Broadcasting & Business Turnaround

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Movie Magic: how video can help keep employees informed and on side

September 2015 | business-reporter.co.uk

Eat my dust!

When it comes to world domination, can Chris Evans keep up with Clarkson and Co?

By Erin Baker

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Business Reporter · September 2015

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Business Reporter

Opening shots René Carayol

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IK E M A N Y lounges in the country, ours is becoming increasingly redundant, and the once fought-over sofa stands forlorn. This is because nobody watches the oversized flatscreen TV that’s still on the wall.

There was a time when friends and family would jockey for position to watch that blockbuster film or maybe Andy Murray at Wimbledon. Nowadays, the lounge never needs cleaning or tidying up, as we have all migrated to watching the content of our choice, where we want and when we want.

We are watching on desktops, tablets or mobiles, but rarely on TV. This is all driven by innovation; the latest gadgets provide viewers with an inherent flexibility and responsiveness that enables them to consume content in a manner that is way beyond what the traditional broadcasters can do. Traditional TV, because of its high quality, reliable scheduling and varied offerings, still attracts a large, but diminishing audience. The differing approaches have qualities that the other can learn from.

The advantage today still lies with the traditional broadcasters, but only just.

While many have experimented and explored different methods and channels for taking their robust offerings to a more

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Transforming our habits: why creating fabulous content is no longer enough demanding and agile consumer, others are still hesitant. Especially as they are hindered by an inability to accurately measure advertising on these new devices. But doing nothing is a failsafe method of reaching oblivion – there is no risk-free option.

More people now watch YouTube on mobile than watch videos on any US cable network. According to Google’s CFO, Ruth Porat, total watch time on YouTube is up more than 60 per cent since the same quarter a year ago – and YouTube mobile watch time more than doubled in the same period.

Strikingly, the average mobile YouTube viewing session is now more than 40 minutes, 50 per cent up on a year ago. In the second quarter this year, Google (YouTube’s owner) reported revenues of $17.7bn, 11 per cent up on last year.

The sudden shift from the certainty of TV schedules towards the uncertainty and

diversity of the likes of YouTube threatens broadcasters and their advertisers alike.

While Google is smiling ear to ear, “media owners are upset and advertisers are upset,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world’s largest advertising group by sales, WPP. By traditional measurement, T V audiences are falling in some key markets; by 3 per cent in the US and 5 per cent in the UK last year. But those ratings which have been the lifeblood for broadcasters when they commission programmes – and advertisers when they allocate spend – make no allowance for the huge boom in viewing of TV programmes on tablets and mobiles.

It is becoming very clear that no matter what the medium, broadcasters are going to have to adapt and evolve – it is no longer good enough to just create fabulous content, the challenge now is to create fabulous demand. And at the heart of all of this will be the ability to capitalise on the endless wave of new technology.

On-demand viewing has already smashed the status quo, with millions of people in their bedrooms with some version of an iPlayer, on a tablet or mobile, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

This doesn’t mean that they are all disconnected. They might even be more connected than the families who gather on the sofas in the lounge around the huge TV – with friends they really want to spend time with also locked away in their bedrooms, sometimes many miles away. The rather dashing, but necessary mind-set of “build it and they will come”, lends itself more readily to the start-up mentality than the culture of the incumbent.

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S ON PO TR B TL 3- AN US IGH 5 SF INE T OR S M S AT IO N

UK business growth remains at record high

Engaged employees make for a smoother turnaround

By Joanne Frearson

C O M PA N I E S u n d e r g o t r a n s for m at ion to he lp accelerate growth, improve profitability and to innovate.

But in order to transform a company, staff need to be engaged in the process.

Research from McKinsey shows 70 per cent of business transformations fail unless employee at t it udes a nd management behaviour change.

Paul Heugh, CEO of Skarbek Associates, says: “It can be

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difficult to get engagement. It has to be ubiquitous – why is the company doing it? It has got to be crystal clear, so everyone understands the why. This sets very fertile conditions for transformation.

“The big challenge can be describing a new end-state to the employees, and to answer pivotally, why are we doing this? What do we want to transform? It has got to make sense to people. The story has to have depth and colour and people need to understand why we are doing it.

“It has got to have a sound business rationale and stand up in terms of a business case.

The vision of the place needs to make business sense. It has got to pass the hot dog stand test.”

When a company undergoes transformation it will undertake a cultural shift in the organisation. Heugh says: “A true transformation will involve the creation of a new subset of behaviours.”

He explains this can mean moving to a more openplan office to create a more collaborative environment

and letting staff work out ways to try and implement strategies. He believes a good communication strategy is vital in helping a business transform.

He says: “Work out what you think is the volume and quality of communication required.

Multiply it by 10. Then go back and check and see that what you have communicated has been heard.” Getting this right is important. If a company can get its workforce engaged research has shown the performance of a firm improves.

A recent Gallup poll revealed companies that were in the top 25 per cent of the most engaged workforces were 50 per cent more likely to have lower turnover, 56 per cent more likely to have higherthan-average loyalty, 38 per cent more likely to have above-average productivity, a n d 27 p e r c e nt mor e l i kely to r epor t h ig her profitability.

LEVELS OF UK business growth remain at record highs and business distress near record lows, says the latest Business Distress Index from insolvency trade body R3.

Around 68 per cent of businesses were showing one key sign of business growth, while just 35 per cent were showing at least one key sign of distress. This was slightly up from February’s record low of 33 per cent.

The South was reporting the highest level of growth: 73 per cent of businesses reported at least one sign of growth. This fell to 69 per cent in the Midlands, and 59 per cent in the North.

There were 34 per cent of businesses in the South and 30 per cent of businesses in the Midlands which were reporting at least one sign of distress, a figure increasing to 43 per cent in the North.

Giles Frampton, president of R3, says: “It’s encouraging that business growth isn’t yet showing signs of decelerating and the pace of the recovery is being kept up. Businesses need to be on the lookout for any signs that they’re overstretching themselves, though. Sales, profits and business expansion may be on the up, but if a business runs before it can walk problems can emerge. Logistics, finance, cash flow, and the operational side of a business all need to keep up with expansion.”

How do you engage someone in a few seconds, and keep them engaged enough to monetise their interaction?

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S BENJAMIN Franklin said in 1789: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Since then the world has only become more uncertain – thanks to forces like globalisation and our increasingly connected economies, rapid technological development and associated social change (think social media), along with events like the global financial crisis. All this uncertainty creates major challenges for businesses, challenges that can lead to significant losses and even failure without effective business transformation. Kodak’s refusal to accept the growth of digital photography is a good example of a failure to transform, as is Woolworths, which was outcompeted by budget rivals (such as Poundland and Wilkinson) and supermarkets.

Businesses can be slow to detect changes in their market environment, whether these are sudden or more gradual; and even when they do detect change they can be slow to make sense of it and to respond effectively. It is easier to dismiss change as a passing fad or blip and to carry on regardless, rather than make difficult decisions about business transformation. Even in the face of major crises some organisations can be slow to learn – you can decide for yourself whether, in the wake of recent scandals like LIBOR fixing and PPI mis-selling, banks have learned the people risk management lessons of the global financial crisis.

So what is the secret of effective business transformation? First and foremost, businesses require leaders who do not suffer from change myopia and who are prepared to significantly change the way their businesses are run in order to ensure that they continue to thrive. This, of course, is difficult to achieve, as businesses generally recruit leaders, including executives

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Transformation: don’t miss the early warning signs Businesses that stay ahead of the curve could reap the rewards of market change, says Simon Ashby and non-executives, who are good at what they are doing now, rather than what businesses might need to do in the future. And few leaders will want to make decisions that might put them out of a job.

What businesses also need are effective early warning systems. It is best to see major changes coming, to ensure that you have as much time as possible to respond to them. How many boards and senior leadership teams spend time on horizon scanning in board meetings? Or are they bogged down by countless board reports that are more operational than strategic? It is vital to spend time looking at and discussing the market environment, in an attempt to discover the future political, economic, social and technical changes that could have a significant effect on your business.

