for the average show streamed online drop substantially from first minute to last. I'm guessing you could attribute this to the short-attention-span, YouTube approach to things. About 2.5% of all video viewing among major demographics is online; that means TV still commands a big 97.5% share -- something isn't likely to change anytime soon. "Online really needs to grow to make a significant dent. There is a long way to go," said Jon Gibs, vice president of media analytics for The Nielsen Co., during a presentation at Nielsen's Consumer 360 conference in Las Vegas recently. Overall, this means people don't watch video the same way on their computers as they do with a live TV show, or with time-shifted viewing. Gibs says it means content isn't actually king, but the platform first -- then, content, a close second. Traditional TV still comes first because it's the best screen. But it is not always the most readily available. That would seemingly be your laptop, mobile phone, or iPad. We are pretty sure if content isn't quite king across all media platforms, it surely is the up-and-coming lieutenant -- perhaps one with a bad attitude -- looking to take the kingdom by storm if necessary. But what if some light-video-using young viewers grow in number, if not continue to shrug their shoulders?
MediaPost
A New TV Ad Marketplace: Add $30 Bil?
Now that the TV upfront is over, we can focus on the usual and the not-so-usual: This would be the scatter markets. More strangely, it would also include the absence of TV networks' typical high-flying bravado of years ago. That's because this season, there was a return of decent price increases in the upfront. The TV networks and programmers have quietly moved on to their next wave of ad business --- all with the hope of gaining perhaps more money in the coming quarterly markets. Long-term MediaPost columnist Dave Morgan believes there is a lot more money to come. With all that set-top box data, addressable advertising and coming performance-oriented sales capabilities, there is no reason the current $70 billion TV advertising market couldn't add another $30 billion to get to a big $100 billion total. Many media agencies have been clamoring for this valuable gold mine of data for years -- stuff that would significantly help their businesses, and, of course, those media sellers. None of this will come soon enough for TV networks, which still rely on pure supply-and-demand models of the marketplace to spike TV revenues. One wonders if these two projections aren't related; TV networks and programmers were somewhat conservative in their price hikes at a crucial time when advertising seems to be threatened by new digital platforms. TV executives aren't just thinking about the long term of coming TV season, but many seasons to come. Who would ruin the chance of raising the anger of big TV marketers, which might increase the pace in sending their money elsewhere? In recent years, a highly priced upfront market can be followed by a low-moving, usually lower-price scatter market. But if networks executives played their cards right this time, the dynamics maybe changing just a bit -- with some price increases happening in scatter as well. Maybe there are 30 billion reasons why.
MediaPost
Study Reveals Ratings Nonresponders Habits
A new study from the Council for Research Excellence gets to the heart of trust in TV ratings. Just who are those people who decline to participate in ratings? And if they did participate, would ratings change? The daunting task of getting nonresponders to step up was the goal of the CRE’s latest study, “Measuring the Unmeasured Television Viewer,” set to be released this week at the Advertising Research Foundation’s annual conference in New York. The study is long overdue—it’s been nearly 30 years since the last comprehensive study of nonresponders was conducted. Yet, every year research firms find it harder and harder—not to mention more expensive—to get people to participate in surveys. In the 1980s, more than 60 percent of people contacted would agree to cooperate. Now, response rates in the 40s are considered good. “This study revealed more about unmeasured viewers than any other effort,” said Ceril Shagrin, chair of the CRE nonresponse bias committee and evp of corporate research for Univision Communications. Getting nonresponders to respond to a nonresponse study is a conundrum. It took a year to collect data, a year to analyze, and it cost $2.1 million. The study of 2,300 nonresponders in metered markets and 9,000 nonresponders in diary markets dove into comparisons of how people watch TV, how they make program choices and their TV equipment. The study’s good news should elicit a sigh of relief from TV researchers. There is little evidence of bias in the ratings. That doesn’t mean that the conclusions have no practical value. “The more nonresponders that can be turned into responders, the greater the reliability of the ratings,” Shagrin said. One of the biggest findings was that noncooperators are more likely to have cable, DVRs, big screen TVs and more TVs. For those households that have high-end equipment, there may be more than a little trepidation about having Nielsen come in and wire up the equipment with meters. Noncooperators also do more unplanned viewing and are more likely to watch TV in groups. Noncooperators in metered markets spend less time listening to radio, but in diary markets, they spend less time at home and more time listening to the radio.
