Digital Distribution Models: The New Wave or The End of an Era?

I have commented on digital distribution before but I feel that I need to reexamine the topic after the controversy that surrounded the new film, Tower Heist. The film is directed by Brett Ratner, stars Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller and is about “hard working guys finding out they've fallen victim to a wealthy business man's Ponzi scheme, so they conspire to rob his high-rise residence.” The controversy started when Universal, wanting to test their new experimental distribution model, decided to release the picture to video on demand only after three weeks of being in theaters for a price of $60.  They wanted to test to see who would pay the price for the comfort of seeing the movie at home.

Personally every movie I have gone to since the beginning of this year has been a bad experience. It seems that this current generation of moviegoers does not understand how to go to a movie. They are rude, inconsiderate, and their attention spans are short lived. Their cell phones appear to be more entertaining than the movie they paid $12 to see.  I have had to deal with people talking on their phones and constantly checking their Facebook and text messages throughout the film and with phone’s big screens these days those sort of activities do not go unnoticed to the other theater patrons.  As a film lover I cannot stand being taken out of the film’s story because a blinding light keeps shining in my face every five seconds. Do I want theaters to become obsolete because I would pay for the VOD service in order to not have to put up with that? No, I do want theaters to become more proactive and stop blaming the studios. Put rules in place and monitor that they are followed so that everyone can have the movie experience the filmmakers wished them to have.

Back to the news – Universal pulled the plan after theater owners threatened to not play the picture at all in their theaters. Universal realized that they would lose a huge amount of the gross profit if they were to go through with this plan. My question to the studio is why plan to follow through with that experiment during the holiday season when theaters are packed with other choices for moviegoers? This gave the theater owners the leverage they needed to not just threaten but actually not have to show the film because their bottom line wouldn’t depend on it. Why do it with a film that is sure to tank at the box office anyway?  Lastly, why start out with such a high model? $60 to the consumer is not a logical number in their mind. To them $60 is an amount they would gladly pay to the theater for six tickets because in their mind $10 per person, plus the cost of getting there and concessions equals an experience. $60 at home does not equal out to $10 per person because those same six people would be watching it at home, not spending the time to get ready and go anywhere, not buying extra concessions. Lastly because it feels like paying $60 for a film instead of $10 per person is a very steep number. Now if they were to start out with $30 for the VOD service to the same family of six that would mean that they get to see the same film for half the price of going to the theater and now the time, gas, or concessions are not factored into the experience as rational costs but irrational costs when they realize their out of pocket expense doubles.

Do theater owners have something to fear from VOD service? I would say no, that the two can go hand and hand much in the same way that television and radio went hand in hand when the advent of television was believed to be the extinction of radio. What I believe they do have to fear is that studios are part of a conglomerate who own the VOD channels and want something enticing to attract consumers as a way to increase their own bottom line. There needs to be a deal soon to bring peace to both parties because they could end up killing themselves in the act. Movie patrons could soon find that downloading high quality films from illegal sites is far easier and cost friendly than paying money to VOD or to theaters. 

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street

This subject has been lingering on the edges of my perception for some time. I would see random clippings in the news as well as text crawlers during football games. I never paid attention to them until the two trade magazines I read, The Hollywood Reporter, and Daily Variety, mentioned them as headlines on October 3^rd.  

For background on Occupy Wall Street, please go to this site that I found very helpful:

http://www.ufppc.org/us-a-world-news-mainmenu-35/10575-background-occupy-wall-street-basics.html

The call to arms happened with this poster made by Adbusters:

The main question that most seem to be asking, ironically the poster asks it as well, “What are the protestors demands?” Considering they claim “decisions are made by a "General Assembly" that is "a horizontal, autonomous, leaderless, modified-consensus-based system," it would appear obvious that they don’t even know what they seek. I work with the mayors and commissioners of Orlando and see protestors come in with groups that have no single leader with 20 or so people all using the public forum to voice their opinions. However the problem with this is that no one knows how to really appease them.  Solutions are offered and at once rebutted, so most of the time it would appear that these people just want to have their voices heard… about something, anything… as long as they get their five minutes.

The most basic intention behind Occupy Wall Street has been described as, “a series of protests…. against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government, among other concerns… Adbusters states that, "Beginning from one simple demand – a presidential commission to separate money from politics – we start setting the agenda for a new America." (Wikipedia)

International Business Times had this to say which I found most interesting; “The protest's organizers hope that the protestors themselves will formulate their own specific demands, expecting them to be focused on "taking to task the people who perpetrated the economic meltdown.” The reason I found this interesting is because protestors SHOULD look at their message as if they are formulating a business plan. They have to have a goal they are trying to achieve, a plan to reach that goal, and milestone markers to ensure that those steps are being reached. They also need to have a leader, I cannot stress this enough. They need someone to state their demands, negotiate on their behalf, and guide the protestors to the finish line of their goal. They also need to understand that they are going against businesses and businessmen respond positively to language they understand and negatively to people that do not have a plan.  So protestors that belong to Occupy Wall Street, please get a leader to stand behind, with a plan of action, and goals that you want to achieve so that you and the people whose work you are disrupting can reach a peaceable agreement.

