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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.
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Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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In This Issue
The Problem with One-Word Coverage Promises
Nonprofits on Journalistic Hiring Spree
Upfront Sales Stronger Than Expected
US Ad Spending Has Bottomed Out, Forecast Indicates
Social Net Sites Drive Viewers to TV: Study
Americans Optimistic, But Skeptical, Poll Finds
US-Ghana World Cup Match Attracts Record 14M Viewers
Daytime Emmy Winners
Hulu Plans Launch of 'Hulu Plus'
NPR Music Goes Mobile
iPhone's Dropped Call Dilemma
Steve Jobs: Blogless, Twitter-Free
ceoSteveJobs Tweets
Quotes
"From time immemorial, man has desired to comprehend the complexity of nature in terms of as few elementary concepts as possible."
- Abdus Salam
"Complexity that works is built up out of modules that work perfectly, layered one over the other."
- Kevin Kelly
"Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it."
- Alan Perlis
The Problem with One-Word Coverage Promises
by Graeme Newell
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Twitter: gnewell
Facebook: facebook.com/gnewell
A great tease will contain a solid promise of coverage that foreshadows a full and satisfying story. In the world of entertainment, the goal is to convey the depth and complexity of the story line. Any promises that smack of simplicity or shallowness just won't motivate a viewer.
We see this in movie trailers all the time. You will never see a promo that promises the basic plot of the movie. For example: "Will the hero get the girl?" Of course he will. "Can these clever thieves pull off the heist?" Of course they can. The goal of the trailer is to show the incredible depth of the story line and promise a tale that is unique to moviedom. "Can a ferret, two parakeets and a bank robbery lead to love for these midgets transvestites on a road trip across the Ukraine?" Now that sounds like a deep story line with some real twists. They have proven that the movie will have much more than the basic plot points.
The goal is the same in TV news promos and teases. Far too often, the components foreshadowed in a tease convey only a basic story. We make a specific promise of coverage, but we never convey the depth of the story line. The problem - we focus solely on facts, not on how those facts add up to a full and rich plot line complete with heroes, villains, twists and turns.
When writing in-show teases and promos, apply this simple test to determine the depth of your story line. Make a promise of coverage, then see how many words it requires to fulfill that promise. If the answer is just a word or two, you've failed to show the intricacy of your story. For example:
The promise: "Tonight, find out who hid the fugitive after the escape."
The answer: "His sister."
The answer contains just two words and does not convey the cool parts of the tale. Let's try again:
The promise: The fugitive's hide and seek game that stumped police for more than a week."
Fulfilling this promise of coverage requires a long explanation and a very intricate story. That is a sign you've done a great tease. If the explanation of the promise takes several sentences, then you have successfully conveyed depth of coverage. After hearing that promise, I get the feeling that the full story will be a real adventure - something very entertaining.
It is the same principle with weather:
The promise: "Find out when it will rain this week."
The answer: "Thursday"
This sounds like a basic weather forecast I can get on any channel. The goal is to convey an entire weather drama that promises unique coverage:
Better: "Some wild days of wind and rain are just around the corner. I'll show you when the heaviest showers will hit the Valley."
Same with sports:
The promise: "Who won the big game."
The answer: "The Broncos."
Sounds like basic scores and highlights I can get off the internet.
Better: The game-winning touchdown pass that blew this grudge match wide open in the second half."
In teasing and promos the goal is not the proverbial "KISS" formula -"keep it simple stupid." We want exactly the opposite. We want to foreshadow complexity and a brain stimulating drama.
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.
Nonprofits on Journalistic Hiring Spree
In a seventh-floor conference room festooned with framed articles and journalism awards, Managing Editor Gordon Witkin leads the morning discussion of stories his staff is pursuing. Their latest scoop -- on members of Congress dumping their BP stock -- "was a big success," he says. "It was in an AP story that sent it everywhere, including Yahoo and Google News." On the front burner, a dozen staffers around the table explain, is a joint series just approved by the New York Times. A piece underway with The Washington Post is being edited. There was a "tough conference call," says international director David Kaplan, with eight London producers on a 10-segment project with the BBC. Investigative reporting is increasingly being outsourced, and these offices off K Street serve as a boiler room for research that the big boys are less able to afford. The Center for Public Integrity is hardly a traditional news operation, but it is taking on a more prominent media role, fueled by a recent hiring spree that has added more than half a dozen journalists to its 45-person staff. "We see all our friends dying on the vine," Kaplan says. "The irony is we're doing pretty well, and we have a chance to fill these gaping holes." And the center fills those holes free of charge, furnishing information -- and sometimes staff-written pieces -- to the media outlets.
