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July 14, 2005
The Third Screen--A Real Chance for PR
I met this morning with Alex Bloom of Verizon Wireless. I wanted to better understand the promise of communicating via wireless devices, or the Third Screen (after PC and TV). I had been told about the V-Cast service by an executive at Fox, who had been responsible for the creation of the 24 Conspiracy, a series of short, 90 second videos with parallel plot line to the popular show 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland. These segments can be downloaded onto cell phone by a subscriber who pays $16 per month for this premium broadband service.
V-Cast now offers five categories of content: news; weather; sports; entertainment and music. For news, there are feeds from CNN, NBC and Dow Jones Market Watch. For weather, it is Accu-weather. For sports there are feeds from the NBA, Fox, NASCAR and ESPN. On entertainment, there is programming from MTV, E, Fox, and ABC. On music, there are music videos of up to four minutes in length that sell for an extra $4 per song and can be permanently available on the owner's cell phone.
For now, Verizon would prefer PR firms to push content ideas through the media companies. For example, if you have a food client, then approach the Food Channel with a cooking segment that can in turn make its way onto a subscriber's cell phone. There are only 500,000 subscribers to V-Cast at present, expected to rise to 1 million by year end. The prices for these handsets are falling rapidly--now at $400, expected to be near $100 by next year.
However, I'm not sure the idea of PR firms working with clients to create content is so crazy, even if V-Cast is not the current place to go. Verizon offers a Mobile Web browsing service that links to the Internet. There are several medical sites offering real value to patients, such as skynetMD.com or mdiabetic.com. One key learning from this visit--Verizon Wireless will feature on its Mobile Web home page only those web sites that are specially formatted for the 1 inch cell phone screen (they're really an ISP like AOL). There is also an opportunity to offer content via the "Get It Now" application download store. Thus far, this has been a means of teens downloading ring tones and custom built games, but there could be other kinds of print or audio content made available on pay as you go basis. Verizon sells more than 300 games, including one with a Tom Clancy theme and a Honda Element "surfing" game which tastefully epitomizes the "adver-game" genre.
Here are my takeaways from the meeting:
1) We should take this Third Screen very seriously. It is the primary means of access and particularly to teens. It can be a flexible delivery vehicle.
2) There are things those of us in PR can do right now. In crisis management every company ought to consider reformatting its web site for the 1 inch Mobile Web size in the event of a problem. Or create compelling and orginal content for the Get It Now service as a way to generate buzz for a street promotion on behalf of a brand.
3) We should be creative about using the next year to develop video on demand libraries of content, for travel clients or health clients. Broadband is coming-- only a matter of time.
4) We can help encourage people to become citizen journalists, willing to submit their photos or commentaries to moderated environments like Flickr or mediated news sites like BBC.com
Tell me what you think.
Richard
Posted by Edelman at July 14, 2005 4:17 PM
Comments
Healthcare and Medical trends will and have become increasing important to consumers with associated tagged key pharma/hospital/health care management groups.
Soliciting these groups for promotion would increase the content quality for broadcast.
Posted by: donna english at July 20, 2005 1:44 PM
Donna,
Good idea. This is a primary audience. Consider potential in a crisis like Vioxx.
Richard
Posted by: Richard Edelman at July 21, 2005 10:01 AM
Yes, the 'third screen', RSS, blogs, the rise of independent writers and commentators are going to drive increasing amounts of 'news' content. There are 3 questions that PR professionals must examine, however. The first is the crebility of the information source. The second is whether the concept of a journalist even matters any more. The third is how PR professionals adapt in this new enviroment.
News is now a springboard for conversation. Credibility of an information (or news) source may be weakened as 'citizen journalists' give views that may be based on emotion rather than logic. These two factors require PR professionals to ensure the story doesn't outrun the 'spin'. Barbara Kalkis, Maestro Marketing & PR
Posted by: Barbara Kalkis at July 25, 2005 6:24 PM
Mr. Edelman,
Your blog has motivated me to stay current on these ever-expanding ways to get news and stay connected that you discuss. Interestingly, one of my RSS feeds is Trend Watch. I just came across two new terms that speak to this e-evolution: 'Life Caching’ and ‘Generation C’ and thought I would share.
http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/LIFE_CACHING.htm
Claire McLarty
Austin office
Posted by: Claire McLarty at August 15, 2005 4:13 PM
CMc
I am adding this to my RSS feed too
Also love idea of life caching
I try to capture all photos of my kids if they let me!
Posted by: Richard Edelman at August 29, 2005 11:48 AM