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onestowatch · 4 years ago

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Aidan Gallagher Has No Limits [Q&A]

Photo By Allan Zaki

There are many facets to Aidan Gallagher. On the surface, his scene stealing prowess as the co-star of The Umbrella Academy has catapulted him to an immense level of popularity on a piece of prime real estate amongst Hollywood’s brightest young A-List celebrities. But beneath the surface of this 17-year-old actor lies a multi-instrumentalist. An independent singer-songwriter who doesn’t seem to care about the mainstream attention that his music may garner in the future, only the substance for which it can bare. Musically, his original compositions like “I LOVE YOU” and “4TH of July” draw early comparisons to acoustic-pop artists like Jack Johnson and Passenger. While lyrically some of his introspective words jump off the paper as if they were indie pop-ballads written by singers like Jason Mraz or Aqualung back in 2003.

For Aidan Gallagher the musician, the year 2020 began with a sold-out show at the Troubadour in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. This live performance on January 6th was supposed to be his introduction to the tour life. In fact, a couple weeks later, he even announced that he would be playing a live set at SXSW in March. But…just as quickly as the Neon Lights Tour began, it came to an abrupt end due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although his first ever headlining tour has been temporarily delayed, it hasn’t stopped Aidan Gallagher from publishing fresh content for his listeners along with a series of new music videos.

There are many facets to the year 2020. On the surface the pandemic this year alone has derailed the plans of some of the world’s most talented independent recording artists. But when you’re an intuitive songwriter like Aidan Gallagher, times like these can provide the backdrop for some of the most emotional compositions that you may create.

We caught up with Aidan Gallagher to talk about his emotional subject matter, his dream collaborations and his future plans to balance his music endeavors with a budding acting career.

Ones to Watch: With all of the success that you've enjoyed over the course of the past two years, you've become one of the most recognized actors in young Hollywood. But now you're starting to get a lot more attention as a recording artist. In fact, you currently have four music videos that have garnered over 1 million views on YouTube. Those are very impressive feats to have accomplished without the support of a major record label. What was your personal goal when you first started releasing music? And are you happy with the reception that your music videos have received so far?

Aidan Gallagher: There was always less of a defined personal goal in terms of a release schedule other than just to make great music and put it out there and if people enjoy it, that’s really gratifying. I’ve always made music as a means of working out emotions and because it’s one of the most rewarding hobbies one can have.

Two singles that you've released this year are "I LOVE YOU" and "Blue Neon." Lyrically, they're both heartbreaking tracks that teenagers can relate to. But you also reference some introspective experiences that many adults in their 20s or 30s can relate to. What inspired the lyrics to these songs?

I've often found that the melodic structure and the micro-tonal characteristics of a riff are what inspire the emotional landscape of a song. When I hear music, I see colors and shapes and textures that I couldn't necessarily describe to another person. I let that imagery inform my emotional state and the subject matter of the song. The lyrics always coincide with this. Sometimes the lyrics relate more to the music than myself and other times they are stripped word for word from my own personal experience. Either way the lyrics always come from an honest place. I don't see how you could create anything of value without that.

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“4th of July" is a Folk song that pulls on the heart strings of your listeners. The date is very specifically addressed in your lyrics, so why did you choose to release the music video on August 1st instead of the actual day of July 4th?

Thank you! I’m really proud of that song. It brought together a lot of what I’ve been learning about music production and engineering. It gave me a chance to show what I can do. A lot of people have asked about the timing of videos and our team has found through the advice of some very wise music industry people and just trial and error that it’s best to release a listening only video first. I like the idea that people will listen to the work before they start dissecting the visuals. I want them to have their own interpretation and not necessarily the visual scenery I put on it.

Of all the musicians and bands that have released music videos in 2020, which ones have inspired your imagination the most, when it comes to creating your own videos?

I often find myself influenced by a variety of artists across musical genres. To give an example or two, I really love what Jacob Collier and Finneas are doing with their videos. But at the same time, some of my favorite videos are the ones that are stripped down, and the artist is just performing their song in a studio or on a stage. I think it puts a beautiful focus on the music and the emotional texture of the song.

The 2020 Blue Neon Tour was going to be your first heading tour, but it was cancelled back in January due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Can you tell us a little bit about what you had in store for this tour?

Well, I was lucky that I got a chance to kick it off at the Troubadour here in Los Angeles. Just that alone was pretty cool. I had a full tour planned to go around the country and then travel to international cities and do meet-and-greets with my fans and really connect. I was really looking forward to my first SXSW performance, so that was a really hard pill to swallow when they cancelled the festival. But all things considered, I’ve been incredibly lucky in my life and my little plans pale in comparison when you look at the state of the world right now.

How many songs have you recorded since the pandemic shutdowns began? And will you be releasing an EP or debut album anytime soon?

“I Love You” and “4th of July” were released this year but everything else I’m doing is currently in a state of flux. I’ve definitely got the songs but it’s a balance of finding the time to put into recording them. I have a large catalog that I’m really proud of that will be coming out one at a time as I can get to it. With (Covid-19) it’s really slowed down my ability to record because I have to engineer everything myself. With “4th of July” I had 3 different engineers on rotation come to my house to work so it kept me working on a strong schedule and we knocked it out fast. When (Covid-19) put everyone in quarantine I lost that team and schedule. We’ll get it back though.

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Who would your dream collaborators be for a full-length studio album and why?

Wow, I mean, if I was ever lucky enough to work with any of my idols, I’d be over the moon. If I got to collaborate with another artist for an entire album it would probably be on a production or writing level. I’d love to work with John Mayer, Finneas, Charlie Puth or Ed Sheeran.

If you could pick any film director to direct the first music video from your debut album who would it be and why?

Honestly, I don’t think in terms of music videos. I only think about music. Once a song is produced then I have the luxury to get into the ideas for a video. I do have some raw visual impressions in my mind of what the song means to me but it’s hard to say until the song is done. Though there are many film directors that I’d love to work with as an actor such as Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Damien Chazelle and the list goes on and on and on.

We heard that you're a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Tell us about your work with the UN. What made you want to get involved with their efforts to stop Illegal wildlife trade? And why has it been so important for you to shed more light on the animal agricultural industry?

I can’t begin to tell you what a privilege it has been to be able to magnify my concerns about saving our planet through their channels. The environmental crisis is the largest and the most complex problem we face in the world. I have always wanted to use the platform I lucked into as an actor to showcase that. It all started with not being able to go surfing after a rain and that led to many realizations about carbon emissions and the role of the animal agriculture industry in those emissions. I don’t want to seem preachy to people or judge anyone’s choices, but I do want to spread awareness as I learn from the world’s top scientists. The truth is that if we don’t take aggressive action in the next few years, my generation isn’t going to have a viable future in a collapsed environment. The UN is calling the next ten years the "Decade of Action.” As individuals, there are a lot of small steps people can take that make a huge difference collectively such as “Meatless Mondays”, cutting down on single use plastic and cash voting for the environment with your daily spending.

You launched a five-part Q&A series on your YouTube channel back in September. Most of the questions from your fans were centered around your role as Number Five on The Umbrella Academy. Are you planning on creating any new content for your channel that primarily focuses on your musicianship and artistry as a songwriter?

I have a lot of plans for all kinds of content and ways to stay engaged with fans and it all makes me really happy. I’ve been doing music performances for my Patreon members every week, and music performing has always given me happiness. I bet a lot of performers are experiencing depression once they lost the ability to tour. Patreon brought back that happiness to me. Not every person who follows me is into my music, so it’s just for those who are and who would come to a show if I were touring in their city. I try to balance my time between the various things I’m passionate about; however, the past few months have really been about promoting the vote.

You play the guitar and piano. In addition to singing, producing and engineering. Take us back to the early stages of your timeline as a musician. Were you a self-taught musician or did you have instructors and mentors help you develop your skills?

Well, when you're first starting out you generally work on covers to develop your skills with your instrument while also making it fun. Once you can play the chords and you have an understanding of how your instrument works, you can learn things at your leisure. I started off taking lessons but eventually I stopped due to production and had to let my ear guide my learning. That's also when I started writing songs. I never took lessons for songwriting, I just watched YouTube. In particular I remember John Mayer’s seminar at Berklee College of Music to be a defining influence on my methodology for songwriting. As for producing and engineering, I'm completely self-taught and rely only on YouTube research and my own musical instinct to create.

Most of your songs could be categorized as Pop-Rock. What other genres of music would you like to incorporate into your sound?

I like all kinds of music, so I’m not necessarily trying to find a genre to incorporate but I guess you get influenced by whatever you are listening to. Genres are so blended these days, and I really think music operates on more of a spectrum than it does on individual categorizations of itself.

Who are your top five Pop-Rock artists/bands of all-time? And why?

There’s way more than five! But since 5 is my lucky number I’ll try to narrow it down but it’s not in any order. Also know that this list is characterized by how I define Pop-rock. My Chemical Romance, The White Stripes, David Bowie, Queen and Foo Fighters.

We noticed that you filmed season two of The Umbrella Academy in Toronto. How do you think the experience of living in that city helped shape you as a songwriter and artist?

I think in order to write about life you have to live life. At this point in my life, I don't at all consider myself worldly as I simply haven't lived long enough and because of that I find that a lot of my music is introspective, and my songs often feel like the places I've written them. By putting yourself in new environments, I think it pulls new ideas out of you. Travel broadens the mind.

Hypothetically speaking, if you had to choose between winning a Grammy Award as a solo artist or a winning Academy Award with the entire cast of The Umbrella Academy, which option would you pick?

Awards aren’t why I make music or act. I don’t think about them. I just love music and acting. Any part I can play in those fields brings me happiness and I'd love to experiment with the different aspects of those art forms. Initially I got into acting because I wanted to be a director. I also loved listening to music, but I had no idea I would be a musician until I started taking piano lessons.

What’s the plan for your music career moving forward? Do you plan to continue to release material independently or would you prefer to be signed to a major record label?

It was a hard decision, but right now it’s best for me to remain an independent artist as I’m growing my music and balancing an acting career. I had really exciting offers from major labels, but they all want me to drop acting and tour full time. I also really enjoy having creative control over my songs. For the past couple of years, I’ve mostly been writing and because of that, I’ve built up a huge catalog of music to produce when I get the time. After that I’m really looking forward to being able to perform more and on tour. For the time being, I’m really excited about catching up with what I’ve written so that I’ll finally be in a place where I can write a song and begin recording it the next day.

#Aidan Gallagher #Pop #Rock #4th of July #I LOVE YOU #Umbrella Academy

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tbctbloggers · 4 years ago

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ICT Thoughts

The latest session we’ve had for ICT was a super interesting one. Not just in the sense I actually paid attention but also in that almost everything we covered seemed so familiar to me.

The concepts that we looked at were things I’d never actually heard of before, But when their details were explained I was shocked to discover these were essentially paraphrased versions of principles I’d learned in high school and during my gap year as methods for success.

The 5 Principles of Effectual Logic especially caught my attention. Through my time playing video games at a professional level I quickly learned the “Lemonade” principle as being active, vigilant and adaptable were the key improvements I needed to make to reach the top level.

I’m essentially just gonna write a huge catch-up on some points in my life that are pretty heavily linked with the principles of effectual logic just to nail these points in my head. If anyone reads this monster I hope you get something out of it.

In my last couple years of high school I went through the IB DP, which is one of the toughest school systems in the world. They just throw too much at you for a person who is highly unorganized like me to deal with. As a result I inevitably got overwhelmed and started to sink into a pretty heavy depression. While that sucked and I didn’t get much done I wasn’t just sliding right down the spiral of depression going nowhere. While feeling like crap all the time I was thinking of methods to not feel overwhelmed and push myself to start getting things done. Eventually after a couple months of being an unproductive sap something clicked and I’d essentially taken on the “Pilot in the Plane” principle of focusing on what’s under my control and taking actions based on that. As a result I not only clawed my way out of my depression I also went on to pass the IB with a result higher than the predictions made the year prior during my slump.

During the essentially forced gap year between my graduation in May and joining this course a couple months ago I figured I’d spend most of my time learning methods and approaches to success as an adult. I figured that while high school got me a few good skills that I’ll be able to take advantage of (like writing this stuff) I still had a huge amount I’d yet to learn that would be vital for my growth and success as an adult. I began by branching off things I’ve already enjoyed such as Psychology and video games. Though as useful as many of the things I’d learned from these areas have been I needed to go somewhere completely unexplored to learn some new lessons and just decided look at a comedy group I’d never really learned much about before.

I’m beating around the bush here but I purchased a subscription to the gumroad (essentially a patreon) of Sam Hyde. An American Comedian and co-founder of the comedy group Million Dollar Extreme. Sam’s a very controversial figure to say the least and I wouldn’t recommend finding out about him in any other way than his incredible anti-futurist mockery TEDx Talk where he managed to con his way into a legitimate TEDx Talk event and spouted complete nonsense and buzzwords for 19 minutes while holding in laughter. Sam Hyde and MDE went on to produce a TV show on Adult Swim which ran for 1 incredibly successful season before being “cancelled” over stupid political allegations.

During this time and for a very long while after Sam was producing videos in a series on his youtube channel called “HydeWars” where he told stories and shared lessons he’d learned over the years that he thought were worth hearing. I subscribed to the gumroad after seeing edited clips from these episodes on youtube where the gumroad boasted having unedited full hour long videos of the “wisdom” he was sharing.

During my MIQ here in NZ I went through all of the hydewars episodes and essentially studied them to pick out the nuggets of info that I could apply to myself and my approach to things. One of the most important messages that he gave was EXACTLY the Crazy-Quit Principle of effectual logic. Find and connect with people who you KNOW can be trusted, work hard and feel nice to be around.

