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Speaker 1: When the show ends, the soundtrack continues on Spotify. People

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Speaker 1: are turning to podcasts and playlist to dive deeper into

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Speaker 1: whatever they just watched, And on Spotify, they're not just listening,

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Speaker 1: they're learning, discovering, and engaging with content. With Spotify advertising

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Speaker 1: your message is part of these moments. Head to ads

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Speaker 1: dot Spotify dot com to reach your audiences they stream

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Speaker 1: what they love. Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business,

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Speaker 1: the podcast in which we talked with some of the

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Speaker 1: brightest minds working in the media business today. I'm Andrew

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Speaker 1: Wallenstein with Variety. One month into the global pandemic, Universal

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Speaker 1: Pictures was the first to bypass theaters and release select

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Speaker 1: films via streaming Now in November, the Comcast owned Movie

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Speaker 1: Studio is testing the market all over again with movies

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Speaker 1: for a new hybrid window that straddles theaters and homes.

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Speaker 1: It's fair to say has posed interesting challenges for my

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Speaker 1: next guests, Universal Pictures marketing chiefs Michael Moses and Dwight Canes.

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Speaker 1: Variety has just awarded them this year's Marketing Visionary Award,

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Speaker 1: presented by Spotify and Spotify is also the sponsor of

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Speaker 1: this episode is strictly business. Thanks for coming on the podcast, guys,

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Speaker 1: thanks for having us. Thank you. It's an understatement at

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Speaker 1: this point to say Covid upended your business suddenly, dozens

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Speaker 1: of movies scheduled over dozens of months to come in

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Speaker 1: thousands of multiplexes worldwide has to be completely rethought. Michael,

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Speaker 1: you've been at Universal for twenty years. Has what Covid

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Speaker 1: brought to the table as challenging and interesting and dilemma

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Speaker 1: as you've faced in that time, Uh, but by a

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Speaker 1: magnitude I think so absolutely. Uh. It's not unique to

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Speaker 1: our business, but but our business definitely felt it in

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Speaker 1: uh in some pretty dramatic ways, as as we've seen

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Speaker 1: in our still you know, undergoing. So even though you know,

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Speaker 1: we are in kind of an l a bubble uh

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Speaker 1: with that hasn't had theaters over the course of the

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Speaker 1: last eight months, there's some signs of like out there

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Speaker 1: once you get beyond that, but for the most part,

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Speaker 1: we are still contending with, as you said, the upending

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Speaker 1: of of a business that we had gotten very used

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Speaker 1: to doing in one way and had to quickly adapt to.

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Speaker 1: Smrity works. So let's talk go one of the first

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Speaker 1: ways that adapted It started with the unthinkable, taking movies

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Speaker 1: like Trolls World Tour and King of Staten Island and

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Speaker 1: keeping them out of theaters and letting people stream them

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Speaker 1: at a completely different price point. What's what's referred to

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Speaker 1: as premium v O D SO dwight break down for

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Speaker 1: us exactly, that's got to mean a lot of changes

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Speaker 1: to a marketing campaign. What are some of the key

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Speaker 1: ships when you make a move like that, Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: we were in flight. This was a full theatrical campaign.

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Speaker 1: We had partners and UH Talent do work to release

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Speaker 1: the theaters UH and this was in the middle of March,

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Speaker 1: and our our chairman, Jeff shell Um not only announced

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Speaker 1: that we would be moving to a work from home

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Speaker 1: scenario at about mid March, but he also announced that

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Speaker 1: we'd be moving the movie to a premium format in

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Speaker 1: the home. So you can imagine in launching a campaign

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Speaker 1: on April tenth, which was the original theatrical date, we

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Speaker 1: kept that date. We had a lot to do, so

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Speaker 1: we had to reconfigure our media balance right, the mix

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Speaker 1: between linear TV and digital. We had to collaborate with

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Speaker 1: our home entertainment colleagues to get up to speed on

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Speaker 1: the retail partners who would help facilitate those transactions in

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Speaker 1: the home, And we had to figure out how to

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Speaker 1: make our publicity activity remoteable. How are we gonna take

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Speaker 1: away the live in person events, premiers and junkets and

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Speaker 1: facilitate those remotely. So a lot, a lot to do

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Speaker 1: in a short period of time. Absolutely, And you know,

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Speaker 1: as as from the consumer perspective, it's interesting to see

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Speaker 1: the differences, you know, starting with it's interesting to see

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Speaker 1: you are l's get front and center of marketing campaigns

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Speaker 1: now where you've got these you know, by trolls movie

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Speaker 1: dot com where the transactions take place. How does it

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Speaker 1: change things when all of a sudden everything is pushing

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Speaker 1: to a website. You know, I should let Michael answer

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Speaker 1: that because given my digital background, it's one of the

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Speaker 1: things that we you know, playfully kid around about because

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Speaker 1: I'm always vuying for some call to action in the

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Speaker 1: TV spot. But you're right, we don't. We don't put

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Speaker 1: U R l's or things like that in in spots anymore.

