Wednesday, March 26, 2014

California wants Hollywood South BACK, AND NOW!!!

California is on the war path to "Bring Blockbusters Back to California with Increased Film Incentives"  Bill AB 1839 passed its first legislative test as California's Assembly’s Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media committee voted unanimously in support of the measure.

Deadline.com reports that "many Tinseltown-based professionals find themselves working out of California in richer tax incentive states".  And only 3 states were mentioned.  Georgia, New York and of course, Louisiana.  

If you don't think that our film tax incentive program is working, just look at the desperate measures California is taking to retain its film industry.  According to reports, various committee members want to see an increase from the current $100,000,000 incentive program to $430,000,000 to $500,000,000 in incentives.  This would surpass New York's $420,000,000+ program.  The fact that New York's governor has antagonized Hollywood by bragging about the amount of jobs they have taken from California has only added fuel to this fierce retaliation by state legislators.

“At the end of the day this is a jobs bill,” said Bocanegra before the committee. “We need to hold the line and keep these jobs, many of them union jobs in California,” Deadline.com reports.

“This is our industry to keep or lose,” said Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D – Santa Monica) “The Governor of New York brags about the jobs he is taking out of the state of California, he added. “And we have to say, it stops here. We’re taking a stand, we’re fighting for this industry and we’re going to do what it takes to keep the industry here. And I say that is in excess of $430 million dollars.”

That sounds like they are taking a stand to me.  And you can feel the anger. But is it too late?  Have the transplants taken root in Hollywood South?

This is the argument that all film incentive proponents have been making from day one.  This is the overwhelming proof that the incentives worked and need to keep working.  And what a bargain.  It’s estimated(by some) that our program costs $176m, which is even arguable since it’s a credit and not a cost. By comparison to $430,000,000, I would say that's a deal.


If the Louisiana film tax credit program was a short-term, quick fix, we would not have a real benefit.  But it’s not, its real jobs, real people, real moving vans and yes, REAL JOBS.  Please forward this to everyone you know that cares about this industry.  Make it known that the film industry matters to Louisiana.  More than ever we need the spot light to remain on us.  If it doesn't, all of the progress made will recede, and unfortunately......fade to black.

New Film & TV Tax Credit Bill Unanimously Passes First Hurdle In Sacramento
http://www.deadline.com/2014/03/california-state-film-tv-tax-credit-assembly-committee-vote-jerry-brown/


Brought to you by The Alternative Finance Exchange www.AlternativeFinanceExchange.com


Thursday, March 13, 2014

THE ULTIMATE CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP

THE “TABASCO” OPERA

The ultimate corporate sponsorship was nearly 120 years ago in 1894 when the McIlhenny Company sponsored the TABASCO© Opera as a fundraiser for a volunteer militia in Boston. This year, in 2014, a local conductor will revive the historic TABASCO© Opera.

But let’s examine the details of this marketing decision made well over a century ago and compare it to sponsorship opportunities today.

Sponsorships are expected to perform a certain role in marketing, branding and advertising. This is the expectation and design of a sponsorship, however, many fail to deliver. Why?

Obviously, if you have your product name not only integrated into the opportunity, content or event, but your product is in the name of and the subject of the content, in this case an opera, your probability of brand retention increases exponentially. Does “brought to you by” have the same value as your logo or brand integrated into the show itself?

With an opera, you also have a strong focus by the audience on the content itself. There are no distractions, no DVR. Compared to sporting events where the focus is on the game and making a beer run, the opera audience is involved in the storyline which happens to center around your product. With sports there is little room to saturate your brand into the content.

As with most large events, there is continuing dialogue after the event. Sports talk dominates the airwaves following a weekend of football, unless your team lost, then not so much. Same applies to this opera which led to the retelling of the storyline and the continuation of the TABASCO© brand.

This opera was so well received and “buzz-worthy” that it was actually purchased from McIlhenny and taken on tour across the country.

Now, fast forward 120 years, for one of the ultimate, longest running sponsorship opportunities in marketing history, the opera is rediscovered and brought back to the stage to repeat its success and continue the extension of the original sponsorship.

So was that original sponsorship a good idea? Did it provide branding or increase sales? Did it deliver what a sponsorship should? Should you expect longevity from the sponsorship partnership?
It may be hard to quantify, however, one thing is for sure, it provided a value that could not be easily duplicated with the average corporate sponsorships out there today. The back story alone is one that took 120 years to create.

Where are these opportunities today? Well, I believe they need to be created. They are not visible, not readily available. Coincidentally, we are producing a few similar type of opportunities, maybe we have one that fits you. Its worth talking about. Maybe it takes a little bit of luck, but most likely it takes creativity and brain power, because this “opera” thing was genius.


Brought to you by The Alternative Finance Exchange www.AlternativeFinanceExchange.com