Finally, you also need an organisational culture that is open to change – it is all very well having a leadership team that is committed to business transformation, but if the employees are not prepared to accept it, things can go very badly wrong. Look at the trouble British Airways had with its cabin crews, when it looked to transform its business to meet the threat of the budget airlines. Communication and good

industrial relations are essential, ensuring that employees understand the need for change and the benefits to both the business and to them.

Involving your employees in the process is also important – after all, they may well see change coming sooner and might already have ideas about how to respond to this where they are closer to the customer, for example.

So what are the business transformation success stories? One possible example is General Motors, which significantly restructured in business in the wake of the global financial crisis and spiralling staff/pensions costs. Another is Nokia – the one-time darling of the mobile phone market. Nokia sold its mobile device business to Microsoft in 2014 and has used this money to focus on the development of large-scale telecom infrastructures along with technology development and licensing for third-party manufacturers, a move that resulted in a large increase in its share price. Change may not always be good, but effective business transformation can not only ensure survival, but reap substantial reward.

Woolworths, Kodak and British Airways all fell victim to unforseen changes in the marketplace

How an intelligent sale can open new doors for your business

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here will your company be in two, three, five, ten years’ time?

The answer for many of our clients – who are typically SME business owners, turning over between £1million and £100million – is simple: selling the business. Their goal – and consequently ours – is realising the potential of what may be their most valuable asset.

It may sound controversial, but selling all or part of your business may be the best route to revitalising and rejuvenating the company you have built. And at the same time, you can secure the optimum outcome for you, your staff, and your customers.

Our SME clients have multiple motivations for selling. Many are entrepreneurs and “ideas” people; great at spotting the opportunity, but perhaps less skilled in day-today business management.

Many actually feel they have reached the limit of their abilities as a business owner. They sense what they need to do to grow their business, but lack the resources, funding or expertise to deliver. For some, there is no capacity in the business, and

they are actually turning away lucrative new work. Others tell us that they feel their continued involvement is holding their business back. And here’s where a company sale can be the best route.

BCMS has completed in excess of 500 successful transactions in the last decade alone. But we know that selling a business the right way is not simply transactional. It’s about finding the right partner to transform your business.

Interestingly, many acquirers are looking for partners, too. They are actively seeking strategic targets, with products, services and specialist skills that can complement their existing offering.

We negotiate with global corporates, stockmarket-listed plcs, private equity houses, and high net-worth individuals, on transactions from full share sales to MBOs and “buy-and-build” investment deals. And because reasons for purchase are strategic, not just financial, major organisations do buy smaller SMEs. In recent deals in the tech sector (where acquirers have included Siemens and Dentsu Aegis) we estimate that acquisition of our client added on average less than 1 per cent to the revenues of the buyer.

As an established international business, BCMS

searches globally for potential acquirers.

30 per cent of our UK clients are now acquired by overseas organisations.

There is clear, global appetite to acquire: successful deals in the last few months alone have seen UK businesses sell to acquirers in the US, Canada, Germany and Thailand, in sectors including healthcare, consultancy, manufacturing and software.

Although the personal reasons for selling may differ from business to business, in the SME marketplace the reasons for buying are clearer: expansion, growth, access to new skills, customers and complementary expertise. It’s a point well made by Peter Jones of US firm LB Foster Inc, who acquired our client TEW Engineering earlier this year. “There is a natural synergy, ambition and an underlying desire to work together in the markets we share,” he says. “We are eager to grow our business in the UK and European markets, and we have identified TEW Engineering as a perfect partner.”

Selling is not closing the doors on your business. It is opening up a whole set of new ones.

David Rebbettes (left) is founding director of BCMS Corporate 01635 296 193 www.bcmscorporate.com/approach

September 2015

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HE POWER of film can help companies tell a story about where they are going when they are undergoing change. It can help them overcome barriers through the transformation process, and change employee attitudes and behaviours.

Phil Blundell, executive director at The Edge Picture Company, tells me: “We all know the power of moving images when we watch TV at home or cinema. It is taking that emotional imagery and trying to come up with something that is going to make an impact and perhaps change attitudes, change behaviours, change ways of thinking, get people to do and think things differently as a result of having seen the film.”

Employees can often be very cynical about change in an organisation. When a company starts to transform, it needs to gain the attention of staff quickly, so they can change with the firm.

Pete Stevenson, also executive director at The Edge Picture Company, says: “Communication is so important to get people on board. Film has a particularly important role to play, because people are people. The things that stop people changing are not necessarily the common sense of it. It is the emotional barriers. It is the fears.

The things you do not think about.

“What this medium allows us to do is address those in different ways, by scaring people, by making them laugh, by getting into their emotions so they are made to feel part of the collective.

You are fundamentally helping people address the emotional barriers to change. The communication is reminding people why it is important and helping them to see a way through it and how to get that to the other side.”

The Edge has been working with the government-led Engage for Success initiative, making a short film for the organisation to educate the private, public and third sector of the importance of employee engagement to business performance.

“If you get this right, obviously people have a better place to work – you get much less sickness and absenteeism and you get better performance,” says Stevenson. “The link between high levels of engagement and business performance is very clearly proven.

We have done a lot of work within that to cement that link empirically.”

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Movie magic The use of video can help get employees on side when it comes to communicating business transformation.

Joanne Frearson reports The film targeted senior leaders who had not yet fully implemented these types of employment engagement programmes in the workforce. They also wanted to create a sense of movement that everyone is involved – often there can be barriers in middle management.

“It is a big call to action,” says Stevenson. “It is the third piece of the equation in terms of making UK Plc more competitive and successful. The whole issue around productivity… this is a relatively low-cost, easy way to address part of that problem.”

The Edge also has been working with British Airways for the past two years to help educate staff members about good customer service practices. Blundell adds: “We produced a suite of films which is trying to show the customerfacing employees of BA ac ross t he world t he importance of customer service.

“We then made a second film of the employees who were not directly Pete Stevenson customer of The Edge facing, for Picture Company

people who work in IT, behind the scenes in engineering and maintenance, and we are now producing a third film which is more about customer service between colleague to colleague.”

The Edge used British Airways staff in the production, while actors played the customers. The film really brought home the message of what good customer service was, believes Stevenson, and BA’s ratings have since improved.

Another film, made for Deloitte, has helped raise awareness about diversity in the workforce. Initially the film was made for internal purposes, but is also now available externally.

The film, entitled Ask Yourself, was made to encourage everyone at Deloitte to think about their personal responsibility when it comes to treating people with respect. Blundell says: “They wanted a film that worked both internally and externally, in terms of something that speaks volumes about the organisation – to act as a magnet to at tract bot h potential customers and tomorrow ’s workforce.

“This film was made not to tell a complete story, but to shock, to surprise, and more importantly, to provoke thought and get the audience to really get engaged and interact with the film.

In a sense, the audience is being made to work when they are watching the film, and ask themselves how they feel about the various scenarios you see in the film.”

The film portrayed different scenarios of people in the workforce, to show how people can have a certain unconscious bias towards others.

Stevenson says: “We have done an awful lot of work in the area of unconscious bias. Even if individuals are genuinely trying to be fair and even-handed, they may have certain things in their make-up that make them more at ease with people who are like them. That means there is an in-built bias within the organisation.

“If you think about some of the challenges organisations have increasing the representation of women on boards. It is important not to have managers which are almost mirrorimages of each other.”

Telling a story through film can provoke different feelings and attitudes

in people that otherwise might not have realised they had these biases.

Stevenson says: “What you are trying to do is help them start conversations.

It is about building in the negatives, recognising the reason why people might not want to jump up and say, hooray, we have got anot her reorganisation.

