Branding David

There was something that frustrated me a little bit today in a post that someone wrote about the things that shouldn’t be discussed at PodCamp, they listed monetization as one of those points, and that there are already many articles online regarding monetizing podcasts and being able to quit your job to podcast full time.

It really flipped a switch for me because when I went to Podcasters Across Borders, I was basically lynched for wanting to hear about monetization, as it was a bad word at that event.

People were focused on podcasting because they were passionate and they didn’t want anything to get in the way of that, but what they don’t realize is: monetization is just a step in building a business.

No matter how the economy is, people should want to turn their passions into their business. Some of the wealthiest people in the world were able to make that leap, and why shouldn’t podcasters? Also, the tips, tricks and ideas from last year might not be the same today, as things are always changing online.

To say talk of monetization isn’t welcome is odd, and shortsighted to me. Sure, there will always be purists out there, but I say, “build a business from your passions” and as long as monetization isn’t welcome in the conversation stream, maybe ask about “building a business” around your podcast next PodCamp.

After going to nextMEDIA, I was definitely a bit worn out. No matter how short the trip is, it still wears me out, but in part that is thanks to all of the great ideas that I get in attending conferences and events.

Over the last few days, I have been thinking up more content for the Premium Partners area, which is now up to eight registered members out of a maximum of fifty. With the price going up on February 2, 2009, I recommend people get in early if they want to be grandfathered at the current pricing structure.

For those that didn’t enjoy the nextMEDIA posts, I will be getting back to regularly scheduled programming over the next few days, but for those that did enjoy nextMEDIA, I hope that you’ll continue to keep watch over this site, as I will be covering other conferences and events in the future.

Other than that, I have been staying off blogs for the last few days, and enjoying myself a little bit. I had my twenty-sixth birthday on November 14, and it wasn’t a great one. In fact, it was down right stressful and frustrating, but that was just one more reason to give myself a little time to play, watch movies, and spend time with my wonderful wife.

I hope you all stuck around, as I have some great thoughts, ideas, and actionable content filled posts lined up for December. I really appreciate everyone’s support and I want to thank you all for your patronage.

Starting with a great slide on the evolution of branded entertainment, Alexandra Levy from Google, focused in on radio programs from the 1930’s, soap operas from the 1940’s, product placement from the 1960’s, television contests from the 2000’s, and digital integration from today.

Using The Apprentice as a great example of branded entertainment, she really drove the point home that branded entertainment is everywhere and growing.

She also brought up Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, which was sponsored by Burger King and an interesting way to brand content in a compelling way for audiences today.

Three principles of Google Branded Entertainment:
1. Destination: Develop the Concept
2. Distribution: Make it Discoverable
3. Accountability: Measure the Results

Alexandra went through each point with more details, talking about how to develop the content, distribute it, and measure the results. She, of course, promoted Google products like YouTube, saying that it would be the best place to put video content, as it is the biggest.

“You need people to be caring about your content.” – Alexandra Levy

The whole speech continued to progress as a pro-Google session, with very little actual content other than “use Google for everything” sales pitch talk. It was frustrating, but also fairly understandable. Google is the largest, but did we need around one half of the session being used to re-enforce that? Probably not.

The content outside of “Google is god”, was really decent though, and was a great reminder of what can be done with branded video entertainment. Reminding people that it isn’t just about display advertisements, logo overlays or other such basic ways to brand content to make money.

My hope from this session is that media businesses here at nextMEDIA realize that sponsoring branded content could be both profitable and fun as I would love to work on, develop and promote sponsored content that worked well both for me and the advertiser’s business.