In the first panel discussion on Day 2 of the Asia TV Forum, the audience was delighted to have the Academy Award winning producer of films like Titanic and Avatar, Jon Landau gracing the conference. He was accompanied by MOFILM CEO and co-founder Jeffrey Merrihue and BP Castrol passenger car oils global director Vivek Rampal to discuss what could be termed as ‘Evolution of branded entertainment’ in ad spots and films.
Starting out Jeffrey spoke about how content consumption has now evolved from being consumed from the comforts of one’s living room to anywhere and everywhere. “The millennial audience has really changed the way content is consumed and we as content producers have to evolve with the changing trends and produce content as per the needs of the audience,” he said.
He further went onto describe how video streaming sites like YouTube and Dailymotion have also influenced consumers and encouraged them to become not just content gobblers but also begin contributing content. “Earlier only ad agencies were responsible for dishing out content which again would be consumed by only a few people from the creative community, who were just tracking what the competition is up to, but now even a 7 year old kid creates a video and can earn easy money through it,” he explained.
Jon felt that these changing trends in content creation are opportunities for younger and lesser known talents to come to the forefront and get noticed by big production houses and film companies. “I believe online video streaming platforms have done a world of good for youngsters wanting to make inroads into the world of entertainment,” he added.
According to Jeffrey, in the next 24 months, videos will make up 90 per cent of all online content. “If you are planning to create content, I suggest start using videos for communication of any message, as it will help to leave an impact on your consumer,” he advised.
Sharing his views Jon added: “Visual communication is the best way to clearly get across your message, like we do with films you too can do so with video blogs to communicate with your peers.”
Vivek made a valid point that one can’t really decide how one must communicate with his/her consumer. “One must be ready with all options to put across the message that you want to put across. People have misconceptions that branded content doesn’t work well with their communication. If they need to move forward in this fast changing ecosystem, they need to adapt to the various communication vehicles available at their disposal,” he reasoned.
In the end, the panel was very clear that it’s all about being opportunistic in this cannibalistic world of entertainment and with young talent being given the right chances to prove their mettle, it will only go onto help the talent pool grow.