Topics for the 11/15/09 Show

Comment

Comment by Bob Knorpp on November 15, 2009 at 7:00am

Just in case you missed it, here's my post that contains my email to a Razorfish exec and his response.

I agree with you that all this is not to slam Razorfish. They are a great shop. I think this is an industry-wide issue, because I know that every agency or company I've been part of spins numbers.

Comment by Michael Islip on November 15, 2009 at 5:19am

On the Razofish topic, I think you make a really good point: there is still no consensus on what (or how) we should be measuring so as a result agencies are eager to prove that they are doing the right thing. You can see how much coverage the FEED report got from the community that it was espousing a view that we all wanted to believe (until @benkunz got started!). 

This is also compounded by the fact that most agencies don't have a large number of successful social projects to use as a benchmark for their next activity - so this puts even more importance on the need for research that supports their arguments (not necessarily saying this about Razorfish as I think they have done some good work on this topic recently).

Comment by Samuel Monnie on November 14, 2009 at 10:45pm

Interesting, not being a gamer at all I had heard of DJ Hero, but not at the relative lack of success of the launch...I guess that's also the power of marketing. Look forward to hearing the show, and keep on sending it out late on a Sunday night ! I make sure to download and listen to it Monday mornings on my 90 min trip to work.

Comment by Bob Knorpp on November 14, 2009 at 10:35pm

Hollywood is very distrustful of niche markets. They very much know the money can be there, but they try to think as vanilla and broad focused as they can to hedge their bets. It's the safe way to do business, but not always smart.

I will say, though, that we have to look at the video game flops too, to understand reticence. When a game flops, it can flop bad. Have you seen the numbers on DJ Hero? Across all systems they may not even cross the 100K mark. That's a lot of expensive plastic lying around.

Comment by Samuel Monnie on November 14, 2009 at 10:28pm

I think you are right...for the time being the status quo supports ignoring this industry, but we know what happens when you ignore 'consumers' needs and behaviours....they can eventually create momentum that is too late to respond to...What if more and more eyeballs and attention gravitates to video games and we reach the tipping point...in terms of $$$ not being spent on music, movies and cell phones...perhaps then Hollywood would take notice.....Then again, this is the same industry that questioned Tyler Perry's vision of creating movies for African Americans......he isnt doing too badly since being told the market wasn't there !

Comment by Bob Knorpp on November 14, 2009 at 10:28pm

I think that Twitter has already established precedent that they will handle this for celebrities, so I don't think brands will find problems if they press the issue. There's just a delay to their responsiveness because it's like 15 people working there.

These stories always get blown out of proportion into "will it be problem just like domain squatting." But unlike the domain issues, Twitter is a private company that sets its own rules and is just too hard pressed to handle the volume of problems they have to deal with. So in other words, I call this a manufactured news story. It's not an issue.

Comment by Samuel Monnie on November 14, 2009 at 10:23pm

GM, Kellogg, Nestle Beat to the Tweet as Squatters Take Over Twitter Names :http://tinyurl.com/yevuao6 . If time permits this story from Ad Age is one that intrigues me, and is reminiscent of the whole cybersquating issue when the web first started growing. Brands need to stay in touch to avoid these issues.....apathy is not a winning strategy, equally interesting to see how the folks at Twitter handle this, It cant be wise on their side to turn a blind eye to the needs of brands. What do you think ?

Comment by Bob Knorpp on November 14, 2009 at 10:21pm

You bring up some great points, Samuel (as usual, I might add). Why does this get pushed to the side? My theory is that it threatens the entertainment industry as a whole. It's work that's done largely outside the studio system, it's virtually union free and doesn't rely on star power to move units. I think entertainment companies are happy to reap the rewards, but embarrassed by the source.

Then too, there's also the numbers of actual bodies to consider. The price point being much higher, the MW2 launch actually impacts less people at a higher margin. Hollywood is not just interested in revenue, but cultural dominance for merchandising and other IP expansions. The numbers aren't there for that part of the equation.

Comment by Samuel Monnie on November 14, 2009 at 10:12pm

Biggest Entertainment Launch In History: Will listen to this weeks show with interest, I dont think the video games industry gets the attention it deserves. Any other launch that generated that amount of money would make mainstream news. The story certainly hit my radar earlier in the week BUT I cant say that I gravitated to the spectacle in the same way as eg the Paranormal Activity story or eg the new album from Jay Z beating Elvis's record. EG All I have heard this week in Fortune is the Apple/Jobs story...they usually jump on hot news...but this story also seemed to pass them by as well....Perhaps the industry should do a better job of PR'ing its successes.