MediaWeek
Health Care a Major Topic for Left-Leaning Talkers
When scholars assess how the Democratic Congress managed to pass a landmark health care overhaul in 2010, they might assign a bit of the credit to liberal talk show hosts. A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that health care was a “much bigger topic” for liberal hosts like Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz than for conservative hosts like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. In a report to be released on Monday, the organization said it found that the liberal hosts spent 44 percent of their airtime talking about health care from June 2009 to March 2010, while conservative hosts spent 26 percent of their airtime on the subject. Similarly, the organization found that MSNBC, which leans left in prime time, devoted 32 percent of its news time to health care, while Fox News, which leans right in prime time, devoted 20 percent. The report also said that reporters and pundits more commonly echoed words used by opponents of the Democratic proposals than terms used by supporters. Notably, it found more than 2,500 media references to “death panels.”
Media Decoder
Cooper Stands Up for Gulf Residents
“There aren’t any small people here,” the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said from Louisiana on his prime-time program Wednesday night, emphatically rejecting the remarks by BP’s chairman that the oil company cares “about the small people.” Mr. Cooper listed some of the local men and women who had been put out of work by BP’s gusher of oil under the Gulf of Mexico, and concluded, “This is a land of giants.” Some commentators dismissed Mr. Cooper’s unusual show-opener as shtick. But he has become one of the loudest media voices on behalf of gulf residents, reprising a role he played in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Cooper has spent more time in Louisiana — about 20 days — than any other national television anchor since the leak began. Evincing his frustration and his perseverance, he keeps a daily on-air tally of the number of days BP has ignored his interview requests. “I think there’s a basic lack of transparency in their dealings,” he of BP, in an interview. Mr. Cooper’s 10 p.m. program, “AC360,” and others like it have gained notice for trying to hold BP and the government accountable for the oil leak and the cleanup effort. As the crisis nears the two-month mark, there are signs that the news media are taking on a more adversarial role, just as they did after Hurricane Katrina and the widespread flooding of New Orleans. The oil spill gradually gained attention in late April and early May, and since then it has been the country’s dominant news story, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which tracks weekly news coverage. The coverage took a discernible and more aggressive turn last week as “questions about the effectiveness of the response by well owner BP and the government gained a larger share of attention,” the senior director for the project, Jon Morgan, wrote on its Web site.
NY Times
Larry King to Lead Star-Studded Gulf Fundraiser
Among the stars who will appear on an upcoming special show are Justin Bieber, Deepak Chopra, Cameron Diaz, Philippe Cousteau, Ted Danson, Kathy Griffin, Chelsea Handler, Randy Jackson, Kerry Kennedy, Sammy Kershaw, Lenny Kravitz, Jenny McCarthy, Tim McGraw, Alyssa Milano, Aaron Neville, Edward James Olmos, Victoria Principal, Robert Redford, Gloria Reuben, Tyson Ritter, Richard Simmons, Ian Somerhalder, Sam Trammell, Melania and Ivanka Trump and Pete Wentz, with a special performance by Sting. The show is the June 21 edition of CNN's "Larry King Live," which will be a special two-hour telethon called "Disaster In the Gulf: How You Can Help," a fundraiser from 8-10 p.m. ET, the network announced. The funds raised by the telethon will be distributed to United Way, The National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy, organizations working directly with the families, individuals and wildlife affected by the Gulf oil spill. Wendy Walker, senior executive producer of "Larry King Live," said in a statement, “The Gulf oil spill is a disaster both national and natural in scope, and the point of this effort is to get immediate relief to the people and wildlife who are in urgent need. The telethon’s proceeds go directly to the relief organizations who are working on the front lines to do just that.”
