The very special, executive summary v4.0
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The Very Special is a proposed urban guide and online channel that aims to be different than typical city guides in three ways: by providing insider access, carefully curating only "special" content, and championing authentic experiences. It also aims to be unique in its business model by operating as a collaborative creative laboratory, digital channel, and collective where participants can own shares. The proposal seeks creative and technical contributors to help launch an initial beta site in July and further develop the project into an "academy" where young creatives can learn while creating the channel's content.
The very special, executive summary v4.0
- 1. theveryspecial.com* The definitive urban guide., to interesting things, for interesting people. A very, very brief executive summary V1.6 Provided as commercial in confidence Illustrations by kind permission of Mister Edwards © Copyright Mister Edwards www. misteredwards.tv Document and content copyright © Ravi Prasad 2012.
- 2. This is interesting The Very Special* is the definitive urban guide to interesting things, for interesting people. You’d think the world needs another city guide like we need a hole in the head. They’re all much the same, lists of stuff to do, reviews, things, and they’re all much alike. And they all do things in pretty much the same way as they’ve always done it. But what if there was a more interesting way to curate content and approach the business of creating an urban guide? What if instead of running a urban guide like an on-line magazine you ran it like a creative laboratory – as a collective for bright, interesting, people to explore what a on-line channel could be. What if it was approached as an ongoing evolution, a creative experiment the product of which was an on line magazine, a digital channel and a new kind of creative business. What if it connected people to events, things, places and each other in a deeper more engaging way? And What if everyone who worked on owned a share of the business and received a share of the profit? How would this change everything? We’re going to find out.
- 3. So what are we? Here’s the sound bite: We’re the definitive urban guide, to interesting things, for interesting people. The Very Special is a carefully curated guide; we cover arts, music, clubs, fashion, film, the performing arts, events, design, photography and culture. But there’s three things about the way we do this that make us different.
- 4. Different? How? There are three things that differentiate our approach to content from that of the competition: 1. We’re the ‘insider’ There are lots of places to find out what’s happening and what’s new. We go deeper. Having a little inside knowledge confers upon a person a certain status. It’s the key emotional driver for interacting with us. But there’s no one that’s doing this well. No one that makes this their mission. And this is why we’re different. We take people a little deeper; we take people ‘inside’. 2. We curate We don’t just cover anything that’s new. We curate carefully. We look only for things that are ‘special’. We look for things, people places and events that offer a little more. 3. We make a stand for the authentic In a world of mass produced interchangeable things and experiences, we’re looking for something else, we’re looking for what’s real, true and authentic. We’re setting a standard.
- 5. What makes our business different? Ok, so there are three things that make our approach to content different, but there are also 4 things that make the way we do business different: 1. A collaborative We’re going to work with practicing professional across a range of disciplines, from technology, to media and the arts. But we’re also going to open our doors to students and interns – our aim is for the people who will create the future of media to start by creating it with us. What we’re going to do is quite unique; probably the closest thing would be Fabrica, run by the Colours and Benetton people out of Italy, Google this if you have a moment. 2. A creative laboratory This is an interesting place for interesting people to do interesting things. We’re going to continually experiment with content, design and technology. Digital gives us new ways of telling stories, connecting and sharing ideas and experiences; we’re going to use them.
- 6. 3. A channel This is more than an on-line guide; we’re an on-line multimedia ,cross platform channel. This means conversations, interaction, deep engagement and creating new applications to support them. 4. A collective If you look at the publishing world, digital, media the arts, fashion and music, you’ll find one thing – the people that work in these disciplines love what they do. They are in it for the love of it. What if the people that loved the work owned the business? How would that change their commitment? How would it motivate them to create something remarkable? This is what we’re going to do. We’re a business and we will return a profit. However everyone who works on the project, from an intern to a development or a business partner, can work to own a share of the business and receive a share of the profits.
- 7. An academy A collaborative creative laboratory – that’s staffed by professionals and interns... From this you can draw a conclusion: we’re (for want of a better word) an academy. Think of it as a ‘school’ if you want, it’s where young creative people get to learn while they create. It’s an interesting idea – a school where you get to learn by ‘doing’ and the outcome of all that ‘doing’ is the content for a new media channel. It’s a place where the people who will create the future of media are actually engaged in the business of creating the future of media. There’s no one else doing this, and it’s quite an interesting way of doing things.