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Speaker 1: That's kind of a legacy behavior, you know, Dwight said it.

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Speaker 1: It's I'm all pro purity and clarity when it comes

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Speaker 1: to this and not and not not fluttering the message,

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Speaker 1: but we were at a moment where we not only

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Speaker 1: had to continue to market the movie, but we also

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Speaker 1: had to, uh, you know, address consumer behavior that this

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Speaker 1: movie that up to then we were saying was coming

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Speaker 1: to theaters was now going to come into the home.

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Speaker 1: And so we knew there was with everybody stuck at home.

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Speaker 1: There were people that were used to transacting in the

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Speaker 1: digital space, and there were a lot that this was

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Speaker 1: a completely new new format for So the U r

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Speaker 1: L or what we call the landing page was really

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Speaker 1: meant to make that that that funnel, as we call it,

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Speaker 1: as as frictionless as possible, just to lead anybody that

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Speaker 1: was seeing the spot kind of directly to where they

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Speaker 1: could find the movie. And now that you've got some

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Speaker 1: experience on this front, I'm curious where are people by

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Speaker 1: and large transacting when it comes to premium v o

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Speaker 1: D Because there's options, there's your pay TV provider, maybe

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Speaker 1: there's electronics sell through, and any patterns that give guidance

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Speaker 1: as to how this is working. Well, look, there's there's

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Speaker 1: some big players, uh and these players also offer um

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Speaker 1: library product and for subscription streaming products. So if you

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Speaker 1: think about Amazon, who has the largest share. One of

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Speaker 1: the things that we needed to do was compete with

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Speaker 1: everything else they have on their shelf. So if you're

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Speaker 1: a Prime member, you could get movies within that subscription.

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Speaker 1: But this, as you mentioned, was a premium price point.

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Speaker 1: It was and it had to feel like an event

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Speaker 1: and a very premium product. So if you think about

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Speaker 1: the you know, the top providers on the on the

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Speaker 1: digital side, it's it's it's Amazon, it's our own uh

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Speaker 1: Fandango plus Voodoo, which was acquired by Fandango, It's Apple, Um,

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Speaker 1: Comcast and Affinity, and a whole host of platforms. And

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Speaker 1: so when when we say we're gonna bring it to

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Speaker 1: you in the home, it's not through one on specific platform,

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Speaker 1: but it's where you typically transact. And to Michael's point,

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Speaker 1: people weren't transacting in this way. So we had to

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Speaker 1: take them to a platform they they use and coach

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Speaker 1: them on behavior that they didn't necessarily have. Well, whatever

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Speaker 1: you guys did, it worked. We know at least one

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Speaker 1: time Comcast shared publicly the Trolls World Tour earned an

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Speaker 1: astonishing hundred million in its first three weeks. Looking back,

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Speaker 1: was there anything you guys did in the marketing that

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Speaker 1: you think was key to that success. Um, I'll jump in.

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Speaker 1: I you know, I think it was, uh, just just

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Speaker 1: as it was with the decision to shift the pivot

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Speaker 1: the movie into the home. I think decisiveness was a

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Speaker 1: real key that that we all sat our theatrical team

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Speaker 1: and our home entertainment team and decided we needed clarity

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Speaker 1: of messaging and and part of that in that digital space,

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Speaker 1: there is a there is no consistency. Uh. Some platforms

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Speaker 1: use home Premier some Uh, we had to compete against

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Speaker 1: streaming and what that means because we weren't a streamer,

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Speaker 1: we had to, as White says, put the P and

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Speaker 1: P D O D. And so we just decided on

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Speaker 1: very simple on demand messaging as the clearest way through.