“Acknowledge the fact that it is hard for people, give them a road map by telling them a story and narrative that takes them through that. It is about making the process of change and transformation feel a bit more shared and less top-down.

“Getting that behaviour changed at the key moment when you are making the investment becomes critically important to actually delivering the value that has been promised for the whole business case.

“Unless you take the people with you, and unless they start to get it and do things differently, you have this slow decline from when that investment takes place to the payback.”

Business transformation can certainly be complicated and stressful for employees. But the use of films is one way to help connect with them and smooth the bumpy path.

September 2015

Business Reporter

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ENLEY Royal Regatta, a week when the social season meets sporting excellence, has long been acknowledged worldwide for its tradition and heritage, though perhaps more rarely for cutting-edge innovation. But that all changed this year when a broadcasting and communications revolution came to the Thames.

The last time the Regatta had been broadcast live was by the BBC in 1967. ITV screened highlights in 1976, but since then any kind of coverage was considered too costly and logistically problematic. This year, however, the event was not only available live on YouTube and the BBC red button, but the rowing could also be viewed from an entirely new perspective, thanks to an initiative driven by Neil Chugani, a senior executive in the media and technology industries who is also a board member at UK Sport, and two rowing giants: Regatta chairman Sir Steve Redgrave, and Sir Matthew Pinsent.

Live coverage was dramatically enhanced through the pioneering use of a drone camera.

Although the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in sports filming is not new, only recent developments in drone and camera technology allowed live pictures to be incorporated into an outside broadcast.

The UAV employed, a Vulcan Raven Octocopter, with gyro-stabilised camera, flown from a purpose-built platform in the middle of the Thames, provided previously unseen angles and views of the Regatta, renowned for its gladiatorial match-racing.

“Significant advances had been made in production and streaming technology, but there was no modern blueprint for broadcasting of the event. We had to start from scratch,” explained Chugani, former

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Henley Royal Regatta

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How hi-tech drones gave Henley a whole new look Nick Townsend senior Sky executive and BBC Worldwide board member. “It coincided with Steve Redgrave becoming chairman of the Regatta this year. It was very much his desire to see this done to the highest standard.”

Conventionally, rowing is covered by a combination of fixed and moving cameras along the course – assuming there is a road alongside it. At Henley, there is not. The course is mainly flanked by fields.

“It’s a very complex outside broadcast – it’s over a reasonably long distance (2,112 metres) and on a working stretch of river,” said Chugani, who was cox of the successful Oxford Boat Race crew in 1991 and the 2001 world championship gold medal-winning coxed pair with Pinsent and James Cracknell.

“The navigation channel remains open, and there is a lot of river traffic that ploughs up and down the water freely. We don’t own or control all the land around the site. We had to design a camera specification that took all those factors into account.”

Chugani, Pinsent and Redgrave, all

stewards of the Regatta, worked on the camera positioning, in conjunction with Sunset+Vine, the independent sports TV production company, and SP Films, which provides high-end aerial shots.

C huga n i added: “ We ended up using 11 cameras, of which three were mobile and able to track the race. One was on an umpire’s launch, one was on a catamaran, with a tracking shot that filmed about 400m of the course, and the coup de grace was the drone which covered up to 1000m of the course.”

The drone camera was under the control of a three-man operation which, crucially, included Angus Benson-Blair, the founder and chief pilot of a company named BB Stratus – Aerial Imagery. The majority of drone owners and pilots are restricted to flying to within no more than 150 metres of any organised gathering of 1,000 people or more.

“The unique thing about our drone coverage was that we managed to find, and to hire, the one drone pilot in Europe who is licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority to fly within 10 metres of people not under his control,” explained Chugani.

Main image: thanks to modern drone technology, rowing fans could watch every race at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta; below: Neil Chugani, who is driving the initiative

“The Henley course is 24 metres wide, so we had a four-metre safe channel of operation through the middle of the course, either leading the crews by ten metres or more or following the crews by ten metres or more.

It enabled us to capture really fantastic close-up images and has completely revolutionised the way in which we have been able to present our sport.”

In addition to the BBC’s output, there was the ground-breaking arrangement with YouTube to cover racing live on each of the Regatta’s five days of action as well as provide a daily highlights programme. Each individual race, totalling almost 300, was made available on demand within about hour and a half of it finishing.

“We’ve already got some interesting ideas on how we make greater use of the drone next year, and we plan to have live GoPros on the boats to provide on-board images,” said Chugani, who added that long-term it was hoped to generate revenue from the operation, including through sales of highlights packages overseas, to make it self-financing.

But he stressed: “It would be done in a way that’s in keeping with the Regatta’s heritage and traditions. Since its inception, Henley’s timelessness has been prime, and that, we want to preserve.”

September 2015

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EXCLUSIVE Eleri Evans

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F THE BBC didn’t exist we would have to invent it, says Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Chris Bryant, who fears that the recent publication of the green paper on the renewal of the BBC’s charter is evidence that the Beeb is under siege.

Bryant describes the BBC as the nation’s “cultural NHS”, earning both respect and money for Britain and British values. His argument is simple.

“The BBC is the most admired public broadcaster in the world. We are the only country in Europe that is a net exporter of audio-visual services.

Our programmes are renowned around the world. The truth is, if we didn’t have the BBC, we would have to invent it.”

Sitting across the table from me in his constituency office in Rhondda, he warms to his theme. “Sherlock was sold to 224 territories and had 67 million hits on China’s digital platform YouKu, Strictly or Dancing With The Stars is sold to more than 40 territories, while the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who was simulcast in 98 countries and 15 languages.

“And yet,” he says, “a lot of Tories object to the BBC. They think the BBC should be a subscription service or it should only do things that commercial broadcasters could not or would not do. I think that is to mistake the whole genius of the BBC, which is that everybody pays for it and everybody gets something out of it, but you have to have both halves of that equation otherwise it falls apart.”

Bryant fears that what he sees as the universal principle, or golden thread, at the heart of the BBC, namely that everyone pays and everyone gains, is under threat from the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary John Whittingdale, who seems, says Bryant, to favour a subscription model when t he technology is available in every home to control access. “I firmly believe that a public sector broadcaster run with public money should make popular programmes. It is, however, clearly part of the BBC’s mission to do more than just chase audiences – but popular programming is what justifies the licence fee to the vast majority of my constituents,” he says.

With the BBC now taking on responsibilit y for t he annual £750million funding of free TV licences for the over-75s and the licence fee only likely to rise in line with the consumer prices index, Bryant argues the BBC is likely to find it increasingly difficult to deliver on its Reithian principle as entertainment provider.

“Whittingdale’s argument is that it is wrong for the BBC to make a programme like Strictly Come Dancing

The big interview Chris Bryant

BBC to offer robust defence The BBC has until October 8 to respond to the government’s green paper and plans to publish its own proposals on its future later this month. Senior BBC figures will emphasise the economic benefits to the wider creative sector. In particular, it is understood they will defend the corporation against accusations the BBC crowds out its rivals, pointing to significant growth in the operating profits of Sky and ITV. A BBC source is quoted as saying: “The BBC is the cornerstone of our creative industries and a strong BBC is good for growth and the UK economy.”

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The BBC is our cultural NHS. It is the most admired public broadcaster in the world because it is popular and a commercial broadcaster could make it. That is a nonsense. If you did that why on earth would constituents across the land pay their licence fee for something that is unpopular?”

Bryant, who was head of European affairs at the BBC for two years before being elected as MP for Rhondda in 2001, says that, at its heart, the BBC is a good organisation. “I worked for the BBC because I believed in the BBC. I no longer work there but I still believe in it. The BBC has had enormous challenges in the last few years, not least the whole Savile scandal, when we as a nation, as well as the BBC and, for that matter, the NHS, were all duped. Obviously there must be some element of blame attached within the

structure of the BBC but the whole of the nation was duped.”