I’ve been putting that principle to work quite a bit so far making a very clear partnership with Jordan. He’s someone who’s very clearly flawed, but makes up for it by being hard working, reliable and fun to be around. Another lesson I learned from Sam’s videos is that if you find someone who fills a gap that you suck at and work with them, you should fill a gap that they refuse to. I’ve been doing that by focusing on the communication side of things with Jordan, along with figuring out logistics, playing the devils advocate and more general management work where necessary. So far it’s been working out pretty well and I hope that as we develop further the balance of work begins to even out more as my value in the group defines itself a little clearer than it is now.

The main problem I see I’ve been running into is that while I’m very good at using the tools I’m familiar with I tend to disregard them if I’m told to set a goal of work that needs to be done. When I’m given a problem and some tools I become extremely crafty and resourceful, but when I’m given a problem AND told to come up with a solution I disregard the “Bird in Hand” principle and start going for pure abductive thinking which results in poorly executed creative work.

One positive side of this is that Jordan from my observation adopts the “Bird in Hand” principle and Max my other Studio group member is very concerned with the “Affordable Loss” principle, so with our powers combined we do a pretty damn good job at solving problems and working creatively. Although we’re still bound to crumble to pieces during our work we’re very adept at putting things back together, and not necessarily the way they were before, but instead a way that works better for what we want to do.

I apologize Ricardo for not including any questions, but I’m still pretty happy with how this turned out. Also if dates save on posts just ignore this one, just a bit of the old late night jolt of inspiration.

#ctec502 #ctec501

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clarencenicholsonata · 5 years ago

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20 Fabulous Hair Salon Advertising Ideas to Increase Customers

There are currently over one million companies operating within the U.S. salon and spa industry. With new salons emerging every day, trying to make a name for themselves, and current salons holding on to keep loyal clients, pushing for new clientele can be fierce.

Today's business owners are becoming more marketing savvy. Social media, and content marketing skills are now required to keep a steady flow of salon bookings.

Luckily you don't have to be a marketing master to use these 20 fabulous hair salon advertising ideas to increase customers.

1. Advertise Your Salon With Instagram & Facebook Ads

Facebook and Instagram are two of the most powerful social media marketing platforms you can use to drive clients to your salon. About 67% of marketers find Facebook to be their most important social media channel as well as hair focused brands have seen a 39% or more increase in return on ad spend on Instagram.

Start advertising your salon on Facebook and Instagram to get the word out on your services. Be sure to use a "booking service" for your ads call to action.

House of Blond

2. Create a Video Series of Your Service

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I say a video is worth far more. You can capture a lot more bookings with video content, so grab a camera and show your stylist in action.

Smart Insight found that 53% of customers who engage with a brand after watching a video on social media, suggesting that video can be an effective form of marketing.

You can start a YouTube channel for your salon. You can create content with the following:

Answer commonly asked questions new clients may have for your hairstylist.

Showcase the various styles and treatments you can offer clients.

Highlight members of your staff and your salon’s interior design.

A video compilation of your hair salons amazing skills.

Check out Salon 718 YouTube channel to see their salon video series.

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3. Advertise That You're Open Late, On Weekends & Holidays

Market Watch found that a salon's target market mainly consists of eco-conscious women who are between the ages of 20 and 35.

They're city-dwellers who rent homes and apartments and have jobs in creative or social services fields. Since most of your target audience is employed, they'll be working between the hours of 9-5 pm.

Some clients won't be able to book during the week, and with weekends left open, books are likely to go fast. Keep your salon open late during the week and or weekends to accommodate more books. This makes it convenient for working clients to visit your salon and helps to encourage recurring visits from current clients.

Salon De Larue

Share your extended open hours on your online platforms (i.e, website, facebook, ads...) so new clients can easily be informed.

4. Make Booking Your Services Easy

Your salon's booking service or system could be stopping new customers from getting through the door.

If a booking service is too complicated or times out, then you can lose potential customers coming to your business. This includes poor customer service on or offline.

First, decide where and how customers are going to book your services and if you’ll have multiple platforms for booking, and monitoring them closely to prevent overbooking.

Promote bookings on your website

Promote bookings on your social media

A good booking system can also help to reduce your salon's cancelations. Try to make phone calls or send emails to follow up on the day or at least an hour before for double confirmation.

Impose a "no lateness/no show policy." Ask clients to come in 10-15 minutes before their appointment to secure their spot. If clients fail to keep their appointments you can giveaway spots to walk-ins. When clients see how serious you are about your appointments, they'll start taking you seriously.

For more, check out this [Salon Case Study] on how Debbie filled appointment book in under 30 days!

5. Offer a Selfie Station Inside Your Hair Salon

Everyone takes selfies so much so that National Selfie Day is a social media holiday loved by many Instagrammers.

Create a selfies-station at your salon and ask clients to take a selfie for social media and tag your salon. A selfie station provides free marketing for your salon; each post allows your salon to be discovered and referred to friends and followers of that client.

Ready to set up a station in your salon? Here's a quick selfie station checklist:

A backdrop (a clean wall or custom step-and-repeat)

Good lighting (ring lights are a great investment)

Themed props (optional but a good way to boost the salon's profile)

A sign or decal with your salon's Instagram handle and suggested hashtags

6. Always Rebook Salon Clients During the Visit

Re-book clients during their visit, instead of waiting for clients to reach out to you for their next styling, take out your appointment book and settle on a date (range).

You should practice this with your new and current clients, so you know when or how many people to expect for the next month. Be sure to follow up and rearrange your bookings as needed.

Still not convinced that rebooking will help your salon?

Here are 25 Reasons That Will Make You Value Rebooking Clients.

7. List Your Salon on Salon & Spa Directory

Directories are still relevant today; they've moved from that big yellow book to online websites. Increase your salon's online presence by listing it on a popular salon and spa online directory.

Next to Google, serious salon-goers know that they can search or top-notch spas on recommended directories.

You can start with a Google My Business page and work your way to these top five online salon directories:

1.Your Salon

2.Green Circle Salon

3.Signature Style

4.Salon Association

5.Salon Ratings

8. Promote a Discount or Special Offer

I've never met someone who would turn down a discount, and I'm neither have you!

Offer a special offer or discount to attract new customers to your salon. This could be a 15% discount on an overall cost or a special on a bundle for your services.

Seasonal discounts are always met with praise. in fact, seasonal promotions and discounts can improve your sales by 15%.

Try not to offer too many discounts; you don't want new clients to get unaccustomed to paying full price. So keep track of how often and who you offer discounts too.

9. Reward Customers Who Give Referrals

Once you have a solid base of clients at your salon, start implementing a referral program to reward customers for bringing new clients to your salon.

Customers who are referred to your brand are up to 5x more likely to use your referral program than customers who weren't. Referral marketing is broken down to a science, in a world where everyone is bombarded with ads online and in social media, and influencer marketing becomes more monetized getting referrals from real people is valued more than ever.

The best thing is, referral marketing is trusted across all age groups. A Nielsen survey found that the majority of each age group trusted referral marketing more when compared to digital and traditional marketing techniques:

Give customers and their referral a discount on their next salon visit. You can create referral cards to track your program and ensure that customers aren't abusing your referral program.

10. Create the Ultimate Salon Gift Package

Create gift packages for special events like weddings, prom, graduations, birthdays, and Mothers/Fathers day.

Offer additional services like a spa treatment or pedicure and gift certificates. Feel free to also add a gift basket of skin and hair products to make your customers feel special on their important day.

11. Sign Up for Wedding Directory or Vendor Websites

Increase your salons by listing on wedding vendor websites to market your bridal packages. These websites allow you to network with other brands and meet clients willing to pay for services for their bride and bridesmaids.

These websites highlight business with the best reviews and can help to build your salon's online presence and profile.

Wedding Vendor Site: The Knot

You can also partner with wedding planners in real life, becoming their established salon or hairstylist of choice. Even after the wedding, you can capture a few repeat customers along the way.

12. Host a Fabulous Giveaway

With an average of over 34% of new customers being acquired through contests and giveaways, you are sure to see some new customers at your salon after hosting your own giveaway.

Hosting a giveaway isn't as hard as it looks. It's actually quite easy. When you're planning your salon's giveaway you need these four things to start:

1. Choose a Giveaway Worthy Prize: The better the prize; the more interest people will take in entering. Winning a free 50 dollar blow might get you a few entries, but you won't get the full impact of a giveaway for your brand. Choose a prize that shows off your salon's best services and skills.

2. Decide Your Entry Method: What do contestants have to do to win your giveaway? Write clear steps on how to enter; ensure that the entry method helps you to meet your giveaway goals. For example, your salon wants more social media exposure, post on Instagram, and ask contestants to like and tag friends to enter.

3. Select a Start and End Date: One of the reasons giveaways fail are short or sudden deadlines. Give contestants time to find your giveaway and enter. Hubspot found that the best duration for your giveaway is 25 days to 60 days.

4. Decide Your Giveaway Platform: What will you be using to monitor and manage your salon's giveaway? You can use social media, your website, a landing page, or Wishpond.

Wishpond Spa Campaigns

Learn how to run a contest with this step-by-step guide for your salon, and if you're already running a giveaway; you can choose these 5 best ways to announce & notify contest winners (with examples) how to announce winners.

13. Feature & Advertise in Beauty Magazines

Someone once said that there's no such thing as bad press. Personally, no press is bad press. Advertise your salon or get features in a local or nationwide beauty or fashion magazine or blog to gain exposure for your salon.

Your ideal client is someone who wants to look good and stay up to date with trends, especially when it comes to hair and nails. So you want to choose magazines that they'll most likely be flipping through on a day to day basis in print or online.

Feel free to reach out to beauty bloggers, editors, and writers to have a discounted season to give an honest review about your salon to attract new customers.

Here are the top 8 publications to stay on top of salon trends, that caters to a more global audience.

14. Host a Mobile Salon Pop-Up

Rent a mobile truck and host a salon pop-up in busy areas. Offer services like blowouts, nail treatments, massages, make up, and facials.

Visit public spaces in the city to grab the attention of the passing crowd, be sure to advertise your pop-up on social media so customers can invite friends and family once you've parked in your spot. As a bonus add complimentary wine or mimosa, selfie station, or discount to make your pop-up more fun.

15. Use Geo-Targeted Google Ads For Walk-Ins

During peak hours when clients are looking for new hair salons to book, start promoting geo-targeted to drive local customers to your salon door.

Google targeted ads allows you to select a booking option so you can capture new clients as soon as they click on your ad instead of sending them through third party pages.

In fact, we have found 12 reasons why google ads will help you reach new customers.

Google Ads are relatively easy to use; just keep your eyes on your bidding and budget, and you should be fine. I've also included this detailed guide on Getting to the Top of Google: A Recipe to Google Adwords to help.

16. Create Stunning Business Cards & Posters

Whether it's the latest trends in social media or marketing, business cards still have a place in the world today. Create branded business cards for your salon team members for them to distribute and ask current clients to pass them along.

You can easily create a salon-inspired business card with Canva. Choose from hundreds of easy to use and edit templates. No experience required!

Here are 9 tips on how to design a salon business card.

17. Market Your Salon At Local Events & M.I.C.E

It's no use hiding. If you want to advertise your salon, you need to get out the door and be known. Network with business in and around your niche to grow your clientele list.

One way to do that is to market your salon at local hair events or M.I.C.E (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions).

Rent a booth and offer services and discounts for event goers, hand out brochures, business cards, and encourage people to follow your salon on social media to keep up to date with current or future specials.

Be sure to speak with business owners exhibiting and attending the event to build future partnerships or co-promotions.

18. Create Holiday Promotions & Packages

Markdown major holidays and local holidays you'd like to advertise your salon on and offline, then start planning. Start using Facebook and Instagram ads for the holidays to drive bookings to your digitally savvy clients. Print flyers and advertise in newspaper articles for your more mature clientele. Cover your tracks and reach people of all ages.

19. Create or Update Your Salon's Website

Like it or not, customers now expect businesses to have a website, about 70-80% of consumers research a business online before visiting in person or making a purchase.

Email, website, and social media are the top three marketing tools used by small businesses: out of all three, a website is ranked as the most important.

Which begs the question, do you have a website for your salon?

If the answer is yes, then dust it off and update it. A salon that promises customers with the latest hairstyles and skills should have a website that reflects just that. If your website looks like it's stuck in early 2000, make an upgrade. If not, be sure it's filled with relevant contact details, new images, and an efficient booking system to start taking in new clients.

If the answer is no, here are four website builders you can use to create and launch your website in under an hour:

Wix

SquareSpace

Weeby

Wordpress

20. Sponsor or Join a Local Fashion Show

Sponsoring or joining fashion events can help to advertise your salon in the styling community. Partner with a designer and help to bring their designs to life with your salon stylist flawless skills.

Fashion events produce attractive content for your website and social media. You can go live, update your post and engage with followers by asking them to book for a chance to replicate their favorite model's hairstyle.

Fashion shows are also a good place to find celebrity clients and influencers you can collaborate with to market your hair salon. If you see someone who has a large following or would make a good brand ambassador for your salon, reach out to them and offer them a discount or free service.

Bonus

Make your salon's instagram locally relevant using the right hashtags.Hashtags make your salon post discoverable for people who aren't following your account or follow the hashtag that is used in your post. Try to use hashtags that are relevant to the post or what clients are using or searching for on Instagram.

Karley Dana Hair

Here are some helpful social media marketing guides for your salon:

Salon Social Media Marketing Tips: A Platform-by-Platform Guide

Social Media Marketing for Salons: 21 Tips and Strategies

Summary

Here are 20 fabulous hair salon advertising ideas to increase customers:

Advertise Your Salon With Instagram & Facebook Ads

Create a Video Series of Your Service

Advertise That You're Open Late, On Weekends & Holidays

Make Booking Your Services Easy

Offer a Selfie Station Inside Your Hair Salon

Always Rebook Salon Clients During the Visit

List Your Salon on Salon & Spa Directory

Promote a Discount or Special Offer

Reward Customers Who Give Referrals

Create the Ultimate Salon Gift Package

Partner with a Spa for a Giveaway

Feature & Advertise in Beauty Magazines

Host a Mobile Salon Pop-Up

Use Geo-Targeted Google Ads For Walk-Ins

Create Stunning Business Cards & Posters

Market Your Salon At Local Events & M.I.C.E

Create Holiday Promotions & Packages

Create or Update Your Salon's Website

Sponsor or Join a Local Fashion Show

Once you start implementing these marketing ideas, you'll begin to see a change in your salons online and offline presence.

