Manning Field

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• Subject: Our Deal With Consumers in TV Board on 03/22/2007
  

  One of our economy's most important deals is the arrangement a consumer has with brands. It exists in the home, on the roads, on the shelf, and yes, on the television. See, we too often take for granted in our business the role the consumer plays in the television business. Sure we count eyeballs and want that upscale 18- to 49-year-old with a high discretionary spending capacity and a desire to go on long motorcycle rides with his friends without having too many pit stops, but what is HE getting out of it?

• I'm Moving To Media... in TV Board on 03/08/2007
  

  No, really, this summer I'm moving to Media, Pa. The name is just a coincidence, but it got me thinking about what a major disruption/transition can do to your content appetite.

• ROI: Return On Insanity in TV Board on 03/01/2007
  

  One of the industry trends that really bothers me is the way the term "ROI" gets thrown around. Networks and agencies are talking about "delivering ROI" to their customers. I frankly think this conversation is really silly, and just a deftly political, side-stepped answer to a desire for more accountability. It's an answer that is understandable, but we are asking the wrong question.

• Subject: A Few Random Thoughts From The Road in TV Board on 02/22/2007
  

  1) It was interesting to read Mike's Bloxham's analysis of DVR selections and some of the differences by gender and age. In our house we actually have "his" and "her" DVRs. My wife and I arrived at this arrangement based really on the puny size of the hard drive in our Comcast DVR and my desire to record in HD.

• DRM: What's The Song We Should Sing? in TV Board on 02/08/2007
  

  Should it be a happy song like something from the B-52s? Should it be a sad song like something from Robert Smith? It's up to all of us... One of the classic problem-solving strategies is to study and understand others to learn from their mistakes, so you don't make the same ones yourself. When it comes to content, I think the entire video industry (that's TV, movies, user-generated, etc.) can learn from the audio industry. It is a well-established story how the music industry fumbled its opportunity in the digital marketplace.

• I Know What I'm Doing This Sunday  in TV Board on 02/01/2007
  

  I cannot wait for the Super Bowl this weekend. I love football. I especially love football on television. This is the first time in many years that I'm not going to the game in person. Lotsa drivers why I'm not going, but the primary one is, I want to see the Super Bowl. The irony of the Super Bowl is when you go to it, you miss the Super Bowl. It's a television event.

• I Want My HDTV in TV Board on 01/25/2007
  

  I'll assume that most of the readers of this column have high-def TVs in their homes. I have three in mine, and I'm pretty sure that I need more. But there are some issues we need to discuss about HDTV. For one, we need high-def commercial standards. There is an embarrassing lack of consistency on specifications for high-def content.

• Ad Avoidance? Let's Call It Insight Avoidance  in TV Board on 01/18/2007
  

  It probably seems like someone in my position would want to defend the forced viewership of television commercials, but in actuality I don't. My issue with it actually has nothing to do with consumer behavior; I just would want to make sure I don't pay for that ad. But again, that has nothing to do with the consumer. As a consumer, I feel the need to not watch commercials on occasion. That's my right, and I have the technology to do that.

• And Now A Word From The Consumer  in TV Board on 01/11/2007
  

  Participating in this discussion gives me a tremendous sense of responsibility. What I intend to bring to the table is a client's perspective of television through the eyes of the consumer How is that different from the other esteemed contributors? I don't pretend to own the consumer viewpoint, but I will approach this as a consumer--not as an advertising business participant. I didn't grow up in the advertising business, so I promise to have a sometimes-annoying naiveté about industry conventional wisdoms.

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