Despite the challenges, Bryant thinks the BBC has been as rigorous with itself, if not more so than, for example, Fox News or ITV would have been. “The BBC journalist critique of the BBC is pretty robust. It has also used its flagship programmes like EastEnders and Holby City to raise big social issues in a way that is both sensitive and socially responsible.”

That is not to say, however, that Bryant sees the BBC as perfect. On diversity, he says: “It is a simple fact that the number of people from black and minority ethnic groups working in the whole of the broadcasting industry has fallen over the last seven years, at a time when as a share of the

population it has grown. That must be a nonsense.”

The BBC Trust is clearly not working either, he said. He is open to negotiations about what a new governance structure may look like but emphasises the need for a nonexecutive board to oversee the fiduciary responsibilities of the corporation and an external regulation role for Ofcom.

As our interview comes to a close, Bryant returns to the licence fee.

“I admit it has its f laws but, as Churchill once said of democracy, it is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. In the end, everyone always comes back to democracy. I am sure it will prove the same for the licence fee.”

September 2015

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Erin Baker

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HEN Richard Hammond auditioned for an all-new Top Gear series back in 2002, delivering a terrible car review while dressed, inexplicably, as Batman, did anyone imagine the uncontrollable success that the BBC2 programme would go on to become?

Even Andy Wilman, the show’s genius executive producer and old friend of Jeremy Clarkson, cannot have foreseen the on-screen magic (and subsequent huge global audience figures) that would grow between Clarkson, Hammond and motoring journalist James May, who had a brief stint on a previous series of Top Gear before he was fired.

The show grew at a monstrous rate, as if feeding off the testosterone of its presenters. It busted budgets, broke the rules, damaged international relations, offended at least one socio-economic group a week, and proved the most popular car programme ever devised, by a long chalk.

Then Clarkson, the king of fracas, had his fracas to end all fracas, with a Top Gear producer, the BBC umm-ed and ahh-ed, as did the presenters, Wilman and the police, and the Top Gear triumvirate eventually departed BBC shores and they are now preparing to take their talents to Amazon Prime, the web video service based in America. After the deal became public, Clarkson said: “I feel like I’ve climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship.”

So now we have Top Gear with Chris Evans at the helm.

Evans is staggeringly popular in Britain, as his daily hosting of the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show and Friday night BBC1 One Show prove, but this will be the ultimate test, not of Evans, but of the BBC. For can a show ever be bigger than its presenters? The new series of Top Gear will be the litmus test for just how much brand equity is left in Top Gear. The BBC cannot afford to let this cash cow die, so they’ve wisely gone for probably the only presenter who has a chance of stepping into the gaping void left by Clarkson and taking the show to a new format without losing its audience. Talk about sweaty palms.

A look at the extraordinary figures and value behind Top Gear reveals a label that exceeds the collective might of most national media, and can pack a corporate punch at an audience extraordinarily sympathetic to the messages the programme conveys. No wonder most car manufacturers hand out their vehicles to the programme happy in the knowledge that they, and often the company itself, will be trashed. But it’s a small price to pay for the kind of exposure, in a single hour, that it would otherwise take the auto companies the course of an entire year to achieve.

The numbers are breathtaking. In the UK alone, where Top Gear is one of BBC Worldwide’s biggest global brands, alongside Doctor Who, Sherlock, BBC Earth and Dancing With The Stars, 41 million people watched Top Gear in the last year. Of those, 45 per cent are female – something many car manufacturers can only dream of. The core audience is 18-to-45-year-old males, the youth demographic holy grail of all companies.

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HE programme’s global audience is estimated at 350 million. It is broadcast in 212 territories, with local variations in America, China, France and South Korea. And let us not forget that this is just the TV programme.

The Top Gear brand is well immersed now in the digital, DVD, events and gaming arenas. It has 22 million fans on Facebook (alone worth a small fortune in social currency to advertisers), 4.5 million unique users generating 45 million page impressions each month, four million YouTube subscribers with 850 million views of Top Gear videos, 1.6 million Twitter followers and 3.9 million Google+ followers.

You can watch the show on Netflix, iTunes, Sony TV, Xbox Live and more. It is a vast media and social platform of its own, and although BBC Worldwide is coy about discussing the actual monetary value of the brand, you

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Erin Baker chooses her favourite Top Gear moments (so far…)

2

Tour de force

Goodness knows what the 75-minute Vietnam special cost to produce, but, as well as Clarkson falling off his scooter, it had some moments of cinematic beauty that Richard Attenborough at his finest would have been hard pushed to better. Left you laughing at the crap banter and crying at the emotion of such a gruelling road trip.

3

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Each presen cooking facilities and a 110 with a collapsible m Citroen CX with the ad and May rocks up in a L Comedy gold, unless y

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reasons why the ris Evans to fill the three musketeers

you to turn ack there, May!

nter has to build a motorhome with working a toilet. Hammond goes for a Land Rover mansion inside, Clarkson has converted a ddition of a three-storey building on the rear, Lotus Eclat with a sleeping bag on the roof. you’re stuck behind them on the motorway.

It’s no longer easy to talk about last night’s TV – everyone’s watched something different EXPERT INSIGHT

go mad in Dorset

eir most expensive skits, but one that ms up the boyhood prank that has been whole programme has hung its success. avans being well documented on the e to go on a caravanning holiday to Dorset nd the attraction. While James May is displays his mobile number across the or disgruntled drivers to call (yes, we all real phone number, but it’s still hilarious).

9

Simon Ashby

Chris Evans and Jeremy Clarkson

don’t really need to – with unimaginable data and eyeballs worth millions and millions to advertisers, if you have to ask, you don’t understand what you are looking at.

Then there’s the publishing side – Top Gear magazine is the world’s biggest motoring title and the UK’s mostread men’s monthly magazine of any description, with 32 licensed local editions around the world and numerous adults’ and children’s books. And don’t forget Top Gear Live, the live show still presented by Clarkson and Co. More than two million tickets have sold for the world tour to date. Last, but not least, the team made the savvy move into gaming. Top Gear is in partnership with Microsoft’s Forza console racing franchise, and its mobile games have been downloaded by more than 21 million users to date.

So, in an ominous echo of the banking crisis, Top Gear has become “too big to fail”. Yet Chris Evans is the right choice – a skilled presenter of peak-time BBC shows with a serious knowledge and collection of cars, and an honestly held passion for them (and audiences are quick to reject fakery). Crucially, he also carries with him an audience of housewives, businessmen, teenagers and pensioners that spans the wealth and gender divides.

But what is he the right choice for, exactly?

The show was at the top (some said over the hill) of its game in terms of budget-stripping, blockbuster trips to places like Burma, Argentina or the American Deep South, which combined breathtaking cinematography and an element of travel documentary with homegrown blokey pranks involving building rickety bridges over rivers, finding roadkill to cook and eat and generally upsetting the locals. At the same time, there was just enough actual industry news and serious drives of new cars, combined with celebrity laps of their Dunsfold track, to keep everyone engaged.

How on earth do Chris Evans and his new team, which may or may not involve Jodie Kidd and Guy Martin, move the show on, while staying true to its roots, and keep an audience that may already have decided it is switching off and turning over to Amazon to find its three automotive musketeers? The world is a small place now; an audience doesn’t need the BBC; it has an iPad on its lap these days with a million doors to a million different channels, one of which will shortly be hosting Clarkson. Let battle commence.

I HAVE ALWAYS been a fan of TV, and in my youth I watched far too much of it, to the annoyance of my parents. If I was not out walking or cycling (so I did get exercise) I spent most of the day watching pretty much anything, except football and soap operas (which I still hate), though at my lowest moment as an undergraduate I enjoyed watching Knots Landing, mostly to laugh at the bad acting and wobbling sets.

