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Episode 6: Angela Cannon, UP Faith & Family
Episode 625th April 2022 • The Backstory on Marketing and AI • Guy Powell
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About Angela:

As Vice President/Channel Manager, Angela Cannon is responsible for management oversight of the subscription video-on-demand service, UP Faith & Family – a leading destination for Uplifting Entertainment.   

Previously, Angela was VP, National Accounts, Content Distribution and Marketing, where she managed international program sales, distribution, and CDM-focused marketing efforts for ASPiRE, UPtv, and UP Faith & Family.  One of Cannon’s most notable accomplishments was being tasked with launching Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s ASPiRE on June 27, 2012. 

Along with her career in entertainment, Cannon has been the recipient of the Cynopsis Best of the Best New & Noteworthy Best SVOD 2022, Cynopsis 2021 Top Women in Media Corporate Visionary Award, among many other accolades.

 She sits down with Guy to discuss how marketers should gather and evaluate data to effectively attract their target consumers.

Links:

Up Faith & Family Website

Angela Cannon LinkedIn

Guy's Special Offer

Subscribe to Guy's Newsletter

Video of Interview

Transcripts

Guy Powell:

Hi, I'm Guy Powell and welcome to the April episode

Guy Powell:

of the Backstory on Marketing. If you haven't already done so

Guy Powell:

please visit prorelevant.com and sign up for all of these

Guy Powell:

episodes and podcasts. I am the author of the upcoming book. The

PostCOVID Marketing Machine:

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Prepare Your Team to Win. You

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can find more information on this app marketing machine that

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:

prorelevant.com. Today we'll be speaking with Angela cannon. She

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is the Vice President and Channel Manager for UP Faith and

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Family. As vice president and channel manager Angela is

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responsible for management oversight of the subscription

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video on demand service for up faith and family, which is a

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leading destination for uplifting entertainment.

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Previously, Angela was VP of national accounts, content

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distribution and marketing where she managed International

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Program sales, distribution and CDM focused marketing efforts

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for a hair up TV and up faith and family. One of Canada's most

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notable accomplishments was being tasked with launching the

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Earvin Magic Johnson Aspire on June 27 2012. sounds really

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cool. And we're going to talk about that, along with our

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career in entertainment Canon has been the recipient of a

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whole bunch of awards, the synopsis best of the best new

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and newsworthy, best SVOD 2022, synopsis 2021, top women in

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media corporate visionary Award and a whole bunch of others,

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which I'm not even going to list command Jolla. So good to have

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you.

Angela Cannon:

Thank you guys. Thank you so much. Very nice to

Angela Cannon:

have you. Have you have me here today.

Guy Powell:

Absolutely no problem at all. So tell me, tell

Guy Powell:

us what your backstory is on how you got into marketing.

Angela Cannon:

Wow. So my story in terms of marketing is kind of

Angela Cannon:

varied in the fact that I started my career or thinking I

Angela Cannon:

was going to start my career in medicine. So I went back and my

Angela Cannon:

undergrad is in biology. And I decided that as I was, you know,

Angela Cannon:

working my way through college as a phlebotomist, I decided

Angela Cannon:

that I didn't want to do that anymore. But I just so happened

Angela Cannon:

to be in the last years of college, and I not dare tell my

Angela Cannon:

mom, I was going to change my major. So I went back to school

Angela Cannon:

later on for my MBA in marketing. And I started my

Angela Cannon:

career in research at Warner Brothers and Disney and was just

Angela Cannon:

really always interested in marketing. And when I moved here

Angela Cannon:

to Atlanta, I started working at gospel music channel. And they

Angela Cannon:

allowed me not only to start their research department, but

Angela Cannon:

they also allowed me the opportunity to start the

Angela Cannon:

affiliate marketing department. And that is how my story of

Angela Cannon:

content distribution and marketing began.

Guy Powell:

Oh, fantastic. You know, market research is such a

Guy Powell:

good grounding for marketers, because you really find out how

Guy Powell:

to understand what consumers are doing. That's, that makes so

Guy Powell:

much sense. That's for sure.

