Paramount Studios Anti-Piracy Co-Op Initiative -- Strategic Document

“Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should.” A NEW, IMMERSIVE ANTI-PIRACY INITIATIVE A PARAMOUNT CO-OP PROJECT Strategic Document 10.12.2011 CREATIVE LEAD: BILL BRUCESTRATEGIC LEAD: GUNTHER SONNENFELDPRODUCTION LEAD: STEFAN SONNENFELD

Guess what?

You just participated in digital piracy.

This document was illegally encrypted, and the software used to create it wasillegally downloaded.

Yeah, it’s that easy. Itcan happen to anyone.

It’s ok. Keep reading.Just don’t share thismaterial with anyone.

Does that make you angry? It should.

SO, WHAT THE F*#% IS DIGITAL PIRACY?

In the simplest of terms, piracy is the act of obtainingmaterials without the proper rights of legalownership. (Such as this photo.)

It’s a pretty sophisticated $75B globalbusiness. Just ask these guys.

Digital piracy isbigger than thedrug trade inmany cities(like LosAngeles), and isthe biggestsubsidy forterroristactivity in thoseareas.

Unfortunately, for the movieindustry, technology can only do somuch. It boils down tosimple Interneteconomics, really.

THE BACKSTORY:Nearly 25% of all global internet traffic is dedicated to digitaltheft. The cost of global digital piracy is conservativelyestimated at $75 billion. Faster broadband speeds, greaterstorage capacity and an abundance of illegal sites— whichappear on search engines -- accept US credit cards,complete with advertising to masquerade as legitimate sites.These sites get over 50 billion visits annually. So it’s entirelypossible some may not even know they are downloadingillegally. Others know exactly what they are doing. For thosewho knowingly download illegal content, the psychology isone of entitlement. They’re not stealing. It’s all free anyway,or at least it should be. Beyond that, they are viewingsomething they wouldn’t go out and buy anyway. Then there’sthe belief that Hollywood is full of objectively rich peoplewho aren’t going to be hurt if Tom Peterson doesn’t give themhis $15 for the latest Netflick.“Nearly 25% of allglobal Internet trafﬁcis dedicated to digitaltheft. The psychologyis one of entitlement.”

The visionarieshave spoken. Butthey don’t play inthe spaces wherepirates play.This is asocial issue.A culturaledict.

As evidence, not Actually,much has things havechanged over the gotten a lotlast several worse.years.

... And law enforcement is only onepart of the solution.

The ﬁrst part of the problem:We’re not actuallydealing with theft.

The second part of the problem:Sharing has many faces.

ItRemember Napster?redeﬁned the notion ofthe “copycat”.

It also turned sharing intopersonalization. In a big way.

the notions ofIt also challenged“legal” & “illegal”.

The third part of the problem: is not nearly Advocacy enough.

Piracy, downloading and sharing are andstrongly attitudinal,ethically-driven. Source: Emerald Research

Caveat:Digitalcitizens or“netizens”havedevelopedtheir ownsystemsof ethics.They’vehad nochoice.

“The important thing toremember is that there’sno such thing ascopyright that hasremained ﬁxed andconstant over the last 200years.”- Lawrence Lessig,Harvard Law Professor

COPYRIGHT IS AN ARTIFICIAL BOUNDARY BETWEEN CREATOR AND CONSUMER.[C.K. Prahalad at the 2008 World Economic Forum]

To (re)boot, our views of mediachange when they go “digital”. APPLICATIONS MUSIC CONTENT VIDEO CONTENT Bent: utilities as community Bent: songs as social Bent: movies as a shared property currency story “Why should I share the “I only want one song off “I want to explore my own app, when I can’t share the of the album.” version of the story.” content?” “I want to show people “I’ve already seen the movie “Am I paying for access for how cool I am in what I in the theater, so why can’t free stuff, or am I paying listen to.” I keep a few clips?” for access to buy more stuff?” “I don’t really care about “The studios make a ton of the record companies, I money -- why can’t I share “I’m going to create myhave a right to own my own this content, especially own app and allow my music library, on my own when I’m promoting it?” friends to access cool stuff terms.” for free.”

Compounding the problem is the factthat digital literacy - especiallyamong our youth - is trying to catchup with the rate of usage.

Usage is alsoproblematic forthe industry ingeneralbecause themost activeusers of“free” arethose withthe highestdiscretionaryincomes.

Proﬁle of a digital pirate. Gunther Sonnenfeld 2011

Pirates don’t have real proﬁles. They exhibit characteristics without a distinct social identity. The digital pirate is a chameleon. A hacker. An unknown. His rationale: Catch me if you can. Our rationale: Let’s be a part of the chase. And then make it our own.

