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The Web Is Not TV In St. Louis Or Anywhere Else

February 19, 2009 By 4 Comments

As a content producer, I wanted to see Bud.TV succeed. Now that the experiment is over, it’s time to learn from A-B’s mistakes.
Mistake #1: Hiding the content behind a gated community. I know it’s the law in A-B’s case, but on the Web it’s still a mistake.
budtv_blanktv.jpg
Mistake #2: Modeling the content strategy on the old entertainment industry infrastructure. This applies to the modes of production, as well as the nature of the finished project.
Mistake #3: Talking big, when you should keep your trap shut. Only a fool builds a site and then announces to the world that two million people will soon be upon it’s doorstep.
This project should have been under the radar and done on the cheap from the get go. Instead big beer guts got in the way.
The kind of programming that might have worked well on Bud.TV is cheaply produced every day by small teams of one or two camera operators, on air talent and an editor by the Travel Channel, Current TV and others.
In my opinion, brand marketers would do well to work with someone other than their ad agency to get brand-sponsored content right. Right now, brand managers might not know where to turn. I understand that.
Here are some options: have the agency outsource content creation, ask the agency to build a content department from scratch, work directly with a production company, work directly with a brand-friendly media company or indie producer.

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About David Burn

I wrote my first ad for a local political candidate when I was 17. She went on to win her race, and I felt the power of persuasive copy for the first time. Starting in Portland in 1995, I worked my way across the country as a copywriter and eventually became a content director making media products for big packaged goods brands. I returned to Oregon in 2008, and now I focus on building brands for companies that matter, including this one.

  • http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com bob hoffman

    Very astute comments, David.

  • http://adpulp.com David Burn

    Thanks Bob. I’m enjoying your anti-Twitter rants immensely. in fact, I just made a handful of Tweets about them.

  • http://theescapepod.wordpress.com/ vinny warren

    you are correct david. and thank you for not gloating about bud.tv’s failure. unlike some advertising news outlets i could mention. but won’t. ;-)
    at least A-B tried to do something new. i thought they should have done their own tv channel on VOD. bud.tv for real.

  • http://adpulp.com David Burn

    Now, you’re talking. Thanks to their vast resources, A-B actually has the ability to create/run/own a real TV channel. Very few marketers have that ability.