April 26, 2009…..Today I attended a marketing conference called Driving Interactive, which basically was a select collection of agencies and client side reps. coming together to discuss the state of the interactive landscape, as well as where it’s going. With that said, this was the first conference of this kind I have attended, and it was quite eye-opening.

The initial presentation just spoke about basic market strategy integration with playful pics of purchase funnels and simple strategies brought together. I really think the most impressive part of the work people presented was the fact they got their organization to buy off on the integrated approach. Either way, the first day was about as exciting as the last two paragraphs you read, it wasn’t until the cocktail party that I began to see the benefits of this event.

Got myself vodka/sprite, just to relax a bit J, and I ended up in conversation with a VP form a major ad placement agency. We got to talking and the broadband video subject came up…from there it was all over. I found a large collection of people at the conference who were all interested in targeting consumers through the broadband video medium, and as I told people about Motown Initiative their attention was at 100%. I even found a few people at the conference from Detroit. It was exciting to see them so interested in working with the initiative, despite the fact we don’t have a product.

So anywho, what I learned today is…The ad placement industry is in desperate need of ad targeting solutions and many of them have hit a road block. Innovative thought on the subject from a fresh perspective is completely welcome and much appreciated. So it seems one of the most important components to the Initiative is the ad targeting platform. I guess I’m gonna keep trying to blow out the detail of that portion of the project.

Wait, did I mention the fact we went out and partied til 3 after the conference? I think ill save that for another entry, man these marketing folks are crazy.

I recommend that anyone starting a business find their own Orian. It’s always good to have a person tell you your idea isn’t good enough.  Also, I find the more I talk about Motown Initiative, the more comfortable I am in defending the business model and its purpose.  More importantly, I find that I’m discovering clever ways to convey the Motown Initiative mission without revealing the inner workings of the business.  I think this is key, because VC’s dont’t sign nda agreements.   I need to be able to hook investors without revealing too much of the “meat” from our plan.

Im going to keep working on my pitch line as I think it is going to really help me focus my thoughts.  While I havent come up with a distinct pitch yet, I have complete the market/target analysis of the business plan.   As I continue to document the business strategy, I believe I’m coming closer to the all encompassing pitch phrase.

Over the past week I complete an industry overview section for the business plan, and what I found is that there is currently one major challenge to the broadband market.  How can ad revenue be increased in the market?

While I know that my team has devised some viable solutions to this challenge, I also know that we plan to deliver so much more than just a revolutionary advertisement platform.  The question is can we successfully pitch such a complex idea to an investor.  Will they believe that we can actuate on our plan considering so many experienced teams have, in a sense…failed?

I’ve decided to spend the next couple weeks in search of a short phrase that can concisely communicate what Motown Initiative’s website will offer. If I can’t figure out a “pitch line” of sorts, I am going to adjust the scope of this project.  Maybe I’ll just focus specifically on developing solutions to the ad revenue model.  There are few competitors in that line of business, and it is the core component to my current business strategy.  Regardless of what direction I decide to take with Motown Initiative, I do know one thing, the social mission will not be lost.  Revitalizing Detroit remains the end game.

VP : “I have the unfortunate duty of telling you that your position has been eliminated”

Me : “Does that mean I get free money?”  (Severance package was looking good hehe)

VP : “No no, not so fast, you’re not leaving quite yet, we value your qualities and thus we have created a new position for you”.

….Having mixed feelings about it, my reaction was simply
Me: “oookkk, thanks”

So what is my new position?  Just take a guess?  Guiding their brand online

Now, how in the world is it that I finally found a business to develop completely unrelated to my job and within 3 weeks they create a position for me that will almost certainly place me in contact with interactive companies.  I never saw this coming.  Without hesitating I exposed my latest business to the VPs.  Their mouths dropped. Well I shouldn’t say “their”, one of the VPs has always known of my business ventures, but the subject has always been the “don’t ask don’t tell” realm of things. However, after deliberation, they didn’t see any immediate conflict of interest.  Soooo looks like I’ll continue on in the corporate world for now, spending my nights on the Motown Initiative and my days at …. a company haha (I’ll keep my office private as I may bash on them sometimes haha).

I’d like to give shout-outs to

-    God for letting me get a sorta-promotion on lay-off day
-    The VPs for keeping me on despite the Motown Initiative

Now there is nothing particularly wrong with the model; in fact I personally still think its great, but there is a fundamental problem with the direction my business seems to be going.  It looks as if I’m trying to replace cable TV.  Now some of you are saying “that’s a great idea, I wish I didn’t need cable”, but the fact is there is quite the business model attached to traditional TV.  I can tell you right now, major networks and cable providers are not about to part with their billions in ad revenue.

