Lifetime's "Open Road" Drives Real Insights on Women

Goldman has been in place since January when parent company AE Networks set a goal to have their networks quotbecome more like voices in the broader conversation than standard TV propertiesquot That goal was illustrated in the AEamp160Upfront in the form of executivesamp160sharing personal stories instead of bar charts and will be embodied in Lifetime39s Open Road which aims to capture the stories of women everywhere Goldman believes the increase in conversations specifically around women are sparking nothing short of quota revolution and there39s no going backquot She sees Lifetime as leading the chargequotThere is no one else in media that39s a definitive source the way ESPN is a definitive source for sports that authentically and credibly and with legitimacy talks to women all over the country regardless of the demographic they come from or where they livequot Goldman claims quotLifetime has a long history and a credibility that39s unrivaled to say nothing of our footprint and scale So it39s an interesting challenge I have now to be a voice to be a thought leader with regard to those conversationsquotShe and I discussed the first of two major initiatives in place to leverage that challenge and motivate and educate marketers One is the forthcoming quotSheReportsquot a newsletter that will compile and deliver research to the inbox of advertisersamp160 The other and first up isamp160Open Road a yearlong USwide road trip already off gathering truths to share across a plethora of media platformsamp160 While the objective is not as Goldman discusses below a sponsordriven opportunity it will have clear value amp160AE Networksamp160Executive Vice President of Ad Salesamp160Peter Olsen explains that there will be two key benefits for marketers quotThe insights we gather and share will help to inform marketers of the real issues on the minds of women in America We also invite marketers to come along for the journey with us via branded content that stresses the authenticity of these storiesquotEB Moss So being that voice across the country as you said is a good segue to your current initiative Open Road which will literally cover all 50 states Tell me more Lea Goldman pictured at right The genesis of the project was around the election There was some substantial research we happened to have been doing around that time and what emerged corresponded to what we were seeing coming out of the election that many of us were surprised by the outcome and so especially for those of us in media perhaps we didn39t know our audience as well as we thought we didOne of those data points from the research was around 39strength39 that regardless of where you were on the political spectrum women felt that there were not enough depictions not enough diversity in the presentation of female strength It was either Wonder Woman or Ronda Rousey and little in between As women we know strength could also mean the single mother putting food on the table etc So we decided to embark on this Open Road project where we go across the country and give women a microphone to discuss what39s on their minds They are ordinary women telling extraordinary stories about strength and identity beauty friendship all the conversations women are having right now The revelation has been that a lot of the issues that we thought were highly charged highly politicized for many women were not They are just how they live That will make for very compelling content when it39s broadcast and published onlineEB What will those content publishing touchpoints beLea We are collecting stories in a variety of different ways to consume the content short and longform video a podcast component photo essays but this is a digital first project so they are all going to be available online like the richness and diversity of a Humans of New York So far it39s been surprising in that these women are upending stereotypes you thought you39d have vs the labels often assigned single by choice housewife they39re not what we thought The stories are moving and sometimes funny very watchable and sharable There will be a documentary that will come out of this tooEB Will that be the culminating eventLea There will be activations around the country in partnership with a nationally renowned podcasting partner amp160We39re working with Hearst on some of the storytellingamp160and some photo exhibits around the country So there will be points outside of Lifetime that take the story nationally it39s not just a New YorkLA projectEB What about the business ROI of value to the bottom lineGoldman This is not intended to be a Game of Thrones I39m not assigning KPIs This is really anthropological because at the end what people glean from this will be crucial insights into our audience that they didn39t have before I keep referencing Studs Terkel What we glean from this will far outweigh that with something organic that lives beyond this project It39s not political It39s totally agnostic It will be a place where women can connect with other womenamp160That said since we39re gathering so many insights as content experts on all things women this will be valuable information to share with our advertisersEB Will there be a hub that connects this allLea Yes The goal is that on some sort of social platform we39ll put this out there we will hopefully have created something so magnetic that it inspires women to connect with each other That39s frankly what we consider ourselves at Lifetime We don39t consider ourselves a passive brand we view ourselves as a nexus for storytelling and a nexus for connectionamp160Click the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Lifetime's "Open Road" Drives Real Insights on Women

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