Piracy is a self-organizingmovement. Arguably, one of innovation.

(HOWEVER) “INNOVATION” CAN MEAN: HACKINGPARTICIPATORY STORYTELLING MEME CREATION PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT APP DEVELOPMENT ENCODING APPROACHES POLICY CO-CREATION MOBILITY

So, if ideas can’t always be owned... ... Then we’re solving an IP challenge. With our fan bases.

In other words... We have a chance to remake digital history. How cool is that?

Key insights: Piracy is presented as a false dichotomy between theft & copying; it’s actually about the desire for connection, not ownership. Once people connect, they’re compelled to co-create, share, mix, or remix. The remix culture is very real, and very active. This culture begs for structure - not so much of the legal or corporate sort, but towards social rules. Game dynamics. Anti-piracy, in and of itself, is an emerging market .

Do what remixers do. Findsomething to remix.

Cool examples of remixes...

Best in class.

A remixing phenomenon that Warner Bros. supported to generate fan activity around the franchise, around the release of “The Dark Knight.” It became a viral meme that generated 10M downloads, and produced hundredsof remixes, even across other media franchises. Awareness around the movie and its licensed properties was unprecedented (even if some of the material was “lifted”... But you get the point).

Lance Weiler’s “Pandemic 1.0”- Sundance 2011 [a phenomenal participatory storytelling, social experiment]

[Tim Kring’s “Conspiracy For Good” - 500K+ downloads, 5KBest in class. dedicated participants, unlimited spread] This was a Nokia-supported initiative that had people becoming activists around a conspiracy to do good. It was by far the most successful mobile “marketing campaign” ever.

In paid media.

Key components. STORY CONSPIRACY DISCOVERY DEADLINES ELITE MEMBERSHIP ACCREDITATION A HIGHER PURPOSE SOCIAL REWARD

The best way to influence thinking and change future behavior is exactly the same: to not scold, wag a finger or talk down to THE POSITIONING: the remix set. Rather, it’s best to sway educate and connect with a confident sense of right over wrong and with a bold sense of humor. But just as importantly, we“We must offer must offer a solution -- something that willa solution - inform people where to go and enable them to do the right thing. To go from beingsomething that entitled, to being enlightened. It’s notwill inform enough to simply tell people what not to do; we need to ask them to do somethingpeople where to different. For this, the simplest, most cost-go and enable effective solution is to create an immersivethem to do the experience. This experience would offer not only a list of the legal sites to downloadright thing. To and stream, but also: engaging answers togo from being questions, an open forum to exchangeentitled, to thoughts and ideas, interactive games, plus other shareable content. So the “platform”being would be cool, fun to navigate and notenlightened.” seemingly self-serving and dry. It should be accessible through any device someone wants to use.

GOALS 1. Inform people on what piracy actually is, or could be. 2. Introduce them to, and immerse them in, the associated behaviors. 3. Change their attitudes & behaviors such that they become anti-piracy advocates... For the long haul.

Think of this ‘platform’ as a grand social experiment that gives us purview into user behavior. Ideally, new audiences will emerge from our communication touch-points, and those created through the ‘earning’ of the media on offer.Segmentationopportunities abound:fan types, nichecommunities, captiveaudiences, etc. Money that’s been left on the table for years will now be recaptured.

Let’s tap into online movements. Movie aficionados have a decent digital literacy; they can share, and in some cases, remix content. MOVIE COMMUNITIES Many them are aspiring filmmakers, so they also produce a fair amount of original content. Their opinions have a sweeping network effect - in fact, most movie reviewers defer to the forums where these folks are having lengthy exchanges. Subgroups, or “tribes”, are widely varied but also very interconnected. Most important, they are all affected by, or contributing to, pirated activities. TRIBES: GENRE PARANORMAL PRODUCTION DESIGN[source: eCairn Conversation - a unique social media mining tool; sample set: 400 interconnected inﬂuencer groups WRITER & several hundred thousand conversations]

They’re everywhere. And active. Music users also have a decent digital literacy; they also can share, and in some MUSIC COMMUNITIES cases, remix content. The main distinction here is that they tend to use downloadable music as a “badge”, a statement of identity. Their opinions also have a sweeping network effect - and a direct correlation to potential sales. That said, the copycat rule applies: they’re mostly only willing to pay once. TRIBES: GENRE INDY PRODUCTION COMPOSERS THIRD PARTIES

They’re ready to play. Gamers, as a whole, are by far the most digitally literate. They pride themselves on their knowledge, and are constantlyGAMING COMMUNITIES trying to reinvent ways to hack systems - consoles, apps, web platforms, etc. Their opinions also have a sweeping network effect specifically on the ways games are conceived and developed. Most important, they are very influential in film and music communities. TRIBES: SOCIAL PERVASIVE ARG/LARP CONSOLE/ APP CASUAL

WhenTHE TRIGGERS: designing the experience, always ask: What would a pirate do? What would a victim feel? Who are the victims? How does this affect businesses? Industry? Society? What are some of the gray areas in between?