- 8. Time line and project status It’s an ambitious project, it will take time, but we’re not in any hurry. The first phase is underway, we’re gathering resources, meeting interesting people, acquiring data for launch, scoping channels, our brand is coming together, (*The Very Special is our project name only, the ‘real’ brand identity will be launched soon) a lot’s been done, things are happening. We hope to have the first Beta1 site live by July this will be a small scale version, mostly static content and images that we’ll be using to test editorial direction. By the middle of September we hope to have a 12 month project plan and business ‘roadmap’. By November 2012 we hope to launch a Beta 2 including our first applications and support true ‘conversations’ and multimedia content. Who is the target market? Our target market is not a demographic, but a ‘psychographic’, we’re for opinion leaders, and early adopters interested in our subject matter – media, arts, urban music, fashion, festivals, clubs art and city life. The commercial opportunity The opportunity is considerable and we’re happy to take you though some of the numbers, if you're interested, please contact us and we can give you a presentation.
- 9. What we need The creative, technical and editorial team: We’re looking for creatives, designers, writers, bloggers, journalists, photographers, video makers. We’re looking for people who like to go out to clubs, gigs parties, festivals, exhibitions and restaurants – who can document their experience. We’re looking for people who can develop and build. We’re looking for geeks of all kinds and for media sales people. Importantly, we’re looking for students and interns. We’re looking for ‘artists in residence’. And we’re looking for professionals across the full spectrum of disciplines to mentor the team.
- 10. Business partnerships To make this work without venture capital, we’re looking for business partners and established businesses who can commit resources and assets to the project.
- 11. The team We’ve got an experienced, well credentialed, award winning team behind us, here’s a few of them: Ravi Prasad, Strategic Lead Ravi is strategist and planner with has worked for advertising agencies including Sapient Nitro, Leo Burnett, FCB, Ogilvy and Mather, Wunderman, One Digital, Tribal DDB and John Singleton Advertising. He was former Head of Copy and Content for Euro RSCG Digital in Australia, former Senior Strategy Planner for Sapient Nitro in Australia and most recently a Senior Strategy Planner for Clemenger BBDO. Over the years he’s been a finalist in or won awards for his work including at AUS Trade, ADMA, APMA, W3, AIMIA, the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival and the LACP in Los Angeles. Ravi is also a former recipient of the Elizabeth Hasting Memorial Award at the UTS Human Rights Awards, a Nominee for the Wesley Missions Spirit of Mission Awards and an Earth Hour Awards Finalist in 2011. Ullash Tiwari, Social Lead Ullash has experience on everything from Data & Analytics, Project Management, Blog and Content Strategy, Online strategy Development , Search strategy, Viral Marketing, Facebook & Social Marketing / Optimization, UX & UE , Apps, Facebook Pages, Locations. He’s completed projects for or consulted on clients including: Salesforce. QBE insurance. Luxottica Group (Asia). Olivers Peoples. Govt of South Australia (Tourism/Transport sites) Factual ( The Brains / Data behind Facebook places in Australia / Hong Kong / Italy) . Hermes ( South Korea + Thailand + Singapore + Hong Kong). AusBt.com.au. Fly Electric Jeans. Billionaire Boys Club. MXP4. Star Trek records Hollards Insurance Group (Real. Guardian and Budget). Vouchercodes.co.uk (UK). New Zealand - snow tours ANZ (Australia)
- 12. Coppa Almeida: Joint Technical Lead Coppa Almeida is a highly successful boutique digital consultancy with a strong background in developing and running consumer targeted websites and an analytical and data focused consultancy, founded by Reuben Coppa Arnold Almeida, Coppa Almeida provide the technical lead for The Very Special. Reuben Coppa: Reuben specialise in Business Intelligence, Data Management and Analytics working in pre-sales and sales across a diverse range of industries with clients such as CBA, Westpac, AMP, Nokia, Optus and Hudson. He has worked in corporate finance roles in the investment banking and property industries as well as built and sold a successful web development company specialising in unique product development. Arnold Almeida: Arnold has been designing (infrastructure) and developing online solutions since he can remember. He developed and maintains massively successful consumer sites with over 25 million page views a month and millions of users including buyinvite.com.au
- 13. Being interesting We have a plan and it’s evolving, this is an experiment, a chance to create something interesting, to own part of something that’s going to change things. There’s a vision, a commercial opportunity and a path to profitability. It’s an interesting way of creating something quite different. And we’re looking for interesting people top share the journey with.
- 14. The end. Thank you. More information and a confidential project briefing is available on request. To find out more, contact Ullash Tiwari:0433 785 846. ullash.tiwari@gmail.com