- Dave Knox- CMO, Rockfish (moderator)
- America Ferrera - "Ugly Betty"
- Pete Blackshaw - EVP Digital Strategic Services, Nielsen Online
- Drew Buckley- COO, Electus
- 59% of us families use TV and the net simultaneously
- By 2020 less than 30% of us households will have kids and most will be multicultural
- 1 in 4 ppl have access to a pc in world
BUCKLEY: The Hispanic audience in LA is greater than the population of Chicago. We have to consider building entertainment beyond Univision or Telemundo. So we took the concept of "Pedro and Maria" to MTV.
But there are problems with who gets the international rights. The network wants rights to produce the concept or shows in order to develop varaiations abroad.
What does digital media do to help you sell?
FERRERA: The content has to be good first and foremost. I didn't have choice of having a digital image or not, it was more so deciding to manage it or not. For example: my friends would text and say, "I'm following you [on Twitter]" and I didn't even know what they meant at the time.
Digital media has really helped me stay in touch with the fan base. For example: on my birthday I would say to my fans, "for my bday donate a few bucks to this fund to build schools."
Pedro and Maria is a great example to develop mainstream shows. Growing up I was a Latina, but at the same time I was a Latina-teen in a USA surrounding.What impact do you see digital involvement impacting success of brands?
BUCKLEY: Fred was successful on YouTube so execs took him and developed his work into traditional media. It was a risk to take digital to television, but the reality is, is that he brought the viewers.
A big question is, how do you get the two connected? Fantasy football has what it takes, since guys are interested to watch on TV and track on-line.
BLACKSHAW: The trifecta of paid media was this year: olympics, soccer, super bowl
BUCKLEY: Fan clubs don't have presidents (or leadership) it is self-lead and evolves all on it's own.
FERRERA: I recently did the first FaceBook talk show about the Dry Land and thousands of people now know about an independent film which otherwise they may not have learned of it since there was no marketing dollars available.
Having the status updates come from the source as opposed to a fan club president garners a much better response.What do you see the role of brands in future entertainment?
BUCKLEY: It will be hard for brands to reach consumers via broadcast. Keep in mind Twitter was not part of our lexicon 2008. The goal then is to identify the solid story so branding can be built upon it.
BLACKSHAW: Brands will evolve into more of an experience.AUDIENCE QUESTIONS:
What would you have done differently in franchising biggest lose?
BUCKLEY: The Biggest Loser started working with Subway and 24/7 Fitness and other sponsors and help them get media buys.How do you balance authenticity of a personal brand versus a "faceless" brand?
BLACKSHAW: How to stay authentic? I make sure I believe in the content and It will be good. If you compromise the show with poor brand content it will for sure get you.How do address the negative things in social media?
BLACKSHAW: I don't address them, rather I move toward the things that are popular. It was scary to put myself out there since there were not boundaries. When something bad does happen usually the other fans attack the villan
BUCKLEY: Sometimes the best approach for monitoring social media is to let it float (whether good or bad), and see where it goes.How will the social-media interactions play out on Pedro and Maria?
BUCKLEY: We are just getting into the planning and development and writing, butt it will cover things like advising/deciding what music will play when they first kiss. Just like The Hills decision of LC going to France vs staying with boy friend.Population of Hispanic in LA is equal to the population of Chicago. How will you balance the need for local markets (ex Midwest, east cost)?
BUCKLEY: It doesn't mean that it is just in south west. It has to be about content, the fact that they are Latino is nonessential.
BLACKSHAW: Most people have an latent desire to be Latino.--
The discussion panel was really enjoyable and it opened my eyes to the trends of where television shows are headed. I plan to attend the full non-conference next year.