Be sure to do monthly checks to see how effective your advertising ideas have been, here are 5 quick ways to check your salon marketing is working

Need more help with your salon marketing?

Book your free 1-on-1 personalized webinar for expert marketing tools and tips to grow your business.

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the-bounce-back · 6 years ago

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REALISTIC RESOLUTIONS - 5 TIPS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

So, we’re officially a week into the New Year™. How’s that working out for you so far?

Since I’m currently just chilling, packing and waiting to move to London and start my new job, I’ve been left with a lot of time on my hands to reflect on how terrible 2018 was for me - and I refuse to have a year that bad again. I’ve decided that 2019 is going to be dedicated to rebuilding my happiness, confidence and mental health again, and I’ve set my resolutions with this in mind.

Besides giving me a ton of blog ideas, all this time reflecting and planning has challenged me to ensure that my resolutions don’t end up being unrealistic and empty promises to myself, that I end up abandoning halfway through the year. After much umming and ahing, I’ve finally come up with 5 tips to keep in mind that should (hopefully) keep me on track, and I believe that they can be applied to other people’s resolutions, too.

I know what you’re thinking.

“But Liv, I swear you said that New Year Resolutions are a scam? Is your head alright?”

First of all, revelling in hypocrisy is my favourite pastime. One of my biggest flaws is that I give stellar advice to everyone around me, but I rarely apply it to myself - which is probably why my life is a bit (a lot) of a mess right now. Taking my own advice is actually one of my goals for this year, because I’m really very wise (on paper). Also, read my disclaimer.

Secondly, this advice can be applied to any type of goal setting at any time - not just New Year Resolutions. My “New Moment, New Me” mantra from my previous post is still very much applicable, thank you very much.

And finally… the title slaps. Sue me.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff.

The way I see it, you basically need four traits/skills to achieve your goals:

1, Patience. 2. Discipline. 3. Motivation. 4. Organisational skills.

Patience helps you trust the process of slowly but steadily getting closer to your goal. Discipline helps you stay on track, even on bad days. Staying motivated makes you remember why you started and helps you envision how proud you’ll be of yourself when you achieve the goal, and organisational skills help you plan, track and reflect on your progress. Combining all four should make you a goal-smashing machine, a force to be reckoned with.

Unfortunately, I barely possess the first four at all. I can fake being patient for a limited period of time, but deep down I want to see results almost as quickly as I have started. When I don’t see any progress, I start hating myself and finding comfort in an extremely unhealthy coping mechanism, thus killing the little discipline I had. And after indulging in said coping mechanism, I feel guilty and fall even deeper into a spiral of self-loathing, ask myself what the point of even trying was and give up - losing every single ounce of motivation.

All healthy and not at all self-destructive ways to deal with failure. Love it.

Luckily enough, I have been blessed with exceptional organisational skills. Seriously. There is little I enjoy more than buying a new notebook or calendar, writing endless to-do lists, writing down future plans and brainstorming. I even have 3 different notebooks for this year to maximise my ~*oRgAnIsInG*~.

This ain’t no game, homie.

The amount of time I spend on devising workout schedules, meal plans, budgets and habit trackers is actually bordering on insane - but I love it. If I could apply this same energy to the other 3 traits, I’d probably have reached my goal weight, have my driving license, have £100k in my savings account and be 100% sober by now. Let’s all laugh together please.

With these incredibly triggering self-attacks in mind, I will now present my 5 tips on how I plan to achieve my goals to bounce back this year, and from now on.

1. Be kind to yourself.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll know that this is the hardest and most important one. Being self-critical isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when it gets to a certain point it stops being helpful and starts being damaging to your mental health. I am probably the queen of beating myself up over minor slip-ups, mostly because they feel like such a big deal at the time. Honestly, the amount of times I’ve literally cried myself to sleep because I skipped a day at the gym, cheated on my diet or messed up at work is really heartbreaking to think about, because it never was that deep in the first place.

We are humans. We f*ck up. It’s okay.

The most important thing here is to acknowledge the mistake, accept it, figure out what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again and get right back on track towards your goal. Try to see the mistakes objectively as minor problems that you need to find a solution to, instead of applying emotion to it and seeing it as a negative reflection on your character. You are not a bad person for messing up. I cannot stress this enough.

2. Understand that certain goals will take time to achieve.

Sweetie, no one in the history of the world has achieved their dream body 2 weeks before their girls trip to Magaluf, no one has ever magically woken up with billions in their bank account, and no one has ever instantly gotten a million subscribers on their recently started YouTube channel.

Things. Take. Time.

As much as we all wish that we could snap our fingers and get everything we wish for, life doesn’t work that way. It takes consistency, hard work, endless motivation and self-discipline to achieve certain things, and it’s important to be realistic. Besides, you know what they say - nothing worth having comes easy.

Instead of seeing time passing as an enemy of progress, try utilising it as a tool to determine the logistics of achieving your goals. Devising a realistic timescale detailing the what, where and when of the different stages of my goals has worked wonders for me in the past for smaller projects, especially when I was in uni. Why I haven’t applied this to my adult life yet is a mystery that will remain unsolved, but I am definitely going to apply this to my larger goals from now on.

3. Set milestones or miniature goals to keep you motivated while working towards your “big” goal.

I think this is especially helpful for goals that are focused on something numerical, for example losing a specific amount of weight, going a specific amount of days without drinking/smoking or saving a specific amount of money. Being able to celebrate how far you’ve come since the beginning is equally as important as focusing on how much further you have to go - if not more. It provides boosts of motivation along the way.

In theory, that is. I think this is going to be challenging for me because when I’ve tried it in the past, I’ve ended up putting even more pressure on myself for not reaching the milestones in a timely manner - leading me to throw all my toys out of the pram like a spoilt brat, and ultimately giving up on the goal altogether. However, this time around I intend on applying Tip 1 to my miniature goals as well, so you know...hopefully it works out. We’ll see.

4. On your off days, remember why you started.

Trust me, I know this is easier said than done. Everyone has bad days where everything just feels pointless and like nothing is even worth putting energy into. Maybe you’ve cheated on your diet for the third time in a week, or spent money you promised yourself you were going to save, or been unable to turn down a drink despite getting close to being a whole month sober (P is for projection!). Chances are, you feel very disappointed in yourself and start questioning whether or not you’re actually serious about this life.

This is where forcing yourself to remember why you started is imperative, because it really could be the only thing standing between moving past the slip up and losing your motivation, leading to you giving up completely. If you’ve been regularly tracking your progress, use this as a reminder of how far you’ve come. Also, refer back to Tip 1 again. Sure, holding yourself accountable for your actions is important, but that doesn’t mean you now have to fully cancel yourself just because of one bad day.

More time you’ve even come further than you think, so reflecting on your journey up until you messed up is definitely a good idea.

5. Stop comparing yourself to others.

For me, this mostly applies to my fitness goals and how far other people in my age group have come in life. I used to spend so much time on social media scrolling through endless pictures of people that “have their sh*t together” - with their perfect bodies, perfect relationships, perfect engagement rings, perfect baby scan photos, perfect homes… you get the point. All it ever did was make me feel like crap about myself and like I somehow was too far behind in life, or somehow inferior to my agemates. Because we all know that having a perfect life online makes you superior to everyone else.

To be clear, I’m obviously joking. Once you understand that everyone’s journey is different, and that your own blessings will come when the time is right - you will be so much more at peace with yourself. Minding your own business and channelling all your energy into bettering yourself (for your own benefit!) is extremely invigorating. With this in mind, you should also ensure that the goals you are setting are solely for the betterment of yourself, and not to compete with others (I’ll definitely be writing a post on this at some stage, so… stay tuned and that).

So, there you have it. My 5 tips on how to achieve your goals with your sanity and mental health intact. At the end of the year, maybe I should revisit this post and reflect on how the tips worked out for me in achieving my goals? Perhaps I can reflect on how much better my patience, discipline and motivation has become?

If not, well...hopefully it can help you. If it did, let me know so I can feel better about putting all this energy into giving yet more advice that I didn’t apply to myself. Good luck!

Love,

Liv

#goals #selfhelp

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kennethherrerablog · 6 years ago

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The 12 Dumbest Money Questions We’ve Ever Asked (and Why They’re Not Actually Dumb)

Let’s channel our former middle school teachers: There are no dumb questions.

Especially when it comes to personal finance.

Do you remember your financial literacy class? Probably not, because not many states require such a subject.

So it’s not your fault you have to watch a YouTube tutorial to make sure you’re writing a check correctly or that you have to quietly Google, “How much money do I need to retire?”

But you can stop being embarrassed now. We’re here to answer your “dumbest” money questions.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 1: What Do I Do With My 401(k)?

This isn’t a dumb question, because your 401(k), or any investment account for that matter, is an integral part to a happy and financially healthy retirement.

A 401(k) is an employee-sponsored plan, so it’s largely hands off. If you can, we recommend maxing out your contributions.

Then, thanks to the power of compound interest, watch it grow.

Sure, it’s all automated — out of sight, out of mind. But chances are, your 401(k) could be doing a lot better.

Take control with help from Blooom, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm that can optimize and monitor your 401(k) for you and keep it speeding toward retirement.

It just takes a few minutes to get a free 401(k) analysis that will show you whether your investments are allocated properly and whether you’re losing money paying hidden investment fees. It’ll even tell you just how much more money your account could earn by the time you want to retire.

After that, if you sign up, it’s just $10 per month to have Blooom monitor and maximize your 401(k). Bonus: Penny Hoarders get the first month free with the code PNNYHRD.

Now that you have Blooom keeping tabs on your 401(k), you can sit back and max out your contributions (if possible).

‘Dumb’ Question No. 2: How Can I Invest If I’m Broke?

You. Don’t. Need. Thousands. Of. Dollars. To. Invest.

Yes, everyone’s talking about investing in shares of Amazon, Apple or Netflix, but you can start investing with pocket change.

Start small and download Acorns, an investing app that’ll round up your debit and credit card purchases and, once it accumulates $5, it’ll invest the spare change for you.

That means if you spend $10.23 at the grocery store, 77 cents gets dropped into your Acorns account. Then, the app does the whole investing thing for you.

The app is $1 a month for balances under $1 million, and you’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 3: Does My Credit Score Really Matter?

Um, also, how do I check my credit score?

Some folks argue that credit scores are just three-digit numbers that hold no significance. And that might be true… if you’re living off the grid or never plan to purchase a car, rent or buy a home, or apply for a loan.

Seriously. Credit scores matter. They represent your financial health and allow you to build your future.

If it’s been… a while… since you’ve last checked your credit score, here’s a simple — and free — tool that’ll help: Credit Sesame.

Not only will you be able to peep your credit score, you’ll also tap into your free “credit report card,” which breaks down exactly what’s in your credit report and how it affects your score. The tool even offers tailored tips and tricks that’ll help you get your score up.

Motivational speaker James Cooper, for example, raised his credit score 277 points using Credit Sesame. Now he talks to high school students about the importance of having good credit and uses what he’s learned through Credit Sesame as a blueprint for his lessons.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 4: Do I Need Life Insurance?

This isn’t a dumb question, because there are so many variables you’ll need to consider before purchasing life insurance.

Life insurance financially protects your loved ones in the event of your death, which, sorry to break it to you, is inevitable. However, certain people need life insurance more than others. (If you’re not sure, here are three types of people who need life insurance.)

If you think you (or, really, your family) could benefit from life insurance, buying it doesn’t have to be the uncomfortable experience you might expect. Some newcomers in the industry are updating the old model.

Ethos, for example, can get you term life insurance in less than 10 minutes — with no medical exam — for coverage up to $1 million. Ethos offers a digital application, and customer service is available if you have questions.

It partners with a major life insurance carrier to quickly offer policies as low as $6 a month. It’s helped thousands of folks access term life insurance, including independent contractors who use Uber, Postmates, TaskRabbit and other gig apps.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 5: Why Is My Money Disappearing?

If you’re wondering where your money goes after each paycheck, start tracking your expenses with the Empower app.

Empower helps you organize and track your financial goals. Simply link your accounts, and every time you log in, you’ll see a simple snapshot of where you stand on your monthly budget. Are you above or below the line? In one second you’ll know whether you’re on track or need to dial things back a bit.

Empower even has a cool “find free money” feature. It’ll do things like negotiate your cell phone bill, review your insurance coverage and cancel unwanted subscriptions.

Side note: If your money is truly disappearing, then you might have a little identity theft situation on your hands. You’ll want to dig into this with your bank or credit card company.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 6: Can I Invest Without Supporting Evil Companies?

If you’ve got a $50 bill burning a hole in your wallet, look into Swell Investing, an SEC-registered investment adviser committed to supporting sustainable companies.

Its Impact 400 portfolio features companies whose products and services align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It considers everything from gender equality to ending poverty to clean energy.

You’ll get a $50 bonus with the code PENNY after making your initial investment of at least $50.

Swell doesn’t have any trading fees, price tiers or expense ratios. It charges a 0.75% annual fee — that’s about the cost of one coffee ($3.75) per year if you invest $500.

Disclosure: We have a financial relationship with Swell Investing LLC and will be compensated if consumers apply for an account and/or fund an account with Swell through links in our content. However, the analysis and opinions expressed here are our own.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 7: Are Credit Cards Bad?

Short answer: If you use credit cards responsibly, they’re not bad.

Credit cards can be detrimental if you treat them like a never-ending stream of money. But if you spend within your means and pay them off each month, they can actually be beneficial. They help build your credit and some also grant you rewards — like cash back or travel points.