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Speaker 1: And then we with the landing page and through other tactics,

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Speaker 1: tried to again simplify that consumer journey in a way

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Speaker 1: that was invisible but but let us lead them to

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Speaker 1: the movie and helped us gather data to really know

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Speaker 1: who our audience was and how they transacted so we

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Speaker 1: could inform later campaigns as well. How big a game

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Speaker 1: changer though, is that data? Because I assume you're you're

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Speaker 1: seeing quite a different mix in which you get in

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Speaker 1: a typical theatrical distribution. You know, we normally have a

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Speaker 1: habit of retargeting consumers during the campaign flight right and

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Speaker 1: and then driving someone who watched the trailer we then

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Speaker 1: add to a ticketing page to go see that movie

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Speaker 1: in the theater. We we did have to pivot and say,

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Speaker 1: if you visited this landing page and clicked on anything

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Speaker 1: or spent any time there, we have to find you

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Speaker 1: later and let you know where you could do that transaction.

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Speaker 1: So it was a game changer because we introduced this

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Speaker 1: new product, we were trying to coach behavior, and when

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Speaker 1: the customer went away from that page, we could have

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Speaker 1: just lost them. And so our we have we have

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Speaker 1: a data team that is headed up by a gentleman

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Speaker 1: named Chris Massey, and he had this this roadmap that

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Speaker 1: that Michael and I uh sort of blessed what he'd

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Speaker 1: be doing in the next twelve months. You know, you

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Speaker 1: have to accelerate and do all of that work in

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Speaker 1: six months or less just to be able to get

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Speaker 1: us ready for this moment. But the data is is

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Speaker 1: very important and you know, happy to say if it's

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Speaker 1: it's an important note, where come client with regard to

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Speaker 1: privacy and staying on top of UH all the ways

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Speaker 1: in which we can retarget customers safely, inappropriately. And I'm curious,

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Speaker 1: is the data also perhaps telling you that one size

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Speaker 1: doesn't fit all when it comes to UH releases like

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Speaker 1: this and the genre of movie. Meaning, you know Trolls

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Speaker 1: World Tour work. Well, it's a family movie, but you

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Speaker 1: guys have put comedies out this way, You've put out

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Speaker 1: horror this way, my guests, based on nothing is that

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Speaker 1: though you'd be seeing some very different patterns depending on film.

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Speaker 1: Is that true? Yeah, listen, it's about It's about the

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Speaker 1: demand by an audience for that property and how the property,

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Speaker 1: how the movie fulfills that need. So in a lot

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Speaker 1: of ways, it's it's you know, we like to say

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Speaker 1: the job changed because of how we were delivering where

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Speaker 1: you could see the movie, but the job was the

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Speaker 1: same in the sense that we've got to get you

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Speaker 1: to choose this movie, right. So, UM, Trolls came at

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Speaker 1: a moment when families were probably just experiencing that anxiety

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Speaker 1: of being at home. Their world was upended, UM, and

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Speaker 1: they needed something to do. And I think you know,

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Speaker 1: because it was not like our current hybrid release pattern

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Speaker 1: where we have a theatrical and a pivot. It was

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Speaker 1: one of the only things that you could do in

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Speaker 1: that early part of of the pandemic. And I you know,

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Speaker 1: we we were certainly not We certainly understand that we

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Speaker 1: probably got some lift out of that. Right the demand

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Speaker 1: was high, um, but Invisible Man or a movie like

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Speaker 1: that would most certainly generate a different sized audience, a

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Speaker 1: different kind of audience. But to take the baton from

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Speaker 1: Dwight there, it's that's exactly how we approached it is.

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Speaker 1: Our job was the same. We still needed people to

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Speaker 1: be aware of and be interested in the movie, and

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Speaker 1: especially the digital consumer is a lot like an old

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Speaker 1: fashioned movie consumer that would sometimes amble up to a

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Speaker 1: marquee and then decide right there what they're going to see.

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Speaker 1: And so in the in the digital storefronts UH you know,

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Speaker 1: as White said, our film is sitting right alongside UH

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Speaker 1: virtually all the content that has ever existed, and so

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Speaker 1: we needed to make sure that they knew about our

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Speaker 1: movie and that it was worth the premium. And it's

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Speaker 1: a little it's it's a little similar to UH to

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Speaker 1: box office right right now, because there's for the things

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Speaker 1: we put out. There's not variable pricing. Everything has cost premium,

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Speaker 1: just as a ticket doesn't change cost depending on the movie.

