The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com


In This Issue
Promo Writing Secrets from the Movie Trailer Masters
Women in Film
Obama Wins!... Ad Age's Marketer of the Year
Voters Convinced Media Supports Obama: PEJ Survey
Hollywood Awaits to Pitch Palin
Is 'SNL's" Palin Flailin'?
Attention Wal-Mart Voters...
Fox World Series Draws 14.6 Mil Viewers
NASCAR Stunt Earns a 'Porker' for FCC's Martin
Bad Economy Good for Low-Rated Shows
Killer Twitter?
Pagans, Christians and Halloween


Quotes

"There was never yet an uninteresting life.  Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy."
- Mark Twain

"What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out?"
- Alfred Hitchcock

“I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.”
- Frank Capra


Promo Writing Secrets from the Movie Trailer Masters
by Graeme Newell
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.602communications.com

Last week’s article contained tips for writing promos and teases that focus on the human elements of a news story and rely less on cold facts.  In today’s article we learn how to inject a compelling promise of a complex story right into the opening line.

Who produces the best promos in the world?  It's Hollywood.  I am continually amazed at how movie trailers can turn the most awful movie into a transcending emotional event.  You know the movie probably sucks, but somehow that trailer still manages to catch you.  It knows just how to find that emotional soft spot deep inside your hardened heart and turn it into a laugh, a tear or a fright.

If you sit down and analyze the writing of these emotional masters, you will find a familiar pattern.  The copy is rife with complex story foreshadowing and unexpected character emotional twists.  Each element promises an amazing emotional roller coaster filled to the brim with pathos.

In the news promo world, you will find a radically different writing style.  This kind of complex foreshadowing is rarely practiced.  If you analyze the structure of a typical promo, you will find that most of the lines have one of two primary purposes:

1) Set Up Lines
These lines grab attention, and provide needed background and context for the topic being promoted.

2) Promise Lines
These lines describe the coverage the station will provide on that topic.

So take a look at this typical two-line news topical:
"Five firemen bravely battle a blazing warehouse fire.  Tonight learn how the men got the fire under control so quickly."

The first line sets the scene so the second line can showcase the station's interesting coverage.  The opening line is meant to snap the viewer out of their viewing stupor and take notice.  "Hey listen up!  There's a dangerous fire happening here.  This is worth noticing!"  Without that attention grabber, the promise line would lack context and might be missed.

But certain set-up lines are better than others.  They contain a style of writing that adds the benefit of complex and compelling foreshadowing for the promoted story.  In essence, they quietly catch your attention by conveying the "twist" in the plot of the story.  A typical first line in a typical promo will merely inform and get attention:

"Little Johnny was born with a cleft palate."

We have introduced the main character for the story and established that he has a birth defect.  But adding a foreshadowing component to this same opening line can take these basics even farther.  It establishes the twist in the story line.  For example:

"When little Johnny was born with a cleft palate, his parents never dreamed it would begin a journey that would change all their lives."

What we're doing is setting up the best part of the story - the human drama that will unfold.  It goes beyond the facts and promises a full and rich story that does more than provide context.

This style of writing is one of the things that makes movie trailers so compelling. More and more, movie trailers are viewed exclusively on the internet, so trailer producers know they must enroll you in the storyline within a few seconds or lose you to the zillion other choices on trailer aggregation sites.

Take a look at the skillfully crafted foreshadowing opening lines from a random collection of recent movie trailers.  In just a few words, they manage to convey a complex story line that reels you in and leaves you wanting more.

Push
“There are some people in this world with extraordinary gifts. You don’t ask to be special.  We’re just born that way.

Valkyrie
“North Africa is lost.  You can serve Germany or the Fuhrer, but not both.”

Yes Man
“No - it’s the first word we learn – and some people never grow out of it.”

The Soloist
“A journalist lost for words and a life that’s lost its way.”

Filth and Wisdom
“When I die, I’m going to go straight to hell.  And you ask me why?  Because I told the truth.”

What you will notice is that all of these movie trailer opening lines leave you hungry to find out about the next part of the story.  Using just a few words, they pull you deeper into the plot and awaken your curiosity.

So how do you find this beguiling twist inside a news story?  And how do you concisely convey it in a promo or tease?  Well it starts with a full inventory of the plot points in your story.  Next week, I’ll tell you how to pull plot lines out of news packages and write promo opening lines that tempt like a Hollywood blockbuster.

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and web marketing specialist.  His teasing seminars immediately increase audience retention.  He guarantees you will get an immediate ratings increase or his workshop is free.  Find out more here.

Women in Film
From Mary Pickford, circa 1920 to modern day Halle Berry, this video features famous women in film, each seamlessly morphing into the next classic beauty: Glumbert.com


Obama Wins!... Ad Age's Marketer of the Year
Just weeks before he demonstrates whether his campaign's blend of grass-roots appeal and big media-budget know-how has converted the American electorate, Sen. Barack Obama has shown he's already won over the nation's brand builders.  He's been named Advertising Age's marketer of the year for 2008.  Mr. Obama won the vote of hundreds of marketers, agency heads and marketing-services vendors gathered here at the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference.  He edged out runners-up Apple and Zappos.com.  The rest of the shortlist, selected by Ad Age's editorial staff, was rounded out by megabrand Nike, turnaround story Coors and Mr. Obama's rival, Sen. John McCain.  "I think he did a great job of going from a relative unknown to a household name to being a candidate for president," said Linda Clarizio, president of AOL's Platform A, the sponsor of the opening-night dinner attended by 750 where the votes were cast.  "I honestly look at [Obama's] campaign and I look at it as something that we can all learn from as marketers," said Angus Macaulay, VP-Rodale marketing solutions "To see what he's done, to be able to create a social network and do it in a way where it's created the tools to let people get engaged very easily.  It's very easy for people to participate."  Jon Fine, marketing and media columnist for BusinessWeek, pointed to Mr. Obama's facility with engaging voters in social-media channels.  "It's the f*ckin' Web 2.0 thing," he said.  In introducing the winner to the crowd, Ad Age Editor Jonah Bloom joked, "I'm surprised.  I thought you [all] made more than $250,000."  While Mr. Obama may have won the most votes, he didn't get them from several of the bigger marketers in the room, many of whom supported Apple, Coors and Nike instead.  Procter & Gamble Co. had a split ticket.  Outgoing Global Marketing Officer Jim Stengel, currently on special assignment as he prepares to leave the company at the end of the month, voted for Apple.  "Year in and year out, Apple delivers great innovation, customer service and user experience," Mr. Stengel said. "It has amazing consistency."  His successor, Marc Pritchard, was a Nike supporter because of its development of a global community of users.  "I think [the concept] is going to be huge," he said.

