Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

There is some big news coming out of this weeks Consumer Electronics Show: 3D television from Sony!

The possibilities include: 
3D gaming (on your existing PS3 with just a firm ware update)
3D movies (starting now with "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs") 
3D sports (once they can convince the NCAA, NFL, NBA et al. to shoot with 3D capable equipment) 

WOW. Can you imagine Duke beating Carolina in 3D this spring? Oh wait, it doesn't all come out until this summer, so I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Of course, to view any of this 3D entertainment, you will need a new Sony 3D capable HDTV. For gaming, all your PS3 needs is a firmware upgrade. For movies, you'll need to acquire a 3D capable blue ray player and some 3D authored blue ray discs. 

My safe bet is that 3D at home will take forever to become commonplace. I would look at the slow adoption rate of HD over the last 7 years and multiply that by 10. I'm also willing to bet that one group of traditionally early adopters, the gamers, will jump at the opportunity to see heads exploding in their favorite 3D first-person shooter. 

However, danger looms on the horizon... Sony has stated that "other 3D compatible products such as “VAIO” and digital still camera product will also be introduced in 2010 and will facilitate the 3D experience at home." Does this means that consumers will be able to shoot and edit their own 3D content?! What's next, the 3D flip camera?!

Oh dear, this just got ugly, really ugly. Have any of your friends forced you to watch their shaky home movies on their HDTV? Now just imaging this experience in 3D. BLARRRRRGGGFFFFFFFFF!!!!!


http://www.sony.net/united/3D/#vision/message/

I love television. I know it's old-fashioned. These days people in my business are supposed to be tweeting, linking, blogging, bookmarking, friending and tagging. Not just… watching.

But I watch. And it's rarely the good stuff like The Daily Show or National Geographic. My favorites are the dramas. So, when I heard about the new TNT drama set in an ad agency, Trust Me, I couldn't resist.

My first reaction? The only thing keeping Trust Me from being the most unrealistic show about an ad agency in television history is that nobody’s married to a witch. Just like Bewitched's Darrin Stephens and Larry Tate 40 years ago, the creative partners played by Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh approach each client challenge as the search for One Big Idea – we never see any research, positioning, or immersion in the client's bottom-line needs. (They're never far from the nearest cocktail, either.)

The more modern touches are just as farcical. When a major client balks at a pitch, the boss dangles the (false) promise of a Super Bowl placement to get his team cracking on a better one – because the prospect of losing a $75 million account isn't motivation enough. Teams within the same agency spend more time scheming to stab each other in the back than working to solve clients' problems. And the responsibility for the Big Idea rests on the shoulders of one "resident genius."

I scoffed and even posted an update on Facebook about how unrealistic the show was… but I kept watching. I realized it might be a nice change of pace if our work really were that simple. Wouldn't it be kind of nice if each of us only had to worry about coming up with One Big Idea, for one client? Then, despite the exaggerations and simplifications, some of what I was seeing started to feel familiar.

There are some teachable truths in the absurdities. In the real world of marketing and advertising, we know that everyone shares in the entire range of responsibilities that go into making a client happy, from keeping the budget in line to delivering that big idea. One of my colleagues, CCO Todd Coats, is fond of saying that great creative ideas can come from anywhere. We're all "directors." We're all "geniuses." More often than not, the winning approach emerges when we corral client services, media, interactive, PR and creative people into one room and keep them there until the idea is hatched.

Giving TV viewers a real-life glimpse into PR, advertising and marketing wouldn't make much of a TV drama, of course. At Capstrat, we're all human, and we manage emotion and the occasional conflict. But we keep it under control. We even channel it into our success whenever we can. The intensity of a TV show, with its brazen irresponsibility, no-holds-barred arguments, and cut-throat manipulation might feel good if you weren't trying to be a decent person getting a job done – and it definitely makes for good entertainment. Throw in some comic relief and a neatly packaged redemption at the end, and you have something that takes your mind off of the deadlines, mandates, and trials of a real agency.

I get it. It's escape. Which is the point of television, at least for me. So I'll keep watching, chuckling, and occasionally pausing to think about the real dramas I get to share with my colleagues every day.

I have to admit, television is my guilty pleasure. Every night, after a long, grueling day at work, I make up some excuse as to why I cannot go to the gym and camp out on the couch for a little bonding time with Oprah. And yes, I love our DVR and its ability to magically skip over commercials and the unfortunate times when Dr. Oz pulls out a diseased liver to share with the audience. I realize, that the fact I own a DVR may be considered by some in my field of media buying to be sinful, but I see the contrary. In the same way I skip through the garbage I do not want to see, I can rewind and watch anything intriguing as many times as I want. Over the years I have enjoyed my ability to mentally note who is advertising in programs across all networks, including my favorite shows and the ones my husband forces me to watch.

Well you know what? I miss my commercials! I am longing to subject myself once again to the hundreds of messages marketers bombard me each day from the safety of my living room. Political ads are seriously making me insane. Don't get me wrong, I love a good political rivalry as much as the next person, but the current ad volume is just too much for me to handle. I tried to watch the 6pm news the other day and in one commercial break every single ad was political—not kidding. After awhile they all look like they run together; I could hardly tell where one ended and the next began. I'm pretty sure a lot of people end up tuning them all out after a while.

On top of the fact that the ads are starting to annoy me personally, I am really getting the brunt of it while at work. I may spend my evenings watching television, but I spend my days placing our client's ads on that same television. Small problem—there is a finite amount of inventory to purchase in television programming. Laws guarantee politicians running for office the ability to place their ads anywhere they want for the right price. When they all go crazy buying time all over the place guess whose commercials get kicked out—anyone who stands in their way! That would include the ads I place for our clients. So what happens then? I have to move my commercial somewhere else (more work) and then I usually have to move it again (even more work.) Luckily this only happens for a few weeks every two years.