After years of feeling unloved and unwanted, some fortunate journalists are again finding their services in demand. While most print newsrooms remain shrunken and some major newspapers are mired in bankruptcy, new media incarnations are giving the restless and the jobless a second lease on life. AOL says it plans to add hundreds of journalists to its stable over the next year. Yahoo has opened a Washington bureau. The Wall Street Journal just created a New York section. And TBD, owned by Politico's corporate parent, is recruiting for its online effort to cover the Washington area. "There is a good buyer's market for people who want to do this work," says Bill Buzenberg, a no-nonsense former vice president for news at National Public Radio, who became the nonprofit group's executive director in 2007. The center is not a new Washington player, having been founded more than 20 years ago by Charles Lewis. And it is hardly the only nonprofit making a splash: The two-year-old ProPublica, based in Manhattan, shared a Pulitzer Prize with the New York Times Magazine this year for a probe of hospital deaths during Hurricane Katrina. But the center -- and any group with "public integrity" in its name is setting a high bar -- has been on a roll. The center has also received grants -- including $300,000 last year -- from the Open Society Institute founded by liberal philanthropist George Soros, sparking questions about whether its news agenda leans to the left. "We have a very clear firewall editorially," Buzenberg says. "We decide what we want to do and how we want to do it." Donors, he says, "may hate it and they may never fund us again, that's their right. . . . It isn't free to produce. We've got to get money." The larger issue is whether such not-for-profit outfits can become self-sustaining, or will forever be dependent on foundations and wealthy donors. If those checks stop coming, these operations could be crippled.
Washington Post
Upfront Sales Stronger Than Expected
The much-anticipated 2010 television advertising recovery is in full swing, and appears to have enough steam behind it to keep the momentum going through the second half of the year. The recently-concluded broadcast "upfront," the period in which advertisers buy commercials in advance for the fall TV season on CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox and the CW, was expected to be strong - and it more than lived up to those forecasts, said Tuna Amobi, entertainment analyst at Standard & Poor's Equity, in an interview Thursday. "It was probably stronger than expected, in terms of [price] increases, volume, and the breadth of advertiser participation," Amobi said. " [Ad rates] were up by a high-single digit [percentage] range, in general." This year's upfront generated between $8.1 billion and $8.7 billion, according to the ad industry trade magazine Advertising Age, compared with a total of $7.8 billion to $8.1 billion in 2009. The momentum appears to be holding as the second quarter winds down, Amobi added. "Advertisers seem to have confidence that the economy will hold up during the second half of the year. It will be interesting to hear how many of them cancel [ad] orders, because that will be an ongoing gauge of that confidence." Big winners in the 2010 upfront were CBS and Fox, said one media buyer. "CBS has always been in a strong position in the past, but they never completely parlayed that into the best upfront numbers. This year they were successful," the buyer explained. The network, a perennial leader among most household viewers, has "done a very good job" with its schedule, the buyer said, maintaining stability but taking calculated risks that could pay dividends. Though Fox's ratings champion "American Idol" faces a major challenge with the departure of top judge Simon Cowell, the network has built-in advantages that it again exploited, including the fact that, without any 10 p.m. shows, it simply has less commercial time to sell. "They also offer a more concentrated younger audience than the other networks do," the buyer explained. "So there are a number of categories catering to that audience -- the movie studios, the telco companies, and the autos, that are going to be attracted to Fox. Also, they have the Super Bowl [in 2011], which jumpstarted a stronger NFL market for them."
