Would the Sex Pistols have had a fan page? How Passion Media Is Reshaping Advertising Why No One Is Watching Your Ads There’s a war going on over the future of television CONTENT FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE How influential are you? JANE PRATT ENGAGING PEOPLE ENGAGING IS BACK THIS TIME IT’S MORE INTRODUCING THE SAY 100 PERSONAL The Voices Shaping Opinion SAY Magazine / Summer 2011 Magazine / Summer SAY LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER ZKDWLVLPSRUWDQW WKLQJV WKLQJVVWD\ FKDQJH WKHVDPH It dawned on me as I a fundamental reshaping of the vertical media ecosystem. The force of passionate, independent walked in the door of my creators, empowered by technology, is changing house last week. My family how people are inspired, how audiences are was watching a YouTube clip. The video was created and how brands need to market. We think streaming onto our iPad, then being projected it will take a new kind of creative, technology- on the wall via AirPlay and Apple TV. Seen from driven media company to realize the opportunity. even the recent past, the way my family was As Andrew Anker observes in “The Curator Is consuming media was downright space-age. They You” (p. 23), “The modern media company must were watching a cover of Earth, Wind & Fire’s be visionary; it must have the ability to predict “September” by the San Francisco musical duo change and shape its medium rather than follow Pomplamoose. The scenario was a smorgasbord along. Every successful media company has had for future-of-media prognosticators: a DIY its modern media moment, when it sat at the musical phenomenon capturing tens of millions vanguard of change.” of viewers through an open distribution channel, It’s also going to require an understanding curated by my wife, wirelessly projected off a of what doesn’t change. Watching Pomplamoose, tablet. Meet the Jetsons. my kids weren’t thinking about how they got the Today it seems like everybody is talking about music video on the wall. They couldn’t have cared the future of media — especially here in San less. Instead, they were turned on by the duo’s Francisco, where change is like oxygen. Elevator passion and creativity, by the music. And that’s pitches like “We are reinventing communication what I keep coming back to as we plot our path for teens on mobile devices” are the Bay Area forward. What really matters is genuine quality: equivalent of Hollywood’s log lines. From the gold authentic self-expression refined with craft and rush to Haight-Ashbury, from Xerox PARC to the community that grows around it. Chez Panisse, from Google to Pixar, the audacity At SAY we’re focused on discovering and to conceive and commercialize what’s next is what supporting quality voices. We’re enabling them sustains the area. with a media platform to make them more At SAY, we live and breathe that change. successful and finding ways to integrate brands in And while a print publication may feel like a ways that make the system work for everyone. So throwback for a firm rooted in online media, it’s while the ways we consume media will continue part of our process. It’s a way for us to pause, to change, we’re keeping quality and authenticity consider and document our thoughts and as our touchstones. We’re seizing our modern observations as we map our future in media. media moment, and we’re thankful that you’re Today we are witnessing nothing short of here with us. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Troy Young is president of SAY Media. His credentials are solid. He has invested the last five years of his life working with amazing people to make SAY. The project is not finished but taking shape. He has three kids, two dogs and a few bikes. SAY Magazine / Summer 2011 01 01 Letter From the Publisher FEATURES 09 Jane Says ... Jane Pratt, New York publishing icon and creator of Sassy and Jane magazines, waxes lyrical on print, publishing, and her no-bullshit women’s site, xoJane.com. 17 Introducing the SAY 100 100 reasons to spend less time with your family and more time online. PERSPECTIVES 07 Anarchy in Palo Alto In a world of ubiquitous “Fans” and “Followers,” we have to ask ourselves, where are today’s new media rebels? 13 Love Me. Love My Media. Passion media is redefining culture. It’s media created by and for people with passion. And no, it’s not porn. 23 The Curator Is You If content is no longer king, what is? By sorting through digital excess and focusing on what’s relevant, curators have ushered in a new, more democratic era of content discovery and distribution. 