wgae presentation 8 28
DESCRIPTION
Presentation from the September 28, 2010 Writer's Guild of America East Web Series Summer Camp by Jeff Koenig, Digital Media Producer at CJP Digital Media. The presentation discusses the importance of building an audience for a web series show before the first episode is released, and highlights examples of what existing series have done to market their shows to an internet audience. Slide Descriptions: Slide 1: Title Slide 2: About the presenter Slide 3: Audience growth takes time. By having an audience in place before you release your show, you increase your overall audience for each episode's release. Slide 4: Your marketing should begin before during development and continue throughout your production cycle. Slide 5: Identify and research your target audience. Slide 6: Push marketing involves going to where your audience is to capture their attention. Slide 7: Easy to Assemble ran a contest on fan blogs that garnered 3M views in three months, with the blog communities doing all the marketing work. Slide 8: Pull marketing brings audiences to you, but only if you give them good incentive. Slide 9: SciFinal.com and DigitalChickTV.com aggregate shows in a single genre, providing a platform for their own shows alongside similar content. Slide 10: The Mercury Men provides numerous materials to engage its audience prior to the show's release, including digital trading cards, blueprints, a (fake) Atari game, and collector glasses. Slide 11: Event marketing is designed around tactics to build "buzz" and exposure for your show. Slide 12: The creators of We Lost Our Gold gained headlines by burying $10,000 in real money somewhere in New York. Slide 13: Zimm the Series uses multiple tactics, including letting the audience vote on the sex of the lead character, giving away prizes to milestone Twitter followers, and turning casting announcements into events. Slide 14: The Guild is an excellent study in event marketing, with two music videos that have topped the iTunes charts and multiple convention appearances. Slide 15: conclusion. Copyright Jeff Koenig, 2010. All rights reserved. Visuals and shows mentioned Copyright their respective authors and license holders.TRANSCRIPT
Preparing for Launch:
Pre-Building an Audience
for Your Show
WGAE Web Series Summer Camp August 28th, 2010Presenter: Jeff Koenig, CJP Digital Media
Introduction
•Writer/Director/Producer
•First Web Series in 2007
•SMMM, VideoSurf.com
•Digital Media Producer for CJP
•Community Liaison, IAWTV
•Founder, What Is a Webseries?
More info:T: @Jeff_Koenighttp://broadcastassassin.tumblr.comhttp://CJPDigital.com
Photo: Rodney Smith
Building a head start
TIME
AU
DIE
NC
E
•It always takes time to build an audience. •Discovery -> Knowledge -> Trust -> Sharing:
•People don’t share what they don’t know and trust•“It’ll go viral” is not a marketing plan.•By the time an audience finds it, a show may be out of new content.
Example 1
Example 2
Ep 1 Ep 2 Ep 3
Ep 2 Ep 3Ep 1
0 viewers
It’s Never Too Early for a Marketing plan
• Gain & Retain• Generate “Buzz”• Extra Content• Set Expectations
– Concept– Tone– Release Date
• One Destination– Mailing List
Development
Production
Post
Launch
Marketing
Set Your Target (Audience)
• The Web is about Niche Audiences
• Demographics• Focused Attack• Language of Money• Market Research
– Where are they?– What do they like?– Part of the Club (Authenticity)
Push - Go To Them
• Social Communities– Facebook/Twitter
• Web Sites/Blogs• Conventions/Gatherings• Forums• Influencers• Turn Fans Into
Marketers
www.HollywoodWasteland.com
Easy to Assemble
Fan Blog Contest• 10 top blogs• Trackable Views
Winner: Ikeafans.com
3MM Views in 3 Months
www.mydamnchannel.com/EasytoAssemble
Pull - Bring Them To You
• Must be a good incentive
• Clear Call to Action
• Be a Tease– What can you show
before Ep. 1?
www.VampireZombieWerewolf.com
SciFinal/DigitalChickTV
SciFinal: 150+ Sci-Fi Web Series
Digital Chick: Giving Voice to Female Creators
www.scifinal.com, www.digitalchicktv.com
The Mercury Menwww.MercurySeries.com
Event Marketing
• Generate Buzz/Attention• Traditional PR
– Interviews/Press
• Special Events• Panels/Convention
Booths• Contests/Giveaways• Private Screenings
We Lost Our Goldwww.WeLostOurGold.com
$10,000 Buried in New York City
Zimm the Serieswww.ZimmtheSeries.com
The Guildwww.WatchtheGuild.com
Conclusion/Questions
• Start Early• Think Big• Go Where Your
Audience Is• Then Bring Them
To You
Thank You. Any Questions?