How they voted
Marketer.....% of votes
Obama........36.1%
Apple........27.3%
Zappos.......14.1%
Nike..........9.4%
Coors.........8.7%
McCain........4.5%

AdAge


Voters Convinced Media Supports Obama: PEJ Survey
The majority of voters are convinced that the media want Barack Obama to be the next president.  That is according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's weekly news interest index survey.  According to a poll of likely voters, 70% say they think the media favors Obama, while only 9% say McCain.  It is no surprise that journalists are believed to favor Democrats.  That has been the case by wide margins since the poll was started in 1992, but the spread is the largest ever, topping the 59% to 17% difference in 1996 between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.  And in 2004, only 50% of likely voters thought the media favored John Kerry, to 22% saying they favored George W. Bush.  When the voters are broken out by party, the feeling of Republicans is almost unanimous (90%) that the media favors the Democrat, but 62% of Democrats and independents say the same thing.  That result follows one by PEJ that found that there were three times as many negative stories about McCain as positive in the last six weeks.  The study also found that 33% of respondents said that their view of Obama had become more favorable, while 23% said it had become less so.  McCain's was the opposite, with 34% saying their opinion had become more negative, while 24% said it had become more favorable.
Broadcasting & Cable


Hollywood Awaits to Pitch Palin
As campaign managers for Sarah Palin plot last-minute tactics to get her elected, Hollywood bigwigs are convening strategy sessions of their own.  Their goal: finding the ideal on-air vehicle for the vp candidate if and when she exits politics.  Love her or hate her -- there doesn't seem to be much middle ground with Palin -- the 44-year-old hockey mom has captured the public imagination in a way no politician has since, well, Barack Obama.  But as more and more polls cast doubt on the McCain-Palin ticket, producers and agents across the entertainment world are discussing possibilities for capitalizing on her fame, ranging from an Oprah-style syndicated talk show to a Sean Hannity-like perch in cable news or on radio.  "Any television person who sees the numbers when she appears on anything would say Sarah Palin would be great," said veteran morning-show producer Steve Friedman, citing the double-digit ratings gains her appearances on "Saturday Night Live" and "CBS Evening News" generated.  "The passion she has on each side, love and hate, makes television people say, 'Wow, imagine the viewership.' "  Although none of the execs has -- at least as far as anyone is admitting -- made direct overtures to the Alaska governor, they are readying their battle plans if she decides to give up her day job.  Of course, even if the McCain-Palin ticket loses, the Tina Fey look-alike still has a job in politics for at least another two years as governor of Alaska.  A spokesman for Palin did not return calls for comment.
Hollywood Reporter


Is 'SNL's" Palin Flailin'?
So, are people tiring of Sarah Palin—or of Tina Fey's Sarah Palin?  Last night's Saturday Night Live special, featuring Fey's latest appearance as the Republican veep candidate (and maybe Will Ferrell's final cameo as the outgoing President Bush), was watched by the short-run show's smallest audience.  How big was the dip in the polls?  Actually, it was rather small.  The episode, the third of three half-hour prime-time specials, was down a tick from last week, averaging an estimated 8.5 million for NBC, and helping ease the pain of Kath & Kim (5 million).  Still, it was no match for last weekend's SNL, which drew some 14 million for the much-anticipated Palin-Fey summit, or the premiere of SNL Weekend Update Thursday, which pulled in about 10 million two weeks ago.  Interestingly, last night was the first time Fey put on her pageant-walking shoes for a Thursday SNL.  Previously, she spoofed the Alaskan governor solely on Saturday's SNL, to great ratings, if not comedic, effect.  All together, Fey's now done Palin five times.  If Palin fatigue is setting in, then Fey, at least, has an exit strategy.  Starting next week, she's back as Liz Lemon on the returning 30 Rock.  SNL, meanwhile, isn't so much working on an exit strategy as a blow-out, going-out-of-campaign-business special.  The 90-minute, prime-time Presidential Bash 2008 is scheduled to air Nov. 3—the night before Election Day. 
Yahoo TV


Attention Wal-Mart Voters...
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc has launched a video-based voter guide that allows both major candidates, Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, to share their views on issues with the company's customers and employees.  Via the company's Web sites, both candidates will present their views on issues beginning today through Election Day to the 136 million Wal-Mart customers and its 1.4 million associates.  "We know that, like most Americans, our customers and associates are concerned with a number of important issues, including health care and the environment, with the economy at the top of the list," said Leslie Dach, Wal-Mart's executive vice president of corporate affairs and government relations.  "As so many pollsters have pointed out, the 'Wal-Mart Mom' is at the center of the election and we're pleased to offer Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain the opportunity to speak directly to her through these videos."  The videos can be viewed at walmart.com, samsclub.com and walmartstores.com, the company's corporate Web site.  The Web sites will also offer information about other presidential candidates.
WebProNews


Fox World Series Draws 14.6 Mil Viewers
Fox television's broadcast of the opening game of Major League Baseball's World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays drew 14.6 million viewers, a drop from last year, according to preliminary data.  The game, won by Philadelphia 3-2, allowed the News Corp. network to lead the night in total prime-time viewers and the 18- to-49 age group that advertisers covet, the network said today in an e-mailed statement, citing Nielsen Co. data.  The audience declined 14 percent from the 16.9 million viewers of last year's Game 1, according to Baseball Almanac.  Among series openers this decade, the ratings are closest to 2005's battle between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox.
Bloomberg


NASCAR Stunt Earns a 'Porker' for FCC's Martin
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has been named Porker of the Month by Citizens For Government Waste (CAGW) for spending $355,000 to sponsor a NASCAR racer to promote the DTV transition, pointing out that the driver, David Gilliland, was from his home state.  It apparently would not be the first award for Maritn, but would be his first individual nod.  The entire FCC got an award in July 2004 for a 5-0 decision to approve a Nextel spectrum-swapping plan.  "Awardees are selected based on their willful neglect of tax dollars and the sheer arrogance of their conduct.," said the group, which has long been critical of Martin on issues including network neutrality.  "Even though the commission has inundated networks with paid announcements for months, Martin considered it necessary to use additional taxpayer dollars to pay for the car and driver to bear slogans such as “Is Your TV ready for Digital?,” CAGW said.  CAGW points to an NAB statement that the public is "largely aware" of the switch as partial justification for its conclusion that the NASCAR sponsorship was "not the most efficient use of resources," a quote it attributes to FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.  CAGW also suggests that Martin made the choice with an eye toward his political future--almost all the awards go to Congressmen and women.  "Not only does this expenditure show poor judgment, the underlying motivation for the contract has also raised eyebrows," CAGW wrote.  "Martin is generally expected to be replaced as FCC Chairman by the next president, after which he may attempt to launch a political career in his home state of North Carolina."  They also point out that Martin "chose Wilmington, North Carolina, as the test site for the switch to DTV," adding: "Considering Martin’s ability to sequester taxpayer money for his prospective constituents, he is well on his way to becoming a successful legislative porker."  To be fair, only a handful of markets were identified by FCC staffers as appropriate for the test, and Wilmington was the one out of that group that agreed to do it.  The FCC has also been under pressure from Congress to do more DTV education."  It is not the first time that NASCAR and the FCC have stood together on the "dubious award" victory stand.  Back in 2005, both the FCC and NASCAR received "Muzzle" awards from the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression for stifling expression.  The FCC's was for the indecency crackdown it will be defending in two weeks before the Supreme Court.  In a related award, NASCAR earned its Muzzle for the decision to fine drivers in an attempt to avoid running afoul of the FCC’s indecency crackdown.  Some drivers still let lose with choice comments on-air..
Broadcasting & Cable


Bad Economy Good  for Low-Rated Shows
Sarah Connor might have the struggling economy to thank for not being terminated.  Industry observers say the recent cluster of low-rated shows granted full-season orders might have something to do with network executives watching the plunging Dow rather than their shows' falling Nielsens.  No execs would talk on the record, but the economic crisis, combined with the cost of marketing a new series, the lack of new programming inventory because of the WGA strike and the anticipated difficulty of locking down new advertiser commitments, has networks inclined to play it safe.  "Most years there would be more cancellations then there have been to date," said John Rash, senior vp/director of media negotiations at Campbell Mithun.  "But the dual dynamics of schedule stability keeping ad dollars in place is combining with delayed programming development from last season's writers strike."  NBC's "Knight Rider," ABC's "Private Practice" and Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" recently received orders for an additional nine episodes apiece.  Such a move typically indicates a network's confidence in a show's performance and signals the inclination to keep a series on the air for the duration of the season.  But all three shows have posted modest ratings in recent weeks, with "Knight Rider" and "Terminator" having numbers that in previous years would have resulted in cancellation.  The most obvious reasons for the pickups are that many series this fall are doing poorly, and these shows are performing among the best of the worst.  Networks are loath to exit the fall without at least one series to tout as a success.  Plus, the writers strike, as Rash noted, has delayed quality midseason replacements.  And with ratings declining overall because of increasing DVR penetration and audience erosion to cable networks and the Internet, the bar for success keeps being lowered.  But the added element of economic worries this fall makes picking up low-rated shows potentially more attractive, too.  An August survey by the Association of National Advertisers reported that the majority of marketers expect their advertising budgets to be reduced in the next six months.
Hollywood Reporter