Angela Cannon:

Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, I started out at

Angela Cannon:

Warner Brothers doing the qualitative and quantitative

Angela Cannon:

research, and then I moved over to Disney. And in fact, the last

Angela Cannon:

project that I did was Grey's Anatomy, and Desperate

Angela Cannon:

Housewives. I did. Those are the last projects that I did in

Angela Cannon:

terms of focus testing. And, you know, it's amazing now to

Angela Cannon:

Thursday night, you know, still see Grey's Anatomy on there. So

Angela Cannon:

it was great to see that that's been going on for years, and I

Angela Cannon:

won't say how many years? That was.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, but that's that. That program has been such

Guy Powell:

a success. And many competitors that have come up with that, you

Guy Powell:

know, like Chicago Med, and I don't even know what the other

Guy Powell:

ones are. But that one has really been a success. So that's

Guy Powell:

great. Kudos to you. That's for sure.

Angela Cannon:

Thank you. Well, I'll give that to Shonda Rhimes.

Angela Cannon:

So but it was an amazing opportunity to to be able to

Angela Cannon:

work with her doing that.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, fantastic. So in any case, so tell us a little

Guy Powell:

bit about up faith and family what's going on there?

Angela Cannon:

Yeah, okay from family it's you know, we call it

Angela Cannon:

are the leading streaming service for uplifting

Angela Cannon:

entertainment, movies series kids programming, clean comedy,

Angela Cannon:

lifestyle programming, like cooking and cleaning, cooking

Angela Cannon:

and cooking, cooking and design shows. I can't even talk today.

Angela Cannon:

We have a little bit for everybody. So it's not what you

Angela Cannon:

typically think of as faith programming, or even family

Angela Cannon:

programming for that matter, we make sure that we have, you

Angela Cannon:

know, content for for everybody 9090 married or single, you

Angela Cannon:

know, you can find anything that you might think you might enjoy,

Angela Cannon:

and even stuff that you may not be so sure about, but you find

Angela Cannon:

out at the end that you love it.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, well, yeah, I was out looking at some of the

Guy Powell:

things you've gotten there. They're very, very interesting.

Guy Powell:

And, you know, it looks like it's gonna be, you know, a

Guy Powell:

smashing success. Good for you. I hope that research will be

Guy Powell:

able to do the same thing. And it did for Grey's Anatomy, as

Guy Powell:

it'll do for up faith and family. Yeah, you

Angela Cannon:

know, what, it's nowadays, it's all about

Angela Cannon:

research and data. Right? So,

Guy Powell:

yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, and I'm a data guy.

Guy Powell:

So I love I love those four letter words, I guess. But yeah,

Guy Powell:

absolutely. research and data. We I mean, we, you know, most

Guy Powell:

marketers, especially, you know, the caliber that you are, that

Guy Powell:

is the critical, critical component for, for success.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, yeah. So tell us some of the marketing activities that

Guy Powell:

you're doing and for to promote the, you know, the service and

Guy Powell:

the channel.

Angela Cannon:

Yeah, you know, I think, you know, as with any

Angela Cannon:

brand, social media really has become, you know, part of

Angela Cannon:

marketing mixes, you know, whatever level it may be, so,

Angela Cannon:

whether it's Facebook, or Instagram, or tick tock, and

Angela Cannon:

now, you know, a lot of brands are utilizing their LinkedIn

Angela Cannon:

profiles, as a way to market and gain, you know, information or

Angela Cannon:

get information out to those valued customers, or audiences.

Angela Cannon:

And these are all mediums that, you know, we use to as

Angela Cannon:

extensions of our brands. So we're very careful to treat each

Angela Cannon:

one with intention, because our overall purpose is to uplift

Angela Cannon:

someone. And we tried to make sure that we reflect that across

Angela Cannon:

all. So you know, within social, we also have other marketing

Angela Cannon:

channels that we use for not only you know, paid and organic

Angela Cannon:

marketing campaigns, but we're sure that ensure that we're

Angela Cannon:

reaching our audiences where they are, and also providing

Angela Cannon:

them with, you know, content, messaging, value ads, that

Angela Cannon:

really allow us to use these vehicles to, you know, not only

Angela Cannon:

acquire new subscribers, but entertain them, engage them,

Angela Cannon:

retain them, delight them, and then in some instances, we want

Angela Cannon:

to, you know, win them back, if they've actually cancelled off.

