What does the future hold for our industry? As technology and consumer behavior continues to force our business to evolve in unprecedented ways, the future becomes increasingly difficult to predict. But one thing is increasingly certain … strong brand has never been more valuable. A clear and strong brand allows us to occupy a unique and distinct piece of the consumers mind. It signifies attributes, personality and expectations. In today’s fracturing and increasingly competitive landscape, a strong brand has never been more essential.

The combination of exponentially exploding content choices and increasing control is threatening to overwhelm the consumer. As this happens, people will turn to the familiar, trusted sources as beacons within the dizzying array of content selections. Imagine your own reaction if you were handed a menu w...Read More

Green seems to be the new black. It’s becoming a pop-culture trend, fueled in part by the recent spike in energy prices and mounting evidence that we are witnessing the effects of global warming. Conservation has been of part of the National Geographic Society’s DNA since it was founded in 1888. And both of National Geographic Channel’s parent companies, Fox/NewsCorp. and NGS, have recently declared a renewed and deepened commitment to conservation. And that’s not just good for our planet, its also good business.

The culture of conservation is in many ways also a culture of efficiency. Efficiency can help protect the environment, save money and carry over into all aspects of your business. It can be about reducing waste or refining internal processes. Sometimes the benefits are obvious -- it’s not hard to see that ...Read More

Every so many years there seems to be another new buzz word for our industry, a term that often quickly becomes jargon, seemingly a mandatory and ubiquitous phrase incorporated into virtually every speech and article.

("Synergy" being a well-worn and overused example.)

In response to the pressures on our advertising models created by the rapidly shifting landscape, one of the latest words to border on such jargon status is "engagement."

It's a term that has been widely embraced by networks, media buyers and ad agencies as a holy grail to measure viewer involvement with a show or commercial in light of the expanding technical controls that allow viewers to time-shift, channel-surf and skip commercials.Engagement is indeed a critical concept, one with differi...Read More