TM | That Mirror

TM | “The Voice” of Social Media Solutions

NBC’s THE VOICE 

For those of you who are interested in stuff like American Idol or have even been anywhere near a TV source will know that there’s a new reality talent based show called The Voice. It is essentially American Idol but with alterations on the importance of different elements of the artist “package”. Needless to say “The Voice” values … vocal ability (enlightening, right?). Contestants are chosen with the judges back turned. 

I have been consumed by this show for the past few days, and I LOVE IT. Sad to say I think Team CEE-LO is going to win, although I personally probably connect more with Adam Levine. Bad choice to let Mathai go though, she was one of my favorites. 

Social Media as the Prescription to Business Illnesses 

So why have I chosen to write about this? Because The Voice is exemplary at using social media not only as an addition to their business, but as fundamental to the solution of their most pressing business problems. 

Let’s think for a minute, and be real. How does NBC make money from The Voice? Mainly through advertisements and sponsorships… What do these forms of revenue hinge on? Viewership: People have to watch The Voice for it to make money. Common sense right?

I’m not going to talk about how social media increases their exposure or whatnot, that’s also common sense, any business can benefit from that. Now what problem might TV Shows in particular have in terms of Viewership? 

Oh, maybe just a few million people who can STREAM THE HECK OUT OF IT ONLINE. 

So what happens when we stream? We don’t see any of the advertisements NBC would like us to gobble up and happily embrace in our consumerism ways. They lose money.

So how does social media solve this? 

1. It sells being part of the same belief, and that your opinion matters.

Now you get to not only support your favorites, but to do it collectively proves you are a true fan, connected with millions with the same ideas and same tastes. You can not only connect, but you can disagree, and even reach out to the show through the platform. The Voice is giving you a voice. But this is only possible if you watch the show Live … and where is that? On TV. With all the commercials. 

2. It makes Timing of Consumption important

Not only are you part of a team of millions watching the same thing, but it now becomes a privilege to watch it AT THE SAME TIME, which means at the same source: TV. With streaming you only get PART of the experience, you are later than everyone else, and even though it may be the difference of only a few hours/days. You now feel extremely out of the loop, thus drawing viewers in to the good old TV. 

3. They can now incorporate Telecom Companies as Sponsors (Sprint)

Your favourite artist just had a breakdown? No worries, they are sitting in the Sprint lounge waiting for you to tweet them a “OMG NO WAY, YOU WERE THE BEST! TRUST.” with plenty of emotes. Telecom companies now have incentive to become sponsors because most people will be tweeting with the thing that’s most handy at the time: a mobile phone. And since timing is now important, they can be guaranteed that they are getting the exposure they need to draw in your business, even if it means setting up an “expensive” lounge.

So in this way The Voice uses Social media as not only an addition to its business arsenal, but an integral part of solving the most pressing issues the industry faces today. 

Step into the wilderness of Bear#71. Social Media Innovation.

TM | 420 and Economics

So obviously today was 420. I’m guessing some of you are still up in the clouds somewhere, which means this post is either going to make an overwhelming amount of sense or none at all. 

A friend pointed me to this forbes article: Let’s be Blunt

Long story short, the article aims to showcase that it makes more economic sense to NOT regulate drugs because it’s a war that can’t be won. We are doing more harm by introducing underground rings, seizure of property and the whole rest of it. 

But how much sense does this article make? Sure, for rational people regulation is stupid, they probably wouldn’t shoot cocaine or down E on a regular basis even if it was legal. They certainly would not go to their pretentious high paying jobs perpetually under the infuence. So having deregulation doesn’t really change much.

So what about stupid people? Yes, it can be argued they will be stupid no matter what, with or without regulation. But regulation sends an important message that the substance can impair doing regular activities. And for stupid people, the easier you make understanding something (such as a clear NO) the easier it is received, albeit still somewhat mediocrely. Even if you aren’t stupid, what if you have a lapse of judgement as even rational people are prone to have once in a while?

The economic question is does Expenditure for Regulation < Opportunity Cost of Deregulation? If so, then obviously regulation is a good thing. If not, then obviously it isn’t. 

In my opinion, there still needs to be partial regulation, seeing as deregulation means that people can get high when it isn’t really in the greater social benefit. For example, would you like your doctor to be high? The ambulance driver bringing your family member to the hospital? 

There is a ceiling for Expenditure for Regulation (the amount of money/resources the government is willing to outlay combatting drugs). However, the opportunity cost of deregulation doesn’t have a ceiling. Essentially it would be controlled by culture, and the cost could either be sky high (major societal problems) or none at all. 

So what is the root issue? Risk. Is the government willing to risk the outcome of deregulation? It is not a matter of the drug being harmful or not, it is whether as politicians how much risk they are willing to manage on the issue, and they do this by altering regulation. 

The drug is sometimes harmful and sometimes harmless to society, that’s really not the issue. The issue is the system and the amount of risk it is willing to bear for the issue. 

Happy 420, Cheers!