Here’s an option we like: It’s the Chase Freedom Unlimited card*. Its claim to fame? You’ll earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all your purchases. Plus, if you spend $500 in your first three months of opening the card (hi, groceries), you’ll pocket a $150 bonus.

Get signed up — and 0% intro APR for 15 months — here.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 8: How Does Interest Work?

There are a lot of acronyms in the banking world, so, to save you some time, here’s a rundown of one of the most beneficial: APY.

APY stands for annual percentage yield. It’s the interest you earn on a savings account.

For example, an iOS app called Varo Money combines traditional banking tools with modern technology to help its customers become financially healthy.

Here’s the best part: Pair your bank account with a Varo Savings Account where you’ll earn 1.75% annual percentage yield. That’s nearly 20 times — repeat, 20 times — the average savings account, based on a 0.06% average reported by CNN Money.

Because it’s compounded interest, it’ll get paid out daily, monthly or quarterly, depending on the account’s terms. Basically, the higher the APY and the more frequently it’s compounded, the better.

So yeah, you’re on the right track if you’re asking about APY.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 9: Where Can I Get Money If I Need it?

You’re in a pinch, and you need some money…

Maybe you’re looking to buy a new car, consolidate your debt, pay an unexpected medical bill or make some improvements around the house.

Um, so, where do you find that money?

This feels like a question that has one of those duh answers, but you’ve really got a lot of options.

You can take out a loan through your bank, credit union, peer-to-peer lending platform or a loan company. (We suggest avoiding 401(k) loans and payday loans.)

This money won’t be free; you’ll have to pay it back plus interest. You can easily shop around for the best terms and rates through an online marketplace, like Even Financial, which can help match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.

Even searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. Its platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 10: How Can I Make Money Online?

If you’re looking to make some money online, you’re not the only one. Google receives approximately 100,000 “how to make money online” searches a month.

Not to worry. There are plenty of ways to get paid while sitting on the couch — from full-time work-from-home jobs to side gigs.

Some ideas, based on your wants and needs, include:

If you just want to mindlessly make some money while watching TV, try signing up for a few top-rated survey sites. Swagbucks is definitely a reader favorite, probably because of the wide variety of ways to make money beyond taking surveys. Plus, you get a $5 bonus when you sign up and earn 2,500 SB within your first 60 days.

If you’re looking to flex your skills with a company, then search our work-from-home job board. You’ll find both part-time and full-time opportunities, though note these are usually a little less flexible

If you’re looking to set your own schedule, find an online opportunity that allows you to pick and choose when — and how much — you work. Consider signing up for a freelance platform like Fiverr, Mechanical Turk or Upwork.

So, yes, it’s possible to pad your bank account from the comfort of your home — just be watchful of the scammy stuff.

‘Dumb’ Question No. 11: Why Are Groceries So Expensive?

Admittedly, this is a question I recently asked while navigating the grocery store: “Why does it cost $3 for a gallon of milk?” Then, at the checkout counter, “How did I just spend $100 on groceries?”

I get that there are layers upon layers of factors that ultimately determine the price of groceries, but it seems like the weekly tab just keeps on increasing.

If you want to combat the price of groceries, use Ibotta. It sounds strange, but it’ll pay you cash for taking pictures of your grocery store receipts.

Here’s how it works: Before heading to the store, search for items on your shopping list within the Ibotta app. When you get home, snap a photo of your receipt and scan the items’ barcodes and get you cash back.

Ibotta is free to download. Plus, you’ll get a $10 sign-up bonus after uploading your first receipt.

Some cash-back opportunities we’ve seen include:

25 cents back on strawberries.

$1 back on a box of tea.

$5 back on a case of Shiner Bock beer.

Notice a lot of those aren’t tied to a brand — just shop for the staples on your list and earn cash back!

‘Dumb’ Question No. 12: How Do I Write a Check?

It’s pretty rare these days to have to write a check, so it’s easy to forget how to fill that sucker in.

Just go ahead and bookmark this six-step check-writing guide, so you look like you know what you’re doing the next time the opportunity arises.

Always Raise Your Hand and Ask the Dumb Question

Do you finally believe your middle school teacher? There are no dumb questions! Especially when it comes to personal finance.

If you want to go back to school and get more answers to your “dumb” questions, you can do so for free. We’ve just launched The Penny Hoarder Academy, which will guide you through the ins and outs of personal finance — from building a budget to saving money on groceries to buying your first home.

Never be afraid to just ask.

*Annual Rewards amounts will change based on the amounts you enter. The monthly spending category names and definitions may vary among issuers, and categories may not align one-to-one.

The information for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card has been collected independently by The Penny Hoarder. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. The Penny Hoarder is a partner of Credible.

Carson Kohler ([email protected]) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She was always the one who raised her hand and started with, “Umm… this might be a dumb question, but…”

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

The Penny Hoarder Promise: We provide accurate, reliable information. Here’s why you can trust us and how we make money.

The 12 Dumbest Money Questions We’ve Ever Asked (and Why They’re Not Actually Dumb) published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

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sheminecrafts · 6 years ago

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Why IGTV should go premium

It’s been four months since Facebook launched IGTV, with the goal of creating a destination for longer-form Instagram videos. Is it shaping up to be a high-profile flop, or could this be the company’s next multi-billion-dollar business?

IGTV, which features videos up to 60 minutes versus Instagram’s normal 60-second limit, hasn’t made much of a splash yet. Since there are no ads yet, it hasn’t made a dollar, either. But, it offers Facebook the opportunity to dominate a new category of premium video, and to develop a subscription business that better aligns with high-quality content.

Facebook worked with numerous media brands and celebrities to shoot high-quality, vertical videos for IGTV’s launch on June 20, as both a dedicated app and a section within the main Instagram app. But IGTV has been quiet since. I’ve heard repeatedly in conversations with media executives that almost no one is creating content specifically for IGTV and that the audience on IGTV remains small relative to the distribution of videos on Snapchat or Facebook. Most videos on it are repurposed from a brand’s or influencer’s Snapchat account (at best) or YouTube channel (more common). Digiday heard the same feedback.

Instagram announced IGTV on June 20 as a way for users to post videos up to 1 hour long in a dedicated section of the app (and separate app)

Facebook’s goal should be to make IGTV a major property in its own right, distinct from the Instagram feed. To do that, the company should follow the concept embodied in the “IGTV” name and re-envision what television shows native to the format of an Instagram user would look like.

Its team should leverage the playbook of top TV streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in developing original series with top talent in Hollywood to anchor their own subscription service, but in it a new format of shows produced specifically for the vertically oriented, distraction-filled screen of a smartphone.

Mobile video is going premium

Of the 6+ hours per day that Americans spend on digital media, the majority on that is now on their phone (most of it on social and entertainment activities) and video viewing has grown with it. In addition to the decline in linear television viewing and rise of “over-the-top” streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, we’ve seen the creation of a whole new category of video: mobile native video.

Starting at its most basic iteration with everyday users’ recordings for Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories and YouTube vlogs, mobile video is a very different viewing environment with a lot more competition for attention. Mobile video is watched as people are going about their day. They might commit a few minutes at a time, but not hour-long blocks, and there are distracting text messages and push notifications overlaid on the screen as they watch.

“Stories” on the major social apps have advanced vertically oriented, mobile native videos as their own content format

When I spoke recently with Jesús Chavez, CEO of the mobile-focused production company Vertical Networks in Los Angeles, he emphasized that successful episodic videos on mobile aren’t just normal TV clips with changes to the “packaging” (cropped for vertical, thumbnails selected to get clicks, etc.). The way episodes are written and shot has to be completely different to succeed. Chavez put it in terms of the higher “density” of mobile-native videos: packing more activity into a short time window, with faster dialogue, fewer setup shots, split screens and other tactics.

With the growing amount of time people spend watching videos on their social apps each day — and the flood of subpar videos chasing view counts — it makes sense that they would desire a premium content option. We have seen this scenario before as ad-dependent radio gave rise to subscription satellite radio like Sirius XM and ad-dependent network TV gave rise to pay-TV channels like HBO. What that looks like in this context is a trusted service with the same high bar for riveting storytelling of popular films and TV series — and often featuring famous talent from those — but native to the vertical, smartphone environment.

If IGTV pursues this path, it would compete most directly with Quibi, the new venture that Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman are raising $2 billion to launch (and was temporarily called NewTV until their announcement at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit last Wednesday). They are developing a big library of exclusive shows by iconic directors like Guillermo del Toro and Jason Blum crafted specifically for smartphones through their upcoming subscription-based app.

Quibi’s funding is coming from the world’s largest studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCU, Viacom, Alibaba, etc.) whose executives see substantial enough opportunity in such a platform — which they could then produce content for — to write nine-figure checks.

TechCrunch’s Josh Constine argued last year Snapchat should go in a similar “HBO of mobile” direction as well, albeit ad-supported rather than a subscription model. The company indeed seems to be stepping further in this direction with last week’s announcement of Snapchat Originals, although it has announced and then canceled original content plans before.

Snapchat announced its Snap Originals last week

Facebook is the best positioned to win

Facebook is the best positioned to seize this opportunity, and IGTV is the vehicle for doing so. Without even considering integrations with the Facebook, Messenger or WhatsApp apps, Facebook is starting with a base of more than 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram alone. That’s an enormous audience to expose these original shows to, and an audience who don’t need to create or sign into a separate account to explore what’s playing on IGTV. Broader distribution is also a selling point for creative talent: They want their shows to be seen by large audiences.

The user data that makes Facebook rivaled only by Google in targeted advertising would give IGTV’s recommendation algorithms a distinct advantage in pushing users to the IGTV shows most relevant to their interests and most popular among their friends.

The social nature of Instagram is an advantage in driving awareness and engagement around IGTV shows: Instagram users could see when someone they follow watches or “likes” a show (pending their privacy settings). An obvious feature would be to allow users to discuss or review a show by sharing it to their main Instagram feed with a comment; their followers would see a clip or trailer, then be able to click-through to the full show in IGTV with one tap.

Developing and acquiring a library of must-see, high-quality original productions is massively capital-intensive — just ask Netflix about the $13 billion it’s spending this year. Targeting premium-quality mobile video will be no different. That’s why Katzenberg and Whitman are raising a $2 billion war chest for Quibi and budgeting production costs of $100,000-150,000 per minute on par with top TV shows. Facebook has $42 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet. It can easily outspend Quibi and Snap in financing and marketing original shows by a mix of newcomers and Hollywood icons.

Snap can’t afford (financially) to compete head-on and doesn’t have the same scale of distribution. It is at 188 million daily active users and no longer growing rapidly (up 8 percent over the last year, but DAUs actually shrunk by 3 million last quarter). Snapchat is also a much more private interface: it doesn’t enable users to see each others’ activity like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Spotify and others do to encourage content discovery. Snap is more likely to create a hub for ad-supported mobile-first shows for teens and early-twentysomethings rather than rival Quibi or IGTV in creating a more broadly popular Netflix or Hulu of mobile-native shows.

It’s time to go freemium

Investing substantial capital upfront is especially necessary for a company launching a subscription tier: consumers must see enough compelling content behind the paywall from the start, and enough new content regularly added, to find an ongoing subscription worthwhile.

There is currently no monetization of IGTV. It is sitting in experimentation mode as Facebook watches how people use it. If any company can drive enough ad revenue solely from short commercials to still profit on high-cost, high-quality episodic shows on mobile, it’s Facebook. But a freemium subscription model makes more sense for IGTV. From a financial standpoint, building IGTV into its own profitable P&L while making substantial content investments likely demands more revenue than ads alone will generate.

Of equal importance is incentive alignment. Subscriptions are defined by “time well spent” rather time spent and clicks made: quality over quantity. This is the environment in which premium content of other formats has thrived too; Sirius XM as the breakout on radio, HBO on linear TV, Netflix in OTT originals. The type of content IGTV will incentivize, and the creative talent they’ll attract, will be much higher quality when the incentives are to create must-see shows that drive new subscribers than when the incentives are to create videos that optimize for views.

Could there be a “Netflix for mobile native video” with shows shot in vertical format specifically for viewing on smartphone?

The optimization for views (to drive ad revenue) have been the model that media companies creating content for Facebook have operated on for the last decade. The toxicity of this has been a top news story over the last year with Facebook acknowledging many of the issues with clickbait and sensationalism and vowing changes.

Over the years, Facebook has dragged media companies up and down with changes to its newsfeed algorithm that forced them to make dramatic changes to their content strategies (often with layoffs and restructuring). It has burned bridges with media companies in the process; especially after last January, how to reduce dependence on Facebook platforms has become a common discussion point among digital content executives. If Facebook wants to get top producers, directors and production companies investing their time and resources in developing a new format of high-quality video series for IGTV, it needs an incentives-aligned business model they can trust to stay consistent.

Imagine a free, ad-supported tier for videos by influencers and media partners (plus select “IGTV Originals”) to draw in Instagram users, then a $3-8/month subscription tier for access to all IGTV Originals and an ad-free viewing experience. (By comparison, Quibi plans to charge a $5/month subscription with ads with the option of $8/month for its ad-free tier.)

Looking at the growth of Netflix in traditional TV streaming, a subscription-based business should be a welcome addition to Facebook’s portfolio of leading content-sharing platforms. This wouldn’t be its first expansion beyond ad revenue: the newest major division of Facebook, Oculus, generates revenue from hardware sales and a 30 percent cut of the revenue to VR apps in the Oculus app store (similar to Apple’s cut of iOS app revenue). Facebook is also testing a dating app which — based on the freemium business model Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and other leading dating apps have proven to work — would be natural to add a subscription tier to.

Facebook is facing more public scrutiny (and government regulation) on data privacy and its ad targeting than ever before. Incorporating subscriptions and transaction fees as revenue streams benefits the company financially, creates a healthier alignment of incentives with users and eases the public criticism of how Facebook is using people’s data. Facebook is already testing subscriptions to Facebook Groups and has even explored offering a subscription alternative to advertising across its core social platforms. It is quite unlikely to do the latter, but developing revenue streams beyond ads is clearly something the company’s leadership is contemplating.