MarketWatch
US Ad Spending Has Bottomed Out, Forecast Indicates
A new forecast indicates ad spending in the United States bottomed out earlier this year, with the overall figure for 2010 expected to decline 1.3 percent to $145 billion, down from the $147 billion spent in 2009. U.S. ad spending for 2011 is projected to increase 2.5 percent to $149 billion in the most recent 70-nation forecast report from GroupM. The U.S. trend for 2010 is in contrast to the global advertising picture, where spending in measured media is expected to increase 3.5 percent in 2010 to $451 billion. That figure was revised up from a projected 1 percent growth six months ago. The study, “This Year, Next Year” is part of GroupM's media and marketing forecasting series drawn from data supplied by parent company WPP's worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research and specialist communications. It was released Friday by GroupM Futures Director Adam Smith and GroupM Chief Investment Officer Rino Scanzoni. "The U.S media marketplace has clearly bottomed out earlier this year and we expect moderate growth in 2011 consistent with GDP improvement,” said Scanzoni. “Television and online spending will outpace other media as they lead with return on investment metrics." If achieved, the global dollar total of $541 billion for 2010 equals the amount spent in 2006-2007, or in 2004-2005 when accounting for consumer price inflation. The report also forecast a 4.5 percent global increase for 2011.
TV Week
Social Net Sites Drive Viewers to TV: Study
A study released by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing shows that social networking sites are playing an increasing role in determining what viewers watch on TV. According to the CTAM study -- "CTAM Tracking Study, Wave 5, Exploring Evolving Trends in Viewership" - 79% of regular social networkers said they would watch a television show based on a recommendation from a friend on a social networking site. In addition, the CTAM study also showed that 33% of regular social networkers reporting they were made aware of a new television show because of something they saw on a social networking site. "Over one-half of adults who visited social networking sites in the past month visited them every day," said CTAM president and CEO Char Beales in a statement. "These findings underscore the potential ‘water cooler' effect social networking sites can have, as well as the opportunities for television programmers and advertisers to interact with viewers in an even more meaningful way." Viewers are still watching the majority of programming on TV sets, according to the study. CTAM found that about 80% of those who are also consuming content through nonlinear viewing platforms such as digital video recorders, the Internet and Video on Demand still report watching either the same amount or more regularly scheduled television on the TV set. "It's no surprise that the majority of American viewers still prefer to view content on a television set," said CTAM vice president of research, Clay Collier in a statement. "But what this study shows is an emerging trend that says the love affair with television programming transcends the television set, as consumers report accessing content on a wide variety of platforms."
MultiChannel
Americans Optimistic, But Skeptical, Poll Finds
Americans remain a generally upbeat lot, but all the skepticism, snark and dismal rhetoric being bandied about may be taking their toll. Nearly two-thirds of people answering a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press/Smithsonian Magazine poll said they are optimistic about their future and that of the country - and a majority expect the economy to be strong in the future. But while it's still a positive picture, it's much less so than a just over a decade earlier. Some 64 percent of those polled said they are optimistic about their future, for example, but that's down from 81 percent in a similar poll in 1999. At the same time, the proportion optimistic about the nation's future slipped from 70 percent to 61 percent, and those expecting a stronger economy fell from 64 percent to 56 percent. If the changing attitude is the downside, Americans see quite a lot to look forward to when asked about the next 40 years. For example, 71 percent expect cancer will be cured by 2050, 66 percent expect artificial limbs to be working better than real ones and 53 percent say ordinary people will travel in space. But the message remains mixed, with 72 percent expecting a major energy crisis, 58 percent saying there is likely to be another world war and 53 percent anticipating a terrorist attack on the U.S. involving nuclear weapons. Speaking of bad news, they don't expect to read about it in the morning paper, as 64 percent of Americans say printed newspapers will cease to exist by 2050. Some 63 percent also anticipate the demise of paper money, and don't expect the check to be in the mail - 61 percent say almost no one will send letters by 2050. Americans also had a mixed outlook on social issues, with 68 percent predicting race relations will improve by 2050, but 58 percent saying the gap between rich and poor will get bigger. Just half expect health care to be more affordable and only 49 percent anticipate improvement in public schools. A whopping 89 percent expect to see a woman president within 40 years and 69 percent say a Latino president is likely. A significant 41 percent of respondents expect Jesus Christ to return by 2050. That's the same share that expect to see a single world currency.