These days I watch much less television, at least in the summer, when I would rather be out and about my home county of Cornwall, or simply spending time in our garden and looking at the view of Dartmoor. However, my wife and I still probably enjoy more than our fair share of TV time. Largely thanks to the proliferation of channels and the flexibility offered by the modern connected TVs, set-top boxes and games consoles.

Even in the countryside, with the recent installation of superfast broadband in our community (thank you Superfast Cornwall and BT), we can watch pretty much anything, anytime. Product offerings like Amazon Prime, Sky Box Sets, Netflix and BBC iPlayer mean that you need never miss your favourite TV series or the latest films. You can also watch specialist sporting events and music festivals – seeking out the things you want to watch – a real boon if like me you enjoy less mainstream sports/ music. For example, during last year’s Commonwealth Games I was able to find comprehensive coverage of the target and clay pigeon shooting, as well as the mountain biking – sports that usually get little coverage on conventional TV. Broadcast TV may soon be a thing of the past. Why watch what someone else has decided that you should watch on a particular date and time? How 20th century is that? Even the BBC is getting in on the act and offers a useful

“Connected TV” site for the uninitiated, at http://www. thefutureisconnected.co.uk.

Perhaps I am getting old, because a part of me is sad about the death of conventional TV. Watching TV used to be a much more social affair when there were only three or four channels to watch and everyone saw Morecambe and Wise at Christmas.

Who shot JR? Strangers would stop in the street to talk about that.

No longer is it easy to talk to friends and colleagues about last night’s TV, as everyone has watched something different.

All this technological development and social change offers both opportunity and threat for businesses. Connected TV presents new challenges for advertisers – especially when you can fast-forward through the adverts. Plus having more programmes to choose from means that advertising audiences can be small. That said, greater choice also means more opportunity for targeted marketing and branded TV channels like Audi Media TV, or the AuditChannel for internal auditors. There really is something for everyone. Plus, how about seeing a product or service you like on a programme and touching the screen to access the relevant website, or for people on the move, location-specific marketing highlighting specific products and services they might need on their travels. Potentially more annoying are “smart interstitials” which are already used to project adverts over web pages, but could also be used in programming, though personally I make a point of not buying products advertised in this way.

So will we develop ever-squarer eyes? And will we have to endure even more advertising? I think not – we can probably look forward to more targeted programming, as well as advertising that we might truly benefit from. Time will tell.

September 2015

10

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The digital transformation of the content-value chain

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oday’s consumer is an evolved individual, one who is growing up with digital television, the internet, tablets and smartphones. Not only do they have a variety of choices, they also enjoy the convenience of consumption when they want it, the way they want it.

This change in consumer behaviour is increasing faster than ever before, making the entire content-value chain and its players transform themselves digitally.

Volume, discovery, platforms, devices, 4K, directto-consumer, engagement, speed, new monetisation and everything digital is the new normal. Media and entertainment enterprises (M&E) cannot live in the analogue or choose to be selectively digital in this new era. There is a need to become hyper-digital to face the Digital Next realities.

So what can they do to deal with Digital Next realities?

• Building a connected enterprise and a digital ecosystem is key to managing the business of content.

Be it revenue growth or expansion in margins, media asset management (MAM) systems cannot function in isolation anymore. The M&E companies need enterprisewide software to manage content-led business activities across departments globally, and to deal with big data challenges. Similar to other sectors, M&E companies need a media enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite that is rich in applications to handle workflow orchestration across the enterprise, supply chain and partner ecosystems.

• Distribution, in particular, has become increasingly complex in the hyper-digital world. More outlets, and the rise of video-on-demand systems – A-VoD, S-VoD and T-VoD – has driven the need for businesses to be more connected with content operations. CLEARTM Distribution Cloud by Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) offers an integrated solution by connecting the rights and sales-order systems – it helps process and service orders and offers governance around the rights regime.

• Content owners today have to embrace the cloud to deal with volume and speed for servicing their content demand to the growing number of digital outlets globally, such as Netflix, Hulu and other OTT platforms. And they need to do that at the lowest total cost of delivery. PFT’s CLEAR Operations Cloud helps do just that – it doesn’t just store and transcode, but performs end-to-end content operations on the cloud at the lowest costs.

• With myriad content available for consumption, content owners are struggling to capture the attention of fickle digital consumers – the challenge is to get consumers to discover their content. PFT came up with an equation – Content + Tags = Asset. Using detailed, multi-layered smart metadata, PFT allows content owners to tap into the DEE (discovery, engagement and experience) moment – enabling monetisation like never before. PFT, along with its partners, integrates such data with content to offer an immersive OTT experience.

• You cannot leave 4K out of the Digital Next realities. PFT’s CLEAR Operations Cloud provides 4K support, including a 4K up-conversion module, by leveraging the Academy Award-winning Lowry image processing libraries. This is supported by GPU cloud computing infrastructure.

PFT will be at IBC 2015 in Amsterdam to showcase its revolutionary cloud technology, CLEAR, to deal with Digital Next realities. Scan the QR Code to schedule a meeting. Booth #7.B12 info@primefocustechnologies.com www.primefocustechnologies.com

Lending to meet changing demands

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ucleus Commercial Finance is one of the new generation of alternative lending providers that has achieved remarkable success in the three years since its launch, being named Commercial Finance Provider of the Year (2015) and consistently featuring in the Top Five providers in the Business Money broker survey.

Launched to service the needs of some of the most difficult and challenging markets starved of cash, it started with a single product – a Construction Finance Package.

We believed that the sector was being ignored as “too difficult” by “traditional” lenders, when the reality was that there was not an off-theshelf invoice finance product that suited how construction businesses are funded and how they get paid.

Nucleus therefore developed its own, with a team of quantity surveyors. The result is an innovative product that provides pre-payments against applications, stage payments and milestones for sub-contractors, combines a traditional factoring model but with a fixed fee to ensure transparency on cost, and advances cash at

an agreed percentage of the outstanding invoice/application value, taking into account the longer contract terms typical within the construction sector.

Not surprisingly, it has proven incredibly popular. But Nucleus quickly recognised that other markets and customers were also being poorly served. This led to the launch of a dedicated Supplier Finance product that is targeted at a much broader range of businesses, with turnovers in excess of £20million. The product

enables these businesses to use their balance sheet and credit rating to enable their suppliers to access funding at competitive rates.

The suppliers and/or subcontractors benefit by receiving 100 per cent of the value of their invoice on acceptance of their goods and services – money that they can use to support their cashflow, take advantage of other supplier discounts and so on. There is no long-term contract involved, so the supplier is not

tied to a relationship in which there is no flexibility to move, and the funding is guaranteed. Most importantly, however, there is a fixed (this is a theme of all of our new products!), disclosed charge for the service so that the customer knows exactly what they are paying.

The main contractor also benefits from more predictable cashflow, and the ability to build sustainable relationships with key suppliers by offering them favourable terms. Developing a strong supplier base is essential, especially when tendering.

With the upturn in the economy, demand for funding has increased, but what is clear is that not all of these SMEs are the same, and lenders need to move away from thinking that a one-size-fits-all approach will work. It is the reason that we have now expanded our product range still further.

Nucleus works with all manner of businesses in a diverse range of industries, with our sweet spot firmly in the £5million to £50million turnover bracket. We can provide Asset Based Lending (ABL) facilities of up to £10million.

This includes asset finance, term loans, and property finance. Our approach is to provide the optimum solution for the business by fully leveraging the balance sheet.

By creating bespoke products, we are continuing to meet a growing demand. How? By truly understanding how those businesses work, by recognising a coherent business plan when we see one, and creating lending products that meet a genuine need.

Chirag Shah (left) is chief executive of Nucleus Commercial Finance chirag.shah@nucleus-cf.co.uk nucleuscommercialfinance.com

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By Matt Smith, web editor

The Official Twitch Blog http://blog.twitch.tv

digital transformation initiatives fail and the impact digital is set to have on marketing partnerships over the next two years.