The path forward

IGTV needs to make product changes if it heads in this direction. Right now videos can’t link together to form a series (i.e. one show with multiple episodes) and discoverability is very weak. Beyond seeing recent videos by those you follow, videos that are trending and a selection of recommendations, you can only search for channels to follow (based on name). There’s no way to search for specific videos or shows, no way to browse channels or videos by topic and no way to see what people you follow are watching.

It would be a missed opportunity not to vie for this. The upside is enormous — owning the Netflix of a new content category — while the downside is fairly minimal for a company with such a large balance sheet.

from iraidajzsmmwtv https://ift.tt/2PEXRIM via IFTTT

#IFTTT #iraidajzsmmwtv

0 notes

technicalsolutions88 · 6 years ago

Link

IGTV, which features videos up to 60 minutes versus Instagram’s normal 60-second limit, hasn’t made much of a splash yet. Since there are no ads yet, it hasn’t made a dollar either. But, it offers Facebook the opportunity to dominate a new category of premium video, and to develop a subscription business that better aligns with high-quality content.

Instagram announced IGTV on June 20 as a way for users to post videos up to 1 hour long in a dedicated section of the app (and separate app).

Its team should leverage the playbook of top TV streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in developing original series with top talent in Hollywood to anchor their own subscription service, but do in it a new format of shows produced specifically for the vertically-oriented, distraction-filled screen of a smartphone.

Mobile video is going premium

Starting at its most basic iteration with everyday users’ recordings for Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories, and YouTube vlogs, mobile video is a very different viewing environment with a lot more competition for attention. Mobile video is watched as people are going about their day. They might commit a few minutes at a time, but not hour-long blocks, and there are distracting text messages and push notifications overlaid on the screen as they watch.

“Stories” on the major social apps have advanced vertically-oriented, mobile native videos as their own content format.

With the growing amount of time people spend watching videos on their social apps each day—and the flood of subpar videos chasing view counts—it makes sense that they would desire a premium content option. We have seen this scenario before as ad-dependent radio gave rise to subscription satellite radio like SiriusXM and ad-dependent network TV gave rise to pay-TV channels like HBO. What that looks like in this context is a trusted service with the same high bar for riveting storytelling of popular films and TV series—and often featuring famous talent from those—but native to the vertical, smartphone environment.

Quibi’s funding is coming from the world’s largest studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCU, Viacom, Alibaba, etc.) whose executives see substantial enough opportunity in such a platform—which they could then produce content for—to write nine-figure checks.

Snapchat announced its Snap Originals last week.

Facebook is the best positioned to win

Facebook is the best positioned to seize this opportunity, and IGTV is the vehicle for doing so. Without even considering integrations with the Facebook, Messenger, or WhatsApp apps, Facebook is starting with a base of over 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram alone. That’s an enormous audience to expose these original shows to, and an audience who don’t need to create or sign into a separate account to explore what’s playing on IGTV. Broader distribution is also a selling point for creative talent: they want their shows to be seen by large audiences.

The social nature of Instagram is an advantage in driving awareness and engagement around IGTV shows: Instagram users could see when someone they follow watches or “likes” a show (pending their privacy settings). An obvious feature would be to allow users to discuss or review a show by sharing it to their main Instagram feed with a comment; their followers would see a clip or trailer then be able to click-through to the full show in IGTV with one tap.

Developing and acquiring a library of must-see, high-quality original productions is massively capital intensive—just ask Netflix about the $13 billion it’s spending this year. Targeting premium quality mobile video will be no different. That’s why Katzenberg and Whitman are raising a $2 billion war chest for Quibi and budgeting production costs of $100,000-150,000 per minute on par with top TV shows. Facebook has $42 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet. It can easily outspend Quibi and Snap in financing and marketing original shows by a mix of newcomers and Hollywood icons.

Snap can’t afford (financially) to compete head-on and doesn’t have the same scale of distribution. It is at 188 million daily active users and no longer growing rapidly (up 8% over the last year but DAUs actually shrunk by 3 million last quarter). Snapchat is also a much more private interface: it doesn’t enable users to see each others’ activity like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Spotify, and others do to encourage content discovery. Snap is more likely to create a hub for ad-supported mobile-first shows for teens and early-twentysomethings rather than rival Quibi or IGTV in creating a more broadly popular Netflix or Hulu of mobile-native shows.

It’s time to go freemium

Of equal importance is incentive alignment. Subscriptions are defined by “time well spent” rather time spent and clicks made: quality over quantity. This is the environment in which premium content of other formats has thrived too; SiriusXM as the breakout on radio, HBO on linear TV, Netflix in OTT originals. The type of content IGTV will incentivize, and the creative talent they’ll attract, will be much higher quality when the incentives are to create must-see shows that drive new subscribers than when the incentives are to create videos that optimize for views.

Could there be a “Netflix for mobile native video” with shows shot in vertical format specifically for viewing on smartphone?

Over the years, Facebook has dragged media companies up and down with changes to its newsfeed algorithm that forced them to make dramatic changes to their content strategies (often with layoffs and restructuring). It has burned bridges with media companies in the process; especially after last January, how to reduce dependence on Facebook platforms has become a common discussion point among digital content executives. If Facebook wants to get top producers, directors, and production companies investing their time and resources in developing a new format of high-quality video series for IGTV, it needs an incentives-aligned business model they can trust to stay consistent.

Looking at the growth of Netflix in traditional TV streaming, a subscription-based business should be a welcome addition to Facebook’s portfolio of leading content-sharing platforms. This wouldn’t be its first expansion beyond ad revenue: the newest major division of Facebook, Oculus, generates revenue from hardware sales and a 30% cut of the revenue to VR apps in the Oculus app store (similar to Apple’s cut of iOS app revenue). Facebook is also testing a dating app which—based on the freemium business model Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and other leading dating apps have proven to work—would be natural to add a subscription tier to.

Facebook is facing more public scrutiny (and government regulation) on data privacy and its ad targeting than ever before. Incorporating subscriptions and transaction fees as revenue streams benefits the company financially, creates a healthier alignment of incentives with users, and eases the public criticism of how Facebook is using people’s data. Facebook is already testing subscriptions to Facebook Groups and has even explored offering a subscription alternative to advertising across its core social platforms. It is quite unlikely to do the latter, but developing revenue streams beyond ads is clearly something the company’s leadership is contemplating.

The path forward

IGTV needs to make product changes if it heads in this direction. Right now videos can’t link together to form a series (i.e. one show with multiple episodes) and discoverability is very weak. Beyond seeing recent videos by those you follow, videos that are trending, and a selection of recommendations, you can only search for channels to follow (based on name). There’s no way to search for specific videos or shows, no way to browse channels or videos by topic, and no way to see what people you follow are watching.

It would be a missed opportunity not to vie for this. The upside is enormous—owning the Netflix of a new content category—while the downside is fairly minimal for a company with such a large balance sheet.

from Mobile – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2PEXRIM ORIGINAL CONTENT FROM: https://techcrunch.com/

#Technical Solutions #SEO #Online Earning #Youtube Marketing #Android Developer

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theinvinciblenoob · 6 years ago

Link

Instagram announced IGTV on June 20 as a way for users to post videos up to 1 hour long in a dedicated section of the app (and separate app).

Its team should leverage the playbook of top TV streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in developing original series with top talent in Hollywood to anchor their own subscription service, but do in it a new format of shows produced specifically for the vertically-oriented, distraction-filled screen of a smartphone.

Mobile video is going premium

“Stories” on the major social apps have advanced vertically-oriented, mobile native videos as their own content format.

With the growing amount of time people spend watching videos on their social apps each day—and the flood of subpar videos chasing view counts—it makes sense that they would desire a premium content option. We have seen this scenario before as ad-dependent radio gave rise to subscription satellite radio like SiriusXM and ad-dependent network TV gave rise to pay-TV channels like HBO. What that looks like in this context is a trusted service with the same high bar for riveting storytelling of popular films and TV series—and often featuring famous talent from those—but native to the vertical, smartphone environment.

Quibi’s funding is coming from the world’s largest studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCU, Viacom, Alibaba, etc.) whose executives see substantial enough opportunity in such a platform—which they could then produce content for—to write nine-figure checks.

Snapchat announced its Snap Originals last week.

Facebook is the best positioned to win

The social nature of Instagram is an advantage in driving awareness and engagement around IGTV shows: Instagram users could see when someone they follow watches or “likes” a show (pending their privacy settings). An obvious feature would be to allow users to discuss or review a show by sharing it to their main Instagram feed with a comment; their followers would see a clip or trailer then be able to click-through to the full show in IGTV with one tap.

It’s time to go freemium

Of equal importance is incentive alignment. Subscriptions are defined by “time well spent” rather time spent and clicks made: quality over quantity. This is the environment in which premium content of other formats has thrived too; SiriusXM as the breakout on radio, HBO on linear TV, Netflix in OTT originals. The type of content IGTV will incentivize, and the creative talent they’ll attract, will be much higher quality when the incentives are to create must-see shows that drive new subscribers than when the incentives are to create videos that optimize for views.

Could there be a “Netflix for mobile native video” with shows shot in vertical format specifically for viewing on smartphone?

Over the years, Facebook has dragged media companies up and down with changes to its newsfeed algorithm that forced them to make dramatic changes to their content strategies (often with layoffs and restructuring). It has burned bridges with media companies in the process; especially after last January, how to reduce dependence on Facebook platforms has become a common discussion point among digital content executives. If Facebook wants to get top producers, directors, and production companies investing their time and resources in developing a new format of high-quality video series for IGTV, it needs an incentives-aligned business model they can trust to stay consistent.

Looking at the growth of Netflix in traditional TV streaming, a subscription-based business should be a welcome addition to Facebook’s portfolio of leading content-sharing platforms. This wouldn’t be its first expansion beyond ad revenue: the newest major division of Facebook, Oculus, generates revenue from hardware sales and a 30% cut of the revenue to VR apps in the Oculus app store (similar to Apple’s cut of iOS app revenue). Facebook is also testing a dating app which—based on the freemium business model Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and other leading dating apps have proven to work—would be natural to add a subscription tier to.

Facebook is facing more public scrutiny (and government regulation) on data privacy and its ad targeting than ever before. Incorporating subscriptions and transaction fees as revenue streams benefits the company financially, creates a healthier alignment of incentives with users, and eases the public criticism of how Facebook is using people’s data. Facebook is already testing subscriptions to Facebook Groups and has even explored offering a subscription alternative to advertising across its core social platforms. It is quite unlikely to do the latter, but developing revenue streams beyond ads is clearly something the company’s leadership is contemplating.

The path forward

IGTV needs to make product changes if it heads in this direction. Right now videos can’t link together to form a series (i.e. one show with multiple episodes) and discoverability is very weak. Beyond seeing recent videos by those you follow, videos that are trending, and a selection of recommendations, you can only search for channels to follow (based on name). There’s no way to search for specific videos or shows, no way to browse channels or videos by topic, and no way to see what people you follow are watching.

It would be a missed opportunity not to vie for this. The upside is enormous—owning the Netflix of a new content category—while the downside is fairly minimal for a company with such a large balance sheet.

via TechCrunch

#IFTTT #TechCrunch

0 notes

marcusflanagan · 6 years ago

Text

Why IGTV should go premium

Instagram announced IGTV on June 20 as a way for users to post videos up to 1 hour long in a dedicated section of the app (and separate app).

Its team should leverage the playbook of top TV streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in developing original series with top talent in Hollywood to anchor their own subscription service, but do in it a new format of shows produced specifically for the vertically-oriented, distraction-filled screen of a smartphone.

Mobile video is going premium

“Stories” on the major social apps have advanced vertically-oriented, mobile native videos as their own content format.

With the growing amount of time people spend watching videos on their social apps each day—and the flood of subpar videos chasing view counts—it makes sense that they would desire a premium content option. We have seen this scenario before as ad-dependent radio gave rise to subscription satellite radio like SiriusXM and ad-dependent network TV gave rise to pay-TV channels like HBO. What that looks like in this context is a trusted service with the same high bar for riveting storytelling of popular films and TV series—and often featuring famous talent from those—but native to the vertical, smartphone environment.

Quibi’s funding is coming from the world’s largest studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCU, Viacom, Alibaba, etc.) whose executives see substantial enough opportunity in such a platform—which they could then produce content for—to write nine-figure checks.

Snapchat announced its Snap Originals last week.

Facebook is the best positioned to win

The social nature of Instagram is an advantage in driving awareness and engagement around IGTV shows: Instagram users could see when someone they follow watches or “likes” a show (pending their privacy settings). An obvious feature would be to allow users to discuss or review a show by sharing it to their main Instagram feed with a comment; their followers would see a clip or trailer then be able to click-through to the full show in IGTV with one tap.

It’s time to go freemium

Of equal importance is incentive alignment. Subscriptions are defined by “time well spent” rather time spent and clicks made: quality over quantity. This is the environment in which premium content of other formats has thrived too; SiriusXM as the breakout on radio, HBO on linear TV, Netflix in OTT originals. The type of content IGTV will incentivize, and the creative talent they’ll attract, will be much higher quality when the incentives are to create must-see shows that drive new subscribers than when the incentives are to create videos that optimize for views.

Could there be a “Netflix for mobile native video” with shows shot in vertical format specifically for viewing on smartphone?

Over the years, Facebook has dragged media companies up and down with changes to its newsfeed algorithm that forced them to make dramatic changes to their content strategies (often with layoffs and restructuring). It has burned bridges with media companies in the process; especially after last January, how to reduce dependence on Facebook platforms has become a common discussion point among digital content executives. If Facebook wants to get top producers, directors, and production companies investing their time and resources in developing a new format of high-quality video series for IGTV, it needs an incentives-aligned business model they can trust to stay consistent.

