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THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL CONTENT

January 28th, 2010 by Fiona Kilkelly

Digital Content will change more in the next seven years than in the last 20. Are you ready? What’s going to happen to TV & Film? Could you spot the next Spotify, iplayer or wii? What will become of news? Are you ready to get the most out of next generation networks? How do we unlock the power of social media? This is your chance to define how content will be distributed, and how it will consumed…

To answer these questions, CITIN are bringing together some of the brightest minds to explore how the future can be created in a series of workshops across England in February 2010. What new business models, what policies, what industry partnerships need to be created to deliver world class digital content to people in the most compelling manner.

CITIN are looking for people who not only have the imagination to build on these scenarios, but who know how they could be delivered. If you are interested in attending this workshop email events@citin.org.

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THE BRITISH FILM AND TELEVISION INDUSTRIES – DECLINE OR OPPORTUNITY

January 27th, 2010 by Fiona Kilkelly

As you’ve probably have seen from our recent press activity, the Lords Communications Committee’s report on the state of the UK Film and TV industry was out this week. Not only was it a fine report, it had a lot of very good things to say about the importance of training and skills for the prosperity of the industry and our work at Skillset.

Here is a summary of what we said about the recommendations:

1. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills should encourage the Higher Education Funding Council to deploy some of its funding to support high-level, post-graduate training in the postproduction and animation sectors;
2. The Higher Education and Funding Council should encourage closer relationships between universities and the creative industries;
3. Skillset’s work on a code of conduct for internships. We are encouraged by the Committee’s support and we will soon be able to publish Guidelines for the industry that cover apprenticeships and other on-the-job training, as well as internships;
4. The film and television industries should provide more equal access to training and skills-based career development through greater use of apprenticeships and graduate internships;
5. Welcoming the continuing role played by the BBC and the BBC’s willingness to make its training more widely available through the launch of the BBC Academy;
6. Understanding the current pressures on the budgets of UK commercial public service broadcasters, but highlighting that a reduction in training budgets threatens the future competitiveness of the UK television industry and urging the Government to encourage them to revive their investment in training;
7. Regret that the UK Film Council should be forced to reduce significantly its funding for training for the next three years, at a time when training should be a priority. Skillset backs the Committee’s call for the Government to make sure that the UK Film Council is adequately funded to allow it at least to restore its former level of support for training;
8. Accepting that in an industry so dependent on freelance working and informal training, there is an urgent need to clarify the uncertainty around statutory definitions of training and asking the industry regulator to take a long term view.
9. Ofcom proposals to develop co-operation within the regulatory framework for training in TV and recommending Ofcom to publish guidance to clarify the roles of the organisations involved.

Here here!

Posted in Media Academies, Skillset, TV, creative media, higher education | No Comments »

Leadership and management needs of the creative media sector

January 14th, 2010 by Fiona Kilkelly

I am hoping that some of you may be able to provide us with some insights into the leadership and management needs of the creative media sector…..

We are currently mid way through a research project with MTM London. The project aims to provide an analysis of current levels of provision and of learning priorities in the creative sector, enabling us to assess the extent to which current training needs are being met and identify opportunities to support L and M training.

I have outlined below what we have established to date, some of it you may know already but I would appreciate any feedback from you wise owls as to whether this is ringing any bells or if we are missing any nuances. Or let me know if you have undertaken any training / mentoring in L&M which has really hit the mark (we have captured about 60 initiatives so far but some may have slipped through the net).

The story so far…

1. There is a strong consensus across the industry that effective leadership and management provision to the creative sectors is likely to involve a combination of generic, sector-wide and sub-sector-specific programmes.

2. In addition, effective leadership and management provision needs to be tailored to the experience of the learner and (to a degree) the size of the learner’s company:
a. Less experienced attendees are likely to benefit most from courses focused on basic business and financial skills
b. More experienced attendees (owner / CEO level) are likely to benefit most from courses focused on developing strategic skills – such as business planning and managing change and growth
c. Additionally, training priorities tend to vary by company size – for example SME needs are likely to be more focused on people management and basic business skills, whereas larger organisations are more in need of training focused on new business models and IP

3. Importantly, there was broad consensus that effective training provision tended to incorporate some or all of the following characteristics:
a. focus on mentoring and coaching, matching learners with leaders who have proven track records
b. active learning methods built around creative tasks
c. work-based learning, with attendees to programmes able to put training knowledge into action immediately
d. short and immersive courses that allow for the needs of time-poor leaders and managers
e. be tailored to the experience of the learner
f. be delivered through short and immersive, work-based learning programmes, or intensive coaching and mentoring programmes.

4. In general, industry participants believe that there is a lack of provision tailored to sector-wide and sub-sector needs, and that where provision exists it is hard to discover and is often marketed to companies using language that does not engage creative leaders and managers.

5. Importantly, even if provision is tailored to learner needs, there are a number of important barriers to demand including cost, lack of time, and a perception that training programmes lack credibility.

What do you think, does this sound right? I welcome your thoughts, comments and questions.

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Beijing, 8pm, 08/08/08

April 29th, 2008 by Fiona Kilkelly

Beijing’s Olympic Games will open on Friday August 8, 2008, at 8pm local time. In the marketing and media sectors there is ferocious activity as companies race to prepare. But as Universal McCann discuss in a recent paper, in many respects this race would be happening even without the Olympics as China’s marketing infrastructure is in a big hurry to meet the demands of a wealthier, more educated, media and brand savvy consumer base. Its just that the Olympics is focusing every-ones minds, raising the ante ten-fold.

