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GEN WOW Radio: My Interview with Sangita Verma, CEO of TAG Networks

Websize color - Sangita Verma, CEO & Founder TAG Networks There are a lot of Silicon Valley CEOs you can describe as smart and visionary.

But how many can you also describe as warm, engaging and breathtakingly beautiful? 

Without a doubt, TAG NETWORKS CEO Sangita Verma is not your conventional chief executive. Then again, she’s delivering an unconventional – make that groundbreaking – new approach to reaching television viewers to marketers the world over.

I recently met Verma on a panel on games as a marketing platform that I participated in at Digital Hollywood. 


GG_1 What I didn’t realize was that her little startup, which enables consumers to play games such as Tetris, Diner Dash, Texas Hold ‘Em Poker and others right on their television screen, has been quietly accomplishing something every major cable television network operator has been trying to do for years. Namely, enable marketers to target consumers at the specific individual level – not just the household level – via television.

Turns out Verma has raised over $35 million in venture capital because TAG, which she launched with colleagues Robert Craig and Cliff Mercer after successful stints at Atari and Midway Games, among others, could quite possibly be a game changer in television advertising.

On the one hand is the free, ad-supported network itself, which is running on Time Warner and another operator now, and could be on five cable networks by Q1 2010.

Users play games using the controls on their television remote controls as easily as flipping channels.  And it’s a compelling experience – one that can be played from the coach solo or via multi-player mode with friends at their own houses.

According to a recent test, 20% of cable subscribers on systems that carry TAG  interact with the channel at least once in a month. Nearly 75% of those players interact with the channel at least once a week, while a whopping 42% play every day.  And TAG attracts nearly as many players ages 35 to 50+ as it does those 13 to 17 or 18 to 34.

But here’s where it gets supremely cool. Users create profiles just like you do on console games, to keep track of top scores and for playing networked games. They’re asked to supply gender, a birth date and a zip code.

Future enhancements may include a “this or that” to fine tune the kinds of product advertising may be of interested to users.

But even now, it means ads can be targeted to specific individuals in a household – Dad getting ads for American Express while he plays Tetris, while his teenage daughter sees a trailer for “New Moon” while she plays Diner Dash. If something is of interest, the viewer can click through for more information or even place a purchase directly through the TV.

Six of the major cable operators have teamed up to create Project Canoe to do much the same thing – without much success so far. Here’s a tiny startup that’s doing it now in a way that brings value to consumers.

I recently sat down with Verma at her Mountain View, California offices to find out more. You’re going to want to hear the results TAG’s seeing on ad targeting.

TAG, YOU’RE IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH SANGITA VERMA, CEO OF TAG NETWORKS

(Approx 17:26)

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Sneak Peak Video: Esquire's Augmented Reality Issue

Posted about this a while back. Here's a sneak peak.

Looks very cool - but let's face it. This needs to get to mobile augmented reality soon.

How many people read magazines while they're sitting in front a of a computer?

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Inside ‘HBO Imagine’: My Interview with Alison Moore, VP/Brand Strategy & Digital Platforms for HBO (Part 2)

ALISON MOORE BIO PICTURE2 HBO_CUBE-2486 In part two of my interview with Alison Moore, lessons learned from HBO’s ground breaking “Voyeur Project," and how they were applied to "HBO Imagine."

How initiatives like this are boosting subscribers and reducing churn despite the recession.

 Some behind-the-scenes insights about what it was like working with BBDO, Barbarian Group and director Noam Murro.

And her thoughts on whether another Cannes sweep is on the way.

Part Two: “Imagine” The Possibilities: The Secret to HBO’s Success

Also:

To hear Part One: “Imagine” That: HBO’s New Take on Making The Physical/Virtual World Connection, click here

 

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Inside 'HBO Imagine': Interview With Alison Moore, VP, Brand Strategy & Digital Platforms, HBO (Part 1)

HBO gave itself a tough act to follow - and it's working to do just that.

During the last few weeks, HBO has launched an ambitious sequel to its double Cannes Grand Prix winning "Voyeur Project," called "HBO Imagine."

Not to be outdone by "Voyeur's" projection of dramas on New York City buildings, "Imagine" features, among other things, a giant video cube that displays scenes from a mini-drama shot from four different perspectives, so you have to view each side of the cube to get the big picture.

At hboimagine.com, viewers can unlock each of these video sequences as they progress through a broader narrative, with a pay off for people who unlock each of 37 complete scenes.

HBO_CUBE-2486It is a massive new undertaking for HBO, which hopes to top the number of impressions it earned for "Voyeur," as well as reinforce its brand positioning in a compelling new way.

In my new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (AMACOM/McGraw-Hill, Spring, 2010) I talk to Courteney Monroe, HBO's executive vice president of consumer marketing - and a newly minted Brandweek Marketer of the Year - about the brand's approach to efforts like "Voyeur" and "Imagine," and why they're so central to creating consumer marketing that's as inspired as it is effective. (Despite the recession, HBO's subscriber numbers are actually up, to 27 million.)

ALISON MOORE BIO PICTURE In the days just after "Imagine" launched, I also spoke with Alison Moore, vice president of brand strategy and digital platforms for HBO, about why this campaign is such an exciting successor to "Voyeur," and about her views on how this initiative will fuel subscriber growth (and reduce churn) in the year ahead.

Part One: "Imagine" That: HBO's New Take On Making The Physical/Virtual World Connection (approx 7:33)

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