Gone Digital http://gonedigital.net

Dan O’Day offers his broadcasting “straight talk” on his blog. One particularly interesting recent post looks at the way personalised internet radio service Pandora delivers advertising, and the differences in its audience’s expectations when it is compared to traditional radio broadcasting.

DWP digital https://dwpdigital.blog.gov.uk/ tag/business-transformation

Twitch is the largest live video platform and community for gamers, with 100 million visitors per month, and the next generation of broadcasting. The site was bought by Amazon for £585million in 2014 and is an example of how popular usergenerated content can become online. Its most successful channels have millions of followers.

Digital Transformation http:/ digitalbusinesstransformation.co.uk

Freelance IT journalist Nigel Whitfield writes about digital television on his blog. Browse through his most recent posts for news of the latest deals affecting on-demand services, and to find out whether you should buy a smart TV. There is also a “Start Here” page bringing together the most important television basics.

Dan O’Day Talks About Radio http://danoday.com/blog Radio advertising guru and coach

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) blog has a section dedicated to business transformation. Post subjects range from ways to put yourself in your users’ shoes, to the department’s own transformation.

The wider DWP blog has even more useful business tips on other aspects of the digital workplace.

Periscope (Free – iOS and Android) This blog covers the digital side of transformation, including aspects relating to strategy, people, processes, customers, content, measurement and technology.

Recent posts look at reasons why

One app bidding for the future of broadcasting is Periscope, which enables anybody to launch a live stream from anywhere and show it to the world.

BT Sport (Free – iOS and Android)

BT’s app has been given an upgrade as it takes on Champions League coverage this year, with highlights and statistics to hand during matches.

IP: changing the broadcast workflow from end to end

I

P across the entire broadcast workflow is a bit of a chicken-and-egg scenario. Did the technology that is driving the rapid changes we are seeing come first, or has an urgent need for change prompted the development of the latest technological solutions? Debate aside, the one thing that is clear in the broadcast industry is the growing pressure for more efficiency, more functionality and more flexibility – all at a far lower cost. In many ways, IP across every aspect of the workflow has been hailed as the common-sense solution to address these challenges, now and for the future.

Advances in IT technology and IP networks allow video content and data to be managed from almost anywhere in the world, across different rooms, buildings or even cities. This is facilitated through the use of KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) systems, over standard IP networks, that allow information and data to be reliably and securely shared across machines and between operators in real-time.

While KVM products are by no means new to the industry, it’s the use of IP as a transport network that has brought improved levels of reliability and versatility in areas such as the control room, and its supporting technologies. Traditionally, the KVM matrix relied upon bespoke technologies to carry keyboard, video and mouse data around a facility.

These were renowned for being expensive, as they were usually built to order, and were very large and rigid in architecture.

Fast-forward to the modern connectivity solutions and the latest high-performance KVM technologies use core IT technology

which makes them simple to install and maintain and manage.

Whether it is production, broadcasting or post production, IP-based KVM has a definite role to play as it removes the limitations associated with traditional AV equipment and brings real-time, accurate video operation to three key areas of the broadcast industry, namely outside broadcasts (OB), gallery control, and post production. The latest solutions on the market allow operators to switch, extend or share machines and content without any loss of quality or performance.

The use of standard IP infrastructures has revolutionised the way broadcasters and their control rooms operate. Aside from the improved reliability and resilience, it is also extremely cost-effective infrastructure compared to proprietary technology. Chicken or egg, there seems little doubt that IP will be brought in across the entire workflow and IPbased KVM will continue to boost efficiency and productivity in the control room.

Jamie Shepperd is group marketing manager, Adder Technology Twitter: @Adder www.adder.com

TV Everywhere driving rapid growth of 4K

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K content is an exciting prospect, providing both broadcast and over-the-top (OTT) operators with the opportunity to differentiate themselves and offering a fantastic Ultra High Definition (UHD) experience for consumers. Consumer electronics manufacturers see 4K as the catalyst for a new buying cycle of devices. Some research firms have forecasted a rapid growth of UHD ready mobile devices in the next few years that will exceed the growth of UHD TV. UHD broadcasting is just emerging and internet-based services are leading the way. OTT players such as Amazon Prime and Netflix are offering 4K content to drive up subscription. As more services are launched, competition on picture quality will also increase. While Netflix needs just 15 Mbps of internet connectivity to stream 4K content today, this requirement could go up to 20 to 30 Mbps to maximise the UHD live TV experience.

Broadcast operators are playing catch-up with 4K content, but they have a window of opportunity to be among the first to

11

offer live 4K TV on every screen. A satellite operator can broadcast live 4K sports to set-top boxes and support millions of simultaneous viewers without quality degradation or additional operational costs.

This is due to the scaling advantage of broadcast technology. What’s more is that broadcast operators can extend 4K content to mobile devices via the settop box and home network. Without the high internet connectivity requirement, UHD TV Everywhere experience is within reach for more consumers.

Some interesting challenges to watch for (or address) in the future include: Will operators and ISPs solve the bandwidth challenge and deliver live 4K TV in a scalable way, or will broadcast operators deliver live 4K TV more effectively via the home gateway? What revenue models would work best to address the scaling costs of OTT services and competition for bandwidth among ISPs? Peter Oggel (left) is VP, product management, Irdeto Twitter: @Irdeto www.irdeto.com

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INSIDE TRACK

How to create value in your company

I Success comes from excellent implementation Best practice in the turnaround market is shaped by a clear view of the business at hand

T

he companies Rutland Partners target are usually underperforming their potential, and it is important to hit the ground running post-acquisition to stabilise the business, define the strategy and set an agenda of driving through change. This certainly applies to the firm’s latest deal, Gardman, the leading supplier of wild bird care products and gardening sundries to the independent garden sector.

Ben Slatter, partner at Rutland, explains: “The immediate priority with Gardman was to provide financial stability through a significant cash injection into the business. The investment has enabled the company to pay severely overdue suppliers, replenish stock, and start to increase availability of product to customers who were being badly let down.

The process of rebuilding confidence of stakeholders will take time but the market has been quick to recognise the initial improvements post deal.

“With stability achieved our focus turns to executing the strategy.

Through the diligence phase on Gardman we formed a clear view of what was not working in the business and the opportunities that are available to grow both top line and profitability.

Having formed the overall strategic direction we have continued to test it as well as gaining the buy-in required from key members of the management team.

Once the strategy is set it is essential to be able to clearly communicate this to the whole organisation in a simple, easy to understand form.

“Delivering performance is usually approached through a detailed and wide-ranging 100-day action plan.

This covers short-term tactical actions, key strategic projects and other best practice initiatives drawing from our experience gained from investing in other businesses.

A private equity transaction is a fantastic catalyst for culture change in a business but there is a small window to ensure this opportunity is not missed and enough momentum is created around the key projects.

“We then spend time,

as we are now doing with Gardman, involving ourselves in the business to understand it thoroughly and familiarise ourselves with the detail of issues and opportunities as they emerge, ensuring robust reporting and KPIs are developed. However, we also encourage regular and open communication with management.

Our belief is that we can be more effective and supportive shareholders the closer we are to the businesses in which we invest. In particular we will always balance the resources required for the strategy that is set and the prioritisation of projects.

“Ultimately we are investors and not managers of businesses, although what distinguishes us in the turnaround market is the operational commitment we bring to each investment we make, the quality of the relationships we build and the long history we have of successfully working alongside management teams. You can have the right strategy, but success comes from excellent implementation.

For that we rely on quality management with passion and energy, which with our support will create a strong, thriving and valuable business.”

Ben Slatter (left) is a partner at Rutland Partners www.rutlandpartners.com

n the IFT chairman’s day-job as chief executive of The Cooperative, they have reached that satisfying point known to many transformation and turnaround professionals, where they can look back on the crisis that threatened to engulf the group two years ago, knowing that it once again has a future. As Richard Pennycook says, “There is much still to do, but we are rebuilding on firm foundations.” That is how to create value from a situation where none seemed likely to exist.

