Phil Cooke: Sharing from the Trenches

Phil Cooke spoke at the Academic Innovation Exchange at the National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville, TN, Feb. 6, 2009
These are notes from his presentation

Websites: Phil Cooke-philcooke.com & twcfilms.com

Sharing from the trenches:
How ideas are being put in to practice
Massive media revolution going on.

Book by Phil Cooke: The Last TV Evangelist

Open because we are always on. Past turn on and off as you want.
New paradigm - information comes to us. This generation does not understand search for information.

In the past - we watched what they sent to us.
Music, television, newspapers radio going down
Internet, gaming, going up

We have to work on multiple media levels.

Open media is a major paradigm shift -- millennial kids - Gen Y (16-28 years old) a significantly different set of kids. Kids today are "trophy kids" i.e. they get a trophy for everything... Also the first generation birthed in technology. There is a sense of entitlement with the capabilities of new technology, and they (Gen Y) want a voice.

Snapple ad - the commercial is part of an overall campaign - Traditional Media is losing its influence. More people are seeing spots online than are seeing it on television - Snickers commercial

Last year. The median age of the average TV viewer is over 50. Television is not the first screen for people under 50.

Media will be a mash-up; combining various elements to make something uniquely yours. Kids today don't care where the content comes from. The distinctions are not in the minds of users - content is what matters, not the delivery.

The Future is about "Niche" Media platforms-

Put aside "reaching the nations" we can reach a specific audience in our area with the message. We need to go to the audience we can best reach. By targeting a smaller audience, we can actually increase our audience by reaching the niche.

We need to stop trying to reach everybody, and instead reach those we are equipped to reach.

Engagement, not political power, is the way to shift the culture. It is not about the power of the majority, but rather the impact of a committed minority.

The world we live in: Facebook, twitter, myspace, blog
This generation does not differentiate between personal friend and virtual friends - this generation values virtual space over personal space. Teenagers in Korea are producing 94 cell phone calls a day. Gen y mediates relationship

Back to basics - it comes back to telling your story. Regardless of the technology or platform.

Google is not about search, it is about reputation management. Millennials are having difficulty getting jobs because of posted pictures and other stuff has come back to haunt them.

Effective media is based in good storytelling.


Conversations:
30-60 second commercials are dying.
Honda - The power of dreams

What about radio theatre? The Cult of Sincerity - independent film. Went through music downloading company and they got a sponsor. Web Serials.com make short films and installments over time through youtube. The playing field is even for the big and the small.

Radio is interesting and an interesting place to play this out.

There are Christians in Hollywood who are working to tell the good stories.

Alex Hendricks understands his audience - his purpose is not evangelism, it is to help Christians. Where he fails technically, he succeeds in knowing his audience.

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