Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Let Me Be Direct...

The whole industry is in a buzz about the web:

"How do we monetize it?"
"How do we produce something for so little money?"
"Where do we screen it? How?"

And quite rightly, they should be in a BIT of a buzz about it because these things should be discussed, dissected and researched. Everyone is searching for the one magic formula - the silver bullet - that will lead to success in this arena. To be honest I don't think there is one silver bullet, I think there are about 99 steel-jacketed ones.

The problem has not been what to shoot, it's been, "Where do I aim?"

As I was doing my own bit of research and analysis in this area, I found what I believe is the crux of the entire matter - That acronym that will be the gauge by which we create this new media (which includes movies, short films, fiction, animation, RPGs, ARGs, music, etc...).

In the past, we've had Direct-to-Video (DtV), Direct-to-DVD (D2DVD), Video-on-Demand (VoD), Pay-per-View (PPV) and of course, Warren Ellis' Direct-to-Internet (D2I)... but really that doesn't begin to encompass all of the possibilities of the web does it?

So, I pondered awhile and rethought the approach. Again - not "what am I shooting, but what am I aiming at?" Coming at it from that reverse angle I came up with what I think encompasses the ideology and business philosophy of what is occuring in mediamaking for the web.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present...

D2A
(Direct -to-Audience)

Simple. Applicable to all media forms found on the net. Establishes the premise upon which the web is built - a direct connection between creator and audience. No middlemen. No distributors. No sub-distributors. No dilution of the message.

Knowing that you are going directly to your audience allows you to bypass those areas of the entertainment industry where your audience doesn't reside. Your audience doesn't watch tv? Okay - no tv ads or screening on television as the primary revenue source. Your audience downloads and has an interest in new music? Then Itunes it is....with attached advertising geared to that and nothing else. Ditto merchandising and promotion.

Where is your audience? Are you really reaching them?

Because directly connecting with your audience is going to make all the difference in this new media world.

2 comments:

Rusty James said...

That's good!

How 'bout D2You ?

Rashad Ferguson said...

Way to go Bill. Trademark ASAP