NY Yankees & New TV Season: There's Always Next Year

Jack Myers Think TankThere39s been a redundant theme to so many events of the past month quotWait until next year We39ll do better next yearquot As Advertising Week in New York struggled to define its focus and brand identify last month I left town and headed to Amsterdam which was hosting a similar event Picnic 3907 I had been invited to keynote a public session on Virtual Worlds one of many Picnic events open to the publicIn many ways the Amsterdam event could be considered a model that organizers of New York39s moribund Advertising Week should emulate Although the venue was a 20minute taxi ride out of inner Amsterdam into the suburbs and even within the venue events were scattered across multiple buildings it was centralized and allowed for networking and community Topics covered a spectrum of media and advertising issues from Virtual Worlds and Kevin Robert39s quotLovemarksquot to media esoterica and television economics Over the course of a week the event attracted industry executives from around the world thousands of Europeans a handful of Americans and many thousand locals who could walk the grounds attend a wide variety of free events and be a part of the advertising communityEach evening there were social events rock bands parties and hosted dinnersAlthough the New York ad community has an aversion to the Javits Center Adweek should bite that bullet and attach itself to a single venue It should open itself again to the community and reintroduce events designed to celebrate the value importance and creativity of advertising Adweek has evolved into an insiders mish mosh of disparate events separately planned uncoordinated often irrelevant many poorly attended and independently sponsored Maybe next year organizers can move the event to the Javits Center where attendees can move easily from event to event multiple events can be coordinated simultaneously selected presentations can be open to the public a trade show of sorts can evolve and parties can be organizedThis is a perfect segue to the network television Upfront week foolishness that will once again feature more than 20 separate events splashed around New York City next May Several countries most prominently Germany and Brazil host multiple day Upfront and multimedia events at a single venue In Germany the model is simple It39s a trade show Each network receives an area where its executives can meet with clients discuss and present programming distribute literature and introduce celebrities Networks can invest as much or as little as they want in their display area Each major network also receives a predefined time slot when it hosts its major presentation and event in the venue39s theater Over the course of several days advertising executives from across the world converge on Germany to attend the event Several arrange meetings in advance with the networks and those who are invited to the networks39 major events and parties can organize their days accordinglyAgain while Javits Center is far from an ideal location why can39t the Upfront evolve into a weeklong celebration of network television hosted by the broadcast and cable networks Why can39t there be a trade showstyle floor conferences an area open to the public where they can learn about the networks39 planned schedules dedicated press areas networking areas parties and special events If the major networks want to host their major events at Radio City Music Hall or Carnegie Hall great but centralize the week39s activities at one place and let39s bring some coordination and sense to the process Stream the video of the events into Javits Center where overflow crowds can watch Speaking of the network Upfronts the general dismal forecasts of critics following the networks39 presentations last May are proving to have been right The overall performance of the new network season has been disappointing with no new breakout hit yet CBS39 Cane looks good as does ABC39s Women39s Murder Club and Dirty Sexy Money I39m rooting for Christina Applegate39s Samantha Who but otherwise the new comedies are stale and lackluster The networks are like the NY Yankees Great teams great talent great promise still packing the house with fans But every year there39s another disappointment There39s another letdown Once again we39re focused on next year and the changes that need to be made And like the Yankees the networks can continue to raise prices even as their performance declinesWhat we haven39t yet seen are this year39s new crop of reality programs That39s where I predict the networks will find success this year Audiences are overwhelmed with onehour dramas they need to watch religiously weekafterweek With so many entertainment and media options consumers are over booked TV series that don39t demand weekafterweek dedication and that can be viewed sporadically without losing track of the story and the characters are more likely to surviveAnd as far as the Yankees and baseball go those who still have a horse in the race will watch but except for Boston there has rarely been such a lackluster group of contenders Fox could have had a grand slam if the finalists were Boston New York Chicago and Philadelphia But Boston Colorado Arizona and Cleveland just don39t cut it Tough for Fox but good news for the other networks that have a fighting chance to draw larger audiences to their new series Unfortunately the networks are fielding their versions of the Indians the Diamondbacks and the Rockies As a Yankee fan God help me but I39m actually rooting for Boston The world has truly turned upside down

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NY Yankees & New TV Season: There's Always Next Year

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