Watching via Cable

Under the old system, we would sit down and turn on the television. I tend to use the guide to flip through what’s currently available. If nothing seems particularly interesting, it’s just a matter of waiting until the next half-hour to check out more programming. Of course, the flip side of this is that we were at the stations’ mercy, and if we missed an episode because we were out, that was it. In other words, watching cable is a fairly mindless but relaxing way to get content.

Watching via Streaming

Streaming requires more “active” watching on the viewer’s part: while you have more choices than before, you have to know what you want to watch and be willing to look for it. Searching is one of the more frustrating parts of streaming. The remote makes entering search words a time-consuming process, and it’s often hard to read the show information because the font is so small. And as we have several channels, it’s often difficult to remember exactly where we found our preferred content. Since we’ve just started using this system, we’re not too concerned, but we can see this becoming more complicated in the future, and it increases our chances of overpaying: for instance, the first season of Downton Abbey is included with Hulu+ and Amazon Prime subscriptions, but the second season is not available on Hulu+ while episodes costs $2 each on Amazon Instant (and, of course, are free via cable).

Now trying reading this from five feet away.

In addition to the latest episodes of our favorite shows, we did enjoy be able to watch older, free programs, like the Mary Tyler Moore show and Inspector Gadget (as you’ve no doubt noted, we have eclectic tastes). The biggest change in our viewing patterns, though, has been not what we watch, but how: we tend to watch several episodes of the same program in a row, rather than flipping from station to station, or having to wait for the newest episode to premiere in a week. It’s a far more satisfying way to watch television, especially with more recent shows like Lost, but it makes it harder to stop watching. We may end up watching more television then before, which is not necessarily a good thing.

One pleasant surprise, however, has been the system’s image quality and responsiveness. The picture is sharp—maybe even better than what we got through cable—and we’ve only had one instance of a program rebuffering in the middle of playing. So while finding content may be more challenging, the viewing experience itself is excellent.

A New Viewing Option

A new device launching in mid-March has the possibility to disrupt our current set-up. The Aereo is a tiny antenna—about the size of a fingertip—that connects directly to the Internet, meaning people can watch live broadcast television without the typical “rabbit ears.”

Additionally, viewers can record shows to watch later, and watch them on up to five different devices.  While this seems like a much better way to watch network TV, it’s another subscription service, not a one-time fee, which would increase our monthly costs even more. Since we already have an antenna, it doesn’t seem like it’s worth the extra expense , but it could be a very promising option for those who are considering switching to a streaming and antenna set-up in the near future. The service will only be available in New York City to start, but we’ll keep an eye on it to see how it develops.

Next week: adventures in antenna reception!

The two-and-a-half minute spot features no dialogue and uses only stop-motion animation to show a farmer’s journey from traditional agriculture to factory farming, with all the hormones, warehousing, and pollution it involves. Upon seeing the results, the farmer has an epiphany, and goes “back to the start” by reverting to his original farm. The action in accompanied by a haunting rendition of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” by Willie Nelson. (It should be noted that for maximum impact, the ad ran immediately following Coldplay’s Grammy performance.) The ad ends with Chipotle’s “Cultivate a Better World” slogan and encourages viewers to download the song, with proceeds supporting The Chipotle Cultivation Foundation.

From Chipotle Billboard Campaign

While at first this seems similar to most other companies touting sustainability, especially those in the food service industry, Chipotle’s method is more powerful because it never directly promotes the product or brand (beyond the inclusion of its name and logo), but instead focuses entirely on the message. There is no Chipotle restaurant shown, or people enjoying the product. In fact, without prior knowledge, a viewer wouldn’t necessarily what Chipotle actually is. Chrysler took a similar route with its “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spot last week, featuring Clint Eastwood discussing the state of the American economy, with the brand logo only appearing briefly at the end.

Sustainability is a positive message to promote in advertisements, but it must be done right, where the message is clear, but not overly educational or judgmental. The ad must also come across as genuine, as in the age of Internet backlash would quickly stomp out any attempt at cajoling.

