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September 1, 2006
SA rocks Supernova. Literally. Go Dilana!
I'm talking about a new (to me) reality show from the Burnett stable.
Rock Star: Supernova. The show is about a global search to find a lead singer for Supernova, a rock supergroup featuring Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke.
(Again, this is supposed a blog about innovation, but this is also my lens on the world, so bear with me.)
I really, really like this show. Or the stuttering, bandwidth-choked bits I'm seeing via my media player off MSN's website. I guess I'm a big fan because I'm a closet wannabe-muso...something along the lines of Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) or Dave Matthews. Like every other kid I guess, so maybe it's time I grew up :)
I discovered it via, ironically enough, a music 'discovery' service called Pandora. Except it was a banner ad I clicked on (check out their music genome project). 
Pandora in itself worthy of a blog entry on its own. As is Last.fm.
Ok, point: A South African (now living in Texas) has reached the top 5, with the show's finale around the corner. Woohoo.
And she's a hardcore rocker: Meet Dilana Robichaux (nee Jansen Van Vuren). With serious ink that Rich...! and co would be proud of. Respect to you Dilana, your bio paints a long, difficult journey that you've been on.
Ok, so how's this posting related to innovation. Well nothing specific really, but I had some thoughts...
What is mobile content now?
This show would make great iPod Video shorts, especially the Performance episodes. For example, some of Dilana's performances:
Lithium (Nirvana), Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash), Zombie (The Cranberries), Time after Time (Cyndi Lauper), Can't Get Enough (Bad Company), Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who) (Gilby Clarke on guitar), Cat's in the Cradle (Harry Chapin), Every Breath You Take (The Police), Mother, Mother (Tracy Bonham). Watching these clips makes looking for the Pop Idols "X" factor a complete joke.
Of course Verizon Wireless is the one offering the tracks on subscription, but creates an interesting perspective on what's mobile. And the fact that MSN is all over this keeps Apple at bay.
I've commented and spoken here and here about innovation in the mobile space if you want to dig more deeply into this riff. Ha! Can't keep away from this music thing.
Mark Burnett's process.
Not sure if it was a deliberate or emergent strategy on his part, but let's reverse engineer so we can apply it elsewhere: He started the real-life TV idea with the Eco-Challenge, then developed that as Survivor. I'm not sure how he came to realise that partnering with the experts in particular aspirational areas would make great TV (to some). So he connects with Trump and The Apprentice, Rocco with The Restaurant, the above mentioned threesome for Rock Star and Sugar Ray Leonard with The Contender. Next up is Steven Spielberg on a show titled On the Lot.
Lessons to borrow and apply to your world? Define the essence of the model, strip out the content and examine the meta-process, the shared structural elements to the model, and once you've done that, re-apply to other domains. This is similar to Triz methodology.
Ok, I promise to come up with some more in later posts.
Posted by sdehaast at September 1, 2006 6:53 PM Posted to food for thought