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Accounts would be changing hands faster than rounds bullets from a Nine (yo). The client rewrites are perfect.
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San Jose, CA
They picked the right one.
The Canon ad, titled "Inspired," is just the perfect camera commercial.
Last night, it deservedly won the 2013 Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial at the 65th Annual Creative Arts Emmys.
You can see all four nominated ads here.
Ad agency: Grey, NYC.
Director: Nicolai Fuglsig.
San Jose, CA
History is written by the victors, Winston Churchill said — the implication being that they choose to tell the story they want people to believe. But the losers also have their own version of events, which may also be distorted. Take the Digital Riptide project, for example, which bills itself as an “oral history of the epic collision between journalism and digital technology from 1980 to the present,” based on interviews with various internet and media luminaries. The lesson we are supposed to learn? We did our best, but there was nothing we could do.
The triumvirate behind the project — former Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey, former New York Times editor of digital Martin Nisenholtz and Paul Sagan, executive chairman of Akamai Technologies — talked to 61 people, in an effort sponsored by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School. All of the videos and transcripts are available at Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab (where director Josh Benton created a well-designed and responsive website that is a great example of what online publishing can do).
The riptide metaphor absolves everyone of blame
The list of interview subjects for Digital Riptide includes a fairly large number of technology and media-industry heavyweights, from Google chairman Eric Schmidt and Sir Tim Berners-Lee to New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and MIT Media Lab director Nicholas Negroponte — and to give the project full credit, there are also some interviews with new-media big thinkers and doers in the package as well, including our own Om Malik, Gawker Media founder Nick Denton, BuzzFeed’s Jonah Peretti and indie blogger Andrew Sullivan.
As the site explains, the title of the project came from the idea that the arrival of digital technology and the disruption that it caused in the media business was like a riptide — in other words, a powerful and largely unforeseen force that caught most of the swimmers in the traditional industry by surprise and made them more or less powerless to resist its clutches.
“When successful, pre-digital players who had learned to swim out to sea and return safely with confidence and regularity found themselves over time confronting a stronger and stronger force that made it more and more difficult to get back to shore. And just like a school of swimmers caught in a real riptide, even some of the best-prepared and forward-thinking media companies were swept away no matter how hard they tried to survive.”
This is a very appealing metaphor, because it largely absolves anyone who was involved in the media from any blame for failing to see the writing on the wall or failing to move quickly enough to change their behavior or their corporate culture. How could they be expected to do so? It was an act of God or an act of nature that was unavoidable — one which no one could possibly have expected. They did their best, but in the end they were powerless.
There were those who saw it coming
But is this true? Disruption guru Clay Christensen, also associated with Harvard, has written about how industries — including the car-manufacturing business and the steel industry — have failed to adapt because they didn’t appreciate just how disruptive new entrants or new technologies would be. And it’s arguable that the media industry in the 1990s and early 2000s also failed to appreciate just how disruptive the web would be to their business and to journalism in general. Should we blame them for that?
I think we should blame them a little, and here’s why: because there were senior people in the industry who saw the disruption coming — saw it clearly, appreciated the implications, and talked about the potential damage. These weren’t voices crying in the wilderness, but fairly powerful players. To take just one example, there was Knight Ridder excecutive Kathy Yates, who ran the company’s digital unit, and eventually grew frustrated with the industry and moved on to Women.com and then CBSMarketwatch. Here’s what she told the project:
“I just didn’t see that there was much of a future in a limited, walled garden online approach. It was just too difficult. The penetration was too thin; there was nothing about it that said to me that it would ever be a successful enterprise… I think what really was so striking to me about the Internet was the removal of boundaries. The newspaper business, as I experienced it, was always full of boundaries. It was very limited in so many ways… the Internet was just so gloriously, really free, of those constraints.”
Why weren’t they listened to?
Here’s another example: Betsy Morgan, a former senior executive with CBSNews.com who eventually left the traditional media business and became CEO of The Huffington Post. In her interview, she talks about seeing an early version of Google Trends, and how she believed this could help change the television news business by giving producers an idea of what the stories of interest to viewers were. She took some Google engineers around to show the feature to senior news staff and was rebuffed.
“These Google engineers were fabulous and smart and articulate. I got shut down. I was told that, had I not learned anything at the time I had been at CBS News? Had I not learned that this was not the way journalism was done, and that these funny, skinny kids from Google had nothing to say about the business, about the creation of journalism? I have to say, that was sort of a breaking point for me.”
Those are just two examples. And there are plenty of excellent interviews and worthwhile perspectives in the project, including Knight-Ridder executive Tony Ridder — who perhaps more than any other senior player in the media industry saw the change coming and tried to adapt his business to it, and ultimately failed — as well as David Graves, the Reuters executive who spearheaded the company’s landmark investment in Yahoo, and plenty of relevant insights from Nick Denton, Jonah Peretti of BuzzFeed and others.
