Go Blue!
by Brian Reich | 31 Dec 2008, 3:15pm
The economy is tanking. Investments are shaky. Fundraising is slowing. These are tough times. So, nobody is going to blame a university for hoarding its cash and slowing its growth. And many of them are. Not the University of Michigan (my alma mater) No, the Maize and Blue is growing, expanding, and investing for the future.
From today’s New York Times:
An army of ironworkers, masons, carpenters and laborers are swarming the campus of the University of Michigan these days, as the university undertakes a construction campaign budgeted at $2.5 billion, ranking it among the largest university building programs in the United States.
Nine major buildings for science, medicine, health, art, business, sports, food service and student housing are in various stages of construction here. They encompass nearly three million square feet, at a cost of about $1.66 billion. Five others are in the design stage.
This comes after the completion in the last two years of 10 other buildings — for biomedical research, cardiovascular treatment, science, technology, engineering, public health, public policy and drama — covering 1.7 million square feet at a cost of $836.4 million. The square footage in the new and renovated buildings comes to the equivalent of 105 acres.
There are obvious benefits that these investments will provide to the students and faculty who enjoy them directly. There are benefits to those who aren’t on campus every day as well. The jobs created by these building projects will help support struggling families and spur the economy in Michigan (and don’t forget, many say that as Michigan goes, so goes the economy). The research these buildings produce will help cure disease and advance our understanding of the future.
They are just buildings, I realize that, but they represent a forward looking commitment that the University of Michigan has that all of us should embrace. Michigan’s football team may not be playing in a bowl game this year, the first time in more than three decades — but there is much to be excited and proud about in Ann Arbor as we blaze into 2009. Go Blue!
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: New York Times University of Michigan
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Best of NTEN
by Brian Reich | 16 Dec 2008, 7:46pm
My “You Are Not Your Audience” blog post from April was picked as the ‘Best of’ for Messaging this year by NTEN. They just sent out word in their newsletter. What an honor! Thanks, NTEN.
Here is an excerpt from the post:
If you are in charge of marketing, recruitment, engagement, or fundraising for an organization, you spend most of your time looking for some tiny advantage, something to generate buzz and differentiate your offering from the crowd of other organizations. The online audience, meanwhile, seems to spend little time differentiating between the work of one organization or another, or what technology or platform they are using to communicate. Instead, the audience is looking online for the most relevant story or entertaining clip, the website that can answer a question they have or the product that meets a specific need.
How will you get their attention, and, more importantly, sustain their interest? What will drive the transaction — whether it’s a sign up, a donation, or someone ‘friending’ your organization on a social network — that you want? The answer is relatively simple: it’s meeting the expectations of the audience by providing the best information, experiences — and stuff.
You can read the whole post at NTEN.
Media Should Follow Our Habits
by Brian Reich | 14 Dec 2008, 4:15pm
NBC announced this week that Jay Leno, who retires as host of the Tonight Show in 2009, will get a new show - to be aired five nights a week at 10:00pm. The Tonight Show, which will now be hosted by the far-funnier, far more creative Conan O’Brien, will still air at 11:35pm.
NBC offered Leno a new gig, in this time slot, for financial reasons: the cost to produce Leno’s show five nights per week if far less than the cost to air a full season of an hour-long drama (production costs for an hour-long show run between $3 million and $5 million per episode; by comparison, Leno earns $30 million per year and his show has very low production costs).
Still, today’s New York Times Week In Review section suggests there might be another good reason NBC is mixing things up. Charles McGrath, quoting Leno, writes “People go to bed earlier now; 10:30 is like 11:30 used to be.”
As a parent of a 1-year old, with a full-time job and a host of other responsibilities, that is so true. As much as I want to stay up for the late night shows (though for the record, I would watch Letterman), its not practical. If, or when, I do stay up late, I regret it the next day. So instead, I TiVo my favorite late night shows and watch them when I want.
I would like to think the TV industry has been looking for ways to suit my needs and interests. But its not true. Aside from making a little bit more content available online — which they did almost against their will — they have done little to make it possible for me to watch good television when and where I would like. They air whatever will generate the most money, and do it when they think they can get me to watch. They are clinging to the same old broadcast model as before, hoping I will adjust my schedule so I can tune in. That is simply not going to happen.
The worst offender of this, as long as we are on the topic, is football. Both the Sunday Night Football broadcast on NBC and the Monday Night Football broadcast on ESPN don’t begin (or kick off at least) until well after 8:00pm. The World Series, which takes place each fall, isn’t any better. The games don’t end until after midnight. I love sports, and I want to watch these games, but I simply can’t make it past halftime (or in the case of baseball, maybe the 5th inning - when it begins to get really tense) and expect to be coherent the next day.
My point is this: I am the audience, and if the networks want me to watch (and the advertisers want me to see their ads) they have to understand, and respect, my behavior. Part of that is scheduling, and part of that is programming. Jay Leno’s new show satisfies neither - he’s not funny (in my opinion), his show isn’t compelling, and its barely worth staying up for even if it starts at 10:00pm. But he’s just the latest example of the television industry compromising great programming in favor of cheap programming. As McGrath notes, “What’s thriving on TV these days, spreading all over the schedule and seemingly seeping into every hour not already occupied by a certified hit, is reality programming of one sort or another: talk shows; news shows, or pseudo-news shoes; singing, dancing and weight-losing contests.”
I love television and I watch a lot of it. But the shows I am devoted to now, and watch religiously, are those that have great storylines and high-drama (some written, some reality) and air when I can watch them, which means on TiVo. Everything else, including football games, will have to be watched by someone else in real time.
Television has a future, a bright one, but it still has a long way to go before it realizes it. It might start by looking at how I spend my time, and what I want, and then programming accordingly. Just a thought.