This will be the Technology Games. 3G telephony, WIFI and IPTV in and outside China will open new viewership and opportunities to leap frog what we have experienced in the past. Companies are jealousy protecting their plans to avoid ambush and how much international and Chinese companies will spend in national media remains to be seen. Manpreet Singh, CEO at Universal McCann, reckons media expenditure will grow more than 24% this year, television spend by 50%, with CCTV, the national broadcaster and right holder, the big winner. Online media spends will double to about US$2million, accompanied by a huge explosion in user generated content where China clearly leads the world. Television viewing in China will increase 20%-40%, but the Olympics will be bad news for program platforms such as soaps, serials and drama with audiences set to fall 5%-13%.

Online audiences will grow. Sina.com, the largest Chinese language infotainment web portal, reported that during the FIFA World Cup 3.4 million comments and reports were generated. China leads the world in sheer numbers of blogs, with 42 million compared to the US at 27 million.

UM have also recently published a very interesting comparative study of social media trends such as blogs are a main stream media world wide and a collective rival to traditional media – China has the largest blogging community in the world, with the 42 million bloggers mentioned earlier, 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog.

And in Wired this month, one of their top ten business trends is ‘China: the next Global Innovator’, on a sharp spur to innovation. US Venture Capitalists committed 1.4 billion to Chinese companies alone last year, ‘made in China’ fastly changing to ‘invented in China’.

So lots more going on than just the Olympics, as predicted.

And I am off to re-visit Philip Dodd…..

Posted in Facilities, Games, Interactive | 1 Comment »

BBC bares all for Skillset Media Academies

March 26th, 2008 by Fiona Kilkelly

Today we facilitated one of our first industry engagement initiatives for the Skillset Media Academies.

It was a hastily arranged affair (harnessing BBC’s enthusiasm to meet the academy network) and with about two weeks notice we had a packed council chamber in Broadcasting House and an excellent line up of presentations from the key people driving BBCs interactive strategy ( big thanks to John Denton, Managing Editor, TV Platforms, for facilitating the event).

It was also the start of a dialogue between the Academies and the BBC to look at potential future collaborative opportunities and an opportunity to learn more about BBC’s approach to interactive content development and distribution (alongside the skills they required from the workforce in order to do so).

Richard Williams – BBC Multiplatform, Vibeke Hansen – Creative Director UXD, Ian Hunter - Managing Editor iPlayer, Jason Daponte – Managing Editor Mobile and Michael Gray – Lead Producer A&Mi were just some of the people in the line up.

(more…)

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TV Skills Strategy – its all going interactive.

February 14th, 2008 by Fiona Kilkelly

The TV Team at Skillset held a fantastic event two weeks ago at BAFTA where they brought together the major movers and shakers from the TV world to define the skills issues facing the TV industry today. The recently released update from the session shows that multi platform skills are a big issue for the sector. Six / twelve months ago this not a key issue coming from the TV industry in terms of skills development, so we now have a great opportunity to start to look at aligning the activity and addressing the needs of both sectors in a more co-ordinated way. Which is a no brainer, the sector has been moving that way for sometime and we need to reflect that in how we operate.

Other key issues include the lack of business and management skills, lack of diversity and the need to develop talent and innovation.

Keep a watch for the full report here when its published.

Posted in Interactive | No Comments »

Skills emergency – but where has it come from?

February 3rd, 2008 by Fiona Kilkelly

Yes, there is a skills shortage. That is undeniable. Industry is feeling the pinch.

In the digital agency / digital marketing sector I was very lucky to have the opportunity to speak with a couple of hundred industry bods last week at the Chinwag Skills Emergency event to discuss what interventions could be put in place long term and short term. Some of the issues:

Clients fed up because its a freelancers market and why should they invest in outside transient expertise. Freelancers fed up because they do not get training support from their client. Companies too busy to invest in recruitment themselves and recruitment agencies cant find the right people with the right skills for the right job, in turn both companies and recruitment agencies lock horns. Lack of business and management skills are further complicating the picture.

The major issue here is that unlike the other sectors represented by Skillset (as I feel we do cover some of the Digital Agency territory), the market is dominated by recruitment agencies which creates a very strange economy. And recruitment agencies in the digital marketing sector are feeling the pinch maybe more than anyone.

Yes there is a skills shortage but its not new and the driving factors vary from industry to industry, though some core transferable skills are in short supply across the piece. Perhaps its the impact of a rapidly changing business environment, across industry, which is now starting to bite. Whether its interactive independents struggling to take up the new opportunities of multi platform or the explosion of recruitment through social networking sites, theres a whole lot of change out there and not enough skills in house to cope with the pressure to expand or change .

But back to the holy grail – what could be the quick fire solutions for those already in the workforce? More investment in peer to peer skills swapping within and across companies? Online peer to peer mentoring in transferable skills such as business management? Comments to this blog show salary is an issue in facilities, not enough collaboration between industry and academia and poor sector profiles are all part of the mix.

One thing for sure is Sector Skills Councils do need to build closer relationships with the mighty force of the recruitment world, who are at the coal face of the skills business, who at a glance can report and predict the immediate and short term skills requirements and who sit, balancing the scales, between business and the workforce.

Posted in Facilities, Interactive, Skillset | 1 Comment »

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