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"Postmodernism is a change-or-be-changed world. The word is out: Reinvent
yourself for the 21st century or die! Some would rather die than change."
Leonard Sweet, cultural historian.

03/28/2006 Entry: "The mistake of extending brands"

Memo to broadcast networks: Your brands are tied to the broadcasting industry. You have history and baggage, especially as it relates to younger people. You cannot expect people to think of you otherwise, no matter how hard you try to redefine yourselves. You're broadcasters. That means yours are broadcasting brands. As such, they've served you well, but moving those brands to the web doesn't somehow make you something different.

The MediaPost publications are carrying an article this morning quoting ABC's Albert Cheng, executive vice president of digital media for the television group, and his speech at the OMMA conference in Los Angeles. In it, Cheng says all the right things and all the wrong things. Here's a sample:

"We must build assets and a marketing platform to reach audiences wherever they are. We have to build franchises--we can't limit ourselves as broadcast or cable. We have to define ourselves as an entertainment network regardless of technology, and based on individual consumer preferences."

...Cheng told attendees that ABC needs to have a branded programming presence everywhere--online, on cable, on cell phones, on TV, on a Nintendo GameBoy Advanced. "We plan to be everywhere our consumers are. But we must understand that the Internet gives us a direct two-way connection to consumers to deliver a personal, customized experience."

...Cheng argued that ABC wants to cultivate direct relationships between its brands and consumers. "People use brands to navigate their options; we must sharpen our brands."

It is a significant strategic error for any broadcast network to think that their brand means the same online as it does offline. We're talking about two entirely different worlds, and the more broadcasters try to force their offline brand online, the more they limit the amazing opportunities that exist for them on the WWW.

Brand extension online is a necessary part of the redefinition that Cheng and all the networks seek, but to stop there is dangerously foolish. For example, everything ABC does as a broadcast network in an attempt to move its brand online can and will be duplicated by the other networks. Think reality shows. One network finds success, and everybody follows suit. This is part and parcel of being a television network. It comes with the territory, and we're so used to it that we think nothing if the same thing happens online. If ABC tries something new, and it's successful, bang! We'll soon find the same thing with NBC, CBS, Fox, the CW and God knows who else.

Time is the new currency, folks. It's one of the underlying forces driving disruptive technologies today. We cannot expect an industry accustomed to sucking time out of people's lives to embrace technologies that do the opposite. We ARE talking television here!

Moreover, putting all of a network's eggs in the brand basket misses what's actually taking place online, where anybody can be anything they desire, and ingenuity and creativity are rewarded. We will reject a network television Website and flock to a youTube.com. TV networks would do well to honestly ask themselves why. Why? Because a network site is, well, television. It's one-way, it promotes only its own programs, and it's a big institution playing in "our" space. Remember that there are many networks -- each with their own interests -- and we don't have time for bouncing from one to the other.

In trying to protect and expand its brands, network television is shooting itself in the foot with an all or nothing strategy involving those brands. They are playing right into the hands of the Googles and Yahoos of the world by painting themselves into the content-provider-only corner, a place that has limited value downstream.

Replies: 1 Comment

I blogged a bit about this session yesterday. I talked to a few people at the conference yesterday, and quite a few mentioned that Cheng's comments seemed three years old even as they came out of his mouth.

But I was disappointed for another reason. Cheng seemed to think it was all about the broadcast model and getting content on every conceivable communications channel. Nothing was really said about interactivity or about meaningful communication. And that really bothered me.

Posted by Tom Hespos @ 03/28/2006 10:17 AM CST


"The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create."
Leonard Sweet