TM | Social Commentary from a Horror Film

Cabin in the Woods (2012) - Drew Goddard

So first thing’s first, for those of you who are into watching scary movies, this was pretty entertaining and definitely a great film. It should be self-evident already that if you don’t want anything spoiled, I suggest not reading onwards.

Drew Goddard, the man behind this movie, is also famous for being the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not only is Buffy an entertaining series, but it also seriously challenged the status quo and gender stereotypes. Not only was the protagonist a woman, but a very capable, physically competent, and tough one at that. There have actually been some papers written about how that series challenged societal norms, but the point is that Mr. Goddard certainly does a good job of packing a punch when it comes to social commentary - and Cabin in the Woods is no exception

This movie does a good job of raising questions, and there are several points I would like to make note of in this movie, all of which have something to do with human nature:

1. Commercialization, standardization & Public Expectation. 

2. Group norms & categorization 

3. Industrialization & the “Getaway” Syndrome

Commercialization, Standardization & Public Expectation

In this movie, 5 friends are subjected to inhumane torture from their choice of different horrors, monitored by a scientific team, all in the name of pleasing dangerous entities called “the ancients”. The five friends must be killed in a specific order and events must play out in a certain way to satisfy “the ancients”. There are also many of these instances happening around the world in the movie, all monitored by the same people (shown by the many screens of different scenarios playing out). 

Now what’s interesting is if we dissect the movie in this way:

The Scientists = Movie makers & producers
“The Ancients” = Us as the consumers of Horror Films
The Friends = Societies stereotypes (whore, jock, fool, academic, virgin)

We as the consumers of movies expect movie makers and producers to come up with a good scary film or else we unleash our displeasure (“our wrath”) in the form of negative opinions and such. We expect the scary movie to have all the stereotypical characters and they have to be killed in a certain way and events must follow a certain order (for example, they have to ignore the warning from a creepy old man and intentionally head to their own demise). 

If we think of it in this way, a lot of things in the movie become very intriguing. The hand of the ancients in the end of the movie makes a lot of sense, it is a human hand no less. Goddard shows the scientists to just be fooling with the scenarios and taking bets, as well as rejoicing when the killings have been successfully done (or when nudity is successfully shown). This is probably not unlike what happens behind the scenes at movie productions these days. But what is that saying about society? Directors and toying with different themes in order to generate revenue from consumers who are becoming increasing desensitized to the “horror genre”. What’s even worse is that we as a society are the ones pressuring them (with consumer wrath) to be better, more efficient, and more gruesome in their movie output. Cabin in the Woods tries to put you in the hot seat in third person, viewing the whole societal system of horror movie production. The creatures and scenarios the producers calmly come up with are all warped and twisted, and ironically, sitting there in the theatre we come out saying it was a good movie despite the social commentary and underlying message. Business production side and Customer consumption side have become two very different worlds (as illustrated in the movie) and thus sometimes a lot of garbage can be produced for consumption.

Do some of the themes of the Hunger Games also come to mind after all this?

Group Norms & Categorization

The main characters in this film fit a stereotype (whore, jock, fool, academic, virgin). It is interesting that we do this subconsciously to our own friend groups and there is always somewhat of a fit within friend groups - you can pick 5 people and those labels can be very easily applied. Why is it so easy for us to categorize people into buckets, psychologists might say that it is because our brain functions through short cuts. Categorization allows us to sort and think while minimizing the amount of learning and complexity - ultimately making it more efficient. People’s personalities are not black and white, but try picking five friends and putting them into categories - it’s easier than you think. Then go back and try to pinpoint why each of them doesn’t belong in that category

Industrialization & the “Getaway” Syndrome

As we are becoming more commercialized and industrialized, especially in North America, we are looking for places to escape the busy world of today. We essentially want to “Getaway”. In the movie, the friends are looking forward to an awesome stay in the woods and looking forward to being “off the grid”. But how able are we to be off the grid these days? The friends in the movie definitely weren’t off the grid - if anything they became more “on the grid”. 

We are so consumed by fast paced technologies these days that getting away is becoming nearly impossible. When asking about a cottage, cell phone service and internet connection are almost the first questions out of people’s mouths. Consumers are looking to get away, but at the same time are drawn to the things that tie them down, no thanks to businesses and marketers. The phenomenon of “Retail Therapy” is just such a case. Shoppers are looking for “the shopping experience” as a brief getaway and social bonding mechanism, while ironically purchasing the next thing that will tie them down to the industrialized world. 

This is not to say that culture isn’t ever evolving, it is just important to recognize societal patterns and be critical of what we consume. Everything is culture, even thinking that you have no culture is culture. It is great to see that there are definitely things that technology and “progress” is allowing us to do on a cultural front, maybe not in a better way but certainly in a different one. For instance, social media is becoming a larger and larger presence that allows people to escape through art, history, culture, and music… just like this blog. 

TM | Introduction

This blog aims to share bits and pieces of media, business and culture, hopefully reflecting back some interesting ways to look at and think about the world we live in. 

ThatMirror is blog named after a closing speech to an Operations class by a professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business.