The same can be true of most companies, whether SMEs, FTSE250, public sector, private or not-for-profit and charities. What it takes are people who can objectively assess the organisation, look at it with depth of experience, from a new perspective and work with management to move the company from where it is to where it realistically can be. IFT-accredited members – you can’t just join – take responsibility by becoming company directors, and they are there for the company, for all its stakeholders.

Over the years as the IFT’s chief executive, I have seen countless examples of how to transform organisations at risk of underperformance.

Our national conference platform on September 10 includes Ann Budge, owner, CEO and chairwoman of Heart Of Midlothian Football Club. In May 2014, Ann completed her takeover of Hearts, thereby saving the club from liquidation and expulsion from the Scottish Football League. The existing entity was preserved and Hearts started the 2014/2015 season free from further football sanctions, leaving its financial future in the hands of its loyal supporter base.

What IFT members do matters to the economy – by saving jobs, boosting productivity, growth and protecting the interests of customers, employees, shareholders and the wider general public – and that, surely, is creating sustainable value.

Christine Elliott is chief executive of The IFT +44 20 3668 0420 www.the-ift.com

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w

At some stage, every company will be breached.

What do you do next?

• TUESDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2015 • DEXTER HOUSE • NEAR THE TOWER OF LONDON

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After the record-breaking security breaches of 2014, information security has never been higher on the corporate agenda. The challenges remain, however, both in managing colleagues and partners, and in keeping security strategies agile enough to compete with increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Last-minute tickets still available

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he early days following a change of ownership or restructuring are vital when it comes to preserving or enhancing the value of a business. A 100day plan is a key tool which experienced advisers use to galvanise a team, prioritise actions and drive quick wins.

Michael Vivian, managing director at FTI Consulting, explains that it is vital to make sure the firm is delivering change every single day.

“Speed is of the essence, not only for companies facing insolvency, but also for a company which has been taken over by private equity owners in a vanilla acquisition. The first 100 days are about the new owner taking control, getting ‘under the bonnet’ and developing a granular view of the plan developed during the investment case,” he says. “Quickly set the energy and reinforce the daily tempo from the top down.”

According to Vivian, plans should focus around three main areas: cash, change and communication: In more stressed acquisitions, cash is inevitably the first area of focus, to ensure that the business has a stable platform to build from.

“Underperforming companies frequently prioritise revenue growth targets, but quickly need to switch their mindset towards cash and profit.” In more difficult engagements this may involve detailed 13-week cash forecasting.

In others there may be a more strategic piece of working capital improvement.

Implementation of rapid change is also essential in a 100-day plan. The plan may involve delivering quick wins identified prior to acquisition, or quickly developing a deep understanding of the processes or systems which must change. In either case, the key is getting the right people focused on the task. Vivian adds: “Some people thrive in a high-change environment – they are intuitive

For inform more at R3 20 ion about call M 15 please arc on +4 Morrow 4( 8349 0)20 6453

A business can only become as successful as its disaster plan

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100 days of active ownership: the key to success thinkers who can work with imperfect data. Part of the skill of 100-day planning is finding leaders who inspire and drive change, and then co-ordinating their energy.”

One of the trickiest yet most important elements of the plan is communication.

“It’s essential to multiply the efforts of the project team, so everyone is pulling in the same direction and buys into the turnaround efforts,” says Vivian. Prior to deal completion, typically only senior management are actively involved, and the majority of the team may have experienced the exhaustion of “deal fatigue”, or

at least feel uncertain of the future and therefore become disengaged. Vivian adds: “Our experience shows that the best communication style is inclusive but very honest – even if there are tough messages – to get people onboard and willing to be part of the change.”

Communication is also about getting the right information to the right decision makers. One of the first things FTI ensures is that the company’s reporting and management information is fit for purpose and drives action. Vivian says: “Underperforming companies often have too little information hidden in too much data. Our skill lies in identifying the key levers

for rapid improvement.”

Ultimately, 100 day plans are used to establish stability, speed and to create the platform for the business to move forward successfully.

The FTI Consulting corporate finance team provide comprehensive financial and operational restructuring services to corporates and their sponsors, including private equity and distressed investors. Michael Vivian (left) is a managing director in the team focusing on providing operational support for investors deploying capital.

020 7979 7400 www.fticonsultingemea.com

he owner of a business could be forgiven for focusing their attention on driving growth or maximising profits, but a truly successful business not only plans for future success but also plans for a disaster.

In a recent survey of midsized business owners, NFU Mutual found that 71.2 per cent do not have or do not know if they have business interruption (BI) insurance – an insurance policy that will cover a business for the loss of profits and increased operational costs as a result of an interruption such as a major fire, flood, theft or equipment failure.

Without sufficient BI insurance, a business is setting itself up to fail should the unexpected happen – research from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association shows that 80 per cent of businesses fail within 18 months after suffering a major disruption.

Many business owners fail to realise the full extent of the road to recovery, underestimating the extra costs and time involved.

For example, on suffering a fire or flood, you may expect the cost of repairing damaged buildings and replacing equipment or stock to be met by your buildings and

contents policies. You may not have considered what you would need to continue trading in the meantime, how you might pay for it and what profits may be lost if customers go elsewhere.

Typically, increased costs can include renting and fitting out temporary premises, overtime payments to staff, additional payments to other companies to provide interim services or goods, additional advertising and extra transport costs.

BI cover can finance your continuity and reimburse any drop in profits for a specified time frame. It is, therefore, essential that you are realistic with the time and money it could take to return your business to full operation – specialist equipment may take months to replace, or a building years to repair.

Having trust that your insurance will get your business back on track with minimal disruption is crucial as a loss of customer confidence or reputation may take much longer to regain, if at all.

That is why it is important to work with a provider who understands the complexities of your business and sector to ensure it is fully protected. www.nfumutual.co.uk

Business Zone

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Support continues for TV disruption

The future

It’s the people, stupid!

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R

oll up, roll up. Come this way to view another anonymouslooking box full of twinkling and blinking lights which does something incredibly clever and is destined for a data room near you.

The IBC 2015 Exhibition. Some 1,700 companies are once again presenting an eye-watering array of stalls across 14 halls. It is a behemoth 21st century bazaar with each stall-holder trying to sell their latest must-have prototype gizmo to the elite of the broadcasting world’s technical community.

But have you heard about the company chairman who wanted to know why he had spent millions of dollars on a new electronic newsroom system but had failed to see any improvements on-air. Indeed, he seemed to be hiring even more people

rather than fewer. It transpired that although the journalists were no longer using their typewriters, they were now dictating their input into the system via personal secretaries!

It’s an extreme example perhaps.

But as the messianic makers and messengers of new technologies try to sell their marvels this week, it’s worth remembering: “It’s the people, stupid”.

Time and again Marquis Media Partners, the international broadcast and transformational change consultancy, uncover broadcasters who believe that technology alone will solve all their problems.

Metadata systems are installed – but piecemeal and with no overriding company strategy. Sometimes they wither on the content supply chain vine,

unloved and untended because even if people have been told what to do, they don’t understand why they should, so they don’t.

New online operations act as bolt-on extras – with shiny new equipment – but unintegrated with the traditional television staff and operations.

Unless traditional broadcasting companies engage and educate their workforce, challenge their traditional organisational silos and really manage their content intelligently and horizontally, then the market disrupters won’t only disrupt, they’ll take over.

Andy Griffee (left) is a partner at Marquis Media Partners +44 (0)118 984 4111 www.marquismp.com

In focus High Dynamic Range at IBC2015 Video special

Everyone recognises that business process outsourcing can deliver major cost reductions. Yet more often than not the business retains the expectation of realising similar levels of cost reduction year on year.

