What to do with AMC and The Walking Dead

Okay, now I’m a little irked.  We hadn’t talked about it publicly, but David and I had been talking with AMC about producing a companion web series for AMC’s The Walking Dead.  This started when I met Frank Darabont and spoke with him about producing a separate series for the web that shows off more of the world that Robert Kirkman had created in the comic series.  He liked the idea and gave me the contact info for the person at AMC that we would need to talk to.  We contacted them, wrote a proposal which detailed our thoughts on the series itself and potential story lines and sent it out to them.  They liked it and the idea, and they told us that they needed to run it past Frank and Robert, who would probably need to write it since David and I aren’t WGA.  They asked if we would be willing to handle the production of the web series even if we couldn’t write it.  Being fans of both the book from it’s start and the show, we responded with an emphatic yes – yes of course we would.

This was in January – ish.  Frank was on holiday vacation and they hadn’t started to break down Season 2 yet in the writer’s room.  We waited to hear back, I constantly tried to touch base with Robert Kirkman and Gale Hurd (the producer of the show) via Twitter in order to continue the conversation about it.  Neither responded, which makes sense as I don’t run in Hollywood circles.  Frank got fired from the show – or left due to creative differences – or however all parties want to spin it.  I thought Frank’s leaving the show was terrible, but I recognized that it might allow us to produce the web series from top to bottom.

Now I find out that AMC has produced a web series which, although is not based on any of the specific stories that we pitched to them (although you can certainly see elements), it is definitely based on our proposal and strategy.  I’m interested in hearing what people think we should do next.  Just accept that that’s how studio and networks do business in mainstream broadcast and film and roll over about it?  Call our AMC contact and see if there’s other opportunity there for more seasons of the web series that we would actually produce?  I especially want to hear from other new media people as to what their next steps would be if it were them.

David and I had been very hush hush about this whole process for a few reasons – mostly though, it’s because we’re both superstitious that if we talk about a project before it’s actually locked in place, it puts a jinx on that project ever actually happening.  Stupid I know, but what can I say?  We’ve had stuff go down like that in the past.  Now, however, I want to put our whole process out there – partly because I’m really frustrated and disappointed right now with AMC for not at least getting back to us on this, but also because I want to learn what other independent web producers would do.

David and I love The Walking Dead and really had some creative ideas for stories in that world.  Yes, we are super indie and I don’t have any real desire to ever produce in the studio system, but Robert’s book is one of the few I would change that attitude to do.  So I think over the next few weeks I’ll be putting out there what we were thinking about doing with a Walking Dead web series and maybe even putting up two different versions of a short film that we did after talking with AMC that could live in Robert and Frank’s world.  I always welcome questions and comments and will try to answer them as quickly as I can.

-Matthew

Indie projects, why don’t you support me the way I support you?

So, each project that I’ve supported via Kickstarter has delivered a final project that’s kind of beta. Adonit has a promising product with their Jot Pro, but I don’t think it was ready for prime time.

Nice looking stylus, right?

Even with slapping scotch tape on the disc of their stylus (their suggestion), it struggles to work with my Zagg screen protector on the iPad. And this is the replacement disc they sent me. I get not testing with every screen protector – how could you – but Zagg is such a big brand in that market it’s surprising. So far the DAGi stylus is the best I’ve tried for that situation.  That being said, I will say that the weight of the Adonit Jot Pro is great. It’s got a really nice look and feeling to it. The magnet as opposed to actual pen clip is pretty useless, especially on iPad 1, but as a marketer, I understand the streamlining of one’s product to match with the Apple aesthetic. And it’s still small and feels sturdy enough to carry in my pants pocket comfortably.  Ultimately what I get is a nice looking product that I can only use if I’m swiping to the right or drawing lines and pictures to the right on my iPad.  Which is a shame, because it really is nice otherwise.

That said, it’s a heck of a lot better than the other Kickstarter project I supported – the GoPano Micro from GoPano.  I put money behind this towards the beginning of this year I think, because I felt like it would be a great, unique way to capture behind the scenes footage of the new show that we’re working on.  The idea is that this lens attaches to your iPhone and shoots video in 360 degrees.  You can then play back that video with an app on your phone (and from what I understood, a player for a website) that let’s an audience member pan around in real time, letting them choose what they want to see of what was shot.  Cool, right?  They can check out the scene being shot, then check out how the crew works to shoot it!  So neat!  In theory, yes.  After a number of delays – which I get, because we’re still waiting for me to finish the Fallout piece – I finally got the GoPano in the mail the other day.  Excited to try it, I opened it up, put the case on my phone, downloaded the app and attached the lens.  At that point, I tried to focus with what I thought was success, but ended up shooting final video in a blurry, unfocused mess.  And not in a cool, bokeh kind of way.  In a “this is bad video quality” kind of way.  And I can’t figure out how to focus the damn thing to a sharp final image.  There are no real instructions on how to do it and I can’t find anything about it on their site.  Admittedly, I’m terrible with web-fu and searching for things, but you would think they might provide some sort of instructions on focusing with the product itself.

So far for me, Kickstarter projects have been good ideas that need a little more time to bake before they’re ready to be delivered.

Twitter isn’t free

I recently saw a comment from someone on LinkedIn asking if Twitter is the ultimate free marketing tool.  Twitter isn’t free though.

