Women active in future of technology
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WOMEN ELITE 2007: Field traditionally dominated by men
By Wendy Wilson -- Video Business, 3/26/2007
The 2007 Women Elite: Technology
MARCH 26 | The field of technology has traditionally been dominated by men, but in the home entertainment industry, women are taking more active roles in the future.
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Promoting downloads
After five years in operation, Movielink recently took on a major advertising campaign to reintroduce its service to consumers in the know — and those who weren’t so much. The task of fine-tuning the company’s message fell to Movielink chief marketing officer Mary Coller Albert.
“I worked really closely with our ad agency about how to message a service like this without losing sight of the brand, as well as educating the consumer,” Albert says. “I think we did a pretty bang-up job.”
The campaign, which began running at the end of November, appeared on national cable and online.
Albert says Movielink’s introduction of its download-to-own program last April provided another marketing challenge, as the company worked to discern the right message to consumers as opposed to renters. But Albert says the company’s position as a pure-play provider makes it easy to spot Movielink among the competition.
“What distinguishes us from other services is the fact that we’re dedicated to the content,” she says.
Building replication
Sonopress is coming off a year senior VP of global video markets Anna Lee calls “pivotal.” Domestically, the company entered into an agreement with Image Entertainment for its replication business, established its first direct relationship with an unnamed major studio and completed the purchase of the former Deluxe distribution facility in Prairie, Wis.
“The natural attrition associated with a saturated market has presented challenges to the revenue stream, causing studios and independent producers to become more focused on cost management,” Lee explains. “When you are dealing with a 10 million-unit DVD release, even a 1¢ variance will have a significant impact on your bottom line.”
Lee, a Wharton MBA, says she considers herself lucky to work with the multi-national team at Sonopress, and she’s convinced that the business of being a woman in replication is changing.
“While replication has historically been an industry dominated by men, I believe that women are beginning to carve inroads while exemplifying that creativity and competence are not gender-specific,” she says.
Establishing new formats
Toshiba’s Jodi Sally is 20 years into a career bringing new consumer electronics products—the first DVD player among them—to retail, but the push to introduce high-definition hardware to buyers is keeping things fresh.
“Having a passion to bring quality home entertainment that can enrich consumers’ viewing experience is what it’s all about,” she says. “I find it exhilarating to watch consumers’ reaction to our HD DVD demos—the new levels of interactivity that HD DVD brings fascinates them. It’s not just about high resolution audio and video anymore.”
Currently, Sally is responsible for all domestic marketing for Toshiba’s digital audio/visual products, including HD DVD, all DVD products and TV combination products. She is credited with helping build a 25% increase in DVD unit sales for Toshiba since joining the company six years ago.
“We are dealing with a consumer market that is rapidly changing, and it’s vital to look at our businesses long-term with a proactive attitude,” Sally says.
Guiding change
Nowhere is the ‘change’ chattered about by entertainment executives felt quite as acutely as by the leadership and membership of the Digital Entertainment Group.
Amy Jo Smith, executive director of the trade organization, says the shift from standard- to high-definition programming, along with the reality of digital downloading, has made connecting content providers and educating consumers more important than ever.
“We believe they will co-exist,” Smith says of DVD product and downloaded media. “It’s what makes the most sense to the industry and what’s of the most value to the consumer.”
Part of Smith’s job is to provide DEG’s 60 member companies, including content owners, consumer electronics manufacturers and technology providers, with opportunities to hone messages just like the one above, providing “a forum to allow everyone to come into the room so that they can engage in meaningful [dialog] about what is faced by the industry.”
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