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Speaker 1: And so but I think what's been consistent when I

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Speaker 1: look at it is pretty much the movies that we've

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Speaker 1: been putting out in the digital space are pretty experiential.

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Speaker 1: And what what we mean by that is they've largely

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Speaker 1: been either family comedies or horror titles, and those are

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Speaker 1: things that people like to experience, especially when the world

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Speaker 1: outside is is is not too inviting. So giving people

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Speaker 1: those kinds of experiences to laugh or to be scared

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Speaker 1: is a pretty potent pay and uh and uh, yes,

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Speaker 1: King of Staten Island does not bear many similarities to

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Speaker 1: Trolls World Tour. Uh. The audience is different, the size

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Speaker 1: of the audience is different, but the experience of of

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Speaker 1: you know, wanting to laugh at escape is kind of

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Speaker 1: the same. Actually, yeah, it's an interesting to note. And

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Speaker 1: you know what also strikes me when you're talking about

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Speaker 1: this sort of interesting time and place that we find

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Speaker 1: ourselves at, which may not be what the market is like.

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Speaker 1: Hopefully six months from now, a year from now, are

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Speaker 1: the things that you're learning now going to stick in

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Speaker 1: the long term, or do you think a lot of

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Speaker 1: what you're doing is this is about a particular time

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Speaker 1: and place and not be applicable to the future. It's

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Speaker 1: a good question, and I wish we absolutely knew the answer,

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Speaker 1: but I will say, you know, we've always been a

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Speaker 1: studio that depends on a portfolio slate of all different

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Speaker 1: kinds of films. And as we kind of glimpse into

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Speaker 1: the murky future of whatever the new normal is going

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Speaker 1: to be in a post COVID world, we know that

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Speaker 1: people are going to be more discriminating about which movies

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Speaker 1: they go out and see. Uh, it's a little uh,

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Speaker 1: you know. Jeff Shell uses an analogy of of food

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Speaker 1: you can cook at home, you're gonna have Postmates, or

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Speaker 1: you can go out to eat. And yes there's a

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Speaker 1: fast food option to that, but if you're really going

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Speaker 1: to pay and have the experience of going out, you

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Speaker 1: want a different experience than what you can get at home.

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Speaker 1: So we all we will believe. We believe that yes,

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Speaker 1: there will be the the four quadrant for everybody, blockbusters

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Speaker 1: that will continue to be the big events. But at

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Speaker 1: universal I think we also believe that there will still

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Speaker 1: be room for the movies that were kind of engineered

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Speaker 1: for a single audience to deliver either an identity statement

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Speaker 1: movie or a specific experience that can then grow into

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Speaker 1: a mainstream hit. It's been It's been the key to

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Speaker 1: many of our successes, from Get Out to Mamma Mia,

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Speaker 1: to Pitch Perfect to A Girls Trip in a lot

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Speaker 1: of different ways. So we're going to continue to believe

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Speaker 1: in that and invest in those I'd add to you know,

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Speaker 1: at the most basic level, the pandemic made a sharpen

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Speaker 1: up some of our marketing messaging. Where Trolls was a

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Speaker 1: world tour movie and we talked about that that the

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Speaker 1: Tour Comes Home and King of Staten Island was a

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Speaker 1: movie where first responders were a significant part of that movie,

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Speaker 1: and we we sought to embrace those elements. And those

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Speaker 1: are things that you always do in a marketing campaign

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Speaker 1: no matter what. So the pandemic gave us a different

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Speaker 1: lens to look at these things through. I'd also say

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Speaker 1: tactically remoteable campaigns. Right. What we learned about having to

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Speaker 1: adjust to talent doing things remotely proved to be something

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Speaker 1: that will will continue to do on some level. Right.

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Speaker 1: The efficiency of of having talent do you many many

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Speaker 1: interviews with different kinds of press and even smaller fan

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Speaker 1: driven but highly engaged press that just don't make the

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Speaker 1: list for a junket. We were able to extend that

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Speaker 1: opportunity and I think we'll we'll look at that as

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Speaker 1: something that we continue even when the world gets back

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Speaker 1: to normal. And I think there's one more, sorry Andy,

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Speaker 1: one more macro change that that you'll see is we're

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Speaker 1: now all living in an on demand world, you know,

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Speaker 1: where the consumer when they want, if they want something,

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Speaker 1: what they want it now, they don't want to wait

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Speaker 1: a long time. And so, uh, we were headed in

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Speaker 1: this direction. And it's a cliche, but the pandemic is

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Speaker 1: kind of accelerated all trends I think from us. Definitely,

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Speaker 1: when I look around town, you'll be seeing shorter campaigns.

