Even though i agree that "Ideas come cheap and Execution is all that matters", ideation is a very important process in a potential entrepreneurs journey. Listed below are a few ideas that i have been getting of late ( all courtesy the number of hours i have to kill during train journeys ).
i Intend to develop the discussion about these ideas. I may not have enough beef ( or patience ) to do a thorough evaluation of each idea in the subsequent posts but will try to keep readers engaged with some thing useful. In case you think certain ideas are too dumb or think that you want others to provide comments on few of the ideas mentioned here .. please spread the word .. would love to discuss the feasability of these ideas.
Idea 1 - "Movie magazine" -
The other day i spent close to 20 minutes just staring at the magazines that were available at that news stand ( a rather big one ) and was disappointed that not one magazine had focus on the technicalities of Movie making. I would love to read about how a director like Mani rathnam visualizes his screen play. I would love to see how editors go back and forth to unlock "entertainment value" from loads of reels.
I would love to know the economics of a movie business. I would love to get amateur movie tips so that i can do a near professional job with my low end camera. Given the low costs of CD’s/DVD’s and copyright protection that exists for using a small piece of a work of art ( say a 5 minute clip ) , wouldnt it be facinating to get the thoughts of top directors and film buffs on why a scene was an awesome moment or a damp squibb.
If you have read the trash that is dished out in in terms of film magazines .. you would know what i am looking for and the wide gap between what is there and what an avid film buff like me would be interested in.
Assuming that in 2 years you can notch up a conservative circulation of 1,00,000 copies a month and make it a monthly and charge 80 bucks, you are talking about 80 lakhs per month in subscription money. Lucrative .. not lucrative .. If you think that you would buy such a magazine .. drop me a line.
Idea 2 - In elevator advertising
Disclaimer - I over heard the term "In elevator adverstising" in the elevator and didnt pay too much thought to it then. In the meantime i imagined situations in which "In elevator" advertising would be very effective and think that there are situations where it might be an amazing way of getting targetted ads.
Would it make sense to target audio ads ( something like radio broadcasts ) at people who use the elevator. Given below are some of the use cases of the possible impact of "In elevator advertising".
a) You are leaving from work at 8:00 pm in the evening and you are taking the elevator down. You listed to an add that says - " Watch the investigation of Mumbai bomb blasts in Nat Geo Investigates" on National Geographic channel at 9:30 pm today. How likely are you to surf channels and settle down on National geographic chaneel at 9:25 pm.
b) You and your team are taking the elevator down at about lunch time and the local restaurant plays a small audio clip about how they have launched this new executive lunch buffet at just 120/- ( sic .. just 120/- ) . How likely is this team of 4-5 likely to consider going there ?
There are several other reasons as to why "In elevator advertising", either local or national advertisements might be a very effective way of reaching out to people. Think about it .. in case you come across reasons why this model fill fall flat on the face .. let me know .. we can initiate a discussion on this topic.
Idea 3 - Ad supported movie shows -
If you are like me, you would agree that Multiplex prices for tickets are very very stiff - Rs 160/- and going up to Rs 200/- on weekends. Assuming that it is possible to scroll ads at the bottom of the movie screen .. would you consider watching "Don" for the second time ( Why would anyone want to do this .. watch Don a second time .. yucks ) if you had to pay only 40 rupees and the Multiplex recovered the difference in prices by subjecting you to scroll ads or intermittent advertisements that show up every 30 minutes .
For advertisers , assuming that they can advertise in a way that does not damage their brand perception, would it make sense if they get access to 300 ( or whatever be the count of people who turned up to watch the movie ) and had to pay 30 rupees per person ( 30 * 300 = Rs 9000 ) for say ten impressions of their latest product. As long as advertisers can figure out a non obtrusive way of showing ads ( ala Google search ) , i dont see why users would mind watching a movie which also runs unobtrusive advertisements in the parallel. The advertisers are relatively better off since they have reached a target audience that is bound to be more attentive than normal television viewers and they have an exact count of number of people who have watched their advertisements. The caveat is that these adverisements have to be non-obtrusive.
once again .. your suggestions are welcome on whether this model would work or not.
In case you have more zany ideas, please jot them in the comments section. If we have lots of ideas (atleast one idea) we could possibly start a collaborative blog just to throw around ideas and dissect them.
Cheers
Chandrashekhar V