Killer Twitter?
Could Twitter become terrorists' newest killer app?  A draft Army intelligence report, making its way through spy circles, thinks the miniature messaging software could be used as an effective tool for coordinating militant attacks.  For years, American analysts have been concerned that militants would take advantage of commercial hardware and software to help plan and carry out their strikes.  Everything from online games to remote-controlled toys to social network sites to garage door openers has been fingered as possible tools for mayhem.  This recent presentation -- put together on the Army's 304th Military Intelligence Battalion and found on the Federation of the American Scientists website -- focuses on some of the newer applications for mobile phones: digital maps, GPS locators, photo swappers, and Twitter mash-ups of it all.  The report is roughly divided into two halves.  The first is based mostly on chatter from Al-Qaeda-affiliated online forums. One Islamic extremist site discusses, for example, the benefits of "using a mobile phone camera to monitor the enemy and its mechanisms."  Another focuses on the benefits of the Nokia 6210 Navigator, and how its GPS utilities could be used for "marksmanship, border crossings, and in concealment of supplies."  Such software could allow jihadists to pick their way across multiple routes, identifying terrain features as they go.  A third extremist forum recommends the installation of voice-modification software to conceal one's identity when making calls.  Excerpts from a fourth site show cell phone wallpapers that wannabe jihadists can use to express their affinity for radicalism.  Then the presentation launches into an even-more theoretical discussion of how militants might pair some of these mobile applications with Twitter, to magnify their impact.  After all, "Twitter was recently used as a countersurveillance, command and control, and movement tool by activists at the Republican National Convention," the report notes.  "The activists would Tweet each other and their Twitter pages to add information on what was happening with Law Enforcement near real time."  Terrorists haven't done anything similar, the Army report concedes - although it does note that there are "multiple pro and anti Hezbollah Tweets."  Steven Aftergood, a veteran intelligence analyst at the Federation of the American Scientists, doesn't dismiss the Army presentation out of hand.  But nor does he think it's tackling a terribly seriously threat.  "Red-teaming exercises to anticipate adversary operations are fundamental.  But they need to be informed by a sense of what's realistic and important and what's not," he tells Danger Room.  "If we have time to worry about 'Twitter threats' then we're in good shape.  I mean, it's important to keep some sense of proportion."
Wired


Pagans, Christians and Halloween
Halloween and paganism is irrevocably linked in most people’s minds.  However, this should not be so, for modern secular Halloween and paganism actually have very little to do with each other.

The Halloween that is celebrated today in the United States is a day when children and adults alike can dress up and collect candy.  People host Halloween parties where guests can bob for apples and drink punch.  So, what does that have to do with paganism?  Very little, really.  Actually, pagans don’t even celebrate Halloween as a spiritual holiday.

The pagan holiday is called Samhain, and depending on the pagan, is observed on October 31st or another date in mid-November.  Samhain is a time when pagans honor their family members and friends who have passed away.  In early times, it was believed that the veil between this world and the Otherworld was thin, and our ancestors could give advice and guidance.  People put candles in hollowed out turnips so the spirits could find their way, and set out food as offerings.  The spirits of loved ones are not to be feared—pagans greet them just as they would a living relative who has been away for a while.  Some pagans also celebrate Samhain as the start of a new year.  Samhain is the time to contemplate death, and on the other side of death is a new life.

Christianity actually created Halloween.  As Christianity was spreading throughout Europe, the clergy had difficulties convincing the general populace to stop celebrating their pagan holidays.  In most cases, the church made up holidays that occurred at the same time of year as the old pagan festivals.  Instead of celebrating the Winter Solstice, the church told people to celebrate Christ’s birth during the long winter months.  And instead of Samhain, the church convinced people that spirits needed to be scared away by dressing up in ghoulish costumes, and Halloween was born.

Pagans all have different opinions of Halloween.  For some, Halloween is a part of their American culture that is very separate from their spiritual beliefs.  They dress up, trick or treat, and attend Halloween parties, and separately take part in rituals for Samhain.  While the two holidays may fall on the same day, they’re each part of different cultures and serve different purposes.  Halloween is for having fun, indulging the imagination, and being silly.  Samhain is a time to remember loved ones who have passed on and to be grateful for the life our ancestors have given them.

Some pagans are offended by the modern, secular Halloween.  Samhain is an important festival in the spiritual lives of pagans, and they view Halloween as vulgar and sacrilegious.  Pagans celebrated Samhain long before Christians started celebrating Halloween, and they resent that Christians have “stolen” their holiday.  These pagans don’t give out candy on Halloween or attend Halloween parties.  They participate in their Samhain activities, and that’s all.

Many pagans are confused by some communities’ attempts to stop people from celebrating Halloween.  Schools ban children from dressing up during classes on Halloween and cancel parades and parties.  Some cities host harvest festivals in order to keep people from celebrating Halloween.  All of this is done because some Christians are afraid of the pagan origins of Halloween.  These people don’t realize that Christianity created Halloween to stop paganism, and that the modern version of Halloween has very little to do with paganism.  Any fears of a connection between Satanism and Halloween are completely unfounded—after all, Satanism is actually a form of Christianity, not paganism (for it is the Christian devil that is worshipped, not any pagan god or goddess—and by definition, pagans don’t believe in the Christian god or devil).  Satanism has nothing to do with Samhain or with Halloween.  The only real thing that keeps people afraid of Halloween is ignorance.  If people would open themselves to learning the truth behind Halloween and Samhain, they would see that the two are very different.  Children will not be corrupted by dressing up as princesses or superheroes any more than they will be corrupted by celebrating Christmas at the same time of year as the Winter Solstice
Associated Content


--------------------------------------
The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

TVSpy.com is home to ShopTalk, the FREE daily newsletter for the TV news industry, read by more than 25,000 subscribers. For more than 20 years, ShopTalk has given TV news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE.

The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com


In This Issue
Promo of the Day
Marketing Movers
US Ranks 36th for Freedom of Press: Study
Media Coverage Negative for McCain: PEJ Study
Obama Rumored to Appear on SNL on Nov 1
4 More Years for O'Reilly
Judith Miller Joins Fox News Channel
Engaging Cable Shows for Dems, GOP
Under 30, 'Cell Only' Voters Go Obama
Message From Michael
More Puns Intended


Quotes

"I learned that we can do anything, but we can’t do everything.. at least not at the same time.  So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them.  Timing is everything."
- Dan Millman

“Don't tell me where your priorities are.  Show me where you spend your money and I'll tell you what they are.”
- James W. Frick

“White man builds big fire, stands back.  Indian builds little fire, huddles close”
- Author Unknown


Promo of the Day
WCMH Columbus makes concrete, viewer-centric promises to their news audience:

602communications.com/VideoExamples

Have a video clip to share?  Email it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Flash (.flv) or QuickTime (.mov) files, size 320 x 240, are preferred, but WindowsMedia (.wmv) files will also be accepted.  Large files may be sent via http://www.yousendit.com.  You can also mail your clip on VHS or DVD to Graeme Newell at 1011 Lyndhurst Falls Lane, Knightdale, NC  27545.


Marketing Movers
Taking a different tact today with MOVERS. Today, the focus is about…me.