Sources:

Daily Variety

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118043738

The Hollywood Reporter

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/afl-cio-occupy-wall-street-protests-243242

International Business Times | New York

http://newyork.ibtimes.com/articles/215511/20110917/occupy-wall-street-new-york-saturday-protest.htm

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

What I've Learned From the Business Plan Writers

  For the previous blog I discussed two business writers by the name of Dave Lavinsky and Christie Karis who offered great advice on how to formulate a business plan.  They gave some great advice especially on the part of paying attention to your milestones in your business plan and of course don’t overlook the small things because those add up.  I also love Mr. Lavinsky’s advice of not focusing on short-term profits rather than building long-term value. I am incorporating this advice into my own plan by recognizing to not get over excited about immediate profit and that for the first couple of years the goal is to grow a business. So any profit found should immediately be put back into the business so you can reach your long-term goals and achieve sustainability in the marketplace. 

 The specific changes I made are just that – I have made it an important priority to assign a financial advisor who is to pay strict attention to the fact that any profits, after all line items have been paid, is to go back into the business whether it is to promote it through advertising, upgrade software, hire more talented professionals, etc. I am not to get excited and immediately purchase items with the profits for my personal gain. I also love that Dave states that a business can fail because the owner was just a jerk. Many of the videos we have had to watch in class of interviews with business men all say the same thing; remain humble when you find success and people will continue to want your business.  This I found to be very important advice and while it is not directly incorporated into my business plan it is going to be incorporated into my business model of operating.  Great customer service is the key to success so turning into a jerk after a little bit of success will just doom the business to failure. After years of success... maybe then I can be a bit of a jerk… but that definitely will not come for quite a while. 

“Experts Views on the Value of Business Plans”

Dave Lavinsky – a prominent leader in the business plan arena.

Founder of Growthink, a company that helps entrepreneurs build a business plan, research their particular markets, investing, etc. He has also developed Growthink University, which helps business owners, entrepreneurs and business students learn how to raise capital. His current blog post is titled “Crowdfunding 101” and he gives his readers advice on this new form of fundraising that involves getting a regular group of individuals to invest in a project via the internet verses the normal model of getting money through bankers, etc.

There are two blogs in particular that I want to comment on from his site. The first is about business planning and is titled “Business Plan Milestones: How They are Essential To Your Success.” He talks about how a plan is meaningless unless you create the right milestones and stick to them. He explains with an antidote about how many steps it takes to pump your gas.

                        1. I pulled into the gas station.


2. I pulled next to a pump.


3. I put the car in park.


4. I turned off my engine.


5. I got out of the car.


6.  I popped open the gas flap.


7. I swiped my credit card into the machine.


8. I typed in my zip code.


9. I pressed the button for the type of gas I wanted.


10. I unscrewed the gas cap.


11. I took the gas nozzle out of the machine and stuck it   into my gas tank.


12. I squeezed the lever.


13. I waited while the tank filled up.


14.  I put the gas nozzle back into the machine.


15. I pressed "no" I don't want a receipt.

16. I screwed my gas cap back on.


17. I shut the gas flap.


18. I got back in my car.


19. I turned on the engine.


20. I put the car in drive.


21. I drove off.



I thought this was a great illustration as to how many things we actually do in order to accomplish a task we believe is very simple. As far as your business goes and in order to attract investors, you must understand what your milestones are and what it takes to accomplish them. You may mark your milestone as different big accomplishments but it takes the little accomplishments to get there. Never forsake them in order to reach your goal faster, for that haste may actually cause your undoing.

The other blog I would like to mention is called “The 6 Untold Reasons Why Businesses Fail.”  This caught my eye as normally sites hawk the number of reason a business plan succeeds or how to become rich through your business with these simple steps and lastly the top reasons for a business failure. I was intrigued… I wanted to know what the untold reasons were. To list them as he words them, they are:

1) Focusing on Short-Term Profits Rather than Building Long-Term Value

2) Ego Business vs. Business Opportunity

3) Life distractions

4) Bad feedback & white lies

5) Maybe the owner is just a jerk

6) The entrepreneur never took the full leap

For the complete answers behind these six reasons, visit http://www.growthink.com/content/6-untold-reasons-why-businesses-fail

Christie Karis

The second business plan expert I looked at was Christie Karis who is a woman that helps develop business plans for small business owners. Her site is very helpful as it includes samples for startup funding, business expansion, and raising capital. She has worked with more than 100 small businesses and it appears that everyone is very appreciative of the work she does. She does not give much advice on her site but I did want to mention it as she seemed a credible person to put together a business plan for a person who does not know how to put one together his or herself.

