FACT OR FICTION: hard work pays off

A little over a week ago my class-mates and I visited Radical Media in Santa Monica, where we heard from founder and president Frank Scherma.

Radical Media is a media production company that creates visual media in several different mediums including, tv ads, music videos, feature films, live events, interactive media, and more.

I found it interesting that Radical Media could produce such a wide variety of content and maintain high quality content across every medium. The presentation given by Frank Scherma helped me to identify Radical Media's key to success.

The first point that Frank hit, and really hammered down in several parts of his presentation, was that storytelling is how you reach your consumers.

Frank explained to us that when he entered the industry, the main way to reach consumers was through television commercials. Since then, television and entertainment has changed tremendously, today we can record shows or watch shows on-demand and fast-forward through commercials, we can also pay for streaming platforms that are ad-free.

In order to keep up with our quickly changing forms of digital entertainment, Radical Media has utilized several different mediums of digital production. Not only this, but Radical Media and Frank Scherma, have identified the key to engaging the consumer, entertain.

With so many ways to by-pass ads, Frank explained that you must get the viewer to forget it was ever an ad, entertain them first and present your brand second.

An example of this is SE Johnson Glade's Museum of Feelings, set up in New York City with the help of Radical Media.

Glade's Museum of Feelings was an interactive event that transformed scents into feelings and feelings into art. The several interactive exhibits made the museum a fun place and activity for family and friends.

The event gained a lot of hype which landed it vast media coverage, press, and social media relevance. Radical Media also created an entire ad-campaign around the event which helped the success of the event live on for longer.

The true success of this event for Glade, lived in the fundamental design of the museum. Most people who attended the event, had no idea it was presented by Glade until the very end of the event. Glade had successfully entertained first, and presented their brand second.

Frank's method and emphasis on entertainment had worked tremendously in Glade's favor.

Frank explained to us at the end of the presentation that even if we aren't going into media production or advertising, these lessons are valuable. Regardless of where we are going, we will need to be a great story teller in order to be successful.

After concluding the presentation, Frank faced us with a business opportunity presented to him and Radical Media previously, and asked us to brainstorm our own solution in teams. Frank told us that we were to create (in any medium) an interactive magical moment for the celebration of Target's 20th anniversary that focused on their collaboration with designers, and that had an overall theme of inclusitivity.

My team and I decided to create a one day pop-up boutique on Rodeo Drive. The boutique would have the look and feel of a luxury store but sell products that are sold at Target. Captured on hidden cameras, the store's customers would be shocked when, upon inquiring about merchandise price, they found it to be affordable and actually from Target. My team also planned that a campaign would be created around the pop-up and customer reactions, as to highlight Target's excellent customer service, designer quality, and affordable prices.

When each team presented their ideas to the room, and Frank. We found that Frank wasn't exactly shy about sharing concerns he had with any idea (hypothetical or not). My groups idea was not the only one Frank wasn't satisfied with, in fact Frank only seemed even slightly satisfied with just one of the groups idea.

Frank pointed out to each group who presented an idea he wasn't satisfied with, that they had failed to focus on the most important point for the client: Target's collaboration with designers.

After all, at the end of the day, as an advertising agency or media production company, our job isn't just to entertain the consumers but also to meet the expectations of the client.

After finishing presenting, we were led out of the room where we took a group photo. We also got to take a peak into Frank's office where he keeps his many awards.

I guess its true: hard work pays off!