I decided to just start typing down all the potential components of the business model and how they may actually fair in the eyes of major networks and investors.  The list got pretty long, and my mind went pretty numb, so I had to call it day.   To compliment a day’s work, I decided to go visit my friend’s house and they just got a PS3 and Wii….sillyness…

Side note:  I did enjoy my gaming night but it was somewhat discouraging.  Remember the 8^th grade, in your parent’s basement? Yea you do…playing video games until they’d force you to go to bed.  Well I sure can’t do it anymore.  After 3 hours of Street Fighter IV, I not only felt like I just took a 5 mile run but my thumbs were sore too.  In fact, forget past tense, my thumbs ARE STILL sore.  I hope when I wake up my thumbs are back in commission :-/

Original Logo Displayed Here

March 20th, 2009….One the key components to this business idea I’ve been developing is content.  We’ve been trying to figure out how we will get the content we need to start a media company.  Well, Hulu finally replied to my email .

It took multiple emails and phone calls, but hey, Hulu is probably busy, I can’t get mad at them.  Now I didnt get all the information I was looking for, as they were more interested in asking about my company than answering questions about theirs, but it’s a start.  Hulu is the best in online distribution and thus I definitely want our final product to involve Hulu assets.  It makes a lot of sense to work with them since they are basically a child of the major networks NBC and NewsCorp.  I don’t think we’ll have the capital or clout to make content contracts with major networks at launch, and thus Hulu takes care of that.  Hurray!

Well, im off to continue work on our logo and website concept.  I really liked the logo I came up with in my sleep (literally I woke up 8am on Saturday, grabbed my pad and drew it), but I’ve already had two people say it looks like I’m flicking them off :-/ (see the image above)…..  back to the drawing board.

1. NBC is a leader in online video and very much a proponent of its growth.

“ABC Executive Vice President Albert Cheng claims that 9 out of 10 premium television shows aggregated on the Web, ABC led the charge in viewer-ship.  They claim that they have been the pioneer in the last 3 years.  Despite their progress, he believes that they have only begun to scratch the surface. They are looking to build models that pair internet streaming with TV. “

2. Motown Initiative really needs to focus on developing complimentary media that can expand the reach of traditional television (and vice versa).  I had never really thought of things this way before until now.  This is the most important thing to know when approaching the broadband market.

“Diana from Moxie Interactive elaborated on the pairing of mediums by saying Broadband/TV is not a ‘either’ ‘or’ choice by viewers, it’s an ‘And’, meaning that they are complementary, so to think that broadband will supplement tv is a mistake. “

3. Hulu is not yet profitable.  They have to build a larger audience base to generate enough ad revenue.  This means we really need to concentrate on delivering media with higher cpms or better ad share terms.

“Aggregators are not profitable due to high profit sharing with content providers. There is generally low user attention span and the distribution of digital media is costly.   Ex,  Hulu ad shares with NBC on their content, NBC charges higher CPM rates but only gives 20-30% of ad revenue to Hulu. “

4. One of the new hot segments for funding is niche content.  While I do not plan to start a website dedicated to one specific type of content, talks with niche content advocates have convinced me to pursue Motown Original programming for our media website.

“Dan Bradley a VC at Steamboat Ventures believes that aggregators can be successful if they find a niche market. Building a niche is easier and more specified – you have a more targeted audience and then you can then match advertisers with the target.  It is all about packaging and achieving critical mass “ [furthermore, the aggregator has better ad share terms]

The aforementioned notes are just a small piece of what we learned.  I think we’re moving right along.   Motown Initiative…a compliment to TV…unique original programming…with a highly targeted experience.  I like it.  Time to start drawing up a concept.

My business efforts will go beyond just making a dollar. I think its time to bring new business to Detroit and revitalize the city.   I think people have forgotten that in the distant past the D was a source of innovation.  The talent was home grown, not transplants like other major cities.  The innovations were game changing,  not just trends.  From music to industrial manufacturing, Detroit has brought great things to the world.  I think Motown Initiative can be Detroit’s way to truely move forward in the 21^st century.  All in all, its time to put Detroit back on the map.

After a little research I found a few more, most of which I had never heard of at all, but they seemed to have impressive web traffic according to Compete Statistics.  Daily Motion, Tidal Tv, Joost, Veoh.   Never heard of these guys, but they have some interesting websites.  Tidal TV i’d have to say was the coolest departure from the general layout of a digital media page, but its content was less than appealing.   I think I’m going to have to dig really deep into the market over the next couple weeks to get a better understanding of the existing business models and possible future competitors.

Right now I’m seeing content aggregators, set-top box solutions, and pay-per-view/subscription models.   Before I really decide which way I want to go, I plan to attend an upcoming VideoNuze confernece (VideoNuze is a cool broadband video blog I found), and complete a preliminary competitive spreadsheet.   We’ll see what I come up with.