'On the Road' Proposal

Multimedia content should not be thought of as a mere marketing strategy; rather, it should be considered the single most important resource that can define Gemr's brand identity.  Personally, I'd like to see Gemr as the one and only site that people think of when they want to watch any form of content in the antique / collecting genre.  To that end, here is what I propose:

Objective:

To increase the user base & value of Gemr via original multimedia content

Logistics:



Events:

Whether traveling coast to coast or visiting local antique & collectible shows, these gatherings bring together more potential Gemr users in one day than might be reached via online marketing strategies in a weeks time.  These collectors and enthusiasts crave connectiving, interactivity and new forms of content.  Give them something that facebook, instagram and twitter cannot, notably original video content, and users will follow. 

For each day of shooting with myself and a crew of 2-3 (camera/sound, runner/release forms) I’d expect no less than 30 minutes of edited content, broken down into 8-12 short segments (as outlined in pitch for SD Comic Con).   

I’d be happy to put together a list of potential events for the month of August or September if that would be helpful.        

Eye toward TV: 

I’d like to see Gemr in 3-5 years as the go to source for all antique / collectible content, both web based and developed / produced for television.  Where I think the biggest opportunity in television lies is in the live auction format.  In the last 2-3 years, the number of hours of live collector car auctions has jumped from a handful each year to 10s of hours each week on at least two specialty networks.  I can’t help but think that the next wave will include live art, antiques and collectibles for the likes of PBS, the History Channel and Ovation.  If we could corner that market by signing on the top auction houses and prove the concept online, this could be Gemr’s ticket into the lucrative world of television, and more importantly bring millions of new users back to the website.

Of course, this can be a daunting, somewhat costly venture, but with risk comes the potential for great reward.  If not Gemr, another website or production company will eventually see the potential in this market and will capitalize. 

Another ‘made for tv’ concept that may be of interest to you is an innovative collecting game show that I developed, ‘Valuation’.  You can read more at ValuationTV.blogspot.com 

User submitted content:

When we first spoke, I mentioned my admiration of Current TV in it’s earliest years, airing viewer created content 24/7.  By incentivizing the creation of quality docu-style content, Current was able to amass an impressive catalog of content that would have cost immeasurable time and money if self-produced.  In a similar model to Current and ‘Funny or Die’, Gemr must first produce it’s own content (from above) to show potential filmmakers what is expected of them in the creation of their own original content.  If succesful, this is how you jump from a few hours of self-produced content each week and turn it into hundreds of hours of quality viewer created pieces which would then be curated for Gemr users.  This model would also lend well to a series for television.

Necessary Resources:

More important than money is man-power and recognition.  At present, if anyone google’s Gemr, one of the first thing that comes up is that you all raised $5M in venture capital.  The figure alone is impressive, but more importantly it legitimizes the business to event hosts, auction houses, production companies and all those that we’d want to work with.  This, plus a series of quality ideas, which I think I have, is half the battle.  Production is comparatively easy.  Post production is challenging and time consuming.  Promotion is where much of the man-power / money comes into play to make sure the right people know that your content exists.  This comes back to visiting countless events and connecting with collectors on other platforms and showing them the potential of Gemr.  

The cost of everything that i've put forth depends entirely on how far in you'd like to go.  With any business decision my father taught me to ask, 'do the ends justify the means?'  To this I would say, give me your support, give me your resources and my work will help pave the way toward Gemr becoming a billion dollar business.  The demand within the collecting world is for multimedia content; Gemr can pave the way.