Resource:

http://www.growthink.com/team/dave-lavinsky

http://www.growthink.com/category/blogs/dave-lavinsky

http://www.growthink.com/businessplan/help-center

http://www.christiekaris.com/

SUPER Twitter!

Paramount thinks TWITTER is Super!

Super 8 Trailer

Super 8’s brilliant twitter marketing scheme garnered a $37 million opening weekend.  Paramount Pictures took to twitter to promote a sneak preview of the new film “Super 8” directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. How it worked is Twitter users needed to tweet with the designated #Super8Secret hashtag in order to get locations of the secret day early premier screenings. In order for Paramount to accomplish this they teamed up with Twitter and “paid to make #Super8Secret a "Promoted Trend," putting the hashtag under the top 10 trends listed on users' Twitter homepages” (Yin). They ran the campaign 11 hours before the screenings and used 325 domestic locations, including all 239 Imax theaters. Paramount found success utilizing social media to gain a buzz for the movie as it is reported that more than 100,000 people saw the secret screenings on Thursday June 9^th.  

On Facebook, "Super 8's" most active page tacked on an impressive 66,101 new Likes for a total of 123,280 by the end of Sunday. On Twitter, the film racked up 35,912 tweets. That level of online activity bodes well for the film's chances at the box office in the weeks to come (Contrino).

Paramount also debuted the Super 8 trailer on Twitter, which is another way the company is showing their successful use of social media and marketing to the under 25 year old crowd using their own turf.

For my film review:

‘Super 8’ was amazing and beautiful. What made it so good was that the monster doesn’t even have to be involved in the picture; he actually takes a back seat to the intimate moments between the characters. I haven’t believed this big of a child cast since ‘The Goonies.’ The only problem I had with it was the J.J. Abrams signature lens flare that would sometimes take over the whole screen. It didn’t fit with the tone of the film and would take me out of the moment every time they happened. It worked perfectly with ‘Star Trek’ but I think J.J. needs to pick his moments before it becomes an especially tired effect.

'The Goonies' 

 'Super 8' 

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/super-8/trailer

Contrino, P. (2011, June 13). Super 8 Dominates Film Chatter Online. CBS News. Retrieved on June 15, 2011 from http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504943_162-20070802-10391715.html

Yin, S. (2011, June 11). Twitter’s ‘Super 8’ Promo Grosses $1 Million on Thursday. PC Mag. Retrieved on June 15, 2011 from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2386773,00.asp

Stewart, A. (2011, June 8). Par preps sneak peeks for ‘Super 8’. Daily Variety. Retrieved on June 15, 2011 from http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118038226?refcatid=3762&printerfriendly=true

SURVEY TIME!

Streaming Services vs. Rental Stores and Questioning Our Future As A Society

With Blockbuster going bankrupt and the number of subscribers to Netflix constantly rising, it is no question that the population wants their entertainment at their fingertips, on demand, without the hassle of leaving the house and fighting the elements to get it. It is no wonder that many start up companies are jumping on the bandwagon and launching their streaming sites albeit without all the A-list titles that Netflix has. It is an interesting turn of events for the world. The younger generation has a pin drop of a memory of VHS and soon they may have nostalgic feelings towards DVDs. “The future of VOD is a series of channels of content,” Cakarel says. “DVDs will continue their rapid decline as the choice of format for home entertainment. I think we all need to wake up and smell the coffee. My young sister in Istanbul will never buy a DVD in her life. That’s a fact. Period.” (Appelo, 2011).

Hollywood Reporter states, "That there are so many options is a testament to the popularity of streaming, which has become a preferred way to consume movies, according to a March study from PricewaterhouseCoopers. PwC reported that the Netflix model of mailing DVDs is No. 1 with consumers, with 43 percent of Americans doing it, while the subscription streaming service where Netflix also is dominant is No. 2 at 32 percent. Third is a la carte streaming, fourth is renting a DVD from a kiosk, and fifth is renting from a video store."

On a personal note, are we as a society disconnecting ourselves from each other? We all crave a more personal experience but will that in turn shield us from wishing to communicate with others? If we never have to leave the house because entertainment, work, marketing, etc can all come to us, will we? Are all these personalized experiences spoiling us by allowing us to exaggerate our own lives to others that we have forgotten how to listen?  By this question I mean the younger generation that is so quick to have everything at a push of a button has not the time to learn the meaning of patience and because they are always talking (on the phone, texting, facebooking, twitter, netflix streaming online parties, etc) are they not learning the valuable lesson of listening. Has this digital age triggered the beginning of society's breakdown?

Appelo, T. & Bond, P. (2011, March 17). How the Assault on Netflix Will Shake Out. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on June 2, 2011 from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/how-assault-netflix-will-shake-168562

• Interesting side note: did not realize companies for actually hiring for a purely "digital marketing" designated job. I believed that digital marketing was just in the general marketing mix. Should stop taking things for granted since all these new job creations are jobs my generation can fill. 
• Fox taps Ira Rubenstein to oversee DM