Unfortunately, the over-arching impression is that no one was capable of altering these events — not even a host of well-intentioned and powerful senior executives in the media business like Gerald Levin and Arthur Sulzberger. And that ignores the fact that people like Morgan and Yates (and Ridder) saw the change coming and realized the implications on a fundamental level, and were not listened to. In other words, more companies could have tried harder to swim with the current instead of being sucked under.
Post and thumbnail images courtesy of Shutterstock / Cheryl Casey
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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- Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks
- Frenemy mine: The pros and cons of social partnerships for online media companies
- Building a better paywall: strategies for monetizing news content
San Jose, CA
About three and a half years ago, Janelle Monáe came into my life. I fell hard for her right when she was just starting to get widespread attention, and it’s been amazing to see everything that’s happened with her career since then. I was lucky enough to see her perform live in 2011 when she toured with Bruno Mars, and since then I’ve been waiting (im)patiently for a new album and another chance to see her come alive on stage. I was crushed when her tour dates were finally announced and I realized I’d be out of town when she’s at the Apollo Theater in October.
BUT THEN…I was poking around on Facebook on Saturday morning, and I saw something on her official page about sending an email for a chance to see her perform on Monday night in NYC at a private launch party for her new double album, The Electric Lady. I figured there was no chance, but I send the email anyway and got on with my day. Eleven hours later, I got a reply to my email letting me know I was on the list for the event — location to be disclosed Monday afternoon! WOO-HOO + YAY!!!
The party (sponsored by Target, who are clearly very invested in JM, having floated a pirate ship around the Hudson all day while broadcasting the album over the airwaves) was held at Pier 84, in pretty much ideal weather for outdoor concert-going. The stage was T-shaped with no barrier whatsoever, and because the event was so small compared to a full venue show, I was able to stand all the way up in front in the best possible spot. I kind of couldn’t believe it was happening even before she came on stage.
Here is where I think photos should take over for a bit…
I don’t know how else to say it: Janelle Monáe is PHENOMENAL on stage. So full of energy and passion and true artistry — and that goes for the rest of her band, too. She OWNS the stage. Everyone at the show was having the most amazing time; singing, dancing, yelling, clapping and pounding the stage. It was one big huge party! I know it’s a cliche to say that someone’s energy is infectious, but Janelle’s really is. I defy anyone to watch her perform and not want to dance like a little old earthquake. She is IT. There is no one else in popular music right now who is doing anything like this — she’s like a futuristic hybrid of James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince and Judy Garland. UN. REAL.
A few hours before the show, she recorded a performance to air later that night on David Letterman’s show. Let’s take a look, yes?
YES. YES. YES. The audience loved her, Dave loved her, that desk loved her. Why the whole world isn’t talking about this performance (or, for that matter, why we don’t see Janelle on shows like MTV’s VMAs) is really beyond me. We should all be hanging flags out of our windows professing our love for The Electric Lady.
Speaking of The Electric Lady, you’ve gotta get this album. It was officially released yesterday, and I doubt I’ll be listening to anything else for quite a while. It is SO GOOD. There aren’t enough superlatives — it’s the best new album I’ve heard in years. Like Metropolis and The ArchAndroid, The Electric Lady follows the story of android Cindi Mayweather in a continuation of a 7-part concept series. Beyond being a incredible listen, it’s also smart and deep. (Also: PRINCE.)
Let’s look at some more pictures…
Yes, that’s Diddy, whose Bad Boy label has played a huge role in allowing Janelle to get the exposure she deserves while still maintaining full control over her career and musical output. In his introduction before she came out on stage, Diddy (like Letterman) gave a nod to James Brown by referring to Janelle as “The Hardest Working Woman in Show Business” — and I can’t disagree with that title. She is giving it ALL.
Big Boi was there too — he sang the praises of his little sister and performed “Tightrope” and “Come Alive,” which as usual turned into a huge party to close out the night. The Wondaland family, the entire band, backstage celebrities and a pack of android-alikes danced like crazy on stage while Janelle crowd-surfed. So good.
(Just in case you needed more convincing…)
San Jose, CA
Ten Years of Weather in Three Minutes
On August 19, NOAA retired the GOES-12 satellite. It will be pushed outward from its geostationary orbit and powered down, resigned to eternity tens of thousands of miles above Earth. It is survived by its orbital amigos GOES-13, 14 and 15, all keeping an eye on our home so that we may learn more about how it ticks. And swirls. And burns. And erupts. And gusts. And rains.
Here is ten years of GOES-12 imagery in three minutes. Our most violent hurricanes, from Katrina to Sandy, become blips of white. The most frigid of polar storms are just momentary streaks.
So big to us, so small to Earth.It reminds me
San Jose, CA
A recent study by The Diffusion Group reported in USA Today said that around 7% of pay television subscribers were “highly likely” to cancel their service in the next six months.
