A New Era: Phenomenon Rising
There, look in the east. Did you ever see such a glorious sunrise? Sunset will be just as grand.—Linda Goodman
So, I’ve gone and done it.
As you may know, I have spent the past ten years in the agency business, primarily working for large, public companies, with major consulting and agency-type contracts. During that time, I have also managed to maintain my entrepreneurial chops by starting/selling/folding at least three different companies, primarily product-based. My desire in the agency business has always been to create a model that is sorely lacking in the industry today--to treat media consumption like a true consumable, and find ways to combine the best of content creation (digital and television programming, social communities, Web-based ecosystems) with relevant, inspiring, and action-inducing execution.
Phenomenon, Inc. (note the pun on the name) intends to do just that.
Phenomenon will comprise of two propositions: The Business of Creativity, and Creativity For Business. In the former, Phenomenon Entertainment will create, develop and produce original programming content for television and the Internet. Our first two projects are already underway at Showtime (Affluenza) and F/X (Heir Apparent). We have also partnered with supermodel Tyra Banks and television visionary Ken Mok to create a social network for fashion enthusiasts with some revolutionary cross-brand eCommerce capabilities, set to launch in the fall. Unlike agencies, we are keeping major equity stakes in all our content development, and will continue to create and monitor its progress.
The “Creativity for Business” angle will see Phenomenon focusing on retail innovation, information architecture, and consumer loyalty. Our first three clients are testament to this: we’re developing, from scratch, the nationwide loyalty program for one of the country’s top retailers, to be experienced seamlessly in all channels. We also signed a contract, just today, to help re-architect the customer experience (and underlying business revenue model and flow) for an affinity social community with 9.7 million unique visitors a month! And our work to help one of the world’s top fashion designers expand her brand into retail, eCommerce, and the general population is incredibly exciting as well.
I’m launching with five major clients, all selected for very specific reasons. I’m also launching the firm with two distinct divisions. A detailed Web presence is forthcoming, but for now, you can see basic information and our nifty new identity at Phenomenon’s new Web site.
Ilya’s Mission: In-Game Advertising
Monday, March 13, 2006
By way of Jake Setlak, I found Ilya Vedrashko’s MIT master’s thesis, which explores the potential of in-game advertising. He’s supposed to have a first draft complete in May, but his current companion blog makes for fun reading.
I am Not Peter Baynham
Monday, February 27, 2006
That’s right, I’m not. But on Wednesday, March 1, 2006, I get to sit down with him and talk about being funny.
Hang on. Let’s back up and explain some of this. The constant reader may recall that I have sporadically mentioned a television show I co-created with Adam Belanoff, loosely based on my life. You may also recall that we recently sold the show to Showtime. Well, what’s happened since then is that Adam got a really great job as supervising producer on The Closer, and given that it was a new genre for him, found the work schedule on writing and producing at his new job too much to handle also working on our pilot. Adam’s the best, and soon as he realized this, he stepped aside to let ICM and I find a new writer for the show.
So, last week, my fellow-producers and I put out a call to CAA, UTA and William Morris in addition to ICM, to tell of an open writing assignment at Showtime. The scripts started pouring in, and we weren’t terribly impressed with most of the samples submitted. But then, my agent was inspired, and realized that ICM also represented Peter Baynham. He mentioned it to me, and I just about took Matt’s ear off with a yelp of delight.
Peter Baynham, in my humble opinion, is one of the best damn comedic writers on the planet. I’m a fan of dark British humor, and no one has been better at that in recent years than Baynham. From his radio series Harpoon to his incredible animated series I am Not an Animal, he’s a master of the modern farce, and potentially a perfect voice for Affluenza.
I just so love this hobby of mine. Because on Wednesday, I get to sit down and talk about this show that I’ve created and the characters I’ve dreamt up to one of my writing idols, with the possibility of him taking on the job of bringing it to life. Life doesn’t get any better than that.
Remember Halfbrain?
You probably don’t. Halfbrain was a full-featured web-based replacement for Microsoft Excel, that in 1999, did wonders with Javascript and DHTML to create simply awe-inspiring spreadhseet functionality online. They followed with a Powerpoint replacement, and then a word process application.
Then, as quickly as it appeared, Halfbrain vanished. Well, not quite. It was acquired by IBM by way of Alphablox, and put to rest.
Now, in 2006, I’m reminded of the urgent new application annoucements and venture funding that were synonymous with the late nineties. Suddenly, a new breed of Web developer is loose again, innovating, getting funding, and creating interesting names for his application or service.
