When the new media fails: SAP and WorkFast.tv
July 8, 2008
Over at ZDNet, I wrote a piece about how SAP is sponsoring FastWork.tv and how, on the current showing, it is a waste of money. The FriendFeed conversation around this is interesting as it picks up on many themes where you have TV and sponsorship going hand in hand. A few selected quotes:
the pattern of http://www.fastcompany.tv/work… in general seems to be “here’s the guest, but lets talk crap for a couple minutes first”. from a marketing perspective who ARE SAP after with this sponsorship ? - martin english
A good counter-example is BMW’s sponsoring TED Talks. - Ole Begemann
Martin: SAP is after small and medium businesses. The “let’s talk for a couple minutes first” format is going to change, though. David Allen will be on next week, and he’s very influential in the markets they want to reach. - Robert Scoble
But SAP is for heavy industries, very powerful and expensive, we had SAP for “poor people” MS Navision, but still expensive (hours and hours of consulting work to customize it to every client). - Mário Pires
Ole and Fred: fair enough. We’ve been at this a month and are still trying to figure out what works. Thanks for the feedback. Luckily we have a sponsor who is willing to help us get started and see if we can make a quality show and get an audience that’ll be loyal. So far we’re ahead of the market in doing a show about the future of work, and we’ll work to get the quality up. - Robert Scoble
There are unquestionably going to be growing pains in any new media but for me, the show was unwatchable and embarrassing. But then so is Big Brother (at least as far as I am concerned.) I don’t say that lightly because as I said on ZDNet, I benefit from SAP’s open door policy to bloggers and the company’s generosity in making travel as painless as possible. However, this kind of outcome should serve as a warning to professionals where the only thing they have is reputation. If you’re even contemplating these new types of media, be very wary. There is a lot of learning to be done and we’re just at the beginning. You don’t need to be a guinea pig.
In fairness to SAP, I give them full credit for trying new things and in the current media world, it is almost inevitable that some things will fail. But is it appropriate to put a brand that you’ve spent 35+ years up for this type of scrutiny when it’s unnecessary? Some things that we call innovation are just a train wreck. This is one highly public example.
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One Response to “When the new media fails: SAP and WorkFast.tv”
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On FriendFeed, this post was liked by 1 person and commented on 1 time hide-
We have a recent example of a large corporation, Verizon, responding quickly to sub-standard, embarrassing content.
After seeing your comment, I attempted to watch this episode.
The banter was so midnless I could not get past it. Yes, I could have used fast forward,
but I did not.
But if you think thi sis bad, I ask you how often you’ve listened to
the often DEADLY dull, completely unorganized Gilmor Gang or Newsgang.
Robert’s a smart guy. I assume his handlers will help him shape up.
His video stuff now is IMO quite a bit better than he was just a few months
ago.
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