Clearly Seeing New Opportunities

One of the seminal jobs of an innovator is to gaze into that cloudy thing we call the future and intuit new opportunities. The ability to see where something is going and apply that to a specific audience or a specific challenge is what defines an innovator.

Now that means many times we will be wrong or at least not as right as we wish we were. There will be times when we got the opportunity right, but someone else got there first. Or there may be times when we see the challenge that needs to be met, but the audience is unwilling to go there with us. That's all part of the game.

One of those innovators that I have been so impressed with over the years is Phil Vischer. He saw a huge audience of people looking for Christian kid's content and so he created Veggie Tales as a way to meet the opportunity. But even though he lost Veggie Tales in the end through a series of challenges, he has now picked up on a new innovation.

Phil Vischer has launched something called JellyTelly. This new innovation is a step ahead of many others and has some huge potential. Some of Phil's challenges with Veggie Tales was in the area of distribution. So with JellyTelly, he is creating wholesome kids programming delivered straight over the Internet instead of through cable or DVD. Kids can watch new programs for 1/2 hour each day right now and as he is able, the new company will expand that and provide more programming.

Not only will this give young writers and producers a whole new outlet for creating kids programming that reflects Christ, but it gives parents another way to engage their children with the Bible.

So for 2.99 a month, a family can access daily programing and games that reflect their values. We will see if Phil has identified an opportunity that the audience will grab hold of. But whether or not that happens, Phil has shown himself to be a world class innovator in his work and faith.

YouTube, GodTube and the art of imitation

I didn't expect it but should have . . . soon after YouTube became very popular out came a Christian version www.GodTube.com. At first no one noticed . . . but as online video distribution has shot through the roof, it is getting some press and attention from the Christian audience.

This Spring I was speaking to a group of journalists on innovation and a Christian journalists asked me why we at HCJB Global weren't using GodTube instead of YouTube. More recently I have had people who question some of the advertised content chastize me for putting things on YouTube.

So where does a site like GodTube fit in to the innovation picture. Along came YouTube and did something incredible - they made video available to the masses in a viral form. This was a true innovation that has impacted many areas of our modern world. Of course now there are many other people who are doing it. YouTube has many competitors including GodTube. But is GodTube innovative? For the most part it looks and feels just like YouTube only with a lower quality experience.

So what is GodTube? Simply put it is marketing. When you have a tool that does the job and someone creates another tool that looks very much like it, the main purpose usually is to focus on one audience in specific. This is not bad at all . . . it is niched marketing. But it is not innovation.

So as you look to create a strategic plan for your video as a ministry, church or personally, what do you put where. It all comes down to audience. If you are looking for a strong evangelical audience go to GodTube. If you are looking for a general audience go to YouTube.

BUT beware . . . usually the audience specific products cannot afford to provide as good of service because they do not have the sheer numbers. So lets say your audience is Christians, you may still engage more of them through YouTube because they are looking for that high quality experience.

Now lets look at the flip side. Because the content is much more controled, if you are looking to market video content to young families, GodTube may be a much better bet because parents will not want their children potentially exposed to some of the negative material on YouTube.

Never let someone convince you that one tool is always better than another. Each has its place. So enjoy the new era of online video - the potential to innovatively deliver your message to people around the world is huge . . . but please think about your audience as you go about your delivery.