September 24, 2006

The Lessons of Lonelygirl

More than 2 million people watched Lonelygirl on YouTube.com. Many imagined that she was not what she represented she was, but they hung in there anyway...suspending disbelief, at least for the moment.

The enormous audience for Lonelygirl substantiates the theory that we live in not so much in a time of mega-hits, but rather in a time of many, many mini-hits. A fragmented marketplace that welcomes niche players and enables them to succeed very, very well.

The thought occured to me that what if half of Lonelygirl's audience paid $50 each for a full season of Lonelygirl episodes. Not such a far fetched idea. The revenue generated ($50 million) would be plenty to produce quite a series and quite a profit...with no advertisers. The series could be downloaded onto computers, iPods, whatever.

And couldn't this be the way we get much of our entertainment (and information) in the future? And where does that leave traditional advertising venues?

Naysayers will point out that this is the way movies are made...someone produces them (with no advertising) and people pay to see them. No, this isn't what I'm suggesting. I'm suggesting that the people pay upfront, saying that they want such-and-such a show and are willing to subcribe to it a priori. They get what they want, not what some Hollywood producer hopes they'll want.

There's more to Lonelygirl too. The "lie" of it. And that makes me wonder where we really do stand these days on matters of what's true and what's not. Does it matter to anyone? The lines are so blurred, what with reality shows that aren't reality and news that's not news. I read that the most trusted news person is Jon Stewart. He hosts a show that is fake news! A few years ago, Vice President Cheney chose to appear on a TV show hosted by Armstrong Williams to complain about bias in the press. Armstrong Williams, as we all know now, was a fake journalist on the government payroll!

Our business is communicating the truth about the products, services, companies and institutions we represent. How can we make our messages credible in this blurry environment?

I don't believe that regulation or any other top-down fiats will help. The weight-reduction ads show powerful testimonials from now-thin people, while the screen flashes "Results not typical." Does anyone think the disclaimer discourages purchase? And what about the disclaimers following pharmaceutical ads? Useless, in my opinion.

No, somehow it's got to come from the marketplace. I'm not sure how that will happen. I sure hope it does, and that we're all listening when it does.