As a seasoned media producer I have always held the belief that the audience is the all important factor in any production, how did I overlook this fact when I started Blogging.
I suppose in my defence I blog for pleasure so I suppose its a little bit like the Cobbler and his shoes.
So who are my Audience?
I would like to think they are people of a certain age who like myself have started to view the world differently. Some say I can be a little cynical but I do have a saying that holds an element of truth to it and that is behind every successful bright young thing there is often a worn out old thing running around keeping the ship afloat.
So my blog is for those amongst us who have encountered moments of ecstasy, the depths of despair and all the points between.
Now I learned a lesson a couple of years ago when I started to notice I had had reached the age were most bright young things started to see me as almost transparent and that my considerable skills were being dismissed as old fashioned but I was useful when it came to pitching for projects.
I was pitching to a company to make a film promoting redevelopment opportunities, something to explain to potential investors of the various redevelopment schemes on offer. Now bearing in mind I have been pitching ideas for this type of work for more years than I care to remember I was rather shocked by the behaviour of the panel who I had to present too.
They invited me in and I started my presentation. I started my pitch but half way through I realised things were not going well. One of the panel got up for a coffee whilst others sat looking at iPhones reading emails and messaging. The deal breaker though was that two individuals started talking to each other and not about my presentation. Talking over someone presenting is quite possibly one of the rudest things that you can do to any individual who is already under considerable pressure.
I eventually finished my pitch answered one or two questions and then left, not expecting to hear from them ever again.
Now normally after this type of exercise I phone the company for feedback and ask why we were unsuccessful, that way you can improve your technique and get on with the next one.
So after phoning I expected them to give the usual string of reasons, your to expensive, you don’t understand our brand etc. But to my surprise the gentleman said my pitch was by far the best they had seen and they did not question weather or not I could complete the project to the quality they required, the reason they give took my breath away. I was told my pitch was “too northern”!
This came as a shock considering the content of this extravaganza was to promote projects for a northern town. I now truly felt like the lunatics had taken over the asylum!
However once the dust had settled I started to think about the project and who the potential audience would be. I had made a grave error in judgement, I should have aimed it at the merchant bankers and investors who live in the south east of England.
Since then when looking at potential projects the first question is always what is the budget and the second is always who is your audience.
John d eccles 