The difficulties of this marketing strategy can be seen in the handling of Coke’s Arctic Home campaign. A partnership with World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), Arctic Home is a money-raising venture to create a wildlife sanctuary in the Arctic to benefit, among other things, the survival of polar bears, a longtime mascot of the Coke brand. The connection seems like a slam-dunk, but unclear messaging and nascent references left many in the dark when Coke debuted their Super Bowl commercials.

The campaign, featuring two CGI polar bears reacting to the game, seemingly in real time, was accompanied by promotion on the brand’s Twitter and an animated live-stream. However, the connection to the Arctic Home campaign was conceptual at best. While the Twitter account promoted the message, the ads themselves (on the highest rated broadcast in US history) made no mention of the campaign. Some claim the cause’s connection to the combustible issue of climate change left Coke with cold feet.

But if Chipotle’s success shows anything, it is that a full commitment to the campaign of sustainability is necessary. Going half-in may lead to some positive press releases, but in the digital age of the viral video genuine, contagious marketing content can lead to more customers, more interest, and a positive brand image.

From proposed SOPA legislation to outright censorship, various global restriction attempts have lead many corporations like Google and Twitter to alter their business models to comply with governmental policies while still maximizing on their ideals. Twitter, for instance, recently announced that they will be initiating country-specific censorship, removing content in the particular country in which the content is unlawful. This method, according to Twitter, still promotes free expression and allows information to be shared, just to a limited audience. The compromise was established because of Twitter’s belief that certain information should still be available to those who are legally allowed to access it rather than removing it altogether, as they were forced to do before.

Many users, however, are unhappy with Twitter’s decision because they feel Twitter encouraged free speech, and their compliance of governmental policies is falling back on their own ideals.  While Twitter could fight for the “free speech” right, it is in their best business interest to comply with national government’s laws in order to retain and increase users globally. Twitter’s decision not only benefits their company, but benefits its users as well. Instead of its previous process of completely removing content based on complaints without any of the users knowing, Twitter has announced that they intend increase the user’s transparency of what content is blocked. Twitter will put up alert boxes on censored content, which will state that a Tweet or username is withheld along with informing the user that their content has been removed. To add on to a user’s transparency, Twitter has also collaborated with Chilling Effects to list all complaints filed to Twitter, and by whom. It is also important to consider that no content will be removed unless and until a complaint has been filed against the post, and it has been verified to be illegal by Twitter employees.

In a practical context, Twitter has efficiently created a solution that many other Internet platforms are or will be struggling with. While it does not allow the freedom of speech and viewing for all, it does still provide the luxury to audiences in countries that have less censorship concerns for certain topics, and all through an honest, legal, and transparent approach. It may even increase freedom of speech by expanding into previously forbidden area like China and Iran. Since Twitter’s announcement, Thailand is accepting Twitter’s censorship terms and allowing the site to be public to their citizens.

It will be interesting to see if other Internet platforms will emulate Twitter’s compromise, especially companies like Google, whch have to route Chinese search results through Hong Kong because of conflicts with the Chinese government’s restrictions.  In fact, Google India has taken already taken a similar step by blocking politically targeted content in compliance with a recent law passed by the Indian Congress. This balance between information and control will continue to be an important and controversial topic for years to come.

Whether referred to as Generation Y, the Millennials, the Peter Pan Generation, or a slew of other markers, this generation is starting to have children, and thus pass on their own values. What are the trends, mindsets, and commercial practices they are proliferating? New businesses and marketing campaigns are starting to show some examples of how this generation combines their own wants and needs with those of their children.

Playful Grounds (image from Toronto Life)

The growth of the coffee shop as a neo-salon for general social gatherings in the 90′s changed the commercial landscape. But now that the teens who frequented these cafes have kids, there is a new need for ‘family-friendly’ coffee shops, like Playful Grounds in Toronto, ON Canada. Their mission is to serve this burgeoning demographic by creating the coffeehouse atmosphere the parents are used to while providing a play-area for their children. This trend is spreading, with a similar venture called Family Grounds Cafe in Chicago, which describes itself as joining three passions: coffee, community, kids.

