This year I was privileged to be on stage twice at Kidscreen.
Both sessions focussed on what it means to be a modern media brand.
And in our panel conversation we touched on the need, regardless of size, to maintain an authentic relationship with our consumers/audiences and most specifically our supporters/fans. These supporters are the people who have chosen to have a more meaningful relationship with our story, and deserve the same back.
I wanted to touch a little on what that means.
And then in my next post, follow with my solo presentation which how some techniques I think are critical in growing that. There will be some spoilers in this post.
The way we make, distribute and monetise content has drastically changed, and that it will continue to evolve.
‘ish’ - feel free to play with the flow - but the gist is, its not as linear a path.
One thing the panel touched on. It has never been easy, to grow audiences and finance growth. In entertainment, especially in kids and family entertainment.
The brands that are big today, also went through many years of ideation, incubation, growth, monetisation and scale stages. However those stages were probably more linear, and measurable - meaning today it is hard to know when you are succeeding and at what moment to finance scale.
So here is my two biggest takeaways to keep it simple if you are starting a journey of content creation and IP development.
Do something you enjoy. Honestly if you don’t believe in it, and don’t enjoy it, there is not only a ceiling, but it will be a slog. This is important, because you have to be able to explain why you enjoy it.
AND
Do something others can comprehend. Can you easily explain what are you doing, why are you doing it and does it sound like you are having fun
I firmly believe that all the stages that come afterwards, won’t be easy unless you can do these two things first.
One of our panellists Darran Garnham has launched fan communities around his brands, with Discord channels and NFTs. After he spoke on the panel, he met one of his NFT holders (who had driven 5 hrs) for dinner and a drink. That is the level of care and curation that goes into growing audiences.
https://opensea.io/collection/bad-egg-co
It sounds like hard work, it is. But he’s a good egg, who’s enjoying it and believes in it.
It was a sentiment shared by the other panellists. Care Bears, Miraculous and Angry Birds all have both large and established audiences. Most importantly have vehicles for fandom. From online, gaming, influencer content, shorts content through to IRL - communities and groups, bedroom walls and stickers. And of course NFTs.
And they grew from non-video places; plush toys - tv, amime - child tv, causal gaming - plush toys. And beyond…
10k high value users, are often more valuable than 10m low value passive consumers.
One thing all four brands do, and are investing in further is multi-platform (transmedia). Audiences do not exist on one platform, they move around and consume and create around their passions. It is critical that each of these, and your, brands provide the ability to consume native to each platform, and have content that inspires individual expression.
The word Transmedia has become prominent again. And for good reason
I spoke about Transmedia at Kidscreen in 20213/14. As YouTube became the second home for brands like LEGO, Minecraft and The Simpsons on YouTube. That felt complex then, little did we know how much more complex it would become.
In my next post, I am going to share my Kidscreen presentation - Turning Performance into Profit. This will explore how to grow IP from early stage through to fan communities. And how to meaningfully measure progress.
If you would appreciate a presentation of this please do contact me, I’d be happy to talk to anyone who wants to listen.
And a quick homage to the less complex days of UGC video, early Metaverses and the growth stage of social media.