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Speaker 1: I don't think you'll be seeing these year long campaigns

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Speaker 1: that really begin with the teaser and take it take

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Speaker 1: a long journey. I think there'll be much more compact.

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Speaker 1: We'll all be uh living in a more crowded, competitive atmosphere,

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Speaker 1: and so the really high impact shorter campaigns, I think

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Speaker 1: it's going to be part of the new the new

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Speaker 1: normal as well. I wanted to ask one more question

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Speaker 1: on the trolls front part of the campaign, there was

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Speaker 1: an interesting audio marketing campaign from the podcast episode sponsors

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Speaker 1: Spotify that enabled consumers to build these customized playlists. Dwight,

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Speaker 1: can you talk about what kind of campaign like that

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Speaker 1: does for a movie like this? Yeah, so, I mean

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Speaker 1: we I think the one of the things that we

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Speaker 1: continue to talk about is, especially when we're we're trying

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Speaker 1: to be a premium choice, is how do we eventized

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Speaker 1: the movie and and so in a nation is something

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Speaker 1: that we always leaned towards. So we had the opportunity

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Speaker 1: and this was an idea that that was really led

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Speaker 1: by Simon Hewlett, who runs international. It was a global

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Speaker 1: um campaign, but but his team really lead it. Uh.

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Speaker 1: In the movie, there's these five music genres that are

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Speaker 1: important technopop, UH, funk, country and rock and on Spotify Spotify.

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Speaker 1: If you went to the page that we built on

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Speaker 1: your mobile device or on your on your desktop, you

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Speaker 1: could indicate the degree to which you preferred any one

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Speaker 1: of those genres. Right, there's a little slider and you

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Speaker 1: can say, oh, I like pop more than rock, I

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Speaker 1: like techno more than country. And we went on the

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Speaker 1: fly build you a playlist where you could listen to

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Speaker 1: all of those types of music from the Spotify library, right,

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Speaker 1: And it was really about just tying into the thematic

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Speaker 1: of the movie. And so I go back to this

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Speaker 1: idea of teams. Uh, that was way to take a partner,

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Speaker 1: apply what that partner does, delivers music in the moment

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Speaker 1: to our movie, and get that sort of experiential lift.

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Speaker 1: Got it? And Dwight, you know you've been working on

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Speaker 1: these kind of digital first campaigns your whole career. You're

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Speaker 1: you're you're really the first digital first executive to reach

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Speaker 1: the president level at a studio. Uh, you've done a

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Speaker 1: lot of that work back in your Sony days. You

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Speaker 1: moved over Universal in what what brought you to the

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Speaker 1: studio and needed a job that was pretty much it

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Speaker 1: no Actually, uh, look you when you when you're trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out what the next move is, and certainly

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Speaker 1: at at the place I was in my career, I

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Speaker 1: got to be a little choosy. I loved what I

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Speaker 1: saw in terms of the slate, the representation on the slate,

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Speaker 1: the way in which this was a company that intentionally

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Speaker 1: had different voices, uh, in front of and behind the camera.

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Speaker 1: And that was really noticed well that that was something

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Speaker 1: that I saw and I remember even seeing how provocative

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Speaker 1: that get out campaign was before I joined the company,

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Speaker 1: and it was just it floored me because I was like, Wow,

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Speaker 1: that is a risk that nobody's taking and I was

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Speaker 1: just so impressed by it, and Michael and his team

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Speaker 1: where you know, their reputation was one that I was

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Speaker 1: fully aware of. So it was it was a great

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Speaker 1: just I just got lucky. I got lucky. But but

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Speaker 1: that specifically was something that you could see if you

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Speaker 1: were looking for it. The way in which diversity was

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Speaker 1: built into the fabric of what this company was was doing.