Looking at the growth of Netflix in traditional TV streaming, a subscription-based business should be a welcome addition to Facebook’s portfolio of leading content-sharing platforms. This wouldn’t be its first expansion beyond ad revenue: the newest major division of Facebook, Oculus, generates revenue from hardware sales and a 30% cut of the revenue to VR apps in the Oculus app store (similar to Apple’s cut of iOS app revenue). Facebook is also testing a dating app which—based on the freemium business model Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and other leading dating apps have proven to work—would be natural to add a subscription tier to.

Facebook is facing more public scrutiny (and government regulation) on data privacy and its ad targeting than ever before. Incorporating subscriptions and transaction fees as revenue streams benefits the company financially, creates a healthier alignment of incentives with users, and eases the public criticism of how Facebook is using people’s data. Facebook is already testing subscriptions to Facebook Groups and has even explored offering a subscription alternative to advertising across its core social platforms. It is quite unlikely to do the latter, but developing revenue streams beyond ads is clearly something the company’s leadership is contemplating.

The path forward

IGTV needs to make product changes if it heads in this direction. Right now videos can’t link together to form a series (i.e. one show with multiple episodes) and discoverability is very weak. Beyond seeing recent videos by those you follow, videos that are trending, and a selection of recommendations, you can only search for channels to follow (based on name). There’s no way to search for specific videos or shows, no way to browse channels or videos by topic, and no way to see what people you follow are watching.

It would be a missed opportunity not to vie for this. The upside is enormous—owning the Netflix of a new content category—while the downside is fairly minimal for a company with such a large balance sheet.

from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2PEXRIM

#marcusflanaganaccenture #marcusflanagandubai #marcusflanaganuae #marcusflanaganabudhabi #marcus

0 notes

fmservers · 6 years ago

Text

Why IGTV should go premium

Instagram announced IGTV on June 20 as a way for users to post videos up to 1 hour long in a dedicated section of the app (and separate app).

Its team should leverage the playbook of top TV streaming services like Netflix and Hulu in developing original series with top talent in Hollywood to anchor their own subscription service, but do in it a new format of shows produced specifically for the vertically-oriented, distraction-filled screen of a smartphone.

Mobile video is going premium

“Stories” on the major social apps have advanced vertically-oriented, mobile native videos as their own content format.

With the growing amount of time people spend watching videos on their social apps each day—and the flood of subpar videos chasing view counts—it makes sense that they would desire a premium content option. We have seen this scenario before as ad-dependent radio gave rise to subscription satellite radio like SiriusXM and ad-dependent network TV gave rise to pay-TV channels like HBO. What that looks like in this context is a trusted service with the same high bar for riveting storytelling of popular films and TV series—and often featuring famous talent from those—but native to the vertical, smartphone environment.

Quibi’s funding is coming from the world’s largest studios (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCU, Viacom, Alibaba, etc.) whose executives see substantial enough opportunity in such a platform—which they could then produce content for—to write nine-figure checks.

Snapchat announced its Snap Originals last week.

Facebook is the best positioned to win

The social nature of Instagram is an advantage in driving awareness and engagement around IGTV shows: Instagram users could see when someone they follow watches or “likes” a show (pending their privacy settings). An obvious feature would be to allow users to discuss or review a show by sharing it to their main Instagram feed with a comment; their followers would see a clip or trailer then be able to click-through to the full show in IGTV with one tap.

It’s time to go freemium

Of equal importance is incentive alignment. Subscriptions are defined by “time well spent” rather time spent and clicks made: quality over quantity. This is the environment in which premium content of other formats has thrived too; SiriusXM as the breakout on radio, HBO on linear TV, Netflix in OTT originals. The type of content IGTV will incentivize, and the creative talent they’ll attract, will be much higher quality when the incentives are to create must-see shows that drive new subscribers than when the incentives are to create videos that optimize for views.

Could there be a “Netflix for mobile native video” with shows shot in vertical format specifically for viewing on smartphone?

Over the years, Facebook has dragged media companies up and down with changes to its newsfeed algorithm that forced them to make dramatic changes to their content strategies (often with layoffs and restructuring). It has burned bridges with media companies in the process; especially after last January, how to reduce dependence on Facebook platforms has become a common discussion point among digital content executives. If Facebook wants to get top producers, directors, and production companies investing their time and resources in developing a new format of high-quality video series for IGTV, it needs an incentives-aligned business model they can trust to stay consistent.

Looking at the growth of Netflix in traditional TV streaming, a subscription-based business should be a welcome addition to Facebook’s portfolio of leading content-sharing platforms. This wouldn’t be its first expansion beyond ad revenue: the newest major division of Facebook, Oculus, generates revenue from hardware sales and a 30% cut of the revenue to VR apps in the Oculus app store (similar to Apple’s cut of iOS app revenue). Facebook is also testing a dating app which—based on the freemium business model Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and other leading dating apps have proven to work—would be natural to add a subscription tier to.

Facebook is facing more public scrutiny (and government regulation) on data privacy and its ad targeting than ever before. Incorporating subscriptions and transaction fees as revenue streams benefits the company financially, creates a healthier alignment of incentives with users, and eases the public criticism of how Facebook is using people’s data. Facebook is already testing subscriptions to Facebook Groups and has even explored offering a subscription alternative to advertising across its core social platforms. It is quite unlikely to do the latter, but developing revenue streams beyond ads is clearly something the company’s leadership is contemplating.

The path forward

IGTV needs to make product changes if it heads in this direction. Right now videos can’t link together to form a series (i.e. one show with multiple episodes) and discoverability is very weak. Beyond seeing recent videos by those you follow, videos that are trending, and a selection of recommendations, you can only search for channels to follow (based on name). There’s no way to search for specific videos or shows, no way to browse channels or videos by topic, and no way to see what people you follow are watching.

It would be a missed opportunity not to vie for this. The upside is enormous—owning the Netflix of a new content category—while the downside is fairly minimal for a company with such a large balance sheet.

Via Eric Peckham https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

0 notes

hannahhydedma-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Practice 2: Final Reflection

Identifying My Field: What Am I Even Doing?

As I referenced in a previous blog, I often had trouble describing what I am even doing in this course, because we do a little of a lot of things at first. After experimenting in Practice 1, Practice 2 really challenged me to discern what types of craft I want to pursue. So before I can identify what the forefront of my field is, I should identify what my field is.

I have always loved storytelling, which is why I obtained my B.A. in Journalism, and social media feels like a natural extension of that. It allows anyone to be an autobiographer and share their story through text, photos, and videos. As someone who lives across an ocean from the majority of my network, social media allows me to connect to them instantly. That’s pretty cool. I can find out instantly what’s happening back in the U.S. (for better or worse) and have a discussion about it. Just last weekend, I was able to Skype in so I could watch one of my best friends getting married, even though I couldn’t be there in person. I love technologies and platforms that connection people based on common interests, goals, or ideals.

I pay attention to what is trending on social media, particularly how social media responds to current events (political or cultural), and how online publications cover what is happening on social media. When I do academic focused research, I gravitate towards articles that show the interaction of new media within society.

As I have said before, I am a writer first and a designer second. So I would say my field is a combination of content creation (text, videos, photos, graphic design) for social media either for my own channels (my blog, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook), or, in the future, for a brand, agency, or other individual.

What is the Forefront of My Field? Or… Who is at the Forefront of My Field?

Identifying the forefront of social media is tricky. Is that the platforms with the most users? In the Western part of the world, that would be Facebook with over 2.2 billion (Statista, 2018) But then they have that whole Cambridge Analytica scandal where the UK-based firm 'used personal information harvested from more than 50 million Facebook profiles without permission to build a system that could target US voters with personalised political advertisements based on their psychological profile’ (Greenfield, 2018) And as an American voter myself, I’m not too pleased with that.

So then would it be a platform like Pinterest, that was the fastest independently launched site to reach 10 million unique monthly visitors. But they only have just over 200 million visitors total. (Statista, 2018) What about Instagram, the highest ranked photo-sharing app with over 800 million users? (Stastia, 2018) Or YouTube which has over 1.5 billion users? (Statista, 2018)

Is the forefront of my field major corporations or is the individuals leading them? Or is it the individuals who are most popular on those platforms? YouTuber Pewdiepie (Swedish-born, UK-based Felix Kjellberg) has over 62 million subscribers. (Skipping over brands and music channels, the next highest ranked individual is HolaSoyGerman, Chilean Germán Garmendia, with a comparatively paltry 34 million.) (SocialBlade, 2018) But Pewdiepie has had some major scandals after being caught using some anti-Semitic imagery in some videos last year. As a result, he was dropped from his network (owned by Disney) and has his YouTube Red series cancelled. (Chokshi, 2017)

What about in the blogging field? I could identify people like Arianna Huffington (The Huffington Post), Michael Arrington (TechCrunch), or Mario Lavandeira (PerezHilton) who took blogging to the next level and became near-household names and brands. Heather Armstrong of dooce is probably one of the first bloggers who really made enough money to go full-time early on and has been blogging for the better part of 20 years.

But when I truly think about what or who is at the forefront of my field, I think about the people whose work I admire the most. Nicolette Mason is a blogger and creative consultant who has been published in numerous magazines and websites and worked with a number of fashion and beauty brands. She was the first person I saw in one of fancy magazines I used to sneak into the grocery cart when my mom wasn’t looking that actually looked like me (because representation matters!). Zoe Sugg (Zoella) was one first influencers with a large audience (13 million subscribers on YouTube) who I saw discussing social anxiety and encouraging the destigmatisation of it among young people. Damon Dominique and Jo Franco (DamonAndJo) are two travel bloggers and YouTubers who create authentic content for their audience - young people who don’t have the financial means to take extravagant aspirational trips. Previously, I’ve mentioned Victoria Magrath (Inthefrow) who actually has a PhD in mobile consumer behaviour from University of Manchester and now used her academic background to inform her work as a blogger and brand representative.

Trying to identify what and who is the forefront of this massive global world of social media is quite a complex issue. I think the more important thing is to follow who is doing what and when. Because when you’re not looking, someone or something you don’t expect will land on the trending pages.

What Have I Accomplished During The Module? What Have I Learned During the Module?

The interdisciplinary project was the first true group work I had done in about four years. I was really nervous, because I tend to fall either into the role of the leader who has to organise everybody and everything or the person who winds up doing the most work. While I feel like I did a lot of the blogging and record-keeping, it was actually nice to let other people do the majority of the ‘making’ and trust in their process. It was a good learning experience for me to give up some of the control I typically want.

After the Furtherfield presentation, I felt really accomplished. For the first time, I stood in front of a potential client and pitched my product and (I think) pitched it well. The biggest lesson I learned in that project was that it is not always the priority to meet my goals, but I really have to think of the client’s goals first. As a writer and designer, I can often get ‘in my head’ and be a bit egotistical. Of course, my idea is the best! It’s my idea! But that is really not the case. I felt like I really learned how to pay attention to the client, listen to the criticism given in tutorials, and turn that into a solid piece of work that served the client’s needs.

During the third section of this module, I feel like I had to finally choose what it is that I want to spend a lot of time doing - my major study project. I think that by being forced to articulate what type of work I want to produce and what it is that I want to do with my future career, it gave me a powerful tool to have going forward. I know now how to define what it is that I want, what are the smaller things that make up what I want, and what applied skills I need to improve.

For reference: I want to work writing or creating pretty things that go on the Internet or even in old-fashioned print pages to be seen and shared by the masses. Maybe that will be a brand, agency, individual, or just myself. And I know that I need to work really hard in the coming months continuing to improve my skills in Adobe programs, and keeping up to date with social media algorithms and marketing techniques.

References:

Armstrong, H. (2018). dooce® | About. [online] Dooce.com. Available at: https://dooce.com/about/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

Chokshi, N. (2018). Disney Drops PewDiePie and YouTube Distances Itself After Reports of Anti-Semitic Videos. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/business/pewdiepie-youtube-disney.html? [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

Greenfield, P. (2018). The Cambridge Analytica files: the story so far. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/26/the-cambridge-analytica-files-the-story-so-far [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

Socialblade.com. (2018). Track YouTube analytics, future predictions, & live subscriber counts - Social Blade. [online] Available at: https://socialblade.com/youtube/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

Statista. (2018). Most popular social networks worldwide as of April 2018, ranked by number of active users (in millions). [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

#practice 2 #reflection

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 7 years ago

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Flights Grounded After World War II Bomb Discovered Near London City Airport

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/flights-grounded-after-world-war-ii-bomb-discovered-near-london-city-airport/

Flights Grounded After World War II Bomb Discovered Near London City Airport

Dan Kitwood, Getty Images

London City Airport grounded all flights on the night of February 11, after a World War II bomb was found in the neighboring River Thames, The Guardian reports.

The half-ton bomb was revealed Sunday morning by development work taking place at the King George V Dock. Following its discovery, police set up a 702-foot exclusion zone around the area, closing local roads and shutting down the London City Airport until further notice. According to the BBC, 261 trips were scheduled to fly in and out of London City airport on Monday. Some flights are being rerouted to nearby airports, while others have been canceled all together.

The airport will reopen as soon as the explosive device has been safely removed. For that to happen, the Met police must first wait for the river’s tide to recede. Then, once the bomb is exposed, they can dislodge it from the riverbed and tow it to a controlled explosion site.

The docks of London’s East End were some of the most heavily bombed points in the city during World War II. Germany’s Blitz lasted 76 nights, and as the latest unexpected discovery shows, bombs that never detonated are still being cleaned up from parks and rivers more than 75 years later.

[h/t The Guardian]

David McNew, Newsmakers/Getty Images

The World’s Most Congested City Is Right Here in America

David McNew, Newsmakers/Getty Images

Los Angeles is famous for its clogged freeways, but even Angelenos might not realize just how justified their complaints about sitting in traffic are. Not only does L.A. have the worst traffic in the U.S., it has the worst traffic in the world, according to an international study spotted by Travel + Leisure.