Frolic!

In Williamsburg, a haven for hipster culture, the concept emerges in the form of a (members-only) children’s playspace. You won’t find castles, forests, or any more traditional kiddie-fare, though: Frolic! is “the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll play space for the urban ‘under six’ crowd and their parents.” The space is complete with a Rolling Stones-themed slide, colorful VolksWagon Type 2 Van, and features art, yoga, and music lessons as well as a coffee shop, naturally.

Consider also the increase in popular, indie music featured in children’s properties. Last year’s “Winnie the Pooh” movie had a soundtrack featuring indie-darling Zooey Deschanel (of She & Him), as well as a trailer using Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know.” Since the movie is sold on nostalgia factor and a new property for children, the use of music is clearly meant to appeal to the parents just as much as the children themselves, with marketers hoping the parents will make the decision to bring their children to the theater.

Or take Nick Jr.’s Yo Gabba Gabba!, which is hosted by a DJ, Lance Rock, and frequently features guest stars like The Shins, Shiny Toy Guns, Hot Hot Heat, The Flaming Lips, and many other prominent indie rock bands, looking to appeal specifically to the Generation Y parents whose children are watching the show.

The Millennials-as-Parents demographic is still being formed, but with their own cultural values and increasing share of the nation’s wealth, they will quickly become a dominant entity in the consumer space. The attentive marketer will have to recognize their growing impact, and figure out how to engage this group and their children.

The Search Begins

The first question that came to mind was if we’d be able to continue watching the shows we really like. We came up with a short list of shows we’d miss, like Downton Abbey and Law and Order: SVU. We then came up with a list of shows that we’d like to be able to watch, but due to our current cable package, can’t, like Good Eats (only on the Cooking Channel) and Top Chef (which, strangely, we can watch On Demand, but don’t have Bravo). We also wanted to keep our expenses to a minimum: as we currently pay around $50/month for cable, we wanted to have our “investment” in a device pay us back in two to three months and reducing our monthly rate. After comparing services like Amazon Instant, Netflix, and Hulu, we realized we’d be able to see most, if not all of our favorites via streaming for less. But what really got us excited was that with Hulu+, we’d be able to watch all 13 seasons of SVU. (Sad, perhaps, but at least we’re in good company.)

Shopping for the Device

Initially, we planned on purchasing a Blu-Ray player with streaming capabilities for around $100, and headed down to the local Target (how old-fashioned!) to examine our options. We focused on three models in particular: a Sony on sale for $80, a Vizio for $100, and a Panasonic on sale for $120. One of our biggest concern was which apps each device had—Hulu+ and Netflix were essential, and Amazon Instant and Pandora were preferred—and were surprised by how difficult it was to determine which models had which apps. If the packaging didn’t feature a Hulu+ logo, for example, we weren’t sure if we could add it later or not, which made us hesitate.

Our next step was to look up reviews online while in the store (yes, exactly what big box retailers try to avoid). Unfortunately, user reviews indicated that while Blu-Ray playback on these machines was generally excellent, their streaming capabilities were spotty, and in some cases, Netflix was unusable. As our main goal was to stream content, this gave us pause. We also considered the lifespan of Blu-Ray technology. We expect that Blu-Ray technology will largely be passed over as more and more people skip directly to streaming. Sure, we’d be able to play our current DVD collection, but we have no intention of buying Blu-Ray discs. Would it really be worth paying an additional $30 to $50 for a technology we weren’t going to use?