THE INTENT:The experience needs to stand for such common sensethat it becomes the outing of irrational, unclear,unpopular thinking or behavior… across the board. We We help createhelp create this zeitgeist. Which means that anytime this zeitgeist.someone in the world does something worthy of thephrase: “Just because you could, doesn’t mean you Which meansshould”… We bring light to our cause. This is a that anytimebehavioral imperative. In order for this to become someone doespossible, the platform needs to be worthy of beingadopted and shared. It needs to have utility value - in somethingother words, something that can be used with deep worthy of thecultural, social and commercial impact. Ultimately, the phrase... Wemessage via the films/spots, needs to be propagated bymany of the same people who are guilty of this bring to lightbehavior. Ironically, by sharing the films/spots with our cause. Thisfriends, they help spread the word. So it’s crucial thatwe are engaging and funny. All experiences and is a behavioralcommunications would ultimately drive home this idea imperative.with one final simple, straight forward thought and callto action: Internet theft is wrong. See movies the rightway.

Hitting the areas where (anti)piracyaffects us most...PERVASIVE GAMING IMMERSIVE MEDIA SHAREABLE CONTENT simulates behavior represents action extends conversation addresses: a way to addresses: a means to addresses: an opportunity to engage with others interact with a story connect with new ideas satisﬁes: the need to satisﬁes: the need for satiates: the fear of isolation,understand motivations renewed context jumping into the unknown inspires: achievement inspires: interaction inspires: loyalty

Think about whatthis means in termsof loyalty, rewardand recognition.

THE SOCIAL LEVERS: [actions] [sentiment] videos [behaviors] “I am going to share this because I memes VIRALITY think it’s provocative and I am curious to see what others think about it.” (unintentional spread) games “I am going to share this because I PROPAGATION feel strongly about it & I want others to as well.” (intentional) curation “I am aligning with this idea.” TV/IPTV BROADCAST IN “I’m not sure, BROADCAST OUT but I will test the waters.” rich media ACTIVATION “I am going to invest in this idea by taking action (in the real world).” apps [behaviors] [sentiment] events [actions]

STORY & MESSAGING EVOLUTION: “JUST BECAUSE YOU COULD, DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD.” “I am a reformed telling my story pirate.” “I am an connecting w/ others activist.” sharing solutions “Pirating takes away AWARENESS from my own best interests.” ACTIVATION ACTION family is affected “Remixing “I am a is a great friends are asking business leader.” and creative alternative.” business is changing creating new stories editing new content designing new product

The meta-story. Digitally interconnected.

The measurement framework: “Return On Intention” BUSINESS DRIVERS CONTENT DYNAMICS EVOLVING METRICS P2P REVIEWS INFLUENCER SCORES (NPS) INTELLIGENT CONSUMPTION FRIEND RECOMMENDATIONS SOCIAL VELOCITY CITIZEN ARTICLES VIDEO/LINK SHARING FRIEND MOVEMENTS/MOBS LBS CHECK-INS CITIZEN ADVOCACY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS PASS-ALONGS/REDEMPTION CITIZEN REPORTING NEWS MENTIONS/SEARCH 3RD PARTY REVIEWS REGISTRATIONS/OPEN RATES POLICYMAKING ENGINEERING WIKIS SEMINAR REGS/VIDEO VIEWS EDITORIALS BLOG COMMENTS/FB UPDATES sCRM CHANNELS REFERRAL OFFERS AUDIENCE ACQUISITION & RETENTION VIRTUAL CALL CENTERS DM SURVEYS REAL-TIME FORUMS MENTIONS/ORGANIC SEARCH DEVELOPMENT FORUMS CITIZEN FB/G+ PAGES EMERGING MARKETS HACKER INNOVATIONS G+ HANGOUTS CITIZEN DEMOS BRAND INQUIRIES

REMEMBER: Design to measure. (And measure for design.)

Piracy is amindset thatoperates in acontinuum. Howwill we leveragetechnology, mediaand culture toadapt to shifts inbehavior? To takecomplexity headon?

THE PEOPLE:

CONTACT: Gunther Sonnenfeld Co-Founder & Managing Partner, @ThinkState (w) http://thinkstate.com [b] http://goonth.posterous.com [t] @goonth gunther@thinkstate.com

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Paramount Studios Anti-Piracy Co-Op Initiative -- Strategic Document

by Gunther Sonnenfeld on Nov 16, 2011

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