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FRANK ROSE: You know, probably the number one trend that's
happening now-- and it has been in the works for the last
couple of years, but it's only gaining momentum--
is participation.
The internet has made everyone a publisher.
It's made everyone's thoughts available--
certainly anyone who wants to put them out there.
What brands need to think about doing is how to harness
that, how to connect to their brand with what people are
saying in--
obviously, as much as possible--
a positive light.
I think that's the main thing right now.
Another thing is the game-like aspect of life online.
I think that as people begin to participate in stories,
whether they're entertainment stories or marketing stories
or whatever, there are a lot of opportunities to engage
them in what are, essentially, games--
to use game mechanics, things like leaderboards and scores
and rewards systems and that sort of thing to have people
connect with your brand and really make it
part of their lives.
A good example of this is The Office, the TV show--
which, obviously, any media property is itself a
brand in some way.
And what they've done with that is to create, a couple of
years ago, a website called Dunder Mifflin Infinity, which
is a place where you sign up to become a virtual employee
of Dunder Mifflin, the paper company in the TV show.
Once you do that, you're essentially become part of a
game in which you participate.
You perform tasks that you're given.
You have a chance to rise through the ranks.
You have a chance to decorate your office using the fake
money that you've been paid.
You get paid this fake money for creating
content for the website.
It's really a situation in which the network has
leveraged people's desire to become engaged with an
entertainment property that they find really interesting--
to essentially not only have them engage with it directly
in a fuller way than they might otherwise, but to have
them actually creating content and extending
the brand, in a way.
That's the, I think, innovative thinking that we
have to be looking for.