While we hadn’t ruled out Blu-Ray players, our next step was to head over to Best Buy to look at streaming devices: specifically, the Roku, the Boxee, and Apple TV. Although Boxee has more options for Internet surfing, at $180, it was out of our price range. (We avoided Google TV for the same reason—the only Google TV-enabled Blu-Ray player costs well over $200.) We were highly tempted by Apple TV, but my roommate’s prior experience with the system was less than positive,  and for an unexpected reason: the remote was too easy to lose. Of course, its limited app selection also reduced its appeal. In the end, we decided to get the Roku 2 XD. It had the widest selection of apps, was reasonably priced at $80, and its streaming quality had received positive reviews. In addition, we purchased an antenna to receive local stations.

Setting It Up

Once home, we were eager to try our new toy. The Roku was surprisingly easy to set up—we plugged it in, connected it over WiFi, and were adding channels within 10 minutes. The antenna was also easy to set up, but unfortunately a problem cropped up: our television had an analog tuner! We’d have to purchase a digital converter to get it to work, adding another $20 or so to our total cost.

Finding Content

Of course, the Roku is only a device; we still had to consider our options for content. We already have a Netflix DVD by mail subscription, and Netflix’s streaming options are still fairly limited, so we decided to hold off on upgrading our subscription for now. We did, however, add a Hulu+ subscription and purchased a year-long Amazon Prime account for added streaming. We added, but did not have to pay for, a basic Pandora subscription, and Crackle, a service which somehow manages to offer a random assortment of videos without charging for them while only running minimal ads.

Findings So Far

In our first week, we spent $120 on devices and an average of $20/month for our subscription. However, we still have to purchase a digital converter. At a savings rate of $30/month, it’ll take us at least four months to recuperate our initial investment—and that’s assuming we don’t add more subscriptions or start renting or buying additional subscriptions or shows. Next week, we’ll cover technical difficulties and report back on how our viewing habits have changed.

While there were plenty of the Super Bowl standard-fare featuring celebrities, humor, iconic logos and mascots, the increase in the cultural awareness and focus on manufacturing, job-creation, and the American economy at large has never been higher. When serious messages and expensive airtime is devoted to this serious image during a completely leisure activity like the Super Bowl, the apparent message is that the issue is so prominent, it is affecting every area of American’s lives, personally and culturally.

Don Draper Present Facebook Timeline

According to Facebook, Timeline is meant to “tell your life story with a new kind of profile”—in other words, a personal, self-written narrative. Users can add “life events,” (like a new job or moving) both current and back-dated, turning “You” into the star of your own movie. There is even an app, Timeline Movie maker, that does just that. After quickly parsing through your timeline, the app produces a 1-minute film starring content. It is yet another example of the way Facebook allows personalization and identity creation within the confines of a predefined template. ‘Your story’ is yours to write… within limits.

All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. With Facebook Timeline, you can go back and fill in the B.F. (Before Facebook), parts, but what about the end? No app has allowed users to update their status from the grave—until now. If I Die, a new Facebook app by developers Willook, allows users to create a video or text message to be posted upon one’s death (to be confirmed by friends you have selected). Never before has facing one’s mortality been easier.

With this trend towards writing one’s personal story, companies should be concerned with how a potential consumer views the brand in relation to the story their attempting to “write,” as facilitated through social media like Facebook and other relevant apps. What role will your brand play in the life story of your customers?

The Star Wars Uncut Project, which encouraged fans to re-make Star Wars Episode 4 “A New Hope” by using the fans’ own artistic and creative ideas, was one of the first of these projects. In 2009, interested participants were asked re-create a 15-second clip of the original film however they liked. The uncut movie reached instant popularity and recognition and even won a 2010 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media-Fiction, but the best was yet to come: the “Director’s Cut” was released in January 2012.

It’s not just the movies that are being re-lived: legendary music artists such as Johnny Cash and Michael Jackson are also being commemorated by fans re-making videos of some of their hit songs.

The Johnny Cash Project is a global collective art project that continues to invite fans to share their vision of Johnny Cash by customizing various images of Johnny Cash. Each of the fan-made representative portraits are combined and integrated into a re-made music video for Cash’s hit song “Ain’t No Grave.” The creative portraits are strung together in sequence to create an ever-evolving homage to the beloved musical icon and allow for fans to not only enjoy the song but by truly participating in it.