TV Week
ABC Nets Its Top NBA Telecast
ABC's coverage of Game 7 of the NBA Finals was the most-watched ever on the network and the best for the pro hoops league since 1998, during Michael Jordan's last game for the Chicago Bulls. ABC garnered a 15.6 rating and 28.2 million viewers with Game 7, according to Nielsen data, as the Los Angeles Lakers repeated as NBA champions, with an 83-79 over the Boston Celtics. The June 17 game, in which Kobe Bryant was named MVP and the Lakers captured their 16th title to move within one of the Celtics' league-best 17, was ABC's top telecast since it began airing The Finals in 2003. The previously alluded to Jazz-Bulls game on June 14, 1998 -- featuring Jordan's famous push-off against Bryon Russell before connecting on the game-winner -- dunked an NBA record 22.3 rating/ 38 share and some 35.9 million viewers for NBC, as Chicago completed its second three-peat. The 2010 Finals grew 26% in rating (10.6 versus 8.4) and viewers (18.1 million versus 14.4 million) versus LA's five-game triumph over Orlando in 2009. The seven-game series rose 45% in viewership (versus. 12.5 million) and 29% in rating (8.2) compared to the last full-length Finals, the San Antonio Spurs/Detroit Pistons in 2005. By way of comparison, Bulls-Jazz in 1998 was the NBA's best, with an 18.7 rating over six games.
MultiChannel
Betty White Brings TVLand Record Ratings
TVLand's premiere on Wednesday night, June 16th of "Hot in Cleveland," only drew a mixed response from TV critics, but the viewing public is clear in their chant of loving everything Betty White these days. Almost 5 million viewers tuned in, making it the most-viewed, highest rated show in TVLand history. The demo breakdown for the show was of interest: In TVLand's core 25-49 year-old audience, 2 million viewers watched, somewhat more than half of those (1.3 million) being women. In adults 18-49 years old, 1.6 million viewers tuned in. Besides White, the other stars of the show are Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick.
TV Week
Turkish Soaps Infiltrate Arab Culture
Led by “Gumus” (“Noor” in Arabic), a wave of Turkish melodramas, police procedurals and conspiracy thrillers are making their way onto Arab televisions, wielding a kind of soft power. Through the small screen, Turkey has begun to exercise a big influence at Arab dinner tables, in boardrooms and bedrooms from Morocco to Iraq of a sort that the United States can only dream about. Turkey’s cultural exports, not coincidentally, have also advanced its political ambitions as it asserts itself on that front, too, sending a flotilla to Gaza, defying the United States over sanctions on Iran, talking tough to its onetime ally, Israel, and giving Kemal Ataturk’s constitutionally secular state an Islamic tinge. Politics and culture go hand in hand, here as elsewhere. If most Arabs watch Turkish shows to ogle beautiful people in exotic locales, Arab women have also made clear their particular admiration for the rags-to-riches story of the title character in “Noor,” a strong, business-savvy woman with a doting husband named Muhannad. Dr. Shafira Alghamdi, a Saudi pediatrician, was on vacation here the other day, shopping with two Saudi friends, and volunteered how Arab husbands often ignore their wives, while on “Noor,” within what remains to Arabs a familiar context of arranged marriages, respect for elders and big families living together, Noor and Muhannad openly love and admire each other. “A lot of Saudi men have gotten seriously jealous of Muhannad because their wives say, ‘Why can’t you be more like him?’ Dr. Alghamdi said. Meanwhile, she was illustrating another consequence of the show: the sudden, spectacular boom in Arab tourism to Turkey. Millions of Arabs now flock here. Turkish Airlines has started direct flights to gulf countries (using soap stars as spokespeople). Sina Kologlu, the television critic for Milliyet, a Turkish daily, phrased it “U.S. cultural imperialism is finished. Years ago we took reruns of ‘Dallas’ and ‘The Young and the Restless.’ Now Turkish screenwriters have learned to adapt these shows to local themes with Muslim storylines, Turkish production values have improved, and Asians and Eastern Europeans are buying Turkish series, not American or Brazilian or Mexican ones. They get the same cheating and the children out of wedlock and the incestuous affairs but with a Turkish sauce on top.”
