Not the Same as it Ever Was Part I
Feb 9, 2009
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The group was formed in 1998 with one main goal in mind: to ensure greater opportunities for family-friendly programming on network TV. That mission worked well for the first decade. But in a world in which digital content is so versatile, the Alliance is broadening its focus to include all media, including nontraditional venues such as the Internet, video games and mobile phones.
"Having accomplished our initial goal, we revised our mission and related energies to play a key role in the media landscape of the future," says Alliance co-chair Carole Millsaps, marketing principal, FedEx Services. "We plan to maximize our momentum to ensure that families have access to appropriate content across all distribution platforms."
Pat Gentile, national television programming manager for Procter & Gamble and the group's other co-chair, explains that the group's original mission was "to find solutions to the lack of primetime television with multigenerational appeal. We knew that relevant, well-written, compelling programming that was appropriate in theme and language and resolved issues responsibly was good entertainment."
Moving forward, the Alliance will accomplish its goals along three chief avenues: content development, research and events.
Content development will include partnerships with organizations supporting pro-family/social issues, as well as with providers and creators of original content. Research will include proprietary research for Alliance members and the industry on the American family and the changing media environment. Events will include symposiums that engage all facets of the entertainment community.
The new mission has its roots in an idea developed in 1998 by two leading marketing executives-then Procter & Gamble global marketing chief Bob Wehling and Andrea Alstrup, a corporate vice president for Johnson & Johnson at the time. The big idea, with the backing of seven blue-chip advertisers, became the Family Friendly Programming Forum (FFPF), a group dedicated to the idea that it would be great for families if parents and their kids could sit down and watch a TV show together without either side being embarrassed.
Back then, the group's mission was relatively simple: Ensure that there was a family-friendly option on primetime network television during each hour of programming. But 10 years ago, the media landscape also was relatively simple. These days, that world includes everything from TVs to cell phones, from the Internet to PDAs and from traditional television series to video games.
"Ten years ago, people were talking about this amazing thing called the Information Superhighway," says Gentile. "At that time, no one really knew what it was all about or what it would become or even how it could be used. Fast-forward 10 years, and the Internet has become an integral part of content distribution and marketing. And we, as a group, came to the idea that we had to evolve, as well."
Millsaps agrees that the new direction was necessary. "We needed to stay relevant," she says. "Our goals remain just as worthwhile today-maybe even more so. But the way we go about achieving our goals needed to change and expand."
Ed Gold, advertising director for State Farm Insurance Companies and a member of the executive committee of the Alliance, added that, while the new mission surely is more complex, it also has a larger potential upside.
"The mission had to broaden because there are so many viable media options now," he says. "Cable TV is garnering more of the audience, and then there are the Internet and mobile platforms. When you look at it all together, you see an enormous opportunity to get your pro-social, pro-family message out there."
Chris Meringolo, director of global media services and digital marketing at Schering-Plough Consumer HealthCare Products and a member of the Alliance's executive committee, has an even more succinct way to sum up the change: "We've been incredibly successful at opening the eyes of the networks. Now it's a matter of saying 'What's the next step?' "
That next step will undoubtedly get, as Gold suggests, more complicated. But it also will be more inclusive. Hallmark Channel, for instance, has supported the family-friendly cause for many years. But now that the Alliance's purview also includes cable TV, the network, along with its Hallmark Movie Channel, could become more involved, according to Bill Abbott, executive vp/ad sales for Crown Media Holdings, the parent company of the two cable networks.
"The media landscape is exploding, so this new direction by the Alliance will give it an even greater opportunity to promote and help develop multigenerational programming," says Abbott, who will be selling ads against about 30 family-focused original movies in 2009. "It's definitely a big job. But when you look at the kind of people who are involved, you've got to feel pretty good about them getting the job done."
As for Hallmark, he adds: "We're here and ready, and we're really looking forward to working with them."
While the Alliance expands its scope this year, it will also revamp some of its core initiatives to reflect the changing times. The very successful script development fund has evolved into a more proactive content development fund in which the Alliance will be more involved with original family-friendly content development by partnering with content developers.
Previously, the fund provided networks with seed money for the development of family-friendly shows, the first of which came in 2000 with the launch on The WB of Gilmore Girls, a show that would run for seven successful seasons. During the 2007- 2008 network TV season, the Alliance participated in the development of numerous scripts (even though the season was hampered by the strike of the Writers Guild) and current series that have benefited from the fund include popular shows such as Everybody Hates Chris on The CW and NBC's Friday Night Lights.
For more Family Friendly coverage:
Not the Same as it Ever Was Part I
Not the Same as it Ever Was Part II
A Hallmark of Family Programming
Wii Are Family
ANA Group Heads into its Second Decade
