NIST / DVDA 2002

Blaine Graboyes DVDA 2002 Standards, Applications and Technologies Conference

The DVD Services Model My Experiences at ZUMA DIGITAL and Beyond

Blaine Background
Born 1972 in Abington, Pennsylvania
Vermont from 1991-1996 at Bennington College
Graduated in 1995 with B.A. in Mathematics, Sculpture and the Philosophy of Science
Founded first company, Ionic Laboratories, in Vermont with 4 friends from college
Moved Ionic to New York City in 1996
Introduced to DVD by Rob Siedel, then of WAMO
Ionic closed and ZUMA founded in 1996

ZUMA Background
Original Motto: “If it’s DVD, we do it!”
Began with 3 people and 1 Sonic System
Closed in 2001 with 25 people and over 35+ DVD authoring systems, 6 encoders, etc.
Entertainment, Business and Museum clients
Developed software such as ActiveDVD™
Yearly revenues of $3,000,000+
Monthly expenses of $200,000+

ZUMA Clients
Entertainment
Columbia Tri-Star
Criterion
Miramax
MTV
Showtime
Sony Music
Palm Pictures
WWF
Marketing
GUESS
Kenneth Cole
TIAA-CREF
NASDAQ / Primex
TBWA / Chiat / Day
Clinique
Nickelodeon
CNBC
[previous and partial list]

ZUMA Clients
Museum / Fine Art
The Guggenheim
The Whitney
The Groninger
Shirin Neshat
La Monte Young
Yoko Ono
Nam June Paik
Moriko Mori
Business
JWT
BBDO
Grey
Disney
McDonalds
A&E
Lifetime
Merrill Lynch
[previous and partial list]

What is a Service Model?
Service = Being a Vendor = Work For Hire
As opposed to “Being a Collaborator” or “Original Developer or Producer”
Focus on problems faced by target clients
Develop products and services to solve them
Basics of DVD Services
Project Management and Client Services
Creative / Technical Direction, Design and Art
Video and Audio Encoding
DVD Authoring, Output and Quality Assurance

Advantages of Services Model
Wide range of potential clients
Maximize investments in staff and equipment
Diverse projects = diverse opportunities
Including opportunities to break out of the Services Model into Original Development?!?!
Technical and creative capabilities are constantly challenged and expanded
Able to quickly adjust to market changes

Disadvantages of Services Model
Must stay focused on VENDING SERVICES AND PRODUCTS TO EXISTING CLIENTS
Calculate lifetime value of client (later slide)
Difficult to focus on two competing areas of business
Constant need to upgrade staff and gear
Your company will be branded as a service company, and not an “Original Developer”
Difficult to establish strong brand in fierce market
Prices paid for your services tend downward

ZUMA Success
Compete on Creative and Quality, not Cost
Strategic creative gets down to business
In business, Creativity = Creating Profits
Pick a market through research and focus
Research is both empirical and experiential
Brand yourself / your company and stick to it
ZUMA brand = innovative, streamlined, quality
Develop unique services and methodologies
Library Drives for storing/archiving client assets
Develop proprietary products and services
ActiveDVD™, LibraryDVD™, Web-connected

ZUMA Failures
Co-development / Original Production
I’m Your Man was fun and cool, but expensive
Sponsorships and discounts
Must be very carefully managed and EXPLOITED
Expand to new and distant markets
Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles
Facilitate competitors growth via Services
Replicators, production companies and service bureaus may become your competitors

Blaine Graboyes Today
Independent New Media Producer
Based in Hollywood, CA
Represented by ICM Talent Agency
Relationship with bitMAX for production
Focus on top-tier movie and music projects
Build relationships with above-the-line talent, as opposed to movie studios and distributors
Pursuing projects using R.LaBarge Model

Great Minds DVD
Based on Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
Interview 4-6 leaders in different fields
Persuasion, Perception and Deception
Subjects include Jay Conrad Levinson, Joel Bauer, and Mike Caro
Being produced for DVD, TV, Web, et cetera

Great Minds on the Services Model
Lessons of marketing apply in all areas
What I have learned from Jay, Joel and Mike
Creativity in Business = Creating Profits
Clients care about value, not price
You are not your target audience
In the beginning, everything is even money
To overcome the odds, your decisions must matter
Good players beat bad players
You do not get paid to win projects, you get paid to make the right decisions

Lifetime Value of a Client
Calculate the lifetime value of a client
If you continue to provide acceptable products and services, how long will the customer patronize your business?
How much will the customer spend in the average year? Including certain sales increases.
What is the total value of this customer?
Now also add, goodwill, relationships, etc.
Keep this number in your head!

Thanks & Bibliography
Much of this content and message is from:
Guerrilla Creativity by Jay Conrad Levinson
Houghton Mifflin Company
ISBN# 0-618-10468-2
Caro’s Fundamental Secrets of Winning Poker by Mike Caro
Cardoza Publishing
ISBN#0-940685-57-4
Joel Bauer at www.infotainer.com

Joining the Inner Circle
The inner circle is the basis of repeat business
You cannot gate crash your way into the inner circle
If you are not in the inner circle, you can be sure that your competitors are
Your competitor’s are people who do not have stars in their eyes, simply profits on their minds
Your offering must compare favorably and actually be better in some way than what the competitor offers. This refers to quality, service and value.

Final Word on Creativity
Creativity should be measured solely by how well it contributes to your overall profitability. If it helps you sell at profit, it is creative, and if it doesn’t, it’s not creative. That makes creativity easy to measure. Awards and compliments have nothing to do with creativity.

NIST / DVDA 2002

by Blaine Graboyes on Dec 14, 2010

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NIST / DVDA 2002 — Presentation Transcript