Writing about you has been my pleasure…and there are no plans to stop.  But there are changes in the Well Dunne! approach to business, living and life.

The changes in the industry made it hard to find the right slot for my personality.  I thought of leaving entertainment, leaving PR, leaving it all.  Then, one of the best voice talents in the business suggested I should be an agent.  Hmmm…agent?  Why would that be a good idea?  After all, my experience with agents was not positive.  Back when I was in LA at ICM, my agent didn’t know what a demographic was.

“Sweetie,” he told me in his gorgeous office, “my job isn’t to sell you.  It’s to field offers.”  Oh.

However, the agent idea was planted.  Here was a way that would allow me to help.  I can be of service to many of you who are looking for work, or a new project, or an e-troduction to someone they don’t yet know.  Well Dunne! began to evolve.

After a lot of thinking, advice seeking and praying…Well Dunne! Talent was born. If they weren’t bad for you, I’d be passing out cigars.  It’s a small, boutique talent agency that reps voices, talent, programs, productions, music and special projects for the entertainment field.  Everyday is exciting.  Wow.

Well Dunne! is a client and talent focused company.  Making your job easier, better, more carefree and hopefully more fun is what it’s all about.  That makes your input essential.  This agency is being built to reflect the beliefs of those involved: service, humor, integrity, personal attention, kindness and going the extra mile.

I’m currently in the process of phoning and telling as many of you as possible about the agency and asking how it – how we - can help you.  The Well Dunne! website is being built in San Francisco and will be up and running soon.  Until then, I can email mp3’s and send you demos, auditions and information to help you select just what you need.

You’ll recognize the talent names and their voices, see programs that can bring dollars and eyeballs to your operation, find a graphics package that will knock your socks off, buy music off the shelf or have one-of-a-kind tunes composed for you. My talent is the best – and growing everyday.  I guarantee their rates will make your newly squeezed budgets look good.  You’ve now got a source that understands, and will help you reach your goals.

Make me your first phone call and you can stop worrying.  Well Dunne! Talent is at 310-926-2192. Or contact me through Linked In.

Think About This: (Today’s thought is very personal.) “Just when the caterpillar thought her life was over, she became a butterfly.”


US Ranks 36th for Freedom of Press: Study
Iceland may be suffering more than its fair share of economic troubles at the moment, but when it comes to the amount of press freedom enjoyed by its reporters, the news is much brighter.  Iceland is tied with Luxembourg and Norway in the top spot on the annual list compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a group that campaigns for press freedom.  The U.S., however, doesn’t fair nearly so well.  It makes the list in 36th place, tied with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde and South Africa, among others.  While that ranking may not seem like a stellar performance for the U.S., it does mark an improvement over last year’s 48th place ranking.  When compiling the list, Reporters Without Borders evaluates the degree of freedom that journalists and news organizations have in a country and how much respect authorities have for this freedom.  For the U.S. and several other countries, a key issue is involvement in military conflicts.  These threaten the freedom of journalists either due to the dangers of combat or repression.  At the bottom of the list this year are Turkmenistan, 171st; North Korea, 172nd; and Eritrea at 173rd.
MediaLife Magazine


Media Coverage Negative for McCain: PEJ Study
Media coverage of the presidential race has not so much favored Barack Obama as it has disfavored John McCain.  According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the coverage of Obama has tended toward more positive than negative stories.  But where the coverage gap really lies is in the "decidedly unfavorable" coverage of McCain that has gotten even more negative over time.  In fact, according to a PEJ news content analysis, there have been three negative McCain stories for every one positive in the last six weeks of the campaign, which has seen a lead for Obama build in most national polls.  PEJ says it looked at more than 2,000 stories from 43 broadcast, cable, print and online news outlets from the end of the convention through the final presidential debate Oct. 15.  The coverage of McCain has been far more negative than for anyone on either ticket, said PEJ.  Only 14% of the stories about McCain were positive, said PEJ, while over third (36%) of the stories about Obama were.  "For McCain," the study concluded, "coverage began positively, but turned sharply negative with McCain’s reaction to the crisis in the financial markets."  PEJ attributed further negative coverage to McCain's efforts to reverse his fortunes.  "As he took increasingly bolder steps to try and reverse the direction of the polls, the coverage only worsened.  Attempts to turn the dialogue away from the economy through attacks on Obama’s character did hurt Obama’s media coverage, but McCain’s was even more negative."  McCain has edged even with Obama in the media exposure he has received, but given that most of the stories were not positive, that could actually work against him.  In the weeks before the convention, Obama was getting half again as much media exposure.
Broadcasting & Cable


Obama Rumored to Appear on SNL on Nov 1
Will Barack Obama be back on Saturday Night Live?  Perhaps — so far the show isn't saying, but that's the word on the street — and I've heard it too — saying that, yes, an Obama appearance may be in the offing, planned for November 1st — the last SNL before the election.  (Update: A rep for the show calls the rumor "totally untrue" but, to be fair, rumors of the Palin appearance were initially denied.  SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels told the Chicago Tribune last week, "I think, sooner or later, everyone will come through" before the election.  So note the question mark in the headline, and proceed accordingly.)  The presidential frontrunner was on the show once before almost a year ago, on November 3, 2007, on the last SNL before the writer's strike (and the last show before it got majorly buzzy).  Since then, the show has boasted presidential-candidate cameos from Hillary Clinton and John McCain, plus already-disqualified candidates Mike Huckabee and Rudy Guiliani.  Meanwhile, vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared last weekend; so far, Joe Biden has yet to take his turn on the Studio 8H stage.
Huffington Post


4 More Years for O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly will be with Fox News for four more years.  The right-wing firebrand who hosts the network's top-rated program The O'Reilly Factor, signed a new deal that keeps him at FNC at an estimated $10-12 million a year, according to the network.  "I decided to come back because under Roger Ailes, Fox News is a great place to work.  And, if I retired, I know my friends in the elite media would miss me greatly," said O'Reilly in a statement.  O'Reilly joined Fox News in 1996 as the host of the O'Reilly Report.  The program was took on it's current moniker two years later and has been the highest rated cable news show for 94 consecutive months.  It currently averages more than 4 million viewers a night.  O'Reilly's deal with Fox News comes in the wake of a new contract for Sean Hannity and a recent deal with Glenn Beck, who will move to Fox News from CNN's Headline News this spring.
Broadcasting & Cable


Judith Miller Joins Fox News Channel
Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller has joined the Fox News Channel as a contributor, the network said Monday afternoon.  Miller will be an analyst at Fox News on security and international affairs and write for FoxNews.com.  Before joining Fox News Channel, Miller was a New York Times reporter for 25 years and jailed for contempt of court when she declined to testify in the Valerie Plame case.  Miller spent 85 days in jail on the charge before being released after speaking to her source, former vp chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.  Miller won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting about terrorism and has written about that topic and many others.
Hollywood Reporter


Engaging Cable Shows for Dems, GOP
Democrats like Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.”  Republicans like “South Park,” according to Nielsen Media, which has been looking into which cable shows are the most “engaging” among self-identified Democrats and Republicans.  “Engagement” means the amount of attention paid to a show per the average viewer.  Channel by channel the results are as follows:  Discovery: Democrats, “Deadliest Catch,” and Republicans, “Cash Cab”;  FX: Democrats, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” and Republicans, “Damages.”  Finally, on the SciFi network, Democrats, “Tim Man,” and Republicans, “Doctor Who.”  One Bipartisan winner: A&E’s Benjamin Bratt drama “The Cleaner.”
Editor & Publisher


