In the 10 years since its inception, Tribeca Entertainment's "First Look" film series - a not-for-profit venture that promotes independent filmmakers - has relied on monthly
premiere screenings as its primary means of publicity for up-and-coming talent. Each intimate event accommodates around 180 guests, connecting relatively unknown filmmakers with
potential fat cat buyers and the entertainment media. But starting this week, the guest list will soar into the thousands.
Tribeca's current cause celebre - the independent film "Blue Diner" - will
be the first guinea pig project to be Webcast through a partnership with the
streaming media ASP MediaOnDemand.com. Trailers for the flick will henceforth
be accessible on Tribeca's site (http://www.tribecafilm.com),
along with b- roll footage of the screening party and interviews with the film's
directors and actors.
"We're 10 years old now and we've never had the luxury of a full-time publicist," says Trina Wyatt, CFO at Tribeca Entertainment and co-chair of the "First Look" film series.
Wyatt is hoping the Webcasts will fill that void and stir up a greater level of excitement for the program and its lesser-known filmmakers.
Not Just for Everyone
While Tribeca's approach is highly democratic ("First Look" Webcasts will be accessible not just to the media, but to any random e-surfer who wants to see them), many in PR
circles are using the same technology to make more targeted overtures to journalists.
"Virtual media tours" are quickly replacing the road trips of yore (for which there is little nostalgia) by connecting journalists to both live and archived presentations
online. This practice relieves CEOs from having to spend an entire week on the road, regurgitating the same presentation to reporter after reporter, ad nauseum. It also relieves
the PR counselor from having to spend a week on the road with a grumpy, exhausted CEO. And of course there are cost benefits. Stacey Gaswirth, VP of PR at the Dallas-based high-
tech agency Shelton Communications, says the average virtual tour she organizes costs between $500 and $1,000, compared with offline road tours that run about $10,000 a pop in
travel expenses.
In Gaswirth's case, the $1,000 price tag applies to a discount model in which interested journalists can view a Powerpoint sequence online while listening to an exec providing
live narration via conference call. Virtual tours incorporating bells and whistles such as streaming video, audio and animation are considerably pricier, notes Jeff Schulz, VP
communications with MediaOnDemand.com. "They can range from a couple thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars," he says. "If we're just doing a straight Webcast of an
event, that's one thing. If we have to send a camera crew to Switzerland to shoot an event in advance and encode it with synchronized graphics to create an on-demand module,
that's gonna be expensive." Keep in mind that while virtual tours often alleviate the need for executives to go on tour, camera crews and other support staff still have to travel.
On the plus side, virtual tours offer a powerful means of highlighting your executives' expertise without running them ragged. Taratec, a provider of e-technology solutions in
the life sciences arena, hosts monthly online "webinars" to educate journalists, investors and other stakeholders about the intricacies of the latest FDA e-commerce regulations.
Its executives act as instructors.
And of course, virtual tours, by nature of the Internet, are global - and accessible 24/7. The UN now Webcasts monthly press briefings that were previously videotaped and
snail-mailed. Over the summer, Advance Micro Devices (a competitor of Intel) unveiled the updated version of its Athlon processor via Webcast from Japan.
The possible applications of virtual media tours are essentially limitless. But for now, the strategy is still slow to catch on as a consequence of bandwidth and equipment
deficiencies among those trying to access information online.
(Gabriel, 323/650-2838; Gaswirth, 972/239-5119; Schulz, 212/867-8888; Wyatt,
212/941-3803)
For more tips on planning successful virtual tours - including key questions
to ask potential vendors - refer back to Reid Walker's interactive PR column
in the Sept. 18 issue of PR NEWS.