An even more recent project allowed Michael Jackson fans to re-live his presence by being a part of a music video for his song “Behind the Mask”. Fans globally were encouraged to integrate their dancing, musical, vocal and acting skills with signature Michael Jackson styles to create a 100% fan-made video. For Michael Jackson fans, this was a way to keep him alive by imitating his moves and style and releasing his new music video. The fan made music video allows people to continue to  honor and enjoy the legendary icon.

These re-makes are the ultimate way for fans to connect to their icons and share their enthusiasm with a dedicated community. Be prepared for more favorite childhood movies and artists to come back to life—if you keep an eye out, you can even be a part of them.

In a multilingual country like India, it’s not easy to break the social and semiotic barrier to become viral. For long, the north-south division of language and culture made a huge barricade on promoting local-lingo influenced videos across Bindha mountain (a mountain which is in the middle of Indian subcontinent). Various reasons can be cited for this: the pronunciation of southern languages are very different than the north, as well as the meaning and expression of the words. Interestingly, the song  “Kolaveri di” from the upcoming Tamil movie “3,” broke this barrier smoothly and became instant hit among the younger population in India.

The words in this song are simple, easy to pronounce and emotional (the “love-break-hate” is very catchy theme among youth). The singer used Tanglish (quirky mix of Tamil and English) which is very popular way of communication (bengali+english, Hindi+english, punjabi+tamil etc.) among youth. Also, the tune is simple to adopt into any language or sing. The novelty of the word kolaveri was a great driver of interest. Twelve per cent of all conversations on Kolaveri were about the meaning of the word, generally translated as murderous rage. According to social media analytic firm Social Hues, the song was being talked about up to two weeks before the video appeared on YouTube on 16 November. Over the next few days, people began tweeting about the lyrics of the song and other details of the film. The publicity was global. Between 1 and 10 November (even before the official launch of the song), there were 43,800 mentions of Kolaveri in the US, 7,000 in France and 4,000 from the UAE. Tamil movie fanatics (mostly male) and non-resident Indians drove most of the traffic in the US and the Gulf, and students studying abroad made up the majority of mentions in Europe. The song has inspired people to post their own version of the song and spawned flash mobs.

Last weekend, the viral video of the song reached two milestones that confirmed its arrival in the YouTube hall of fame. It reached 15 million views—the target that Ashok Parwani, the associate director at Sony Music, which promoted the song, set for it on 25 November. It also got its own “Hitler gets angry about…” video—an essential accolade for any Internet meme and also the first for any Indian music video.

Seeing the popularity and far-reaching appeal of the song “Kolaveri Di,” the police have decided to capitalize on its fame to ask motorists to remain calm on roads—a step that might help in bringing down road accidents. Chennai Police has already brought out posters asking “why this anger” with the words “Kolaveri Di” painted in bold. The same poster was added to Delhi Police’s Facebook website by a member and became an instant hit.

Various brands and retailers started using the phrase as their ad taglines innovating new “meanings” of “kolaveri.”

Kolaveri marks a tipping point in the industry, after which the social media will emerge as a mainstream option alongside the television and radio. It is only fair to point out that Kolaveri is not the first movie promotion to be launched on social media first—makers of the movie Peepli [Live], the hit song Sheila ki Jawani and music band Euphoria, among others, have in the past experimented with releasing bits and pieces of their work on Facebook and other social networks. Nothing on this scale has, however, been attempted before. Don’t be surprised if you find film makers hoarding social networking sites trying to recreate the buzz and popularity of Kolaveri, says one analyst. “If something is a hit on social media, then your fans become your ambassadors and it goes viral in no time,” said Jehil Thakkar, executive director, KPMG India. “No one can really say what works, so replicating it (success of Kolaveri) is next to impossible.”

For more information and dozens of videos, visit Kaustav’s blog, Ingene Insights.