Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?
There seems to be very little that might cause the entertainment industry to stop dead in its tracks. The combination of technology, available data, ease in communication, rising global economic equality—all of it supports a continuation in the incredible growth of entertainment marketing.
Not that it doesn’t have its challenges. Digital disruption is the norm of the day, with old business models teetering and new ones not quite set. Piracy threatens copyright. Renting undermines owning. Technology makes the new obsolete overnight. The entire industry seems to move at the speed of a fiber-optic network. Our world is in the throes of a disruption and transformation not seen since Gutenberg pulled the first pass on his printing press.
Entertainment today covers not only what we do with our free time, but how we work, how we gather and share information, and how we connect on the most personal basis. It is a huge and rapidly growing opportunity for those with the intelligence, interest, and stamina to make it in a very competitive business.
You, as a potential entertainment marketing professional, can best prepare for your future by following a traditional journalistic practice: asking who, what, why, where, and when.
Who: The Consumer
Today’s consumer demands three things: choice, choice, and choice. As always, consumers will choose what content will become popular and profitable, aided by your work as a marketer. But now, consumers will choose where they consume it and what device they will consume it on. That means that you, in developing that content, must be prepared with a product that will work on all platforms. Because technology is changing at a stunning rate of speed, you must be aware of every trend, of all possibilities, to stay ahead of the competition.
Read, listen to, watch everything that can give you an indication of where all this is going. Your audience demands this of you. This immersion mirrors their own experience of the content and the conduit: constant, unceasing.
Keep. Up.
What: Technology and Trends
Throughout our discussion, we have attempted to provide a cursory overview of the technology that is shaping the world of entertainment (and therefore entertainment marketing); “attempted” because the lifespan of today’s technology is a blink. It is nearly impossible to be totally current with all of the changes. The old technologies of research, writing, and editing are bound by the pace of human ability—it requires huge amounts of time and energy to create a text, formulated from ideas and concepts. And in that time, new technologies come and go, leaving their imprint on the advances that follow. In the time it took to create this book, changes—some stunning—have occurred in all three areas of concern to the entertainment marketer: production, distribution, and consumption.
The digital disruption has only begun, and it will continue, roiling all business models. You will experience the same onslaught of “new” as every generation before you; only yours will be coming faster. As an entertainment marketer, you need to be even more technologically savvy than your audience, for you need to create the concepts, molded to the audiences and their technologies, that will satisfy consumers.
And then there is the question of what is entertainment. A one time, it was reading, then it was reading and radio, then reading, radio, and movies, and now it includes social media and digital music. The process never stops. We cannot forecast what the next generation will consider entertainment because it will be built around the precepts of their own experience of the world. But more and more, it will be marketing professionals who create those concepts because entertainment is a conduit all its own. It takes the audience away from its humdrum world. In the process, it sells, through name recognition, sponsorship, and product tie-ins. Entertainment is the road to the subconscious, reaching the consumer while the consumer is happy, relaxed, alert, or excited, tying the message directly to a memorable experience—regardless if that experience is adrenaline-produced or serotonin-stimulated.
Why: The More Things Change...
Entertainment is a global phenomenon, fed by the digital technology that allows it to stream 24/7, downloaded into countries rising in economic power, discretionary time, and disposable income. Entertainment, media, and technology not only connect the world, affect how people view their own cultures, their own opportunities, their own economies, and even their own political structures.
The ways of both the Western and the Eastern worlds cross-pollinate as populations become aware of other lifestyles and consumables. This may happen, initially, via entertainment. This access feeds curiosity and a desire for more. This is the predominant force in the growth of entertainment and entertainment marketing, as they enter new frontiers around the world. Global media conglomerates meet this demand for more with an ever-expanding range of new products.
Entertainment marketing is a significant part of the new global economy, creating products that answer a previously unstated need of this new mass audience. In the process, entertainment marketing creates new revenue streams around the world.
Where: Where Do You Want It?
So now we have the who—the global population; the what—the technology; the why—revenue streams. Where?
Everywhere. Anywhere.
Where do you want it? Gobi Desert? No problem. Rainforests of the Amazon? Be right with you. Polar icecap? Been there, done that. Technology makes it possible; the desire of multinational populations makes it probable; and synergy, mentioned throughout this book, makes it pervasive.
The ability to create digital content will continue to create new avenues for the multiplexing of the message. Entertainment is streaming everywhere, all the time.
When: Get Onboard
The changes that will affect entertainment marketing are happening now, in the technologies, the audiences, the media conglomerates, and the international desire to know more, right now. Marketing professionals who desire to become part of the entertainment phenomenon are challenged to more clearly understand the world around them and the tools with which they can reach the consumer—as they always have been.
For as long as humankind has gathered around the community fire to rub elbows, entertainment has been part of the draw. We thrive on the opportunity to drop our day-to-day troubles, experience new sensations, broaden our interests, and learn something new. Today’s entertainment industry offers all of this and more, launching an entertainment marketing revolution in every corner of the world.
However, the ever-expanding role of technology continues to create new challenges for the industry. Today’s entertainment business far outdistances any geographic boundaries. It must rely on courts outside the U.S. to maintain a healthy marketing environment by upholding IP laws and treaties. Fortunately, the presence of entrepreneurs and governments active in the growth of the global entertainment industry is helping to work toward a necessary balance.
As marketing professionals take hold of this phenomenon, becoming part of entertainment’s trillion-dollar worldwide economy, they must keep in mind that what sells entertainment is entertainment. Consumers connect with those messages that most massage their desire to be swept away. It’s up to you to do the sweeping.
Finally, if you’re following our advice, remember this: have some fun. After all, you’re part of the most entertaining business ever invented.
Contribute. Prosper. But most of all, enjoy!