Marketing Myopia by Marina Hyde
“Public Service Broadcasters are not in the TV or radio business, they’re in the public service business and TV and Radio just happens to have been a great way to deliver those particular aims which are...doing good for democracy, creativity and understanding and those sorts of things”
I have a lot of time for The Rest is Entertainment podcast. Richard Osman and Marina Hyde make a fantastic duo. They’re both incredibly eloquent and amusing and experienced and wise…. frankly it’s sickening.
In the last episode of the podcast Marina, describing the work that BBC and ITV and Channel 4 do for the country, said the words i’ve quoted above. Her argument was that these companies should be actively seeking to build their offering for the new channels and touchpoints which are increasingly taking the place that linear broadcasting on TV and Radio used to inhabit in the lives of the public of this country.
It’s a good point. And one which i’d never really though about before, if I’m honest. It’s a question of emphasis really.
The Roman Army might occupy too much airtime within the thoughts of the average man. I rarely think about the Roman Empire. I do instead think far too much about Theodore Levitt’s Marketing Myopia. I spend far too much of my time thinking about it’s lessons and whenever I come across a new articulation of it’s mantra to ‘define a business in the broadest possible terms’ I think about it some more. It was probably the one piece of writing that I read early in my career which I instinctively understood - without the need for lots of detailed business knowledge. It contains such good advice. Yet it’s advice is so incompatible with the trappings of modern, shareholder orientated capitalism.
In the case of the businesses listed above though - the issue - for everyone except the BBC (at least in the short term) - is that the business model doesn’t necessarily allow a pivot. Brands want to spend money on TV advertising. There is an oversupply of ‘digital stuff’ - and the brand building capability of these channels is far from proven. Channel4 and ITV could pivot, but what would the commercial model be?