NY Times
PBS Makes Progress on File-Based Delivery
Set-top software vendors are winning fresh business as cable operators start to speed up their deployment of Tru2way, the Cable- Labs-developed software specification that allows programmers and operators to deliver standardized interactive applications to a range of digital cable devices. PBS' multi-year effort to create a new transmission system that delivers programming to public TV stations as compressed digital files may finally be coming to fruition, after delays due to lapses in federal funding, management changes and technology hurdles. PBS has already installed "catch servers" for its Next Generation Interconnection System-Non-Real-Time Program File Delivery Project (NGIS-NRT) at 15 stations for "alpha" testing, and if beta testing is successful this fall, it could begin a phased rollout to some 180 licensees by year-end. The NRT system is the second phase of NGIS, a federally funded, 10-year, $120 million initiative to overhaul the transmission infrastructure that PBS, along with American Public Television (APT) and the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), uses to deliver about 200 hours of programming each week to public TV stations. The first phase of NGIS, which replaced satellite receivers at stations and shifted linear feeds to a new SES satellite (AMC-21), was completed through 2007 and 2008. Since only about 25% of PBS programming consists of live feeds that are "passed through" and broadcast locally at the same time, PBS is seeking a more efficient way to deliver content that will be recorded, stored and played at a later date. PBS eventually wants to take advantage of MPEG-4 compression to significantly cut down on its satellite bandwidth, and the catch servers would need to transcode MPEG-4 files to MPEG-2 to work with legacy servers.
Broadcasting & Cable
Google to Unveil One-Click Payment System
On Thursday, word seemed to quietly leak out, in Italian no less, that Google would soon unveil a one-click payment system for content called “Newspass.” According to the newspaper La Repubblica, Google, a brand built on free apps for consumers, is creating the infrastructure for a system that would allow publishers to charge readers for content. “Later this year, Google will launch an integrated payment system that will allow users to buy (news content) with one click and publishers to use a single infrastructure for web, mobile and tablet to monetize their content,” the article suggested. So has Google, sometimes vilified as “tech tapeworms in the intestines of the Internet” for allegedly free-riding on publisher’s handiwork, suddenly decided to mend their ways? And if there has been some big change of heart, is the company now implementing some secret plan to become the toll keeper of a new paid news ecosystem? And even if it is, is it that big of a deal, anyway? No, not really, and we’ll see. As reported by the Italian newspaper, under the plan, consumers will have a single log-in across different content sites that would be flexible enough to accommodate various kinds of payments, including long-term subscriptions and one-time micropayments. As explained, people who surf for content behind a pay wall will see a single icon next to it and be able to one-click pay for access, similar to Google Checkout. Even though some of the details are new, there has been nothing secret about these plans. Google has been saying for years that they have both civic and self-interest in making sure that there is a well-funded flow of reliable news and within the last year, they have committed over and over to helping publishers make that happen, including helping them get paid for their content if that is the road they choose.
Media Decoder
Apple Unclear on Racy Apps Policy
After a winter purge in which it rid its iTunes store of apps with sexual or other material deemed racy, is Apple lightening up? Given Apple’s supposed nudity ban, some were surprised to see the June iPhone/iPad version of GQ ($4.99 per issue) with cover model Miranda Kerr dressed down to her stockings and a deep tan. Cosmopolitan has a saucy Sex Position of the Day ($1.99), with step-by-step instructions and colorful illustrations. Apple also is cool with Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit app, updated in May, with little more than videos of its models. Additionally, there are many other apps offering sex advice and photos of scantily clad women. Yet Apple has rejected other relationship service, gay culture and political content, fueling charges that it’s applying a double standard to its app offerings. (Playboy has an app, but it’s a nudity-free preview of the magazine.) “It’s a form of censorship, and having to have Apple approve your content is kind of concerning,” said Joe Landry, svp, group publisher of Here Media, a publisher of gay-themed media. “It is a challenge to understand where the line gets drawn from a content standpoint,” added Jeanniey Mullen, global evp and CMO of digital publishing platform Zinio. When full replicas of Playboy and Penthouse can be read on a PC but not on the iPad, she explained, “It is confusing to consumers.” A request for comment from Apple was not returned by deadline.