Yahoo News
US-Ghana World Cup Match Attracts Record 14M Viewers
ABC's coverage of the U.S. loss to Ghana attracted some 14.86 million viewers, making it the most-watched men's World Cup match ever in the United States, preliminary ratings showed. The 1999 women's World Cup final, in which the U.S. defeated China, is the only match to average more U.S. viewers (17.97 million). Saturday's 2-1 defeat — which sent the American squad packing from the tournament — was a case of history repeating itself: Ghana sent the U.S. team home by the same score in the 2006 World Cup. The 50 games that have been carried so far on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC are averaging 2.8 million viewers.
Yahoo TV
Daytime Emmy Winners
Last night's "Daytime Emmy Awards" turned into a de facto tribute to CBS's "As the World Turns," the 53-year-old show that is going off the air in September. "World" won three of the four major acting awards, including lead actor and actress in a drama series for Michael Park and Maura West, during the ceremony, which took place at the Las Vegas Hilton. Backstage, the actors lamented the end of the soap, which wrapped production last week and will air its final episode on Sept. 17, a year after "Guiding Light" drew to an end and at a time when the very future of soap operas is in question what with falling ratings and budgetary cutbacks. But "World" at least got a proper goodbye, after earning 13 Emmy nominations for its final season. In addition to Park and West, Julie Pinson earned best supporting actress. The exiting show got the biggest buzz at last night's ceremony, but it did not receive the best daytime drama award. That went to "The Bold and the Beautiful" for the second straight year. Rookie talk show host Mehmet Oz won best host for "Dr. Oz," while "The Doctors" won best informative talk show. Ellen DeGeneres, who took her name out of the running for best talk show host after winning several times, did take home best entertainment talk show. "Cash Cab" collected two awards, one for best game show and one for best game show host. And "All My Children" creator Agnes Nixon received a lifetime achievement award and Dick Clark was also feted for contributions to daytime over the years. Below is a list of last night's major winners:
MediaLife Magazine
Hulu Plans Launch of 'Hulu Plus'
Some of you may finally get a chance to pay for Hulu. The video Web site is finalizing plans to launch its subscription service, and people familiar with the company say a beta test of “Hulu Plus” could launch as early as next week. If you’re in a select group, that is. One person familiar with the site, owned by a joint venture of broadcasters and Providence Equity Partners, says the initial test could be limited to 10,000 people. The Hulu Plus pitch, as I’ve previously reported: $9.95 a month for access to a deeper catalog of shows than the free service currently offers, plus the ability to watch it on devices other than a laptop or PC, including Apple’s iPad. Other reports this month indicate that the service may also be available on Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PS3 game consoles. I’m also told that Hulu’s network owners–GE’s (GE) NBC, Disney’s (DIS) ABC and News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox–are still hammering out rights deals for particular shows. So it’s possible that the launch could be pushed back or that the service will have weird gaps in its catalog when it does launch. Hulu says it is already turning a profit from ad sales and is on track to generate more than $200 million in revenue this year. A successful subscription service would beef up those numbers.
Media Memo
NPR Music Goes Mobile
Music has long been part of NPR’s identity, but perhaps never more than in recent years, as its NPR Music Web site has become an increasingly popular outlet for artists and music fans. The site, at www.npr.org/music, features many artists who don’t get heavy airplay on commercial radio, from the soprano Renée Fleming to the jazz musician Fred Hersch. But big-name pop acts get attention too. This month the Web site streamed 45 shows from the Bonnaroo festival, including the sets by the Dave Matthews Band and Tori Amos. More than 40 can still be found on the Web site. And on Wednesday NPR Music went mobile, introducing an iPhone application that provides a platform for the more than 300 pieces of new content — from videos to blog posts, podcasts to live concerts — that are added to the site each month. “There are music magazines and places to hear music,” said Anya Grundmann, executive director of NPR Music, a 10-member crew based in Washington. “We’re trying to tap into all of the different ways to present music.” Music coverage is nothing new to public radio. But Kinsey Wilson, NPR’s general manager of digital media, said that since the music site went live in 2007, its staff has “provided a hub where things can originate,” rather than have music coverage spread across its news and culture desks. The app’s release coincides with the release of the newest iPhone (it will work on the iPod Touch as well) and is designed with the latest version of Apple’s operating system in mind. That system allows multitasking, so a user can stream a featured live concert from the app while surfing the Internet, for example.