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: football Leno NBC television
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links for 2008-12-13
by Brian Reich | 13 Dec 2008, 3:00pm
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As the economy worsens, some of the biggest spenders on advertising have begun to founder, including automakers, retail outlets, and financial services firms.
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In any normal year, it would be impossible to discern a coherent theme from a year of American pop culture, try as we journalists might. This year was different. The presidential campaign seeped into our culture everywhere it could: into our music, our television, our street art, our Internet habits
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The Inaugural committee unveiled a new page yesterday on its Web site, http://www.pic2009.org/donors, that shows every such donation within 48 hours of receipt. The list can be sorted by donation amount, and the contributor's name, home town and employer. Groundbreaking on a number of levels…
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links for 2008-12-08
by Brian Reich | 8 Dec 2008, 3:00pm
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NBC's sweeping shake-up of its entertainment division last week highlights the deep problems it and other networks face in continuing to produce high-quality shows as advertisers slash spending and viewers find alternate ways to watch TV.
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OMG! A Newspaper for Tweens!
by Brian Reich | 4 Dec 2008, 3:59pm
I wrote a post at WeMedia about a newly launched news/newspaper site for Tweens called TweenTribune, and the potential it has to revolution the industry. I’m interested for a few reasons: First, tweens are the next generation of news consumers (and consumers period) — so if you understand how they get and share information, you’ve got a bright future ahead. Second, I have been advocating for news and newspaper sites to go niche for a long time, and nobody has ever been willing to try it. I get to live vicariously through this experiment. Finally, unlike most online sites that aggregate content for a specific audience, TweenTribune’s content is pulled by hand, not by some autobot or feed engine. The founder, Alan Jacobson, combs through hundreds of sites each day to find the stories that he believes will satisfy the interests of his tween audience and then organizes them.
The model is simple. But that doesn’t make reaching and engaging a tween audience easy to do. I was able to talk briefly (over email, and by phone) with Alan Jacobson about his new site, and the challenges it creates. Here is an excerpt from our exchange:
Q: Why don’t tweens consume news through the traditional sources?
A: Because the traditional sources deliver boring news in an appealing way. Tweens would read print or any other medium if it was compelling, relevant or interesting to them. My daughters read all the time. Can you spell “Twilight?”
Q: How do you design a newspaper differently for a tween than some other audience?
A: I think the need to design differently is a myth. Good design is about usability, no decoration. That’s why TweenTribune doesn’t look like other sites for kids. Instead, it’s clean, simple and straightforward. Just the facts, ma’am.
Does Tween Tribune have to be online to reach this audience?
A: Yes and no. If a print product delivered the same content, it could work. But it would almost impossible for tweens to interact with the content at TweenTribune unless it was online. Interaction is one of the great strengths of online.
Q: How else might tweens consume news?
A: The form doesn’t matter. It’s all about the content. But tweens won’t be using laptops for long. Soon, they’ll want all their information needs met by their smartphones. And this will require new ways to convey information for much smaller screens.
I am not a tween, but I am now subscribed to the TweenTribune daily newsletter, so I can see how it goes. I’ll keep you posted.
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: News newspaper tween TweenTribune
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What Attracts A Click Doesn’t Matter
by Brian Reich | 3 Dec 2008, 12:50pm
The New York Times reports this morning that advertising folks are changing their strategy — focusing more on things like color and font instead of ideas and messaging to get a user to click through an online ad. The article begins:
Online advertisers are not lacking in choices: They can display their ads in any color, on any site, with any message, to any audience, with any image.
Now, a new breed of companies is trying to tackle all of those options and determine what ad works for a specific audience. They are creating hundreds of versions of clients’ online ads, changing elements like color, type font, message, and image to see what combination draws clicks on a particular site or from a specific audience.
It is technology that could cause a shift in the advertising world. The creators and designers of ads have long believed that a clever idea or emotional resonance drives an ad’s success. But that argument may be difficult to make when analysis suggests that it is not an ad’s brilliant tagline but its pale-yellow background and sans serif font that attracts customers.
The advertising world is still missing the point. First, people don’t like advertising - at least not when it is presented as an interruption (something that will take you away from whatever you were reading/watching online). It doesn’t matter what color or font style that ad features, if it distracts from the user’s activity online, their likelihood of clicking on it will be low and their interest in the brand/organization/advertiser will be even lower. Second, the click-through is actually the easiest part of the process, and the least important when it comes to delivering value to your audience/consumer/customer or completing a transaction. The real challenge begins once you get a user to click-through, in terms of how you present information on the landing page and how you develop a relationship going forward.
I’m glad to hear that advertisers are trying to figure out how to increase the effectiveness of online advertising. I just wish they would think more about the user/audience and how to enhance their experience. And my experience would suggest that font and background color aren’t the way to get there.
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: Advertising New York Times
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links for 2008-12-01
by Brian Reich | 1 Dec 2008, 3:08pm
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One of the central ideas the government pursued post 9-11 was using “soft power” by spreading American television and movies to foreign audiences, especially in the Muslim world, to help sway public opinion. It didn't quite work out as planned. In the last eight years, American pop culture, already popular, has boomed around the globe while opinions of America itself have soured. But, at least the media companies are happy.
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Across the country, longtime local TV anchors are a dying breed. Facing an economic slump and a severe advertising downturn, many stations have cut costs drastically in the last year, and veteran anchors, with their expensive contracts, seem to be shouldering a disproportionate share of the cutbacks. When station managers are forced to make cuts, hefty anchor salaries are a tempting target. As one anchor put it "I don’t think we’re going to see the anchor people grow old with the audience anymore.”
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CNN, in the afterglow of an election season of record ratings for cable news, is elbowing in on a new line of business: catering to financially strained newspapers looking for an alternative to The Associated Press.
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