Under 30, 'Cell Only' Voters Go Obama
A new Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll shows that Barack Obama is up 12 points over John McCain among white voters under 30, a complete about-face from 2004 when Kerry lost these voters by 10 points.  Another group that may have been under-counted in this years election, those who indicated that they are “cell only,” appear to be an even larger percentage of the Obama electorate (67% Obama, vs. 32 % McCain) giving Obama a 2-1 lead among those voters and significantly higher than the 54% to 45% Kerry received.
Editor & Publisher


Message From Michael
RETURN TO SENDER.  ADDRESS UNKNOWN.  The lyrics from the old Elvis Presley song may soon apply to the Internet.  In the growing category of things I didn’t know -- In roughly two years time the last Internet address available on the original Internet naming system will be given out.  That totals 4.3 Billion numbers.  (Internet addresses are, of course, actual numbers.)  Just for perspective, there are 6.7 Billion people in the world.  Part of the problem, and the solution, according to research by computer scientists at University of Southern California, is the management of the original addressing system.  They say there are whole blocks of numbers, maybe as much as half, that are only lightly used.  Now you’ve probably heard about ICANN which stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.  They’re the ones who decide if you get a dot-com, dot-net, or dot-tv domain extension.  Well, part of that group is another group – the IANA, which stands for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.  They’re the ones that actually give out the blocks of Internet address numbers.  Starting today (Monday, October 20th) they’re all getting together for the Internet Measurement Conference in a seaside resort near Athens, Greece.  To further share with you something you probably don’t need to know but that’s interesting to know… the original Internet Protocol number system (IPv4) was ‘deployed’ on January 1, 1983.  That’s the one used by all of us and the one that’s about to run out.  The next version (IPv6) was ‘deployed’ 16 years later in 1999.  It has – get this – 51 Thousand Trillion Trillion addresses.   So, there’s obviously more than enough, except that the move to that system is costly and complex.  Several groups including the U.S. government have mandated users switch to IPv6, and for good reason.  IANA figures that the last block of IPv4 addresses will be given out somewhere between 2010 and 2011.

WHAT GETS MEASURED GETS DONE.  You’ve no doubt heard that old management maxim.  Advertisers have a variation of that – what gets measured gets sold.  The challenge is being able to measure all the various platforms people use.  You will recall NBC’s TAMI (Total Audience Measurement Index) launched during the Olympics to measure its cross-platform delivery system.  Now a small research firm called Integrated Media Measurement is trying to do that using cell phones.  The company has embedded software into the cell phones of 4,900 panelists, to catch the audio from ads on TV, radio or the Internet.  The audio is then coded with the company’s database, so that it can tell if a consumer who listened to a movie trailer or an ad for a TV show actually watch that movie or TV show.  As the Wall Street Journal reports, the company is now working with a national grocery chain to see if it can use the same technology for shampoos and toothpaste.  Meanwhile Federated Media has launched a beta version of its ‘measurement tool box’ to track ‘conversational media campaigns’ – aka, social networking.  It pulls together standard metrics such as impressions and click-through-rates along with data points such as whether people post blogs, use widgets, and bookmark sites.  Finally, before you jump all over the new forms of advertising, take note of a study by Montreal-based research firm iPerceptions which found that simple text ads work better than rich media ads.  A survey found that a quarter (25%) of the 14,000 visitors to leading media sites clicked on text ads while one in five (20%) clicked on display ads on the right side of the page and only one in eight (12%) clicked on the top of the page banners.  Rich media ads only snagged between 7% and 11% of the clicks.

WE HAVE TO INNOVATE OUR WAY OUT OF THIS.  That’s what a consulting colleague of mine used to say when faced with a client challenge.  And it’s what the young people on the M.I.T. Technology Review’s list of 35 innovators under 35 have done and are doing – on everything from the Internet to medicine, from biotechnology to nanotechnology.  These are the people whose work is changing our world.  So, besides Twitter (whose creator is on the list), be prepared to add to your lexicon -- synths, Drupal, FLOw, SRAM as well as DRAM, Graphene, Instructables and Xobni.  That last one is Inbox spelled backwards and is the brain child of Adam Smith who, the Technology Review editors say, is helping to make sense out of “e-mail madness” by scanning every e-mail you receive, extracting information from phone numbers to files exchanged – translating it all into a sort of e-mail social networking display of the most relevant information.  Drupal is Dutch for droplet and is the creation of Dries Buytaert.  While the idea of publishing on a global scale seems to be inherent with the Internet, in actual fact all you have with the Internet is the ability to distribute globally.  Actual publishing is much more and Buytaert has developed a system to do just that.  Synths is short hand (I’m semi-assuming) for synthetics and are 3-D renderings of such things as the Rocky Mountains from photos you’ve taken.  Creator Blaise Aquera Y Arcas who works for Microsoft created the Photosynth system which allows you to create full scale three dimensional worlds.  FLOw is the creation of 26-year-old Jenova Chen who has been, according to the TR editors, playing video games for 20 years.  It comes from a psychologist’s theory identifying “a state of focus that people find enjoyable and fulfilling.”  The result is a Web-based ZEN game in which players control a sea creature that swims, eats… and evolves.  You all know about Blinkx (because you read MfM) but innovator Xiang-Sheng Hua has taken online video search to a whole other level.  The TR editors say Hua is “teaching computers” to recognize objects, scenes and elements of digital images using tags provided by experts but also descriptions written by grassroots Internet users which is then put through an automated filter.

Side Observations:  Out of the 35 innovators named, three work for Microsoft.  Most are associated with universities.  Also interesting (as always – at least to me) only four had what you might call westernized or Americanized names.  To state the obvious, I have barely touched the range of topics and ideas from these young innovators.  I will do updates in later MfM reports.  In the meantime, you can see them for yourself at http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35.

A TELEVISION MILESTONE:  All right, that may be somewhat of an exaggeration but not if you’re the one doing it.  The University Of Georgia’s Research Foundation officially took possession of former Media General-owned WNEG-TV.  This will make it one of only three commercial television stations owned and operated by a university.  The others are WVUA-TV owned by the University of Alabama and KOMU-TV owned by the University of Missouri-Columbia.

COCKTAIL CHATTER:  Another milestone of sorts as Facebook reaches one petabyte of storage space and that’s just for photos alone.  That translates into 10 Billion photos.  A petabyte is the equivalent of 1000 terabytes and a terabyte is 1000 gigabytes.  The latest ‘hot’ device hitting the market is a sort of poor man’s Blackberry called Peek, which does only e-mail, but does it well and does it everywhere.  Maybe just to prove it isn’t an old line college, even though it is celebrating the 800th anniversary of its founding next year (makes some of our colleges seem like freshmen, doesn’t it?) the University of Cambridge is offering lectures on history, arts, and business free online at the iTunes store.   

OF BRICK WALLS AND HEAD FAKES.  Here are some thoughts to share:  brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something bad enough.  The best way to teach somebody something is to make them think they’re learning something else.  (That’s called a head fake.)  Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.  When you’re screwing up and no-one says anything to you, that means they’ve given up on you.  Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care for you.  Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.  The best gift an educator can give is to teach students to be self reflective.  You don’t know where the bar is, so you do a disservice to students by putting it anywhere.

Okay, this has nothing to do with media, new or old, except that you can find it on YouTube and other video websites.  It’s all from The Last Lecture by former Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch.  The lecture was given in September of last year after Pausch had learned he had terminal pancreatic cancer and six months to live.  But there is nothing maudlin about the lecture.  This is a guy who tells the audience that after he learned of his situation, he did have a death bed conversion – he bought a Macintosh.  The lecture is peppered with such jokes, along with witticisms and pointed observations.  Normally, I give you a summary of longer reports so you don’t have to read, watch or listen to them.  But in this case, do yourself a favor.  Get up early one morning -- an hour and sixteen minutes early, to be exact -- and watch the lecture.  Actually… there is another media element to this.  Pausch was an expert in human-computer interactions and virtual worlds.  Pausch who also worked with the Walt Disney Imagineering Team had created the Entertainment Technology Center and was working on an infinitely scalable technology teaching model for virtual worlds titled Alice.  As he himself put it, like Moses, he got to see the Promised Land but he never got to set foot in it.  He died on July 25, 2008.