Thumbstacks is a new application in beta that simulates on the Web, with great success, Microsoft Powerpoint. Several years ago, Philip Greenspun and I designed and created a small application called WimpyPoint (scroll down to the credits for a cheesey hand-raise,) which was meant to launch a database-backed version of PowerPoint. What Thumbstacks has done is to take the best of new presentation technology and create a version of our program on speed. Of course, you can’t do transisitons and things of that nature, but it’s still in Beta, and it’s a damned fine start!
Similarly, iRows offers what HalfBrain used to, for spreadhseets.
The advent of these new applications signals a new era of optimism in the Web innovation market. But unlike last time, when the world collectively took a hit from a dot-com bong and went ape-crazy with its time and money, let’s hope that we can be more responsible with our efforts and strategy.
Faith
I have personally hired (and fired) hundreds of employees over the past several years, and this weekend, I had occasion to ruminate about what personal dynamics have best suited all involved in a cultural (be it workplace or personal) ecosystem.
I’m back to bachelorhood for the moment (my wife’s in India,) and I spent Sunday night stocking up on the requisite man-food: things from the frozen meals aisle. I was surprised at the variety of products that have recently found its way into freezer-display, and spent some time making notes on the percentage of healthy (or fad-diet) brands that have made it into circulation.
It was then that I received the call that started this entire process of rumination that I am now in the middle of. A colleague from a former work-life called, one with whom I had at one time, had very severe words, and at first, I wasn’t sure what to say. It was an awkward beginning to a phone call that I soon realized was a veiled plea for help.
The caller in question and I had been at war in a former life, both struggling for power, and I am ashamed to say, mild sabotage of each other’s careers. The caller was in a position much higher than mine, and I ended up getting the short end of the stick. I hadn’t heard from this person in a very long time, and had frankly forgotten about most of our battles.
Anyway, let’s call this person Casey.
It turns out that Casey’s been out of a job for nine months now, and needs some immediate help in finding a job in the marketing industry so that bills can be paid. Several dozen interviews have been had, but none that have led to a final offer. Casey is now desperate, and I seemed to be the only person Casey could trust with this information.
I was flabbergasted.
Why would someone with whom I had had such a contentious past consider me the right person to call with a desperate plea for help? Well, it turns out that regardless of our immature squabbling, Casey has always believed that I could do anything. He told me that one of the reasons we butted heads as much as we did is because he felt like I was the only person in the company who thought just like he did, and that our fights were a result of him feeling threatened. (You have to realize that when this happened, I was 23, and he was 29—we were kids.) And then he said something that really got me thinking: despite all of our squabbles, when it came to getting things done at work, he has never trusted anyone else more.
Of course, my first instinct was that he was blowing smoke up my ass, in order to refer him somewhere else. But then I realized that I actually felt the same way about him. I’ve always thought of Casey as one the smartest people I’ve ever met. I’ve had a million scenarios where I’ve wished for his brain and insight. I realized that I’ve, in fact, missed him.
The agency business is rife with posers. People who can’t cut it, or people who just don’t care. Getting someone who is smart, strategic and creative all at the same time--that’s really hard to find. I’ve done my best work when I have felt that the people I work with have faith in me. Of course, that faith has to be earned. But sometimes, faith, in its purest definition (of belief in something you cannot see, hear or feel,) just is.
I recently realized that one of the people closest to me in my life has very little faith in me, and my capacity to do anything. It is debilitating in some ways to feel that, especially when it comes from someone who you had counted on being a smart and dependable partner. We are at our best when we have cheerleaders; we are inspired, motivated, and committed. Faith is also something that takes a lot of time to rebuild, if it ever existed in the first place. It’s also easy for all of us to blame a lack of faith on specific incidents, or issues; but the truth is, intrinsic belief in something requires a special bond between people—and sometimes that’s there, and sometimes, it’s not.
Casey and I felt closer to each other in 45 minutes of a conversation than we have ever felt in 4 years of working together. And so, perhaps it is not that faith doesn’t exist; sometimes, faith may be just latent, and our ability to recognize people for their true natures requires a significant event, time, or both.
And so tonight, as I browse the fluorescent aisles loaded with pre-packaged meals that promise the best tastes on the planet, I wish the following for all of us: that we find work and life among people who have faith, respect and tolerance for us, even with all our idiosyncrasies; that our commitment to a job is also a commitment to the people we work with. And most of all, that we all get Sunday-night calls in grocery aisles that could just maybe restore stolen pieces of self.