MediaWeek
Webbies Honor 'Father of the Internet'
"You ain't seen nothing yet." It's the five-word speech that both captured and wrapped up the awesomeness of the geek-meets-chic week otherwise known as Internet Week New York, a creative synthesis of panels, conferences, launches, and cocktail schmoozers that doesn't get much mainstream mention, but perhaps as those five words predict, soon will. Internet Week, now in its third year, came to a close Monday night at Cipriani's on Wall Street with a decently star-studded celebration of the very best and brightest behind the online world at the annual Webby Awards. Hosted by funnyman BJ Novak (The Office), the Webbys, now in its fourteenth year, was like a watered-down version of the MTV Movie Awards. There's no competition for attention among the honorees that make certain Hollywood award ceremonies the circus acts we see today. Instead, there's a sort of joie de vivre, an inspiring burst of intellectual excitement, that triumphed around the room among the hundreds of brilliantly creative minds seated at table after table. With a Twitteresque tinge to it, winners are allowed just five words for acceptance speeches, and style points seem to be awarded for the overtly silly or salacious. The five word cliché that started this article? Those words were the acceptance speech of the man who made it possible for you to connect to this site and read this piece, and, for the most part these days, do just about everything else your life entails, whether directly or indirectly. You might not know Vinton Cerf if you saw him on the street, but at the very least, you owe him some gesture of gratitude. Widely considered the "Father of the Internet," Cerf took this year's Lifetime Achievement honors, and deservedly so. Of course, if Cerf's speech holds true, then the Webbys should one day be as prominent as the Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, and Golden Globes. And Internet Week, at that point, should be one of the hottest tickets in the world. This year nearly 200 events were held. "The success of the week is really just a reflection of how much energy and enthusiasm there is for this industry, and how that's grown in the last year," said Davies. "It is really exploding." And apparently, somehow, that explosion is just a byte of what's to come. Complete list here: http://www.webbyawards.com/press/speeches.php
WCBS
Best Webby Speeches
At last night’s Webby Awards, where a five-word acceptance speech is the only barrier between the winners and a room full of scoffs and harsh judgment from peers, the offerings turned out to be a tad disappointing. Last year, Jimmy Fallon’s “Thank God, Conan got promoted” was honest, self-deprecating, and personal, without being an inside joke that no one could understand. In other words, everything a five-worder should be.
This year, however, contained a number of offenses. First, you had the cheaters (BBDO – “Please visit bbdoacceptancespeech.com”), followed by the overtly commercial (NYTimes.com – “All the news that’s fit.”), and worst of all, the downright boring (BBC News’ “About to become even better.”). Groan.
Others chose to use their five words for a cause. OK Go went with “Fight for net neutrality now,” while Isabella Rossellini, accepting for Green Porno, took on the oil spill (and if you have that kind of filthy mind, a nod to her series): “I say, plug the hole.” Alrighty then! If I were giving out awards for last night’s speeches, here’s how it’d go down:
WTF AWARD
Buzz Aldrin – “Humanity. Colonization. Phobos. Monolith. Mars!”
BEST USE OF NOSTALGIA
Pandora – “Didn’t kill the radio star”
THEY’RE PROBABLY TOTALLY SINCERE AWARD
CNET.com – “Found iPhone 5? Call CNet.”
HE’S POSSIBLY NOT TOTALLY SINCERE? AWARD
Selleckwaterfallsandwich.tumblr.com – “Mom, I’m not on drugs.”
BURRRRRN AWARD
Arianna Huffington – “Goldman Sachs shorted my speech.”
BEST (AND ONLY) USE OF THE WORDS “DANCE PARTY”
Amy Poehler – “Me. You. P.S.22. Dance party.”
BEST CROWD PLEASER (tie)
Robert Scheer from Truthdig.com – “Wall Street: What f—king thieves.”
Roger Ebert – “Veni, vidi, vici.” (Yes, he’s so awesome, he only needed three words.)
SPECIAL AWARD – THE BUZZY
Jake and Amir from collegehumor.com – “Holy f—ing s–t, Buzz Aldrin!”
EW Popwatch
-------------------------------
The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. We are a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and marketing skills. Check out thousands of cutting edge examples at our web site. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Sent via TVSpy's email servers. Visit TV Spy's Marketing Matters.
Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
|