Michael Castengera is an instructor at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia AND President of Media Strategies and Tactics Inc., a consulting firm that works with all media but primarily broadcasting.  You can visit his website at MediaConsultant.tv.


More Puns Intended

The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.  He acquired his size from too much pi.

I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.

A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.

The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

Two silk worms had a race.  They ended up in a tie.

Time flies like an arrow.  Fruit flies like a banana.

A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall.  The police are looking into it.

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway.  One hat said to the other, "You stay here.  I'll go on a-head."

I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger.  Then it hit me.

A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: "Keep off the Grass."

A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital.  The boy's grandmother telephoned, and the nurse said, "No change yet."

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium, at large.

The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

A backward poet writes in-verse.

In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons.  The Stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger. "

Two hydrogen atoms meet.  One says, "I've lost my electron."  The other says, "Are you sure?"  The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive."

Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocaine during a root canal?  His goal: transcend dental medication.

A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories.  After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.  "But why?", they asked, as they moved off.  "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds .  Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair.  He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close.  They ignored him.  So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town, to "persuade" them to close.  Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop.  Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

--------------------------------------
The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

TVSpy.com is home to ShopTalk, the FREE daily newsletter for the TV news industry, read by more than 25,000 subscribers. For more than 20 years, ShopTalk has given TV news professionals the daily inside scoop on the industry. Read today's ShopTalk and subscribe for FREE.

The Marketing Ideanet is a free idea sharing newsletter published by 602 Communications. 602 Communications is a TV training and consulting company that specializes in improving front-line news and promotion skills. We teach workshops on teasing, marketing, reporting, producing, lighting, editing, internet and graphics. Get more information on all our workshops.

The Marketing Ideanet is sent via TVSpy's e-mail servers. Visit TVSpy's Marketing Matters online community.

Graeme Newell
602 Communications
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(919) 217-4438
http://www.602communications.com


In This Issue
What Movie Trailers Can Teach Us About Promo Writing
Final Debate Draws 56.5 Million
McCain Boosts ‘Letterman’ to Ratings to Three-Year High
Palin Boosts 'SNL' Ratings to 14 Year High
Fox News Lures Glenn Beck Away From CNN
CBS News Plans Election Night Webcast
Obama Running Longer Ads
MLB Agrees to Delay World Series Start for Obama Ad Buy
FCC Buys NASCAR Ads for DTV Awareness
Drug Ads Have Little Effect on Sales, Study Finds
Late Night Licks: Joe the Plumber



Quotes

"I am one who believes that one of the greatest dangers of advertising is not that of misleading people, but that of boring them to death."
- Leo Burnett

“In motivating people, you've got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example - and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved.”
- Rupert Murdoch

"Enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal which takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite, intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice."
- Arnold Toynbee


What Movie Trailers Can Teach Us About Promo Writing
by Graeme Newell
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.602communications.com

What's the ultimate purpose of a newscast?  Phil Alvidrez, one of my old news directors, put it best.  When asked what he did for a living he simply replied, "I tell bedtime stories."

As the pace of TV journalism increases, this art of storytelling can sometimes take a back seat to packaging and technology.  The best packages mold the facts into something far more enthralling - a real story, complete with heroes, villains, plot twists and surprise endings.  And the best teases don't just promise facts, they foreshadow an alluring tale that smacks of a Hollywood blockbuster.   When you analyze most station promos and teases, you'll find they primarily convey a long list of cold facts, and rarely transcend to the consummate art of storytelling.

Who writes the best promos and teases?  Hands down, it's Hollywood.  I'm continually amazed at the skill of movie trailer producers.  They use great writing and laser- targeted emotional motivators to make even the most stupid fart-joke movie sound like Gone with the Wind.   These word maestros understand that a great trailer makes us a participant in the story, not a spectator to the facts.

For a lot of reporters and producers, great promos are all about carefully teasing a list of hidden facts.  We conceal a fact, then promise to reveal it later in the show.  "Big changes are coming for downtown, find out how much money the mayor plans to spend."  The answer can usually be conveyed in just a few words.  For example, "a million dollars."  It takes us less time to tell them the answer than it does to read the tease copy.  Hopefully, the reporter's package will contain more than just a bunch of cold facts, and will have a full and rich story about all the downtown changes and the battles that will ensue.  But if you look at the tease for this story, none of that is foreshadowed. Most producers will simply pluck a single fact out of that story and ignore the larger more interesting human components.  We play “guess the fact” instead of foretelling an entrancing tale about the people in our local communities.

Why do we do this?  Why do we ignore the more compelling storytelling elements of our product?  Because it's just easier.  By necessity, teases must be short.  Foreshadowing a complex story line in just a few sentences is very hard to do.  It requires a whole different set of writing skills that have little to do with the craft of information gathering.  Teases can be kept neat and tidy by limiting the story focus to one concisely crafted fact  and ignoring the heroes, villains and plot twists that the best stories contain. 

This kind of teasing fits our training and our nature.  Most journalists have been trained to be fact gatherers.  We spend our days researching and asking questions, then categorizing and filtering those answers.  Then we do our best to turn all those many facts into a story.  With all the focus on facts, the craft of storytelling can sometimes be neglected.  And if there isn't much storytelling in your story, then there will be even less in the tease for that story.

So imagine if journalists were to start writing movie trailers.  Odds are, they would miss the best elements of the movie and concisely sum up the plot in two efficient, but misguided, sentences. 

Animal House - "Rowdy students are up in arms against a faculty determined to maintain order.  Find out which university is having discipline problems."

Star Wars - "Tonight a group of rebels attempts to seize control of a military outpost.  We'll have live coverage of the attempted overthrow."

Castaway - "A man trapped on a desert island returns to civilization. We'll hear from the immediate family and learn the status of his physical and emotional condition."

Sure, a lot of news stories should be all about facts - new health information, VO's, sports scores and traffic.  But most of the packages in a newscast are really just little movies, complete with champions, scoundrels, plot twists and comic characters. 

Most teases will push aside the larger more compelling storyline in favor of efficiency.  The goal is to stuff as many facts as possible into a ten second promo.  We write in staccato sentences, devoid of verbs, cutting every extraneous word.  We are compelled to jam in as many facts as possible.  The more words we can use, the more airtight the case that our newscast has the most engrossing and abundant roster of content.  Soundbites, video and music rarely make the cut.  We think there isn't time for emotion. Real human emotions are just too messy and inefficient.

So what can movie trailers teach us about tease and promo writing?

They use very little VO
A lot of movie trailers have little or no VO track.  They let the characters in the movie tell the story, not some cold announcer.  Most news promos and teases rarely contain the real people from the story.  Soundbites are the exception, not the rule.  All the fascinating real people are left on the cutting room floor.  We talk about the real people instead of letting the real people speak for themselves.

They spend very little time describing the plot
They describe the basics of the plot as quickly as possible, then move on to the most exciting moments of the movie.  Far too many teases and promos spend a lot of time talking about how we got the story.  Our process becomes one of the main characters in the story.  Like this example, "A report from the city counsel meeting on the new sidewalks for downtown."  Only we care that we got the info at the city counsel meeting.  The story is about the sidewalks and we wasted half the tease pointing out that we spent the day with a bunch of bureaucrats.