Find out more at http:// business-reporter.co.uk/ video/management/ outsourcing-howorganisations-can-benefit

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here are few destinations in the world as effective as IBC for assessing what the future of broadcasting may bring. From something that few people have ever heard of to a technology on the lips of IBC’s 55,000 attendees and all those that follow the news from the show online across the world, IBC is the place where it can happen.

As a result, at this year’s event in Amsterdam, many eyes will be focused on the “Reinventing Broadcasting” theme that occupies the second day of the conference.

The rules are changing, so

what are the innovative technologies helping to break the mould and what are the new tools and techniques that may be lurking unknown at the fringes?

One of the highlights will be the conference’s examination of High Dynamic Range imaging, a technology almost considered an aside to the main event of Ultra HD for many years, until the likes of the EBU started talking about it as essential to the future of television. HDR allows moving imagery to take on a startlingly lifelike rendition that features far more colour and detail in the whites and blacks as well as a

dramatically brighter screen.

“High Dynamic Range Video: Status and strategies”, on Friday September 11 at 14:00, will look at the domestic experience. It starts from the point that HDR will have far-reaching implications for production practice, delivery chains and domestic viewing, and will hear strategic views on HDR from three of the world’s most well-known broadcasters.

“HDR: From zero to infinity”, in two parts on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 September at 16:00-17:30 looks at HDR’s developing role in cinema. This will be the first of several sessions that will look at the state of the technology, the issues, and the challenges of this exciting new theatrical

format. Part two, on Saturday 12 September at 11:30, will look at the requirements and issues in the capture and postproduction of HDR images, while the topic will conclude with part three on Saturday 12 September at 13:30.

If you want the full picture on HDR, IBC is the place, with the technology and the people to provide it. Inside Out (pictured), courtesy of Christie, Dolby Labs, Harkness Screens, QSC and Disney Pixar, will be one of the films at this year’s IBC Big Screen Experience, on September 14 at 18:30. Don’t miss the unique chance to experience this film in an extended colour gamut version. www.ibc.org/register

errestrial television received through an aerial remains the most popular way to watch TV in the UK. It’s a huge part of daily life relied on by 11 million households.

With so many viewers of this service provided

by Freeview, minimising any cause of disruption is vital. In some homes, 4G mobile signals can disrupt this TV service, causing frozen or blocky images or a “no signal” message. at800 has been created to ensure that UK viewers that rely on Freeview for TV can still receive it if 4G signals cause problems. To support these viewers, at800 can arrange for an engineer visit free of charge, or send free at800-approved filters for viewers to fit, to restore Freeview reception. at800’s engineers have already visited more than 18,000 homes and resolved more than 7,000 cases of 4G disruption.

For those who receive Freeview via a shared communal aerial, or who watch Freeview alongside cable or satellite TV services, at800 provides advice and sends free filters for viewers, landlords and property managers to fit. at800 also warns households that could be at risk of TV disruption.

It has written to 11 million properties to alert people that 4G masts are planned for their area, and to contact at800 if they notice new TV disruption. at800’s contact centre has received more than 250,000 enquiries since 2013. at800’s free support will continue until the 4G network rollout is completed.

For more information visit www.at800.tv

Business Reporter · September 2015 · 15

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

The rise and enthral of video advertising

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rank Sinatra was in the charts and Birds Eye started selling fish fingers, but the most important event of September 1955 was when Gibbs SR toothpaste gave broadcasters something to smile about by unleashing the first TV advert in the UK. Sixty years ago the pioneers were told that TV would never be a major medium for advertising. But marketers persisted, excited by the idea that nothing is quite so captivating and emotive as a beautiful moving image. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, what’s the worth of a video?

This first-ever TV ad had very little impact on Gibbs SR’s sales. There simply were too few people that had a television capable of receiving ITV. But the technology quickly spread, and by 2010 more than 14 million viewers tuned into the final of The X Factor.

Now ITV’s latest earnings show expected advertising revenues to be up 6 per cent for the nine months to the end of September.

But eyeballs are now shifting online.

Every year since 2010, under-45s have spent less time watching TV, and today the average adult internet user spends more than 20 hours a week online. Consequently, the online video advertising market is now the fastest-growing form of advertising, and the IAB showed that total video ad spend is expected to reach £1billion by 2016. This is set to continue. Research from Forrester Consulting shows at least 70 per cent of agencies and advertisers are expecting video

budgets to increase in the next two years.

This is because online video advertising offers brands much more than an audience sitting on their sofa. They allow videos to be more engaging, better placed with relevant content, and give consumer a degree of choice and control. Now, online publishers such as The Telegraph and The Guardian have embraced formats that place videos outside the video stream and between two articles of text.

Known as outstream advertising, this

has allowed them to monetise editorial content and open up vast amounts of premium video inventory for brands.

Online video advertising enables brands to target their audiences while they are on the go, when using their smartphones or tablets, meaning campaigns are no longer tied to the living room. It also helps brands target millennials – with 85 per cent of the generation glued to their smartphones, online video provides the perfect medium to reach that elusive audience.

4K UHD: the future of television T elevision has undergone many transformations since we began watching a large box reflecting the world back to us in black and white. The latest evolution is set to redefine our viewing experience once again.

Four times clearer and sharper than HD, 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) creates a far richer immersive viewing experience, without the intensity of 3D. The difference between 4K UHD and HD is akin to the gulf between colour and monochrome. But, unlike 3D or 8K technology, which both work best on large theatre screens, 4K’s unprecedented picture quality is perfect for the home. At BT Media & Broadcast we’re leading the way in making that promise a reality for consumers globally.

The start of our 4K UHD journey BT Media & Broadcast take programmes from production to distribution. So it was inevitable we’d want to harness 4K UHD’s remarkable potential. Our journey began in August 2013 when, in partnership with the production expertise of BT Sport, we filmed Rio Ferdinand’s testimonial match at Old Trafford. This was a private foray into 4K filming and wasn’t broadcast to the public – but it was a great opportunity for us to test how the cameras would manage and explore the picture quality. The result showed that our network was more than up to the job, and proved a landmark step in making 4K sports transmissions a reality.

Since then we’ve been determined to hone our craft and push new boundaries by filming the first multicamera live international sporting event in 4K, again with BT Sport. In September 2013, we broadcast a Gloucester v Saracens rugby match via our global fibre and satellite network to a select group of industry viewers at the IBC Exhibition in Amsterdam. Not only did this

allow us to build our knowledge and explore camera techniques, it also proved beyond doubt that 4K sports transmission was the future of television.

Taking 4K UHD global Inspired by this success, we had confidence in our ability to broadcast in 4K UHD to a live international consumer audience – and cricket offered the perfect challenge. Its long matches, interspersed with dynamic action and balls hurtling over long distances at high speed would help us perfect the most demanding of filming techniques.

In March 2015, we partnered with STAR India to broadcast seven ICC World Cup Cricket matches from Australia to a huge consumer audience. India being one of the world’s most devoted cricketing nations, we knew we had to get it right.

And we did. By bringing a sport across two continents to an international audience, we demonstrated to ourselves – and the wider industry – that live 4K broadcasting is achievable and we have the technology, equipment and expertise to implement it flawlessly.

The future is 4K UHD It’s clear that 4K UHD is the future of broadcasting so the industry needs to embrace this change. The recent announcement by BT Sport of the launch of Europe’s first dedicated live 4K sports channel has moved the industry on several paces. I have no doubt that 4K UHD will revolutionise home television viewing for ever.

Mark Wilson-Dunn (left) is vice president, BT Media and Broadcast 07715 014335 mediaandbroadcast@bt.com

Video advertising has come a long way since 1955. While we may not be brushing our teeth with Gibbs SR anymore, video advertising is still minty fresh and taking a big bite out of advertising budgets.

And for those still wondering how many words a video is worth, it’s 1.8 million.

Justin Taylor is UK managing director of Teads Twitter: @teads www.teads.tv