Note the upsidedown map
Rocketboom, a new media company with a ton of fuel on board, lost a co-pilot and host, Amanda Congdon to Hollywood. Andrew Baron, the show’s producer, is now piloting the craft and looking for a soft landing.
Washington Post tracks Rocketboom’s flight path:
When Rocketboom started in 2004, young video producer Andrew Baron sent out a casting call in New York and hired Congdon to produce a daily Internet show without a fancy studio — just $25 a day, a desk and a map of the world as a backdrop. Eventually, viewers were drawn to Congdon’s offbeat humor, the show’s funny camera angles, and its unpredictable format and content. As hundreds of thousands of viewers began to tune in, Rocketboom asked for advertising bids on eBay and brought in $40,000 to $85,000 a week at times.
Steve Rubel, senior vice president of Edelman Worldwide’s Me2Revolution practice, told the Post that Congdon “pulled a Star Jones.”
On her blog, Amanda Unboomed, Congdon says:
I am disheartened by Andrew Baron’s decision to spread misinformation. He knows I cannot move to LA without a job…but insists on spinning things this way to shore up his assertion that I am “walking away” from Rocketboom. I did not walk away. I did not accept Andrew’s idea of “partnership”.
You can check out Congdon’s confessional resignation here.
It’ll be interesting to see if an online entity like RocketBoom is a strong brand without its host. She is (was) the face of RocketBoom, so what, really, do they have without her? We’ll find out, I guess.
Pretty face and nice body = new host problem solved.
Six months from now = Amanda who?
Just do a new casting call.
If it worked when you were broke and a nobody it will definitely work now.
Sure you might lose some Amanda fans, but your new girl will surely gain her own in time.
Or use a guy this time. Who cares. Just make sure they’re pretty, ‘cuz that was what made the numbers as high as they were. Just saying…
And I’ll second it. I could see her on an ET-type show. RB will live on with another hostess. But, can it become the next Daily Show online, something ti seemed like it was attempting to become with her delivery.