13 November 2008 week 46 Non Stop Joe The latest stroke of inspiration from FremantleMedia France Germany United Kingdom Antonia Rados returns TalkbackThames producing for to Mediengruppe the big screen RTL Deutschland FremantleMedia teaming up Belgium with YouTube First annual ACT conference week 4 COVER: Montage with photos from Non Stop Joe’s candidates Non Stop Joe 2 week 46 the RTL Group intranet A world first Non Stop Joe, the new ‘global media’ game show from FremantleMedia France Bruno Henriquet, Creative Director and Edouard Duprey, Programme Director of France - 12 November 2008 FremantleMedia France If you thought there was nothing new under the Backstage asked Edouard Duprey, Programme sun – that you’d seen and heard it all – then you Director at FremantleMedia France, and Bruno were wrong! The buzz is running rampant in the Henriquet, Creative Director, to shed some light small world that is the French media industry. on the innovative concept underlying their The tone is set right latest ‘baby’. from the start. Its own website descri- So, now that bes Non Stop Joe you’ve aroused a as “one of the cra- lot curiosity, let’s ziest events this talk about the autumn”. There’s no concept. What is doubt that Non Stop Joe and FremantleMedia how does it work? France is pulling out Edouard Duprey: all the stops with “Before SFR, no brand had the guts to Non Stop Joe is a this new show that go for a ‘triple play’: Internet, mobile game show where, has seemingly phone and television. This is a date to for the first time emerged straight remember in the history of communi- ever, nothing is writ- from the unfettered cation.” ten down ahead of minds of its creative time. It is a far cry La Tribune, 12 November 2008 team. Non Stop Joe from programmes – a ‘global media’ managed within the game show with revolutionary rules and a cosy confines of a studio! That’s what makes major 3G and web 2.0 footprint. It is a leap into Non Stop Joe such a unique, innovative and the unknown, not just for the courageous can- revolutionary experience. Let’s start at the didates, but also for all the TV viewers, mobile beginning. First of all, we chose candidates users and net surfers who are bound to embra- during a huge national talent hunt. We received ce this interactive adventure. more than 1,000 applications, saw more than 200 candidates and we finally selected about 30 of them. The aim is for people to go to the website and vote for their favourite ‘Joe’. Once a candidate becomes Non Stop Joe, he is under the total control of the web community and of mobile users. Cameras film him every day from 08:00 to midnight, for 30 days. His adventures are broadcast live. Here’s where it starts to get interesting: He has to do – live and 3 week 46 the RTL Group intranet in real time – everything that web users ask him Where can people watch the show? to do. And if they decide to kick him off the Edouard Duprey: The programme can be wat- show, then so be it. At this point he will be ched on all platforms. On Monday, we laun- replaced by another Non Stop Joe. So, the ched the www.nonstopjoe.com community power lies with the viewers, who are in charge site, where web users can already watch videos of how the game proceeds. At the end of the of the candidates. On 20 November, we will day, the viewers ‘write’ the game in three ways: launch the live feed on the website. It will last they can set challenges, they can vote for a 30 days, seven days a week, from 08:00 to challenge and they can decide whether or not midnight. MTV will broadcast daily highlights of Non Stop Joe can keep going. Joe’s day; and that will also be shown on MTV Pulse. For mobile addicts, we will provide a live Every hour, the web community is free to set broadcast and in addition exclusive contents, any kind of daily challenge it wants. As you can which will be available on the mobile portal of imagine, we are expecting the most hare-brai- SFR, Vodafone live. ned challenges, but that will just make the game more interesting. They might ask Non You are calling this a world first, but how Stop Joe to ride a scooter up the Champs- does Non Stop Joe differ from other reality Elysées, hop up the Eiffel Tower, become the TV shows? new mascot for the French national rugby Bruno Henriquet: Non Stop Joe is a new kind of team, eat spiders or who knows what else... game show in two ways. Not only is the Right now we have no idea. Anything that takes concept innovative as Edouard just explained, the web community’s fancy might actually take but broadcasting it on three platforms – televi- place in real life and become a challenge to be sion, Internet and mobile phones – is unprece- taken up by Non Stop Joe. You can probably dented. This is the first ever ‘global media’ pro- see why there is little chance that Non Stop Joe ject of this kind in France or anywhere else for is going to sit around twiddling his thumbs; he that matter. We have television viewers, web will really be put to the test as the show pro- viewers and mobile viewers who can, to diffe- gresses. Taking it easy is definitely not part of rent degrees, play a key part in the show. the concept! Non Stop Joe’s only downtime for Another major difference compared to a rest and relaxation will be between midnight conventional reality TV show is that Non Stop and 08:00. Joe’s adventure are not taking place in a closed 4 The show’s website: www.nonstopjoe.com week 46 the RTL Group intranet environment, it will begin in his apartment, from that idea we did a format. Then we sold it, where he will be equipped with a mobile phone not in the conventional way to a television net- and a portable computer. He will then be relea- work, but to SFR, a mobile phone operator. sed into the ‘wild’ and subjected to the whims Next came the production phase, which inclu- and goodwill of the viewers. des the talent hunt, establishing the Where did the idea for Non Stop Joe rules and checking come from? the legalities. We set Bruno Henriquet: We started with a very up a technical team simple idea, in cooperation with the and then we created company Dialog Red. Remember an interactive plat- ‘tamagotchis’? Those little electronic form with our part- pets that you had to ner Dialog Red. feed, clean and take “A brand like SFR always has to be care of? Well, we But now, to be thought it would be out in front, but this is not an honest, we are wai- funny to have a approach based on content produc- ting for just one human tamagotchi tion (…). We prefer to join forces with thing: For November that we could call the best, like we've done with MTV 20 to come so that ‘Joe’. And since he and Fremantle.” the adventure can would never stop, begin! Cécile Berger, Branding and Advertising Manager, SFR we would call him ‘Non Stop Joe’. That was where it all started, but it took us a little longer than six months to get everything set up. We had the idea in late May. We then began writing and developing the programme, and Timing Visit www.nonstopjoe.com From 5 to 19 November: The Selection Net surfers discover the candidates on the community site and chose their favorite ones. One will be selected to enter into the game. From 20 November to 19 December: The Game The community is the boss and takes the commands: the community follows live Non Stop Joe, set the challenges and votes. All kind of crazy, cheeky, funny challenges are allowed with the strict exclusion of racism, violence, drugs, sex, homophobia. 20 December: The Big Final The best ‘Joes‘ will have to undergo a final round of challenges . The community will vote and elect the best Non Stop Joe. 5 week 46 the RTL Group intranet Back for good Antonia Rados, 55, will return to Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland on 1 January 2009. She will work as Senior Reporter Foreign Affairs for the channels of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland mainly reporting on crisis regions around the world. Antonia Rados Germany - 10 November 2008 Rados will produce current events coverage as res from war zones. In 2003 Antonia Rados well as longer features. RTL Television editor- finally became a household name in TV repor- in-chief Peter Kloeppel said: “We are delighted ting with her live coverage from Baghdad that Antonia Rados has decided to make RTL during the Iraq War, for which she won several Television her journalistic home again.” prizes including the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Media Award for TV journalism. Her documen- Antonia Rados began her career in 1978 at taries have won awards as well: in 2007, ORF. In 1991 she joined WDR as a special cor- Antonia Rados received the Robert respondent, and left in 1993 to join RTL Geisendörfer Award and the German Camera Television. The veteran war correspondent and Award for Feuertod, her moving feature about Middle East expert made a name for herself Afghani women who choose to set themselves mainly with her dedicated reporting and featu- on fire rather than go on living.