They focus on the stars
They know that audiences connect with the main characters of the movie, not the plot line or the story details.  Far too many news promos exclusively report the facts and ignore the interesting and dynamic main characters in a story.  You rarely see soundbites from real people.  We would rather present a long list of facts than take the time to introduce an interesting character central to the story line.

They don't dwell on the studio's production process
The studio may have spent tens of millions of dollars producing the movie and crafting the high-tech effects, but they're not going to point that out in the trailer.  They let the clips on the screen demonstrate the production values, not the announcer.   Far too often our news teases are more about our process than the great information the viewer will get.  "We'll crank up Satellite Speedmobile One for live in-depth coverage of the most compelling breaking election results in central Delaware."  We spend so much time talking about ourselves that we forget to include any real content for the viewer.  We kid ourselves into believing that our satellite truck is more compelling than the real people and real facts in the story.

They feature all the most emotional moments of the story.
Movie trailer producers start the process with a detailed harvesting of the best bites, special effects and sexy scenes from the movie.  Then, they do their best to let the work speak for itself and not let their own copy get in the way.  Their job is to use a light touch to magically glue together the best moments.  They know the actors will do the best job enrolling the audience.

In TV promotion, we do the exact opposite.  We sit down at the keyboard and start by writing about the story.  We are enamored with our own prose. Then, if there's time, we crowbar in a soundbite or two to fill it out.  Most promos are wall-to-wall writing that curiously abandons the main characters of the story.  We often write promos without a clue about what is actually in the story. We end up with a bland overview of the story devoid of human connection.

They use sound design to maximum effect
The soundtrack is always a priority in movie trailers.  They know that the right cut of music, the right bit of percussion, or the right sound effect exponentially heightens the experience.   These masters know how to set the perfect emotional tone, and can make a reading of your grocery list sound compelling.

So next time you're in the theater waiting for your movie to start, take another look at the trailers.  Notice the writing style, the way they use sound, and the emotional roller coaster they elicit.  The tenets of great stories don't change with the medium.  Great news stories and great movies share a storytelling tradition.  Great promos will showcase that story and enroll the audience through human empathy, not just lists of features. 

Next week...specific promo writing techniques from movie trailers.  Learn how to write a concise promo first line so it promises a complex and fascinating plot.

Graeme Newell is a broadcast and web marketing specialist.  His teasing seminars immediately increase audience retention.  He guarantees you will get an immediate ratings increase or his workshop is free.  Find out more here.


Final Debate Draws 56.5 Million
Wednesday’s third and final presidential debate, facing competition from the National League Championship Series, drew 56.5 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.  That was 6.7 million fewer than the second debate but 4.1 million more than the first.  The debate aired on 11 networks: live on ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision, BBC America, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and MUN2, and on tape delay on Telemundo.  The only demographic in which viewership rose was Hispanics, partly because Univision carried a debate for the first time.  That helped offset in part the loss of Fox, which aired NLCS game five between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.  Viewership for the debate was way down in those two markets compared to the previous debate.  But overall, it was up 5.3 million from the third debate during the 2004 presidential election.
MediaLife Magazine


McCain Boosts ‘Letterman’ to Ratings to Three-Year High
Sen. John McCain’s appearance on CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” last night delivered the show’s largest audience since December 2005, according to preliminary Nielsen live plus same day ratings.  The appearance attracted 6.53 million viewers and posted a 4.6 rating/12 share, the show’s best viewer and household numbers since Oprah Winfrey visited “Letterman” on Dec. 1, 2005, CBS said in a statement.  Sen. McCain’s appearance also delivered the program’s best adults 18-49 numbers (1.7) since its first broadcast after the Writers Guild of America granted it a waiver during the writers strike.  Last night’s episode drew a 1.2 rating in adults 18-34 and a 2.3 in adults 25-54.  The episode bested NBC’s “The Tonight Show” by 44% in households and 1.96 million viewers.
TV Week


Palin Boosts 'SNL' Ratings to 14 Year High
An appearance by Governor Sarah Palin gave Saturday Night Live it highest overnight ratings in 14 years.  According to NBC, the show is up 76% over the opening weeks of last season.  That is much in thanks to the return of former cast member and head writer Tina Fey, who has portrayed Palin.  Saturday’s episode, hosted by actor Josh Brolin, averaged a 10.7 rating and 24 share in the 56 Nielsen local metered markets.  That was the best number since Nancy Kerrigan hosted the show on March 12, 1994.
Broadcasting & Cable


Fox News Lures Glenn Beck Away From CNN
The Fox News Channel brought in a big name from a rival Thursday when it announced that it had signed Glenn Beck, the host of a widely viewed talk show on Headline News, a sister network of CNN.  Mr. Beck, who has frequently raised hackles in liberal circles with his acerbic conservative commentary, will host a new talk hour on Fox News from 5 to 6 p.m. weeknights.  The show will not start until the spring, and a CNN press officer would not say when Mr. Beck would conclude his shows there.  His contract ends in February.  Mr. Beck has been increasingly successful at Headline News, as his audience has more than doubled in the last year for the two editions of his hourlong weeknight program.  Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, said in a statement, “Glenn’s thought-provoking commentary will complement an already stellar lineup of stars at Fox News.”  It may also complement the aggravation that Fox stars cause many on the opposite side of the political spectrum.  Mr. Beck has often roused protests from the left, and never more so than when he interviewed Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota after he was newly elected as the first Muslim congressman.  Mr. Beck said, “Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.”  He added: “I’m not accusing you of being an enemy, but that’s the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.” Mr. Beck later said his question had been “poorly worded.”
NY Times


CBS News Plans Election Night Webcast
CBS News has announced plans for a live Webcast on Election Night, Nov. 4, anchored by Katie Couric.  The Webcast, which will run at CBSNews.com and CNET.com, will begin following CBS News’ live broadcast coverage of the election results and will include questions received from online viewers submitted before and during the Webcast.  CBSNews.com has produced 11 live Webcasts in the past month and a half, following prime-time coverage of the national conventions and debates.  The Web site has seen its unique visitors increase by 37% month-over-month and 57% year-over-year.  CBSNews.com visits and page views have also grown 129% and 96%, respectively, year-over-year.  Previous webcasts can be viewed on-demand at CBSNews.com, CNETTV.com and on CBS Mobile News.  The webcasts will also be distributed to CBS Audience Network partners and CBS Radio News affiliates.
TV Week


Obama Running Longer Ads
It’s turning out that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s fundraising advantage over Republican John McCain isn’t just fueling more Obama ads—it’s also fueling longer Obama ads.  As the Obama campaign continues to expand its purchases on national network and cable TV—including time on NFL football and MLB baseball broadcasts—it has bought more 60-second spots on local stations and local cable.  The Democrat has started buying 120-second ads as well.  That’s in addition to the 30-minute infomercials he has purchased on CBS, NBC and Fox to air Oct. 29.  With the presidential campaign entering its final weeks, Sen. Obama’s decision to forgo federal campaign funding in favor of unlimited private fundraising has paid off, giving him a large advantage over Sen. McCain when it comes to media purchasing power.  As of last week, the Obama campaign had spent $154.5 million to air spots 292,463 times, versus the $94 million the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee have spent to air spots 217,384 times. None of the McCain spots are for more than 30 seconds.  Jim Margolis, the executive at political advertising consultancy GMMB who manages the Obama ad team, said the longer-form ads offer some unique opportunities.  “We think that every time Barack has an opportunity to talk to people and give them a sense of what he wants to do, it helps,” Mr. Margolis said.  “The longer format allows detail, gives him a chance to deal with issues and proposals in a deeper way.”
TV Week