It’s the sixth time that L.A. has topped the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, an annual analysis of traffic across 1360 cities in 38 countries. INRIX, a Washington-state-based company that provides transportation and connected-car analytics, found that in 2017 the average Angeleno spent 102 hours sitting in traffic jams during peak hours. This idling time likely cost these drivers around $2800 in extra fuel over the course of the year, making traffic a waste of more than just time.

Los Angeles obviously isn’t the only city with bad traffic. Both Muscovites and New Yorkers sat in traffic for 91 hours over the course of the year. New York’s Cross Bronx Expressway was named the most congested single roadway in the country, with drivers spending 118 hours per year stuck on the 4.7-mile-long roadway. Five of the 10 top cities for traffic congestion were located in the U.S. as San Francisco (5), Atlanta (8), and Miami (10) all made the list.

On the bright side, there’s reason to think that L.A., at least, will eventually clean up its highways a bit, freeing up some time for its car-bound residents. Despite its reputation as a city without reliable transit options, L.A. has made some big strides in the last few years when it comes to expanding public transportation. The city is pushing particularly hard to open 28 new transit projects before the summer Olympics come to town in 2028. Unfortunately, it’s still far from having a super user-friendly transit network—despite its expansion projects, the system is currently losing riders. Looks like it may be a while before everything’s moving in the right direction.

[h/t Travel + Leisure]

iStock

We’re Hiring a Staff Writer!

BY mentalfloss .com

February 1, 2018

iStock

We’re looking for a staff writer to join the award-winning Mental Floss team.

Mental Floss has won Webby Awards (three!), lost ASME Awards (thrilled to be nominated!), and published 15 books and five board games. Our YouTube channel has 1.3 million subscribers, and we reach 13 million people a month through mentalfloss.com. Our goal is to find fascinating stories and bring them back to our readers. The kinds of stories people want to share, and not just in the social media sense. There are so many incredibly interesting things out there. Can you help us uncover them?

Staff Writer

We need a writer who is as comfortable covering science as they are pop culture. Primary responsibilities include writing three posts for publication on the site each day as well as writing a number of lists each month; reported features and special projects will also be in the mix. Ideal candidates will have:

– Some experience pitching and writing for the web

– Excellent time management skills, the ability to prioritize, and a high level of attention to detail

– Energetic, positive written voice

– Strong research and reporting skills

– The ability to: conceive, pitch, and execute timely stories on tight deadlines; translate complicated concepts into accessible writing; and generate large volumes of creative story ideas.

– Be comfortable with photo research and sourcing, and have the ability to think creatively about what images might work for stories when a specific photo isn’t available

– Knowledge of social media platforms and analytics

– Willingness to take ownership of projects and collaborate with the rest of the team

How to Apply

– Send your resume and cover letter to [email protected] – Put the name of the job you’re applying for in the subject line – Three things you’ve written or edited that you’re proud of

We offer health, dental, vision, and life insurance coverage, an optional 401k enrollment, FSA/transit flexible spending, 15 vacation days, plus various discounts on gym memberships, entertainment, etc. We look forward to hearing from you!

More from mental floss studios

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#Airport #bomb #city #discovered #flights #grounded #II #London #War #World #Facts

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relg3559 · 7 years ago

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Polygamy in US Media

Over the past seven years TLC’s show, Sister Wives, has become a household name in the United States. In the most recent season finale in January 2017, over 3.4 million viewers tuned in, making it the most watched TLC show of all time. Despite their polygamous lifestyle, Kody and his four wives are portrayed as a ‘wholesome’ and ‘normal’ American family. As articulated by Bailey and Zahren in their article, “Post-homphobia Comes Out: The Rise of Mormon Polygamy in US Popular Culture,” Sister Wives does challenge convention by portraying Mormon polygamy, a practice outlawed in most states and villainized since its inception. The show allows “mainstream US media [to] juxtapose the Browns against the FLDS” which makes the Browns “legible as rightful post-homophobic citizens, especially in contrast to the darkened, queered and abjected FLDS” (Bailey and Zahren, 162) . The Browns become symbolic of the United States as a place of freedom and liberalism that allows citizens to reclaim their sexual and religious identities despite framing the family as a foil to a religious group that is not accepted, the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints- FLDS. By accepting the Brown family, the United States works to portray itself as tolerant and open-minded to sexual difference despite “reinstalling the white, middle-class, Christian, heterosexual (if polygamous) nuclear family as ideal.” (Bailey and Zahren, 161) To build on Bailey and Zahren’s argument about the Browns as well as all Mormon polygamists as “rightful heirs to sexual/ religious minority politics” it is critical to examine another TLC show about polygamy, My Five Wives. The Browns are able to embody this “post-homophobic citizen” because they conform to certain norms around sex, such as framing each relationship between Kody and each of his wives in heteronormative terms and only speaking about sex as for the goal of procreation. The Williams are not accepted or inheritors of this title because they are open to sharing intimate details about their sexual lives, that do not involve procreation, and play on the idea that Brody Williams does in fact sleep with each of his five wives. My Five Wives suggests Mormon polygamists are still marginalized and unaccepted by the general public and that the Browns achieved acceptance because they conformed to mainstream American society rather than actually receiving the benefits of so-called ‘religious freedom.’ Unlike the success of Sister Wives, My Five Wives was cancelled after only two seasons and reported low viewership. On all accounts, the Williams family is very similar to the Browns: white, middle-class and polygamous, yet the Williams family were not able to mainstream their views in the way the Browns have. Why was the Williams family not embraced by audiences as the Browns have been? Despite checking the boxes for what should make them popular, and what Bailey and Zahren call “post-homophobic” citizens, they were not; thus suggesting that just appearing like the Browns is not enough to be embraced by the public. In actuality, US society does not tolerate religious as well as sexual differences and that to be accepted the Browns normalized their sexual lives to an American ideal whereas the Williams did not.

Kody and his wives rarely speak about sex on the show and Kody almost never shows public affection. The only time sex is ever really discussed is in vague terms and in relation to having children. For example, Robyn and Cody speak on camera about their decision to have a child together and say, “when we were thinking of having a baby we looked at each other and go ‘now can we try.’”[1] For the Browns, sex is for procreation and through this they reinforce the idea of a heteronormative family despite being polygamists. Additionally, the Browns are sexually conservative as shown when third wife Christine’s expresses her anger about when she found out that Kody and new wife Robyn kissed after Kody proposed. As Christine says, she didn’t kiss Kody until “over the altar” because “she did not feel right about kissing a married man.[2]” Despite practicing Polygamy, the Brown’s position themselves as a ‘normal’ family by upholding conservative beliefs about the sanctity and importance of marriage, family, and children in a heteronormative fashion. In contrast, the opening scene in the promotional video of My Five Wives shows Brady William walking up in bed with his first wife, Pauline, and an intimate ‘good morning’ between the two of them as Pauline strokes Brady’s cheek. Then, the scene repeats itself, but this time with Robyn, the second wife. The exact same scene repeats itself three more times, with the next three wives. Right away, this family sets themselves apart from the Browns because of their openness to show and talk about the fact that polygamy means the man will have multiple sexual relationships within his marriage. In a video interview for the Huffington Post, when talking about the subject Brody explains, “when talking about the subject you feel like you can’t talk about it, but listen, all of America is having sex… we are just normal, normal times five[3].” Interestingly, Brody tries to positon himself as just a ‘normal American’ having ‘normal sex’ in his marriage. The Williams by all accounts should be the models for acceptance in a ‘Post-homophobic’ US due to their openness about their intimate relationships and open-minded views about sex, yet it is the very thing that made the show so contested by viewers.

In the comments for the promotional video for My Five Wives Sister Wives, the issue of the William’s sexual lives was one of the major reactions for viewers, whereas it rarely appeared in the comments for Sister Wives. Under the TLC YouTube channels My Five Wives promotional video there are critiques of the family such as “This is really having your cake and eating it too LMAO. "Honey I'm not cheating on you, we're having a polygamous relationship!" and “This is glorifying cheating to me.”[4]. The promotional video for Sister Wives did also get negative comments, but rarely did they have to do with Kody’s intimidate relationships, rather there are comments like, “This is a cult” or “Polygamy is disgusting[5]”. The William’s show was not able to overcome such negativity from the public because they did not hide that their Polygamist marriage was not heteronormative. In an article for Bustle comparing and contrasting the two families, TLC’s New Polygamists on ‘My Five Wives’ are more ‘Progressive’ and Problematic Than The ‘Sister Wives’, author Samantha Rullo, breaks down the differences between the Browns and the Williams lifestyle. Many of the differences Rullo writes about come down to the portrayal of sex in each show. For example, when Rullo examines the differences in each families’ religion and social beliefs she takes issue with the Williams saying they left the Apostolic United Brethren sect of Fundamentalist Mormonism because they wanted to move from an “exclusive viewpoint to an inclusive one.” Rullo does recognize that they support marriage equality and do not want to force polygamy onto their children, but at the same time “Brady declared that there is to be no pre-marital sex. His reasoning for all of this? He doesn't want his kids to be "flippant with their bodies.[6]" Rullo asserts that although Brady openly says he is a feminist, his actions speak otherwise, such as in this case asserting authority over his children’s sexual lives. In her views, the Williams are so troublesome because they label themselves as socially progressive but their actions do not match a ‘typical’ progressive agenda. In some ways, Rullo’s article gets to the core of Bailey and Zahren’s argument. Mainstream American media, Rullo included, tolerates and even in some cases accept that the Browns practice polygamy because they portray themselves as a conservative heteronormative family. In contrast, the way in which the Williams practice and portray Polygamy is more sexualized and liberal and therefore outside of the acceptable norms of our Protestant Christian society. Furthermore, without the backing of the Apostolic United Brethren sect of Fundamentalist Mormonism the Williams become further isolated from societal norms because they no longer can use formalized religion as part of the reason to live as polygamists. Thus, the family moves away from what is considered acceptable in the United States. The two families show that Mormonism and more specifically polygamy is not in fact accepted in the United States and that the Browns are an exception due to how closely they follow societal standards around family structure and sexual differences. The portrayal of the Browns as “rightful post-homophobic citizens” is actually dangerous to society because it portrays a false sense of religious freedom and tolerance when in reality only allows for very specific difference. Similarly, Jasbir Paur, in her book Terrorist Assemblages, conveys the idea of Homonationalism in the United States, or the idea of “normative gayness” such that there is correct way to be gay. Sister Wives and My Five Wives conveys a sense of ‘Polygamy-nationalism’ where Sister Wives is the script for how to be a polygamist and the public reaction and subsequent cancelling of My Five Wives shows what happens when one goes off this script. Thus, there is actually no true acceptance for those who practice polygamy or who have different family structures than what is prescribed by society.

youtube

[1]Sister Wives- Time to Start Trying. Perf. Kody Brown and Robyn Brown. You Tube/ Sister Wives. TLC, 11 June 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2017. <https://youtu.be/BNSAj45__AU>.

[2] Sister Wives - The Kiss. YouTube. YouTube/ TLC, 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Nov. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfaLKrFbbl0>.

[3] HuffPostLive. "'My Five Wives' Star: 'All Of America Is Having Sex'." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJ_wQSm6LTs>.

[4] TLC. "Meet The Wives | My Five Wives." YouTube. TLC, 27 Mar. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbeycSVQT9s>.

[5] TLC. "Sister Wives - First Sneak Peek." YouTube. TLC, 07 Sept. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvsVZdO6FJU>.

[6] Rullo, Samantha. "TLC's New Polygamists on 'My Five Wives' Are More "Progressive" And Problematic Than the 'Sister Wives'." Bustle. Bustle, 12 May 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2017. <https://www.bustle.com/articles/20358-tlcs-new-polygamists-on-my-five-wives-are-more-progressive-and-problematic-than-the-sister-wives>.

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englishmansdcc · 7 years ago

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JAMES EATOCK: The Mark Searby Interview

Leonard Sultana: “Do you want to know what becoming a fan will get you? I have been asked a couple of times, over the last few weeks, what can be the end goal for a fan – what roads an intense embrace of a section of pop culture can lead you down, and whether you can make a career out of such fandom, or even circle back round and make an quantitative impact on the original property.

James Eatock is a testament to the evolution of a passion – James has transformed that deep love over the years into not only a career but also towards a position where he has become a major resource and influencer on the subject itself: HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE! Another fan with a deep love for the show is AEISD Contributor Mark Searby who, thanks to the release of James’ COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE ANIMATED ADVENTURES, was lucky enough to talk with James about his fandom and his subsequent work on HE-MAN, from the very beginning…”

MARK SEARBY: When did your love of HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE start? And how did you come to writing such a mammoth book for Dark Horse?

image: ghostbusters.wiki

JAMES EATOCK: Oh man! I’ve been working on the brand, on and off, officially since 2001, I guess? When I first got the internet, which was about late ’95, at the time I didn’t have any kind of love for HE-MAN and SHE-RA because I was seventeen, eighteen and I was “Oh, that was in my childhood.” I still had videos and figures but they weren’t exactly brought out and celebrated!

I searched [on the internet] for MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and there was one website and it was one guy talking about when he used to play with the figures. By the end of the year, what would eventually become He-Man.org was set up. It was a tiny little website that people would contribute their memories to.

At the beginning of 1996, I decided to start my own HE-MAN website about the cartoon and it very quickly became that I was ‘the Cartoon Guy’. I was the one who still had like seventy episodes recorded off children’s television and a bunch of video releases! Then, this New York farmboy called Zadoc Angell turned up online and he says, “I’d really like to create a website with you,” and he really pushed me and eventually, I was like, “Oh, alright then!”

So August 1997, we started this HE-MAN & SHE-RA episodes website: every week, we reviewed an episode. It was a lot of fun. Working with Zadoc on the website, I grew to love writing. Zadoc would encourage me to write and he was at Harvard… I love this, he was in the same literary class as Natalie Portman, believe it or not! Zadoc would encourage me to and I got gooder and gooder at writing – I got well good at writing! [laughs].