On a related note, I have to just point out the irony in the sheer volume of political dollars being allocated to media spending.  According to TNS Campaign Media Analysis Group, political ad spending is currently on target to reach $2.5 billion. Am I the only one who would fall in love with the first candidate to pledge their campaign media budget to saving our economy?

Let the countdown begin! Although many of us already see antennas and "rabbit ears" as extinct, in 362 days (as of today) this will hold true. On February 18, 2009 the DTV transition (digital TV) will occur, switching from analog to digital broadcast television. 

So what does this mean to you?  All-digital broadcasting will not only improve picture and sound quality, it will offer "multicasting."  This will allow broadcast stations to offer several channels of digital programming at the same time, while as with analog, they could only offer one. This means even more fragmentation for media buyers (ugh). The transition to digital will also open up airwaves for public safety and emergency communications like police and fire departments.

After the 17th, anyone who has an analog set and relies on an over-the-air signal will need to make a switch.  According to Nielson Media Research, 13 million households have television sets that can only receive analog broadcasts and are currently unprepared for the transition. 

You do not however need to ditch your old television, just get a digital to analog converter box. They sell from $40-$70. The government has issued a coupon program that just became available, worth $40 towards a converter box.

So this is great right? I get way more programs to choose from, no more "rabbit ears", and the government is going to give me a coupon to cover the cost of a converter box! 

Sounds simple, however this is a really profound and expensive change to this medium. This is likely to impact the economy in a big way. The National Association of Broadcasters announced plans for a $697 million dollar campaign to educate consumers about the digital broadcast transition. 

Will millions of people run out to Best Buy to upgrade their TV's? And if so, what are they going to do with their old TV sets?  As I was writing this post thinking through the possible implications this change will have, a new article popped up from my Google Reader about how much e-waste this change may potentially create.

Even with the efforts to educate and prepare the public for the conversion, this will most likely affect the elderly and low-income population the greatest. These households will be unable to afford cable or satellite, and may also have a difficult time purchasing the more expensive converter boxes.

For many advertisers and media buyers, this could result in a shift in media dollars. Ratings may drop in these areas, and we may see broadcast dollars targeting low-income households move to other mediums such as direct mail. 

The outcome of this conversion is still unknown, however February 09' will creep up fast! Will you be ready?

Charles McGrath, in his Feb 17 New York Times article, points out that while National Public Radio's listenership is growing, PBS television, he believes, has seen it's best days, and may perhaps be no longer relevant or necessary.

I couldn't disagree more.

We now live in a climate where local printed newspapers are in sharp decline, and where the cynical irony in Fox News Channel's name and slogan goes unchallenged. Even my parent's nightly network news broadcasts have devolved into 15 minutes of entertainment interspersed between 15 minutes of drug company commercials. In this climate where journalistic integrity and high standards are the exception rather than the rule, it seems to me that shows like the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, NC Now, and Frontline are now more important than ever - certainly not less.

Despite years of siege by politicians who seem to prefer the tractibility and journalistic abdication prevalent on Britney-obsessed cable news outlets - and make no mistake, their issue with PBS is the news - PBS television remains one of the only places to get trustworthy news on television.

As McGrath points out in his article (the title is sharper than the content of the piece itself), the answer to whatever woes PBS television may be facing is more public funding, not less. It seems miraculous to me that PBS can, on pennies, continue to do what Big Corporate Media seems unable to do with all it's billions of dollars. In truth, perhaps the absence of billions is the secret of PBS' success. But while we wait for more public funding for PBS television, that miracle has an earthly foundation.

With the constant articles and talk of DVR’s and video online, the question remains.  Are consumers seeing my ads?  
 
Television reps are quick to point out the impact Satellite Radio is having on local radio formats.  My response is always the same. “How is that different from the effects of DVR’s?” I’m always surprised at their reaction – as if they didn’t expect me to ask.
 
Networks are expanding their viewership by offering full episodes online.  How is this affecting their share on TV? Isn’t it safe to assume that people are just watching more TV?
 
No matter how you slice it, people still love TV. While primetime has always been ‘appointment television’, and still very much is - viewers now have the flexibility to watch what they want and when they want.   Buyers are understanding that consumers are getting their TV ‘fix’ from many angles.  We need to also understand that it is equally important reach them from just as many angles.
 
A banner ad online may not offer the same emotional affect that a 30 second television spot does, but it offers interaction with the viewer.  The viewer may be more engaged while watching an episode of Heroes online, than he would have been by watching it at its regular time on TV.
 
People are still watching TV and online video exposure is only going to continue to grow.  I don’t think that the segmentation of consumer behavior should be thought as a negative hurdle for buyers. If anything, it gives us more ways to reach them. Referencing article form Joe Mandese at Mediapost.

Early in the network premiere week, it looks like the sitcom writers have discovered social media. Prime time characters are now talking about blogs, their MySpace pages and Google alerts.
 
You’d think this would open up interesting new plot lines or story angles. Not so.
 
Instead, we’re getting flat-footed jokes followed by canned laugh tracks.  “I’m putting that in my blog!” is the new comeback.
 
In primetime, social networks are now the domain of nerds. “I have a 112 friends in MySpace,” says one geek in Big Bang Theory. “Yeah, but have you actually met any of them?” quips his equally geeky friend.
 
I read today that Microsoft is considering taking a stake in MySpace. If MySpace is now the joke of primetime television, I think Microsoft missed the window.