MLB Agrees to Delay World Series Start for Obama Ad Buy
Major League Baseball agreed Wednesday to delay the start of a World Series game by about 15 minutes to make room for a television commercial that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama plans to run Oct. 29.  That would be the date for Game 6 of the baseball championship, if a sixth game is necessary.  Obama's campaign this month negotiated to buy the same half-hour of prime time -- from 8 to 8:30 p.m. EDT that night -- on CBS and NBC.  The campaign also approached ABC and Fox Broadcasting to purchase that half-hour on those networks, but Fox had reserved that time period for a pregame show and Game 6 of the World Series, if the baseball championship extends that long.  Fox asked Major League Baseball to push the start time of a Game 6 to at least 8:35 p.m. Eastern time so that Fox could accommodate Obama's buy.  The first pitch of a World Series game typically is thrown at 8:22 p.m.  The league agreed to make the switch, and Fox sold the half-hour to Obama's campaign for just under $1 million.  "This is unprecedented in American political and sports history," said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC.  He said the only thing that he could think of that came close was an address by President Bush about a week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress that brought an NHL exhibition game to a halt.  "This just speaks to the tremendous level of public interest in this campaign," Schnur said.  "Even if most candidates could afford to buy this much time on the networks, they would be afraid that they might not be able to hold viewers' interest for that long."  Not all viewers would see the Obama ad before the World Series game.  In California and elsewhere in the Pacific and Mountain time zones, Fox plans to run the Obama program after the baseball game.  It would air before the game in the Eastern and Central time zones, which cover about 70% of the nation's population.
LA Times


FCC Buys NASCAR Ads for DTV Awareness
Hoping to rev up awareness for the transition to digital TV, the Federal Communications Commission is putting up $350,000 to sponsor NASCAR team No. 38.  Starting Sunday, racing fans will be able to see Yates Racing's Ford Fusion whip around the track with the date of the transition — Feb. 17, 2009 — and the words "Are you ready for digital?" on its hood.  "It's the leading spectator sport in the country.  That is a great opportunity to get the word out about the transition," said FCC spokeswoman Mary Diamond.  The price tag covers a race Sunday at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, another in Phoenix and a third in Miami and includes the posting of http://www.dtv.gov along the track, on the car's sides and on the driver's helmet and suit.  Each race is expected to have around 8 million viewers.  The market rate for the package is around $450,000.
Google AP


Drug Ads Have Little Effect on Sales, Study Finds
This could make media owners sick: Pharmaceutical ad spending they count on to exceed $5 billion a year is losing its potency.  Two recent reports say drugmakers cut Rx ad spending in the first six months of this year.  TNS Media Intelligence puts the drop at 3.9% to $2.4 billion.  Rival ad tracker Nielsen Monitor-Plus calculates the decline at 4.8% to $2.7 billion.  The reports follow a well-publicized Harvard Medical School study that found consumer ads had little effect on prescription drug sales.  Researchers focused on ads for three drugs: Enbrel (for rheumatoid arthritis), Nasonex (nasal allergies) and Zelnorm (irritable bowel syndrome).  Results showed that direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads "probably aren't as effective as widely perceived," says Michael Law, lead author of the study published in the British Medical Journal last month.  That bodes ill for the magazines, newspapers and radio and TV outlets for which the ads have been a prescription for profits.  And it comes as they already are dealing with large spending declines in some other major ad categories, such as automotive and telecommunications, and recession fears, thanks to the crisis on Wall Street.  Magazines and radio stations have seen the most drug ad decline. Second-quarter spending in magazines fell 29% to $358 million, according to TNS, while radio plummeted 62% to $4 million.  Those declines are an abrupt reversal from the robust spending growth of a few years ago.  "Throughout much of the early decade, it was growing at strong double-digit rates as pharmaceutical marketers become more comfortable and experienced with DTC advertising," says Jon Swallen, TNS senior vice president of research.  Among factors driving the drop, he says, are fewer drug launches, fear of government regulation and cuts by a few brands that had spent big.  "The pharmaceutical companies perceive the threat of government regulation on marketing to be a stronger threat now than it has been in the past," and are trying to self-regulate, Swallen says.  "They recognize … that if the government gets involved, they'll be worse off."  Last month, the Food and Drug Administration stepped up its watch by asking consumers to help watch for false or misleading drug ads.  It launched a "Be Smart about Prescription Drug Advertising" area online at FDA.gov.  The site encourages consumers to keep an eye out for false or misleading ads and provides a link to report violators.
USA Today


Late Night Licks: Joe the Plumber

"If you watched the debate last night, you know John McCain kept talking about this guy Senator Obama met on the campaign trail named  Joe the Plumber.  Do you know the saddest part about the Joe the plumber story?  Last month he was an investment banker."
- Jay Leno

"Joe the Plumber has been all over the place.  He's been on 'Good Morning America,' he's on Fox News.  He was talking to the Associated Press. This plumber has done more interviews in one day than Sarah Palin has done since being chosen by John McCain."
- Jay Leno

"McCain kept talking about how he could help this man, how he could help him.  You know, if McCain really wanted to help this guy, you know what you should do?  Just have him re-pipe all of McCain's houses.  That would be a job for life."
- Jay Leno

"Turns out, Joe the plumber, his name is not Joe and he is not a licensed plumber, and he owes back taxes.  So it sounds like he has the best plan to reduce taxes: don't pay them."
- Jay Leno

"Well, there was rumors going around that he might be a plant.  But today President Bush said, no, no, no, he's human."
- Jay Leno

"A poll came out today.  67% of Americans say they've seen enough and they don't want any more presidential debates.  That's what they're saying.  67%.  Yeah, the other 33% are plumbers who want to hear their name on television."
- Conan O'Brien

"Of course, everyone's talking about Joe the plumber now. John McCain mentioned Joe the plumber last night 21 times.  Yeah, experts are already comparing it to the 2004 debate, when President Bush wouldn't shut up about Larry the Cable Guy.  65 mentions."
- Conan O'Brien

"And more details coming out about Joe the plumber.  This is true.  I'm not making this up.  It came out this morning. His real name is not Joe, and he's not a licensed plumber.  That's true.  However, the McCain campaign insists that the 'the' is accurate. That part's true."
- Conan O'Brien

"And by the way, I'm your host for the program.  I'm Dave the Plumber."
- David Letterman

"Lots of talk in the debate last night about Joe the Plumber.  How about that?  Do you remember him from the '60s Drano commercials?  Joe the Plumber.  Do you remember?  And I think he's also the one who ordered the hit on Sammy the Bull."
- David Letterman

"Joe the Plumber is such a celebrity now that after the debate, he was rushed to Washington to unclog a valve on Dick Cheney."
- David Letterman

"Everybody in New York City has Joe the Plumber fever?  Can you feel it?  I mean, even the Statue of Liberty was holding a plunger."
- David Letterman

"And we were going to have Joe the Plumber on the program.  We had him booked on the show.  But at the last minute he canceled on us to do an interview with Katie Couric."
- David Letterman

David Letterman's Top Ten Messages Left on Joe the Plumber's Answering Machine:

10. Hey, heard you mentioned in the debate. Now can you come over and get the hairball out of my drain?
9.  Joe Six Pack calling; what are you trying to pull?
8.  Sorry, wrong number. I was looking for Larry the Cable Guy.
7.  Dude -- did you get to meet Fannie Mae?
6.  This is Sarah Palin, do you consider yourself a maverick plumber?
5.  You had a better night than Joe the Dodgers' manager.
4.  This is Bob Schieffer. Hijack one of my debates again and I'll bust your kneecaps with a pipe wrench.
3.  Joe, you gotta get a copy of this Late Show Fun Facts book -- it's hilarious!
2.  It's Brian from the Late Show, are you available tonight if McCain cancels?
1. It's Madonna, are you seeing anybody?

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