The cost of “triple play” services offered by phone and cable companies has increased about 6.3% annually for the past three years, according to Macquarie Capital analyst Kevin Smithen.
Overall inflation during that period was down around 2%.
“Cord cutting” has gained traction recently, as major cable providers Comcast, TimeWarner, Cablevision, and Charter lost a net 320,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2013.
According to Digital Trends, by 2016, an estimated 9 million households will ditch cable altogether.
If you have been thinking about cutting the cord, here’s what you should know about hardware, content, and possible set-ups.
Hardware
HD Antennas - allow you to get over-the-air HD broadcasts for free as long as you’re within a 30-mile or so radius of the transmitter and aren’t hindered by mountains or tall buildings.
These can cost anywhere from $20 to $500 depending on amplification abilities.
Roku - a small box that connects to your television and wireless (or wired) computer network, allowing you to watch Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon content, plus other free and paid options.
Roku boxes cost $50 to $100, depending on the model.
Smart TVs- Panasonic and Samsung are two of the manufacturers that make televisions with internet access built in. You connect them to your wireless network and launch apps with the remote.
Content from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Blockbuster, Pandora, and other services can be accessed with smart TVs.
EyeTV - a device that picks up broadcast signals so you can watch broadcast TV on your iPad or iPhone by using a free app.
Apple TV - a front-end iTunes device that allows you to download music and movies and play them over your TV.
Apple TV connects to Apple iCloud service, but there is no TV tuner or DVR capability.
Boxee - from D-link, Boxee lets you organize shows and watch them on your TV. It also includes a live TV antenna so you can bring in broadcast television.
You can also use it for web access, apps, and files.
Game Consoles - Netflix lets you play movies through PlayStation 3 or Xbox.
You can also get TV tuners that let you turn your game consoles into home entertainment devices.
Content
Netflix - a favorite gateway for cord cutters who don’t mind getting TV shows after they’re aired.
You get unlimited streaming of movies and television shows, and you can use it with Roku and other devices. It costs $7.99 per month (first month free).
YouTube - can be accessed through your computer, iOS or Android device, and also through devices like Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3.
iTunes - sells television shows and sells or rents movies.
You can download TV shows for $1.99 per episode (which can add up quickly) but there are some free TV shows, as well as discounted season passes for some series.
Hulu - a joint venture of Disney, Fox, and NBC Universal, Hulu makes you watch commercials during TV shows and movies even on Hulu Premium, which costs $7.99 per month.
Some Hulu content (like “The Daily Show”) can be hard to find elsewhere.
Amazon Instant Video - a service that’s free for Amazon Prime members, which costs $79 per year and gets you free two-day shipping for qualifying Amazon purchases.
PlayOn - is Windows software that lets you play Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and others via PlayStation 3, Wii, or Xbox 360 for $7.99 per month or $39.99 annually.
Your Public Library - a source for TV and movies on DVD. Selection depends on your library’s choices, of course, but when you return them on time, they’re free.
Possible Setups
Here are 5 possible configurations for cutting the cable.
1. Hulu Plus / Netflix Streaming / Amazon Prime / Your Computer - Roughly $23 per month gets you an awful lot of television and movie choices, though you’re stuck watching them on your computer.
Hulu Plus offers many popular television programs the day after they air.
2. Netflix / Internet-Ready TV / Non-Cable ISP - Getting internet service from a company other than the cable company can save you money, even over “triple-play” deals.
If you have AT&T U-verse, you can get selected television shows for free, or you can upgrade for more options.
3. EyeTV Mobile / iPad / Netflix - EyeTV Mobile uses tuner technology that lets you watch broadcast television on your iPad or iPhone with the free EyeTV Mobile app.
The device costs $100 and isn’t available everywhere, so you need to check coverage maps on the EyeTV website.
4. Apple TV / Hulu Plus / Netflix / iTunes - This combination saves significantly over the cost of cable, depending on how many episodes or seasons of shows you end up buying on iTunes.
5. HD Antenna / DVD Player / TV Set / Your Library - This is about as cheap as it gets, because everything’s a one-time expense (unless you let your DVD checkouts become overdue).
It requires more planning, and you need to be within range of broadcast towers, but you don’t need an internet connection.
What You’ll Have a Hard Time Getting
The main objection of many potential cord cutters is to giving up live events (like awards shows) and live sports. Plus, there aren’t any good options for getting HBO content until well after it has aired.
With sports, there are options where you can pay for season passes, like with MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, and NHL Game Center.
CBS has offered March Madness on Demand streaming for free to PCs and iOS devices, but cable games require authentication through pay TV providers.
Additionally, many streaming live sports packages are subjects to blackouts based on local and cable broadcasts, so be sure you know exactly what you’ll give up if you’re a sports fan looking to cut the cord.
Mary Hiers is a personal finance writer who helps people earn more and spend less.
San Jose, CA
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