Maxys Max Media and Entertainment

One thing about the digital media space is that it is never boring - there is constant innovation and learning but at the end of the day it's all about communications - which is people talking with people.

Digital communications is now embedded into all our lives - from your mobile phone, conventional email through to blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

As the NBN (National Broadband Network) pipe expands so will the range of digital products and services on offer.  In fact,  Australian's spend more time on the Internet than watching TV or with any other media (Neilsen/ Love Digital)

Video on demand, IPTV, peer-to-peer (P2P) video, and Internet video are forecast to account for nearly 90 percent of all consumer IP traffic in 2012 (Cisco), more importantly around those video elements will be a myriad of interactive services - many of which we haven't thought of yet - health, education, entertainment and so on.

The economy of tomorrow will be connected by this high speed network connecting Australian customers and businesses to the global market.  At the moment Australia is ranked about 18th in the world and we are about 1% of the global GDP marketplace.   The potential opportunity is substantial.

Australia has the potential to be world leaders - in fact the US is already looking at what we've done with the NBN but the answer is more than infrastructure - ie like power poles are to electricity - it's how you use and create that counts and with limited capital that requires strategy and focus.

If Australia is going to compete on the world market then we need to not only develop the technical infrastructure but the skills development, effective capital investment framework, digital media strategy and thought leadership for the next wave of Aussie entrepreneurs.

What and interesting couple of days - Twitter knocked back a takeover from Facebook, our first big corporate (AstraZenica) embraced CLIVE on mydr.com.au, the Australian National Broadband Network (NBN) tender closed yesterday with Telstra outlining what it will and won't do;  whatever happens next is too hard to say. 

Can the network that will lay down a communications and future economic infrastructure for the country been built without Telstra? 

Whatever, we'll soon know BUT the future is digital irrespective if Gerry Harvey thinks online is a waste of time.

First, I have the utmost respect for Gerry Harvey, he's done a great job in building his retail operations over the last 50 years - BUT the times they are a changing and the future ain't rocket science!

Simply, people follow paths of least resistance. The facts are that advertising dollars follow where customers search - online advertising is growing - newspaper, television and radio effectiveness is decreasing. Today the media landscape has changed; online is where Rupert is focused and some say why James dumped his dad's beloved PBL and Nine.

The future is online.

Today most people begin any purchase search on the web. Do we have to look any further than real estate, holidays, books and music?

From buying a computer to a car, we are beginning to see rich internet media reduce the need for retail showrooms.

Today we can get a look at and explore a product without having to waste time in traffic, car parks, weekend warriors and apathetic or untrained sales staff, 24/7 from the comfort of home.

Once customers know what they want they compare, is it then only a question of whether it is cheaper/easier/faster to buy online or go down to the local shop.

Online social word of mouth recommendation and influence is also increasing. See Seth Godin's Tribes and Forrester Research's Groundswell.

GH's current strategic advantage - current brand awareness, purchasing aggregation and distribution is key - all the rest are just commodities.

For sellers, producing an internet video is far cheaper than most 30 second television commercials (excusing the HN ads) and without having to pay all the advertising rebates.

Nearly every manufacturer or supplier would secretly like to get closer to their customers (if they could) and disintermediate costly or inefficient (not adding significant value) supply chains.

SMH today - THE $1.6 billion online advertising industry is set to get a revenue injection from reluctant converts to the medium after a study of its effectiveness as a brand-building tool.

The Net Generation - the Future is Video - Telstra Business Conference - Sydney, 30th October 2008

I've been asked to showcase CLIVE this afternoon at a Telstra Business Conference of the "Net Generation" - the future is video

A few of the people in the audience may have seen similar video overlay technology on some website in the US but will not of heard of the CLIVEvideo Project; what we are doing here in Oz nor the video functionality and production quality.

Format

Our part is pretty informal - the meet and greet during registration, the coffee breaks and after.

We'll run through the standard opening to get some Attention and Interest - through the features and then show a few customer examples.  If you've already seen the maxys home page or CLIVEvideo home page you are already past that point.

Key point is to demonstrate CLIVE and how quick and easy it is for customers to engage- from 30 minutes in the studio and onto their website in a few days AND increased CTR performance and conversion.

From the speakers the key elements I'm interested to explore today are

1. Disruptive technologies and the "tsunamis of change". 
2. Video and the Customer Engagement Process - from self publishing and user content creation to professional production
3. Quality rises to the top - what is the cost of quality?
4. Social sharing of video content eg Twitter/ Facebook and syndication models.

 I've embedded this Meebo chatroom for today - come and join us around 4.30PM AEST.

Digital Paper Evolution

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Much is said about the end of print and television - yes and no.  Of a weekend I still like to read the newspaper or magazine down the beach or the coffee shop of a morning but yes, day to day, news is mostly delivered via internet news feeds, blogs and email report subscriptions.

Like we've seen in music what we'll see is more of convergence and transformation from analogue to digital - like old vinyl records to CD to online. Conventional media will increasingly incorporate digital elements - website addresses, semacodes, interactive advertising and so on.

The hardware may change - paper vs electronic but not the central communication.

This month Esquire magazine launched a new digital cover - very cool.

Magazines in particular offer a great model for online social community engagement - they already have a central subject matter; readers and advertisers - the challenge is the transformation - to maintain advertising revenues, profits and subscriber loyalty in the highly competitive online space - online, a reader's attention may only be a click then onto something else - consumer attention is not guaranteed.

The central factor here is maintaining "customer attention"

One of the major costs to magazines is production and distribution and certainly distribution and consumer consumption habits are changing. Many magazines look a bit like Hugh Hefners old smoke jacket - not with times, a sort of Gatsby feel.

Digital production costs are decreasing and digital media will increasingly encroach across all marketing and advertising channels - from interactive billboards to eventually videos on soup cans on supermarket shelves.

I can see it now as I walk past a can of spaghetti on a supermarket shelf. "eh, maxy boy, think spag on toast tomorrow morning after you've played touch footy [noise from left] over here mate, the low fat one!"...taking it further, imagine being a bloke (or girl) trying to buy some nice lingerie for your girl.... the mind boggles...back to subject.