25 Why No One Is Watching Your Ads There’s a war going on over the future of television but not among corporate titans as you might expect. SPOTLIGHT 14 Become the Center of Attention How to ignite conversations around your brand. 20 Wait ... You Mean Most People Don’t Click on Banners and Buy Things? With click-through rates below 0.1%, why do marketers still optimize around this measure? 27 Voyeur Chic The Sartorialist, Scott Schuman, has created a “digital park bench” for the ultimate people-watching experience. Find out how the fashion industry has been upended by Schuman’s distinctive influence … and how your brand can benefit. BITS 05 SAY @ SXSW 06 Things I Love with Dana Wood 24 Things I Love with Zem Joaquin 28 Things I Love with Niero Gonzalez SAY Media is a new kind of media company designed for an age of democratized media. HOW TO REACH SAY MAGAZINE Mailing address: SAY Media 180 Townsend St., Third Floor San Francisco, CA 94107 Email: [email protected] On the Web: saymedia.com On Twitter: @saymediainc On Facebook: facebook.com/saymedia TO INQUIRE ABOUT BECOMING A PUBLISHER PARTNER, CONTACT RICHARD ROCCA: 415.828.7347 ADVERTISING SALES SVP, Global Sales Michael Hess 917.207.5183 New York Brian McFarland 917.256.2760 Midwest, Chicago Lisa Monago 312.607.2699 Northwest, San Francisco Alex Burton 415.738.5100 Southwest, Los Angeles Leah Corselli 310.709.8469 Southeast, Atlanta Larry Weissman 404.452.3330 Canada Paul Cassar 514.370.2868 United Kingdom Giles Ivey +44 (0) 7930.393.485 Australia Duncan Arthur +61 (0) 433.394.892 SAY MEDIA The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices across the U.S. as well as in Canada, the U.K. and Australia. Matt Sanchez Troy Young Lee Kirkpatrick CEO & Co-Founder President CFO PUBLISHER Troy Young EXECUTIVE EDITOR January Machold MANAGING EDITOR Wendy Taylor CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Erin Olsson DESIGNER Sarah Teubner LOCAL NATIVES SAY Media’s SXSW Interactive Party Speakeasy Lounge, Austin, TX | March 14, 2011 Approximately 1,400 miles away from home, these Los Angeles natives showed no signs of homesickness at SAY Media’s SXSW Interactive party in Austin. Fanboys and girls alike came out to swoon for this talented quintet of mustachioed indie rockers. The band rocked, as did the party ... SAY Magazine / Summer 2011 05 BY NIERO GONZALEZ Yanier Niero Gonzalez is the mad genius behind Destructoid, a popular independent gaming site that reaches more than 3 million people each month. The thought of just five gaming gadgets gives him vertigo, but when pressed to be selective, he picks the following. Nintendo DS Lite The Nintendo 3DS is hands down the best handheld gaming console the company has ever made. That said, I’m not hooked on any 3-D games and the battery life stinks. I’d rather be stuck with a DS Lite. It has a longer battery life, a bigger screen and more color options — and it plays the best DS games without the terrible 3DS MacBook Pro up-sampling. If I must have a 3DS, beam me five years into For me, the MacBook Pro is like Excalibur. Forged the future. Until then, bury me with my ugly DS Lite. with eight gigs of RAM and dual-wielding OS X (Amazon.com, $129) and Windows (a la VirtualBox), this silver bullet runs my games, my life and my business. I also appreciate that it doesn’t look like a man purse or a Trapper Keeper. (Apple.com, $1,199 and up) First Generation PlayStation 3 HDMI. Netflix. 3-D. Music. Photos. Free multiplayer. Social. Blu-Ray. Demos. Etc. The “George Foreman” PlayStation 3 (a moniker given for its curved design) really does do “everything” — because it’s the only model with the PS2 and PS One backward-compatible chipset. These old George Foreman PS3s are still somewhat pricey because of scarcity, but they’re totally worth it if you love those classics and want to see them in glorious up-scaled 1080p and optical 5.1 surround sound. (still available on eBay) “Phantasy Star II” Sega’s “Phantasy Star II” was one of the first games that dared to show what happened when friends, Ion Drum Rocker families, governments and even ecosystems betray I’ll never be a rock star. My ass looks terrible in spandex. Still, I love each other, and it was among the first titles (spoiler the idea of playing music with my friends and hitting things. For ahead) that killed off a playable character in a shocking guys like me, there’s the Ion Drum Rocker drum set for “Rock Band” plot twist. I wasn’t shocked when games finally outsold — an alternative to the game’s plastic drum set that my household Hollywood last year. And I can’t wait until the masses enthusiastically destroyed in no time.