The cost is the time that you spend on it to create effective conservations with people, build an audience and then engage that audience.  That takes time, and time is worth something.  I’ve seen plenty of businesses try to hop on Twitter and then simply throw information at people.  That’s not conversation, that’s not engaging, that’s spamming.  It’s not just about finding somewhere that enough people will read or see what you have to say, it’s finding that platform and then saying something of value that engages those people.  Only folks who are providing some sort of direct connection and making their audience feel valuable will yield positive results.  Again, time spent is the cost.

That said, I think Twitter is a very unique tool in that the potential return on investment can be very, very high.  Use it as an effective extension of you, and it can really produce for you.

Smithfield’s – Social Media and Southern BBQ – Part 2

So, Smithfield’s Chicken ‘n BBQ has a booming business in North Carolina.  They are utilizing their blog properly to communicate with their audience new stores, new fundraisers, information about the company itself, and even information about the industry.  They have a lot of fans of their restaurant, their service, their personality, and of course their food.  They’ve set up an online resource for people all around the country to be able to order their BBQ and their Brunswick stew.  And they do have fans all over the country.

This is evidenced by their Facebook page, which shows more than 1,600 fans, but more importantly in my opinion, comments, feedback, and discussions from those fans.  You can also keep tabs on their events and see videos and photos on the fan page.  When I talked with Richard about how Smithfield’s was using Facebook, he gave me the following insights:

Richard: Facebook has helped us realize how well known our brand is and gave us confidence to expand outside our borders.  You would not believe the positive comments folks post from all over the country.  Most importantly, it has given us some insight on our customers.  Once, we asked the question “where you would like to see a store?”  We received an incredible response and the majority were areas we have already considered.  A few months ago, I was considering using a company that printed coupons on the back of grocery receipts.  It seemed like a no-brainer to me – women hold the purse strings in 80% of households, women usually do the shopping, grocery stores have seen sales increases in this horrible  economy, people are using coupons now more than ever, etc.  I was all set to sign the contract.  Before I did I posted the question on FB (and Twitter): “Would you use a coupon on the back of a grocery store receipt?”  Over 31 people responded with 26 being “no”.  I was shocked!  I passed on the contract and our fans saved us $2,000!  One could argue this is small number of people to base a decision.  On the other hand, these folks are our customers.  This was not asked to a random group of people!  Facebook also allowed us to connect with a soldier from NC originally.  We have “adopted” his unit and send his unit goodies every month, http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/news/story.phtml?id=9009

To me, the interesting thing here is that Richard smartly uses Facebook as a free focus group to poll his customers.  And again, it’s not just a polling of random people, these are the actual customers of the restaurants, the people who come in everyday and supply Smithfield’s with their core business.  By engaging these customers, Richard embraces their viewpoints as assets and communicates to them that their opinions have value.  Richard is using Facebook to create conversations with his customers.

I know of much larger businesses that should be doing the same thing.  Think about your business and ask yourself – am I just talking at my customers?  Or am I having a conversation with them?  Which has more value for my business or offering?

What are your opinions about engaging customers in conversations?  Is it valuable to you, or do you find that a more traditional approach to speaking at your customers is a more valuable strategy for you?  Why?

Smithfield’s – Social Media and Southern BBQ Part 1

Where you go for pulled pork.

If you want the best pulled pork BBQ in the south, you need to get out to Smithfield’s Chicken N’ BBQ.  They have 33 locations in North Carolina and I haven’t had a bad meal there ever.  Are they paying me to write this?  God, I wish.  Tragically, they’re not.  And before you think that this is just a big ad for their delicious, delicious pulled pork (and hush puppies and fries that are equally as fantastic), I want you to know that the main reason that I’m writing this up is because Smithfield’s is also a perfect example of how social media can truly work for a business.

Richard Averitte is the Marketing Director for Smithfield’s and manages their social media efforts.  We connected via me raving about their BBQ on Twitter.  He oversees their Twitter account (follow them!).  I had planned a series of blog posts about how social media works for specific business – and what businesses could be using it better – and based on their Twitter activity, it seemed to me that Smithfield’s was having success with their social media efforts.  What Richard understands, that I think is a stumbling block for other businesses, is that social media works best when it’s about communication and interaction, as opposed to just broadcasting their message in a traditional media one way fashion.  I emailed Richard to chat with him about it, and I’d like to share with you his responses back to me on how things are working for them.  Part one is his answer on blogging:

How has blogging worked for you?

Richard: “This has been great for a number of reasons.  It allows us to post photos of new stores, fundraisers, etc.  It’s good for tagging and SEO.  We post all of our press releases and articles here.  It also can give some insight on why we do the things we do and ask for feedback.  It also allows us to post announcements immediately.  When the whole swine flu thing went down in Mexico a few months ago, I immediately blogged about the fact there is no connection between bar-b-q and the flu.  I also posted links from the CDC.  We had an announcement up before the NC Pork Council.  This positioned us as leaders in the industry and an agile company who can be proactive.  That following week, I was interviewed  by local radio and t.v. and I appeared in the Wall Street Journal blog, http://blogs.wsj.com/independentstreet/2009/04/29/swine-flu-fears-worry-restaurants-hog-farmers/“

The one thing that Richard mentions that I want to point out and emphasize is agility.  Richard understands that being able to respond quickly, address concerns and try new ideas, and most importantly  – communicate with your customers, talking with them and not at them, is key to successfully positioning yourself in the online space, building a loyal audience, and converting them into people who promote you because they not only love your product but also the fact that you listen to them.  And Smithfield’s is a business that gives Richard the space to move and allows him to move quickly.  If you’re a business that’s not agile in the online space, then I would say take a look at Richard, Smithfield’s, and what they are doing.

Next up, Richard talks about how Facebook works for Smithfield’s!