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Speaker 1: Got it. Now we're gonna take a break to hear

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Speaker 1: from our sponsor. Do you want to be heard? Audio

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00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:42,159
Speaker 1: has always been a critical part of every movie, show

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Speaker 1: Here the difference at ads dot Spotify dot com. And

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Speaker 1: now back to the show. So we're having this conversation

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Speaker 1: an interesting time because uh Universal has a new movie

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Speaker 1: coming out, Freaky on November. I mean one of a

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Speaker 1: number of titles Cruds All my Life, uh, that are

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Speaker 1: going to be in this new hybrid strategy. UM. Talk

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Speaker 1: about what got us there, especially starting with Michael, this

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Speaker 1: pretty unprecedented deal that you struck with AMC AMC Theaters

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Speaker 1: to shrink the theater window from three months to seventeen days. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's uh, and it's directly correlated with with these Peabot releases. Actually,

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Speaker 1: so it's no secret that when we made the decision

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Speaker 1: to shift strolls away, you know, theaters were still open,

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Speaker 1: but but but struggling and uh, and we could see

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Speaker 1: the trending that that was happening there, and so there

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Speaker 1: was a little bit of a public war, uh you know, uh,

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Speaker 1: and some grenades launched our way up that that we

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Speaker 1: were in some ways diminishing, uh, the exhibition in the

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Speaker 1: theatrical experience. But then by proving over the course of

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Speaker 1: the summer, you know, you said it, Andy, that different

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Speaker 1: sizes and audience driven movies can work in this space,

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Speaker 1: it actually opened the door that had been somewhat shut

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Speaker 1: for a long time to discuss with exhibition, uh, just

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Speaker 1: you know, to to more accurately address how the consumer

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Speaker 1: behaves in this day and age, and the truth is,

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Speaker 1: and the truth has been for quite some time that

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Speaker 1: for nearly all movies, eight percent of the box office

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Speaker 1: is is is achieved in the first three weeks of release.

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Speaker 1: And so, you know, we talked a little bit earlier

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Speaker 1: about this on demand culture that we live in now,

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Speaker 1: and it just started to seem like a little bit

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Speaker 1: of a relic that you would have to wait three

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Speaker 1: months after after a film is released to experience it

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Speaker 1: in the home. And so uh, those those negotiations and

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Speaker 1: those conversations is accelerated and we were able to enter

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Speaker 1: into an agreement with a mc U in which they

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Speaker 1: are a participant in the performance of pivod Uh that

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Speaker 1: we believe will not cannibalize the audience, but will actually

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Speaker 1: expand the audience for for all of these films. So

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Speaker 1: now we will have a very dedicated theatrical release where

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Speaker 1: our event building, in our messaging and everything that we

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Speaker 1: do will be very intentfully driving towards a theatrical opening.

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Speaker 1: And then it won't always be at the three week mark,

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Speaker 1: but we have now the optionality at three weeks to

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Speaker 1: to bring that movie into the home and continue to

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Speaker 1: play in theaters, because especially as exhibition and movie going

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Speaker 1: returns to uh to a state of normalcy, we believe,

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Speaker 1: just like the food analogy earlier, there will still be

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Speaker 1: people that want to go to a theater even if

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Speaker 1: a film is available at the home and in the home.

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Speaker 1: So from Freaky onward, this is going to be UH,

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Speaker 1: this is going to be our release strategy. UH. This

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Speaker 1: shortened window, it gives us the marketing team the chance

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Speaker 1: to really be more efficient than have kind of one

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Speaker 1: campaign leading to the two uh to the two optionalities

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Speaker 1: of of how to consume, instead of spending a lot

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Speaker 1: of resources on one pausing and then trying to lift

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Speaker 1: that back up. And that's really a benefit of our

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Speaker 1: studio being decisive in this space and not pushing but pivoting. Uh.

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Speaker 1: You know, I see a lot of these other movies

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Speaker 1: that are going to have to do restarter campaigns when

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Speaker 1: they come into the home, and that's a costly proposition.

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Speaker 1: And so so we really believe that this is going

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Speaker 1: to uh to be increasingly the new normal, not just

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Speaker 1: for us but hopefully for the industry. Sure, and look

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Speaker 1: it goes to that saying you guys have got plenty

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Speaker 1: going on in. But the truth of the matter is

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Speaker 1: this all pales and comparison to what you've had to

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Speaker 1: do lay to one your biggest franchises uh F nine

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Speaker 1: Minions partnering with MGM on the net latest Bond title. Um,

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Speaker 1: what do you even do with these movies in this strange,

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Speaker 1: unprecedented situation where these titles are just sort of sitting

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Speaker 1: on the sidelines. How do you keep them fresh? Uh?