NY Times
iPhone's Dropped Call Dilemma
Apple’s touch-screen smartphone has been a sensation since Day 1 three years ago, and many who own the device believe it to be almost perfect — if only it worked better as a phone. So it is not surprising that as the first boxes of the new iPhone 4 landed in the hands of the earliest adopters late Wednesday, the antenna’s reception quickly became an Internet obsession. What surprised many of them: the precious little bars that signal network connections inexplicably disappeared when they cradled the phone in their hands a particular way. Sometimes, but not always, the cradling resulted in dropped calls. In the hours before Apple weighed in on the problem, iPhone fans turned to one another on the Internet in a zealous exercise in crowd-sourcing for answers to the mystery. They were all the more baffled because the iPhone 4 was designed to have better reception. A metal band that wraps around the edges of the device is supposed to pull in a stronger signal; software is supposed to choose the section of the signal with the least congestion. A user calling himself FFArchitect appeared to be the first to report the phenomenon on MacRumors.com, a site for the Apple-obsessed. He said that touching the band in various places caused reception problems. His report, like many that followed, included a video demonstrating the problem. Soon after, Gizmodo, a popular site for gadget fans, picked up on it, calling the phenomenon “weird.” “When the guy holds the iPhone in his hands, touching the outside antenna band in two places, he drops reception,” Jesus Diaz, a writer for the blog, said. “Placing the phone down gets him 4 bars.” From then on, report after report began to ricochet across technology Web sites, and Mr. Diaz posted updates as new stories from around the Web dropped into his in-box. “This is worrying,” Mr. Diaz wrote. Analysts and investors did not appear overly worried. “Apple has not had one introduction that hasn’t had issues,” said Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company. “Sometimes these things get blown out of proportion.”
NY Times
Steve Jobs: Blogless, Twitter-Free
A primer for the British press (or at least, the Daily Mail): Steve Jobs doesn’t have a blog. He doesn’t use Twitter, either. So any time you read something that the Apple CEO wrote on Twitter, or in a blog, be aware that you’re reading a parody. Something that’s not true. Definitely not something you want to use in the lead of your story.
Media Memo
ceoSteveJobs Tweets
I find your lack of faith disturbing.
Actually, the new iPhone has no problems. Apple just happens to be issuing a highly-recommended 'software update' soon.
iPhone 4: Reinventing the way you hold your phone, again.
We may have to recall the new iPhone. This, I did not expect.
Oh yeah, everyone's been holding the mouse wrong too.
Just FaceTimed my wife. If you know what I mean.
People who live in houses shouldn't throw glass phones.
To prevent signal problems with the new iPhone, avoid touching the phone at all times.
The best way to fix the weak signal on the new iPhone? Buy a $29.00 Bumper case, only from Apple.
Be careful not to leave your #iPhone4 at the Genius Bar on the way out of the store. Gizmodo might pick it up.
I heard the CEO of AT&T got married recently. The service was great but the reception was terrible.
The unshaven unemployed population is starting to line up at Apple stores. Ugh, go stand outside a FedEx sort facility.
I think we've exhausted the letter "i". It's time to move on to "j".
If you have received your iPhone 4 early in the mail, please do not open it until the official launch on June 24.
Of course the iPad is magical. It's like holding David Copperfield in your hands.
We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Android has to lose.
iOS4 introduces multitasking, folders, books, mail and spell checking. Everything you've had in your office for years.
You can't "use" a Mac. The Mac uses you.
Nothing like breakfast in bed on Father's Day. The girls prepared apple juice, apple sauce, Apple Jacks, apple fritters...
Every iPhone 4 comes with a built-in reality distortion field.
iLife is fragile.
My iPad runs Flash. And I hate it.
Gore: Global warming. Bono: Famine. Teresa: Poverty. Jobs: Pornography.
Android: Amateur New Device Radically Overhyped, Inferior & Disappointing
Apple's In-Ear Headphones revolutionized music. So today we're introducing a new breakthrough: In-Mouth Microphones.
Just found a Microsoft Courier prototype in a bar... Left it there.
http://twitter.com/ceostevejobs ------------------------------------- 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
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(919) 217-4438
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