The Changing Face of Media: Ramsey Khoury
Posted on Saturday, September 12th, 2009 at 3:00pm. #
This is the third in a series of posts about the recent Canvas8 event. Ramsey Khoury (above) from Head was the last on to speak.
He starts with a simple comparison.
Says that Dell have “sold $2,000,000 of product through Twitter”. Says that this was focused and timely, using simple technology.
Then brings up the example of “Bud TV”, which burned up $30,000,000 to run an online TV service. He says that this was technology-driven, rather than understanding the web or content; he criticised the name (it conveyed programmes about beer; it required a 21-year-old signup), the technology (it didn’t work very well), and the content.
The comparison, here, is simplicity and focus: getting the basics right. (He cites a clothes brand which runs an online e-commerce website which is… closed on Sundays. Dur!) He says it’s important to understand the whole ‘stack’ of what you’re dealing with – from server infrastructure to your content. Technologists go to meetings with clients as well as the marketing/brandying types.
Examples he gives of his work include WebCameron. Interestingly, Head built this from the ground-up (reinventing YouTube etc) – and did so in a month; he says how much of a perception-changer it was. And then Promise Communities: a ‘co-creation community’ website.
“Move fast, strike hard” is their approach. (When asked what happens if you ‘strike hard’ in the wrong place, a wag answers from the floor: ‘move fast’.)
What does this mean for radio?
Focus on something and do it well: better to have great online editorial about one area than try to spread your editorial team too thinly, and have poor editorial on everything. (I see too many radio websites that are wonderfully broad, but skimp on decent content.)
And ‘understanding the whole stack’ is probably the most important thing I’ve heard all day. Involve your tech teams in the same meetings as content teams, programming teams and sales teams. Then you’ve got the best people in the room: the people who, between them, understand the most about their chosen area. Then you can get something truly special for your website, your station, or your client.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little series. Feedback on whether this plan works is welcome.
Tomorrow – news of a truly democratic radio station, powered by… you.
