5 ways companies are staying current

While researching for my previous post, I came across an article by Woody Lewis on Mashable.com about how traditional media companies are using online video to branch out. Lewis shows us 5 ways that these companies are using new media to help grow and maintain their current status. 1. Adapting to new consumers • Consumer Reports started out as a print publication in the 1930s. During the next quarter century, it became a trade media icon, often changing the marketing campaigns of products by issuing positive or negative reviews. Its web site, ConsumerReports.org, extended this influence online. While its business has not been immune to current economic conditions, Consumer Reports has used online video to improve its offering, and its public image. 2. Private Label News Networks • In the same way, Forbes Magazine has extended its reach with its Forbes Video Network, a branded page that also automatically rolls video upon loading. The viewer sees a 15-second pre-roll ad, followed by an announcer reading news summaries in between interviews and commentary. Additional shorter ads, embedded between promo footage showing features such as the network’s program guide, drive a fast-paced presentation very similar to a network or cable news show. This is a case of one traditional medium (print) emulating another traditional medium (television) to extend its reach into the new medium of online content. Forbes, traditionally a staid business publication, has clearly targeted a younger audience with this new video format. 3. A literary video channel • Book publisher HarperCollins has created an online video channel that features short pieces by authors promoting new releases. These clips have also been produced to emulate the TV format. Jump cuts to static images of book covers are interspersed in the footage, along with zooms, pans and other devices that create a Ken Burns-style effect of movement. To the right of the main window, a scrolling selection panel, tabbed by genre, offers a program guide. • Browsing through these items uncovers snippets of documentary-style footage and an embedded “Start Reading Now” link that maps to a beta “Browse Inside” portal, where the viewer can read the book online, and order the print or E-book version. One clip promoting the fiction title What Happens in London, features a dramatized summary of characters, delivered by a curly-tressed woman in Victorian-era clothing. This segues immediately into the next clip, a trailer for Jailbait Zombie featuring the author appearing in the trunk of a car to hawk his work. • By dressing books up as movies, and offering trailers that market these titles in familiar soundbite fashion, HarperCollins hopes to pull in a younger film-oriented audience, an effort that could be critical to its survival. 4. The Video Wire Service • The Associated Press has made online video a strategic initiative, offering its news product in this format to many businesses, including local television stations in need of more content to monetize their web sites. Bill Burke, global director of online video products, points to AP’s coverage of the recent presidential inauguration as an indicator of future efforts. He cites interactivity features such as allowing the audience to choose from different camera angles, as a competitive advantage for AP. 5. Standardizing Ad Formats • Starcom MediaVest, part of French ad giant Publicis Groupe, has become a key member of the Pool, a joint initiative between online advertisers and web publishers to create a standard format for video ads. With supporters like Microsoft, Yahoo!, Hulu, CBS Interactive, and other major digital media companies, as well as advertisers including Allstate, Capital One, and Applebee’s, the Pool represents an organized approach to an elusive problem. • Currently, viewers of online video don’t know what to expect when a clip starts to roll. They might see ads of varying lengths, and links that lead in some cases to unrelated sites. By standardizing the length of these clips, and working with online video ad networks such as Brightroll to create more relevant features, companies can increase the effectiveness of their campaigns. “As traditional media businesses like book publishing adapt to new models of distribution, online video will continue to play an important role, not just as content, but as a tool for extending the reach of visual messages now provided by television. As for the broadcast media companies themselves, online video represents an opportunity to partner, and not compete, with the web services companies that provide this service” (Lewis). I believe that this idea of adaptation is important if we are to be successful in the future that will be brought on by new technology. We must stay current, but focused and knowledgeable of our past. http://mashable.com/2009/07/31/traditional-media-online-video/ -Susanne Makosky