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Speaker 1: You don't. You know, our philosophy has kind of been

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Speaker 1: you know, it's a it's a bit of a hackneyed phrase,

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Speaker 1: but to keep our powder dry. Uh. And so what

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Speaker 1: we've been doing during the pandemic is getting everything ready.

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Speaker 1: So we have campaign readiness as as we call it,

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Speaker 1: because the competitive corridors remained very fluid and things move

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Speaker 1: are moving up and out and uh, and we need

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Speaker 1: to be ready uh for any eventuality. But as we

432
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:54,160
Speaker 1: said earlier, campaigns will be getting shorter and uh. And

433
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 1: so we are really in a good position to we

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00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:01,000
Speaker 1: will definitely know three months from release of those big films,

435
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,400
Speaker 1: you know, what their destination is. So for the most part,

436
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 1: we're looking at at you know, campaigns that will be

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00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:11,440
Speaker 1: three or four months out from those big releases where

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00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 1: we will hit the ignition button again and uh and

439
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,439
Speaker 1: restart those campaigns. Got it? I mean you were lucky

440
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,679
Speaker 1: in that, or I should say lucky and smart and

441
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,119
Speaker 1: that you guys avoided the pitfalls many other studios faced

442
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:29,440
Speaker 1: in twenty where they've had to move their biggest titles once, twice,

443
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:32,760
Speaker 1: maybe three times. But the truth is, who's to say

444
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:36,520
Speaker 1: if what dates you've parked these big titles on one

445
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 1: could have to move again as well. So what does

446
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 1: that uncertainty due to your planning? It throws it into

447
00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 1: a lot of disarray. Um Uh. The comforting news is

448
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,560
Speaker 1: we're not going through it alone. Everybody is. And so

449
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,719
Speaker 1: if it was just Universal can't get their act together, uh,

450
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,680
Speaker 1: we we would be facing, you know, a real deficit.

451
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: But we're all experiencing this, and you know, our our

452
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: advertising partners are experiencing this. So the challenges of getting

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00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: live sports back, of getting of getting live competition shows

454
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 1: back to places where we really like to do broad

455
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,639
Speaker 1: reach marketing. It's all a jumble right now, as as

456
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: is the competition. And so as we've shown with this

457
00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:27,640
Speaker 1: pivot to Pevod, we've got a really flexible and agile group.

458
00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: I'm very lucky to be surrounded by people who are

459
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:33,840
Speaker 1: as as smart and seasoned as they are, but aren't

460
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: set in their ways. Uh, the that that doesn't always

461
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 1: go hand in hand. So we've been able to, uh

462
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 1: to just continue to be creative and and and get

463
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: ready and then have the discipline to wait. I would

464
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: just add to that too. You know, the company has

465
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: demonstrated a level of decisiveness that has enabled us to

466
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 1: do exactly what Michael's talking about, have that campaign readiness.

467
00:27:58,119 --> 00:27:59,760
Speaker 1: You know, we don't know what's going to happen, but

468
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,440
Speaker 1: we know we have materials ready to go to deploy.

469
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:07,200
Speaker 1: And even even when you think of the return to production,

470
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,120
Speaker 1: you know, our company was one that said, let's lead

471
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:14,360
Speaker 1: the way, you know, getting Jurassic back into production safely.

472
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 1: And the idea was it's not that you would never

473
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 1: have a positive case, it's that there was a plan

474
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 1: in case there was one. And we're really proud of that.

475
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: And that's you know, one of the ways in which

476
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,880
Speaker 1: we've been able to protect our assets by making sure

477
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 1: that you know, we are decisive and planning and looking

478
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,399
Speaker 1: at the future. You know, with that big macro len

479
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,840
Speaker 1: so um it's been a It's been an interesting experience,

480
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 1: to say the least for us, and my guess is

481
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: it's only going to get even more interesting approaches and

482
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,320
Speaker 1: who knows what that will bring, but so far, if

483
00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: any indication you guys are staying nimble. I wish your

484
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: best to luck with the upcoming slate and thanks for

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00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: taking the time to talk to me today a day.

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Speaker 1: This has been another episode of Strictly Business. Tune in

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00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 1: next week for another helping of scintillating conversation with media

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00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 1: movers and shakers, and please make sure you subscribe to

489
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: the podcast to hear future episodes. Also, leave a review

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00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 1: in Apple Podcasts and let us know how we're doing.