Happy Wednesday Peaceniks. The British are coming! Actually they were just here.
Recently I was lucky enough to moderate a panel at the Greater Together LA conference in Los Angeles. Greater Together was an ultimate transatlantic mashup - where the world’s two most powerful creative engines proved that the future of storytelling isn't dying; it's evolving into something new.
My panel was a literal all-star line-up:
Alison Lomax, Head of YouTube UK & Ireland
Dame Carolyn McCall, CEO of ITV
Tony Pastor, co-founder of Goalhanger (one of the hottest podcast companies on the planet).
I am not just saying this because I moderated - it was a terrific, honest, entertaining conversation. I asked each leader to speak on innovative new efforts at each of their companies; to tell us what we all needed to stop doing; and where they saw entertainment and news headed next.
Tony talked about defying conventional wisdom of short attention span and attracting younger audiences to news and history programming, by distributing their podcasts, on all platforms, to wherever the audience is.
Carolyn talked about bringing disruption into a legacy institution and how ITV now programs the digital prime time, between seasons of their shows, by focusing on the IP and not the “channel.”
Allison talked about finding new audiences and breaking down boundaries by using technology to translate entertainment for new regions and bringing new ideas to new audiences.
These are three literal legends of Media. Grab a coffee, ignore your inbox for a bit, and take a trip with them to the UK - via LA. You won’t regret it.
Cheers!
ESHAP
