Selling a new idea internally is often harder than the execution itself. A few thoughts, this example for a TV reinvention, but applicable to anything:
EVANGELISM FOR THE NEW IDEA: The GM, ND, GSM, Engineers, the entire management team must be salespeople for the idea. It gets back to “changes that never leave the conference room.” The janitor needs to be engaged in the excitement and honor of being the station that’s executing something revolutionary. Local excitement generated by the local staff is key. It’s as positive and productive as a negative attitude is negative and destructive
DE-PROGRAMMING: Much of this deals with deprogramming people from the past. A giant roadblock will be those executing who can’t disassociate from the past. If we can’t teach old dogs new tricks, time to go to the pet store.
HIT SQUADS: Stations must get over the seniority thing in terms of implementation. Most stations have people in-house who can be extraordinarily helpful. Traditionally, the “senior managers” have been in on the change. I think the execution needs to embrace all. That needs to be part of the culture at the station. Not anarchy, but an understanding that this degree of change requires a station-wide openness rarely experienced in traditional media.
NATIONAL HIT SQUAD: I think companies should be open to “borrowing” people from centers to contribute. Why not? Especially if people have ideas and a willingness to go the extra mile. There’s a creative crisis and the more soldiers who wish to fight that battle, the better.
AN EXPERIMENT IN MODERN TELEVISION: I suppose it is. We need to separate what is expendable and what is timeless. Most of what can make what the TV world thinks is timeless is expendable: News Set Furniture, the 80’s focus group basics, etc. The word “experiment” is probably scary to some, but if you are struggling to succeed big against establish competition, I can’t think of a better word.
ENGAGING IN INVENTING THE FUTURE: It’s a big part of this. It’s a mind set. A way of thinking. Whether by design, instinct or luck, some of these people pulled it off. I’m sure we might get the “Yeah, but that’s Disney.” All of these companies were relatively small potatoes compared to today when they started thinking this way. They got to be giants because of the re-invention thinking.
• Disneyland. Coney Island is over. The future is about imagination, not carnival barkers.
• Bands of the 60’s & 70’s. Arms races over integrating new sounds, exploring different time signatures, challenging the structure of pop songs.
• Hip Hop/Rap. Blowing up the corporate pop music playbook and doing it “our” way.
• Fox News. Aggressively pouncing on the flaws of CNN and tapping into an American POV
• Nike. Turning Gym shoes into cultural icons.
• Lady Gaga. An excellent example of noticeability.
• Apple. Understanding how to unleash technology’s cool power in a mass appeal way.
• Cirrus Aircraft. Thinking like Lexus and not Piper. Making planes for the 21st Century instead of recycling WW2 ideas.
• Celebrity Chefs. Pushing the boundaries.
• FM Radio. We can all relate to this. It was a classic case of separating the expendable from the timeless. Playing great songs and communicating was timeless. Pretty much everything else was expendable.
This is the kind of attitude we’ll need to execute locally. Another key word is “guts.”
WHO GETS THE GLORY? Human nature time. If a station accepts an idea, embraces it and makes it happen with help. They’ll make more money and bask in the glory. Successful reinvention is a good thing on anybody’s resume.
CUTBACKS: Part of the modern media landscape unfortunately. But the pain of that fades when it is balanced with re-invention. Without reinvention, the headline is the economy.
–Lee Abrams, former Tribune Chief Innovation Officer
