Missing the Boat on Curation

Every brand is now a studio. Every day, a new brand enters the fray of content creation. They all want to be filmmakers. And I obviously think that’s a good idea in general, or I wouldn’t advise brands on how to do it, smarter. But at a time of superabundance, when the last thing the world needs is another movie, smart brands should be thinking more about curation than creation.

Mind you, I didn’t say every brand. People trust certain brands and not others, and curation only works when there’s trust involved.  But for those brands that have built such trust and have the following to prove it – there’s a unique opportunity, and a glaring gap in the market for smart curation.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Joe Marchese wrote about curation and the attention economy for Redef recently, and pointed out: “…The brands, retailers, and media companies that understand how to operate in the current Attention Economy will become trusted curators and shape the future of culture and commerce.” (emphasis mine). 

You don’t even have to stop making films. Yes, they are sexy to make. But that’s also why everyone else is making them too. The argument today is really – why make content, when you can help me find it instead? I have thousands of options to choose from, and my feed is cluttered with too much stuff already. What I need help with is finding the best stuff to watch (and yes, you guessed it, curation can work beyond film, but let’s keep the focus narrow for now). The real reason I hate ads is because they interrupt me after I already just spent half an hour trying to find something worth watching. But I’d gladly watch your ad, or become an even more loyal brand follower if you helped me find the best stuff to watch without feeding me more ads.

In fact, I’d subscribe to your channel if you’ve curated the best content for me – even in this era of too many services, because what consumers want/need is better curation, not just a better selection. I’m surprised that the only brands to have launched subscription (and AVOD) services have been retailers like WalMart. Sure, that makes sense because they do sell things. But those retailers don’t have my trust. I’m pretty sure we’ll see curation services if not SVOD services soon from celebrity brands – Goop Video, for example. But there’s a couple of handful of brands that have that same trust, and they should move into this space fast.

The easiest way into it would be via partnerships – partnering with platforms to curate content. This could easily be done on Netflix or with publishers like the NYT – all of whom are slowly coming around to better brand relationships. But over time, curatorial brands should be platform agnostic, and indeed part of their power comes from being able to recommend great programming across platforms. I can barely remember which platform has my favorite shows anymore, but I’d use a curatorial app from a trusted brand to remember those and discover new content at the same time.

But curation shouldn’t just be about picking movies/shows for me to watch – it should also include content “around” films/shows  – guides to films, articles on why they’ve been selected, links for digging deeper, and over time, perhaps live or originals as well –  tours, Q&A’s with filmmakers, and more.

There’s a lot of opportunity here, and it’s time for some brands to take ownership of this space.

WHAT I’M READING: FILM & STREAMING

Apple Plans on Releasing Six Movies a Year For Oscar Consideration – According to the SlashFilm and others, Apple plans on financing “six small-budget movies a year with an eye toward stories that could win Academy Awards.” That’s good news for filmmakers and fans – quality over quantity.

Amazon is rolling out and IMDB streaming service that will be free (with ad support). At the same time, Amazon’s Increasing Its Ad-Supported Streaming Video Investment. Amazon will let you watch films how you want – subscription (SVOD/Prime), for sale/rent (VOD) or free/ad-supported (AVOD) meaning they hit all potential consumers. Smart moves.

How Do You Build an Anti-Capitalist Streaming Site? – Nick Hayes and Naomi Burton, founders of the Detroit-based leftist media company Means Media, talk about their ambitions for Means TV, a worker-owned, completely viewer-supported streaming platform. They’ve made some great campaign videos, now let’s see if they can make this work.

3 Reasons Amazon Prime Video Will Survive the Streaming Wars. Other than just being Amazon, there are a few other reasons, go figure.

Amy Dotson gave a hell of a going away speech as she leaves IFP and heads to Portland. Filmmaker Magazine has the speech from BAM CinemaFest.  IFP was too dumb to keep her, so she’s blowing things up and starting a new career elsewhere. Onwards! NYC’s loss and Portland’s gain.

WarnerMedia May Price Its Streaming Service Higher Than Netflix. Why? – Motley Fool argues that with a library that may rival Netflix in size and that the switch over to 4k among media will cause prices hikes among all the streaming services. They may just be ahead of the curve. Of course, everyone’s always said that no one can make money at the prices Netflix has been charging (thus why they chose said prices). But it’s also a big gamble when consumers have so many options.

Quibi has sold a lot of ads, as Variety reports. They have two tiers – and ad supported and ad free, but both have a subscription fee. But Madison Ave is ponying up to be part of the experience. No surprise there, as this is a solution built for Hollywood and Advertisers. I’ve written about it before, and I’ve also got an editorial in the new Filmmaker Magazine about it. It’s behind their premium paywall right now, but this is also a chance for me to plug that Filmmaker Magazine is one of the few publications worth your dime – subscribe now and read what I have to say about the pros and cons of Quibi, as well as many other great articles on the business/creativity of film.

WHAT I’M READING: VR/AR/AI

‘There’s Just No Doubt That It Will Change the World’: David Chalmers on V.R. and A.I. – Philosopher David Chalmers give his take on how V.R and A.I will affect the future for the NYT. He’s a smart one, and his thoughts on how Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will change consciousness and more – luckily he sees it as more like 40-100 years away.

ARTISTS ARE USING VIRTUAL REALITY TO CONVEY THE PERILS OF CLIMATE CHANGE – At this year’s Venice Biennale, artists are using creative ways to drive home the urgency of climate change and sustainability. Let’s hope they have more impact than we’ve had via films.

VR is training cops to empathize with the people they may kill –if VR is an empathy machine (which I don’t believe, btw), then maybe this will help cut down on some bad situations.

WHAT I’M READING: BRANDED CONTENT

5B wins the Cannes Lions Entertainment Grand Prix. Congrats to producer Rupert Maconick & Saville Productions, UM Studios and Johnson & Johnson. 5B is the rare brand film that can play at the real Cannes – the film festival, in competition mind you – and then also win an award at the Cannes Lions. And it’s because the film is great content, well made, by a great filmmaker – Dan Krauss. Kudos to all of the filmmakers/team.

Cannes Lions Takes Place in Time of Change for Ad World –  Variety reports on how the ad world is changing – demonstrated by the presence of celebrities, showmanship, diversity and Apple – at Cannes Lions. A good run down of what’s going on.

Cannes Briefing: The scramble for the future of TV has begun – Digiday breaks down the trends at this year’s Cannes Lions, which seem to be all about the future of TV and as one unnamed exec put it: ““The challenge is always the same, trying to become or stay relevant for consumers in a world that’s more and more fragmented.”

Branded Content Campaigns Help Ads Cut Through Clutter –  Variety again on branded content, and why more people are turning to it. Nothing new here, but it’s a good summary of what’s going on – “In an era of content overload, when it’s easier than ever for consumers to skip an ad or avoid it altogether, many advertisers are trying a different tack: branded content. Rather than traditional “interruption” advertising, they are creating content that people actually want to watch, tailored to the platforms on which they are viewing it.”

REI launches a Magazine and Support for Nonprofit News on the Outdoors: This is a client, but I had nothing to do with these two items- REI announced today what I think are two awesome moves – the launch of a new magazine, Uncommon Path, and investing in 10 local news orgs through NewsMatch to support local journalism on environmental issues and the outdoors. Kudos to the team.