A U-Turn for Media Mindsets?

Media on the go was the main topic for the Media Mindsets group this week. U-Turn, an international company, had representatives on the Kent State campus April 17 and 18 to display its mobile media delivery platform and discuss opportunities for working with Media Mindsets and Kent State.

Jim Gaudino, dean of KSU’s College of Communication and Information, said, “A partnership would offer a lot of avenues for discussions of content and opportunities for research.”

A joint effort would include using the company’s Vizgo content management system to produce and deliver content to both campus and off-campus users.

Potential applications could include not only delivery of media content but also university information such as class and exam schedules, enrollment information and sports schedules. And, particularly of interest to anyone who has ever tried to explain to a visitor how to reach Taylor Hall and where to park, maps of the university.

A group of Journalism and Mass Communication majors sat in on one of the meetings and heard the company’s representatives talk about opportunities that included roles for student media. One example for cross-promotion cited in a Daily Kent Stater story: A contest on mobile phone that could drive people to student media Web sites to find out the winner and to TV-2 for an interview.

Dean Gaudino, quoted in The Daily Kent Stater, said, “(A partnership) fits right into student media.”

U-Turn has offices in Denver, the Czech Republic and Australia. Its primary U.S. venture currently is a partnership with WISC TV-3 in Madison, Wis. Viewers can get the station’s mobile report, C3K To Go, on their cell phones.

Follow Up

The Media Mindsets group will discuss opportunities for partnering with U-Turn and potential arrangements at its next meeting, Wednesday, April 26 at 3 p.m. in 317 Moulton Hall.

Anyone interested in the project is invited to attend. And you can post your comments on the U-Turn project and research related to it by clicking on "Comments" at the end to this posting.

Breaking the Rules

While we are exploring the future and encouraging students, faculty and professionals to think outside the box--or redraw the box, words from the Television Bureau of Advertising’s annual conference are worth reading.

“Conventional wisdom (is) an enemy at a time like this," according to Beth Comstock, president for digital media and market development at NBC Universal. “In media today, I don’t think think there’s a single rule that can’t—and frankly, probably shouldn’t—be broken.”

Quoted in a New York Times story (free subscription required), she added:

“It isn’t just about driving growth. It’s about staying in business.”

Other suggestions from the conference:

• "Be like Google, in a constant beta state."
• Cross-promote: use TV station content to drive traffic to the Internet.
• Take advantage of user-generated/consumer-created content to build emotional ties with customers.
• Offer opportunities for social networking (like MySpace), streaming video (like YouTube) and mobile marketing.