The pair of us had the website up and running for about five years and during that time, people got in touch. One of the first to do so was Robert Lamb, who had worked on HE-MAN; he also worked on WIDGET THE WORLD WATCHER and WILD WEST C.O.W.BOYS OF MOO MESA. He had searched his name online and found us praising his work on an episode, and Robert sent this really lovely email to Zadoc and I. We replied to say “Oh, thank you so much! Your episodes were really great!” He said, “Sit tight, I’ll send you both a package.” This package arrives and it has the HE-MAN Show Bible and storyboards and story sheets and behind the scenes stuff… We were dying! This was incredible stuff! We had never seen a storyboard… to us, the Series Bible was the be-all and end-all. To this day, the HE-MAN Series Bible that is online is the one Rob gave us twenty years ago.

As the website progressed, another person from the show messaged us, and then another and another and another… the pair of us had become this reputable source of knowledge. In 2001, I go over to America to meet Zadoc and, in a weird twist of reality, we find that we didn’t really get on that well in the real world. So, we both come away being burnt out from the website and we knew it was no fun when the website became a chore, so we both walked away from it. We eventually merged it with the He-Man.org site and they took all our reviews.

About a month after we decide to kill the website, Mattel gets in touch with us and they say, “Hey, we are working on this new HE-MAN cartoon toyline. Do you want to write a huge back-story, like a Filmation guide for the writers of the new show?” So, we said “Okay!” Zadoc took Season Two and I took Season One and we wrote this encyclopedia for Mattel. Then the show goes out and we don’t get a credit. So, after that, we come away from that totally burnt out. Zadoc and I pretty much go our separate ways at this point. It’s a shame but he went on to be a big agent in Hollywood and I went into DVD production.

About a year later, a UK company called Contender got the rights to release HE-MAN on DVD. This was the first time HE-MAN was on DVD – I meet with the guy [from Contender], we chat, and he asks “What ideas do you have for these DVD’s?” I said, jokingly, “We could do DVD commentaries!”, and he was like “Oh, that’s a great idea.” I said, “I have this friend from Birmingham, Dave Newman, he’s quite the talker so we should get him down and we’ll both do a really good commentary for you.” We get hired, we go into a recording studio and record a few commentaries for Volume 1 and then, a few months later do volume 2, 3, 4, 5… By Volume 5, the series wasn’t selling well on DVD unfortunately so the rest of the release series got cancelled.

MS: It’s funny you mention that because I was buying those DVD’s and then was mystified why they stopped. I searched for months for the next DVD but never found Volume 6.

JE: It got to Volume 5…? I want to say, it was the one with the women on the cover. That volume came out but it was really weird during that time: the studio where we were doing the recording was like a DVD production house and I was walking round the building, thinking, “Wow! This place is really nice.” A few months later, the producer of the DVD’s gets in contact and says “They are looking for a DVD QC-er.” I asked what that was and he said, “You basically watch DVD’s all day and report on errors.” I ended up working there for two years straight and for four years afterwards as a freelancer. At one point during that time I was getting paid to listen to my own DVD commentaries and I was getting paid to watch HE-MAN. I watched, I think, thirty episodes and I was thinking “This is brilliant. I’m getting paid to watch He-Man!”

I left that job because a company in the U.S. got the rights to HE-MAN and SHE-RA DVD’s and I was offered a job working on those, [doing] more writing and editing content. That was amazing! Two years after that, it was SHE-RA. Then, a year after that, it was the 2002 HE-MAN cartoon. Then that was it.

I went to Sony for a few years, then left there and Classic Media got in touch – it’s all about connections. When I was at Sony, this guy from Classic Media comes in to talk about some shows on DVD and people at Sony were like “Oh, Eatock is the HE-MAN guy, talk to him.” So, they say they are about to launch the HE-MAN YouTube channel and said, “We might be in touch if you want some work.” A year goes by and they finally get in touch.

I go to meetings and tell them what I want to do with the channel. They tell me what they want from the channel: “We want a million subscribers within a year!” I’m sat there, thinking, “It’s HE-MAN, not Justin Bieber!” If it was Justin Bieber’s HE-MAN channel… very different story [laughs]! I started to do the channel and it got a lot of support from the HE-MAN and SHE-RA fans. I was doing that channel pretty much by myself. I was coming up with the ideas, recording the audio and doing all the editing. My friend in Serbia, Dusan, was recreating the music tracks, piecing it all together to create instrumentals. Classic Media weren’t doing anything.

After a while it got to 2015 and I was burnt out by the channel and then Dark Horse got in touch. They were doing THE ART OF HE-MAN book at the time and they asked if I wanted to contribute and I said, “Yeah, sure.” When they sent over the PDF of the Filmation chapter, I was like, “Oh my God!” It wasn’t bad but it was very inaccurate. I went into that Filmation section, which was twenty something pages at that point, and I started from scratch. Dark Horse were, at the time, saying, “This [has ended up becoming] probably one of the best sections of the book!”

Then, the mini-comic book happened and I said to Dark Horse, “I’ve got this unpublished mini-comic, I don’t know if you would be interested in publishing it in the book.” They were like, “Yeah, sure.” So, the mini-comic book came out and based on my willingness to help, Val Staples [comic book and toy artist] said to me, “You should pitch a book about the cartoon.” I created this pitch and sent it to Dark Horse and they were like, “Yeah, let’s do this!” It could have been at least another hundred pages because, once I had done it, I found out even more. Just a month after I finished the book I got another thousand pieces of artwork and would have loved to have used those.

MS: How long did it take you to write HE-MAN AND SHE-RA: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE CLASSIC ANIMATED ADVENTURES?

JE: Well, I always wanted to do a guide like this. In 2009, I’m sitting there and decide to do an unofficial guide to the HE-MAN episodes. So I start off and I just wrote for half a year. It was all text. I checked with Mattel and they said, “As long as He-Man is not on the cover!” I sent them the cover, with He-Man shown in silhouette, and they said, “That’s fine!”

I self-publish the book and it sells about four thousand copies in the space of about half a year: even to this day, people still buy the unofficial one. So, that was one of my selling points to Mattel, and they asked, “How long will it take you to write an official book?” I said, “Well, most of it is written, but I do need to rewrite some bits…” I went through my Unofficial Guide, page by page, and I’m making corrections, rewriting a few things, and it became this [the official guide]. They [Dark Horse] were like “Hey, you can include the artwork in this one, y’know!”, so I started to scan [the screencaps] in by each episode and, by this time, I had all this wealth of material and just threw it all in the book. There is so much more that could have been included but most of it is in there.

MS: How did you acquire the artwork?

JE: I started collecting animation art in ’97. When I went to meet Zadoc in America, Zadoc was hanging out with a guy called Lee. Lee had been going into the warehouse where all the Filmation artwork was and was friends with Lou Scheimer. All the artwork that comprised of the HE-MAN shows, and other Filmation shows, were in these boxes in Los Angeles. So Lee had started going there in about ’99 I think. A few cells had been made available to the public – I managed to get one and it cost me a fortune.

Lee comes along and says “Look, if you want a specific cell from a certain episode, then I can get them.” I was like “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” I’d heard people say that shit like this before. Lee starts showing me his collection and I was like, “Oh my God!” He had a lot of key scenes especially from THE SECRET OF THE SWORD [episode]. As I would find out a few years later, you would go to this warehouse they were all in boxes, all in order. It was four or five boxes per episode.

So you would go through all these cells – hose days are long gone now, that collection has gone from L.A. to San Diego and back to L.A. and, during that time, it has been rinsed. The last time I saw the collection was in a warehouse in San Diego and it was such a mess. You would be going through cells of HE-MAN and there would be cells of M.A.S.K. in there and THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS…!

image: he-man.org

MS: Why was this all taking place in San Diego?

JE: Because the guy who bought it lived in San Diego. I messaged him a month or two ago and said, “Hey, where’s the collection these days?” He’s said “It’s now in Los Angeles again.” A lot of it got damaged in transport. A lot of the SHE-RA stuff got damaged.

So, in 2001 when I went to meet Zadoc, I met Lee. Me and Lee went to the warehouse twice. It’s so funny to look back at it, I spent a fortune on animation cells. Then, as the years went on, I was buying cells for $250 each, but I was getting the choice cells. So I went there in 2001, 2005 and the last time I was in San Diego which was 2013 and by then that was pretty much all I could get.

As I said, by then, it was pretty much a mess – nothing was in order, loads of it was getting damaged. It was left on the floor! Cells were being ripped apart, there were idiots in that warehouse in San Diego that were graffiti-ing the cells. There was one… it was a drawing of the Sorceress sat down on her throne and someone had rubbed out her throne and drawn a toilet seat! The stupid thing is these idiots could have sold that and made $20 or $30.

When I was there in 2013, seeing all that shit, the owner of the warehouse said, “Look, I’m trying to get rid of this stuff. You can buy it off me, any piece of art for $2.” I think I bought like a thousand during that visit! Then, the last two acquisitions, I got another eight thousand.

When I was working at Classic Media, they said, “We have a bunch of stills from the show and they are in a warehouse out in the countryside.” Me and the guys go to this warehouse and they get these boxes out and I said, “These are the boxes that were in San Diego.” Basically, Classic Media had said to the warehouse in San Diego, “We own all this stuff now.” And they said, “Oh sure, we will send it to you.” Turns out it’s only about one percent of the boxes from San Diego. Classic Media think they’ve reclaimed the art and I said “No. You’ve reclaimed about 1% of it.” These people that owned just didn’t know.

I got to a warehouse in 2015, just outside London, and we go through boxes and I found a bunch of new pieces. I sold those at Orbital Comics. I went back to the warehouse in February of this year and they got the same boxes out and a few of the ones that were missing from last time. I said “Right, this is the last time I’m going to be doing this!” So I acquired more and will start selling it over the next few months… long story short, that’s how I acquired the artwork!

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MS: There is a chapter about abandoned episodes. How did you find out about these?

JE: Again: everything is connected. Years ago, I bought the Filmation series guide, it was when the show was called HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, because the Masters Of The Universe were the villains, that was Skeletor’s ‘crew’. I always thought that was great. It was like He-Man AND the baddies, and I loved the idea that the villains were calling themselves the masters of the universe.

So I had this series guide and it had maybe five or six abandoned episodes. I thought that was interesting and made a note about them. Then, when we did the DVD’s, we got a bunch of material from Robby London who, along with Paul Dini, was one of the first people to sit down and type out synopsis for each episode. They were like three line synopsis and we had about seventy pages of abandoned episodes – some didn’t have titles. Rob Lamb, when he sent that first package, had a list of nine SHE-RA episode premises that he came up with and they were all really amazing. There is probably more out there because you could go to any writer of that show… I’ve never heard Larry DiTillio talk about abandoned episodes but I’m sure, if I went to him, he would find some.

MS: One of the last pages in the book is where you write about meeting Lou Scheimer. What was he like when you met him?

JE: He was awesome, he was so humble, he was one of the most humble human beings you could meet. I met him either four or five times. The first time was on the trip when I first met Zadoc and Lee. As I said, Lee was friends with him. Lee had gone to Filmation when they were closing their doors in 1989 – he had gone in their building by literally walking in their back door as they were putting shit in their dumpster. Lee just walks in and suddenly he is sitting in front of Lou, and Lou starts talking to him about the cartoons. Lee asked him, “Well, what’s going on now?”, and Lou said, “Filmation are gone. That’s it!”

Lee and Lou stayed in touch and thanks to that connection, when I went to L.A., we go to visit Lou Scheimer Animation Studios. It was a company that wanted to do stuff but wasn’t in the right place to do stuff. They did something called ROBIN AND THE DREAMWEAVERS, which if you ever see it will say “Ohhhhh, that’s… unique!” [laughs]. We saw a screening of [ROBIN] at Lou Scheimer Productions, watching this preview and they said, “We aren’t sure who we are targeting with this.” Mainly because there were scenes with Care Bear cuteness mixed with hardcore sex! They had people having sex in this apocalyptic America but yet, you have Care Bears and Robin trying to save the day for this Shadoweaver ripoff called Triple X, who is standing atop of a giant penis! They couldn’t sell that, nobody would buy it because it was, like, who do you target?? If it didn’t have the Care Bears, then you could perhaps target the teenagers and if it didn’t have the hardcore sex, you could target the kids. It was such a mixture, it was a mess.

So, we go to meet Lou in 2001 and as we walk in, he is walking out saying, “I’ve got a meeting”, and signs a poster – fleeting glance! We spent about five minutes talking to Erica Scheimer and then we leave. Then, when BIC did the huge HE-MAN DVD launch at San Diego Comic-Con in 2005, they kindly said they would fly me out – they did so two years in a row and I met Lou both those years.

The next time I met him, I was in L.A. working on some REAL GHOSTBUSTERS cartoon DVD’s and I went to Lou’s house – it was the most amazing house I’d ever been in. I think he said something along the lines of, “It was the house SUGAR SUGAR built!”, because he owned the rights to the old Archies record, which did very well and he made a lot of money off it. Subsequently, HE-MAN and SHE-RA made him even more money, so his house was amazing, in the valley of Los Angeles, and you drove up this hill – it was a giant mansion with three levels and the view of the entire valley. Lou was there and so personable and he remembered me from before. We went to lunch, it was such a lovely experience – he was such a normal man.

MS: Let’s wrap this up with a couple of quick-fire questions: what’s your favourite episode of HE-MAN?

JE: Easy. THE PROBLEM WITH POWER.

MS: Who is your favourite character?

JE: That’s a bit more tricky! It’s a toss-up between He-Man and Skeletor, after all – the series revolves around them. But, visually and design wise and the voice, I’m going to choose Trapjaw!

Find out more about James’ book, HE-MAN AND SHE-RA: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE CLASSIC ANIMATED ADVENTURES, and pick up your copy, here!

The @Mark_Searby Interview: JAMES EATOCK (@cerealgeek) talks fandom, evolution and HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE! JAMES EATOCK: The Mark Searby Interview Leonard Sultana: "Do you want to know what becoming a fan will get you?

#He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe #interview #James Eatock #Mark Searby

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