Angela Cannon:

But it's definitely a full team effort, you know, with our

Angela Cannon:

social media teams, as well as our customer support team,

Angela Cannon:

because they're the ones on the front line of customer

Angela Cannon:

interaction. And then, you know, overall, just organic marketing

Angela Cannon:

perspective, we do a lot. In that regard. You'll find a mix

Angela Cannon:

of promotion, not only across our brands, with Up TV and

Angela Cannon:

aspire TV, which are our linear networks. But we also make sure

Angela Cannon:

that we're, you know, promoting our new titles every week. We

Angela Cannon:

have new titles that come along to the service weekly, we have

Angela Cannon:

exclusive titles. We're very fortunate to have originals and

Angela Cannon:

acquire titles that are exclusive, only tough, you can

Angela Cannon:

family. And so our social team is you know, also really amazing

Angela Cannon:

at hosting sweepstakes and contests and things that you

Angela Cannon:

know, really are going to engage our customers. And they're

Angela Cannon:

particularly those that have loyal followings. We have some

Angela Cannon:

shows that have rabid fans and loyal following. So, you know,

Angela Cannon:

we really try to make it a family affair. And sometimes

Angela Cannon:

we'll do shout outs and birthdays, conduct Facebook

Angela Cannon:

Lives, talent interviews, you know, you name it, we really

Angela Cannon:

tried to make sure that we make our social mediums and all the

Angela Cannon:

marketing that we do really reflect what we're who we are,

Angela Cannon:

which is here to uplift someone.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, that's fantastic. I'm surprised though,

Guy Powell:

that you're using LinkedIn. I mean, I think LinkedIn is an

Guy Powell:

undiscovered social media channel for consumer brands. And

Guy Powell:

so yeah, tell us about that.

Angela Cannon:

Yeah, you know, LinkedIn, we really took a look

Angela Cannon:

at it really over the last maybe two years. And it's more so ran

Angela Cannon:

by our HR department and PR. And what they do is really take a

Angela Cannon:

look at not only what we're doing from a PR perspective,

Angela Cannon:

making sure that the articles are out there, but also

Angela Cannon:

celebrating our employees. So you can go on there whether

Angela Cannon:

you're new to the job or you've been there for a while. We try

Angela Cannon:

to make that a place where we celebrate one another. And I

Angela Cannon:

think that within LinkedIn because it is More b2b and or

Angela Cannon:

actually b2c, in some cases, when you're looking for new

Angela Cannon:

talent, or, you know, also with other, you know, businesses that

Angela Cannon:

you want to reach out to, or even make sure that your

Angela Cannon:

competitors might know some things that you're doing. I

Angela Cannon:

think those are great. It's a great medium in which you can

Angela Cannon:

get all those things accomplished. And people

Angela Cannon:

expected now, right, everyone goes to LinkedIn.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, you mentioned employees,

Guy Powell:

are you doing? You know, one of the things that's really

Guy Powell:

critical now is not only, you know, not only do you have to

Guy Powell:

market for customers, but you have to market for employees,

Guy Powell:

and both on the retention side, and also on the acquisition

Guy Powell:

side, and, you know, in building your employee brand, because

Guy Powell:

it's so critical now with the, you know, with all of the job

Guy Powell:

changes going on in this post COVID environment and all of the

Guy Powell:

dynamics in the employment world.

Angela Cannon:

Yeah, I mean, you know, COVID, right, like, the I

Angela Cannon:

will just say, it's like pre COVID, post COVID, hopefully,

Angela Cannon:

definitely post COVID. Now, I'm hoping we're on the other side

Angela Cannon:

of that. But, you know, the great resignation, and a lot of

Angela Cannon:

people having that opportunity to really sit back and say, what

Angela Cannon:

is important to me? What is, you know, what do I need to do in my

Angela Cannon:

life in this world, for my family, for myself? What are the

Angela Cannon:

things that I've always wanted to accomplish? And I think

Angela Cannon:

people had the opportunity to do that, while they were still

Angela Cannon:

working, you know, they're better home, they have that more

Angela Cannon:

of a work life balance. And I think it's really important that

Angela Cannon:

companies show that, you know, they show that they understand

Angela Cannon:

the differences between pre and post COVID, that they are

Angela Cannon:

empathetic with the fact that people want to put families

Angela Cannon:

first, and that they really think through what's important,

Angela Cannon:

should can you offer a hybrid schedule, can people work from

Angela Cannon:

home, you have so many companies that have now decided to go

Angela Cannon:

completely remote. And, you know, I heard, one of my friends

Angela Cannon:

the other day is, is a recruiter, and she was like,

Angela Cannon:

some of the companies now that are making you go back into the

Angela Cannon:

office completely, are definitely not getting this kind

Angela Cannon:

of percentage of new applicants that they had once gotten, you

Angela Cannon:

know, pre COVID. So I think it's really important that employees

Angela Cannon:

understand now, that as a company, you know, the

Angela Cannon:

differences of what's important in life, and that you are taking

Angela Cannon:

care of your employees. And that you show them that, and you can

Angela Cannon:

show them that on LinkedIn, by how you celebrate your

Angela Cannon:

employees, how what you talk about, do you have, you know,

Angela Cannon:

benefits that are perks that might be different from, you

Angela Cannon:

know, the norm. So those are places where you can talk about

Angela Cannon:

those things that we just haven't really had to do in the

Angela Cannon:

past?

Guy Powell:

Yeah, absolutely. And we know this whole concept

Guy Powell:

of return to office or maybe not return to office, and I was

Guy Powell:

talking to somebody yesterday, and they have a mandatory two to

Guy Powell:

three days a week in the office. And he said, he's, he's unable

Guy Powell:

to hire people, people keep turning him down because of that

Guy Powell:

lack of flexibility. And, you know, so that whole process and

Guy Powell:

getting the right offer and the flexibility and the benefits is,

Guy Powell:

is pretty critical. And the reason why I bring that up is

Guy Powell:

that that same person, he says, the growth of my company, is

Guy Powell:

limited by my ability to hire people. On the one eye, on the

Guy Powell:

one hand, they have these policies that are holding them

Guy Powell:

back. On the other hand, that policy is limiting their growth,

Guy Powell:

because they can't hire the stuff, the people to be able to

Guy Powell:

do the projects that they need to be able to get the new

Guy Powell:

products and new capabilities out that they want to be able to

Guy Powell:

grow their business.

Angela Cannon:

It's a circle, right?

Guy Powell:

It is.

Angela Cannon:

But I think that at some point, companies are

Angela Cannon:

really going to have to lean in to the nuances and the newness

Angela Cannon:

of what's happening in our world and be okay with allowing people

Angela Cannon:

to make their schedules that work for them. Just my opinion,

Angela Cannon:

of course, that's higher than my paygrade. But that's just you

Angela Cannon:

know, that's just my opinion.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, let me let me

Guy Powell:

change the subject here. So who do you who is your target market

Guy Powell:

for a faith and family and then what do you do to really be very

Guy Powell:

specific in how you target your marketing?

Angela Cannon:

Awesome question. Um, so we're, you know, very

Angela Cannon:

much aware that when you see the name, faith and family it can

Angela Cannon:

appear, limiting right to the kinds of programming that you

Angela Cannon:

will find on our service. However, Um, we've done

Angela Cannon:

research. That's my thing, right. But we've done a lot of

Angela Cannon:

research over the years. And we know that there's about 14

Angela Cannon:

million plus, you know, people that we call the outsiders. And

Angela Cannon:

that's people that are seeking positive and driven, you know,

Angela Cannon:

content positive and values driven content. So faith in most

Angela Cannon:

places can mean, you know, that you're getting hit over the head

Angela Cannon:

with Sunday sermons or, you know, the fire and brimstone

Angela Cannon:

scriptures. But not on a pagan family, not at all. So we

Angela Cannon:

carefully curate our content so the entire family can enjoy. So

Angela Cannon:

just like I said, whether you're young or old, married single,

Angela Cannon:

you always be able to find, you know, programming with, you

Angela Cannon:

know, Faith films that have a redemption message with kids

Angela Cannon:

programming that really makes sure that we're careful about

Angela Cannon:

how we, if we have to edit, in some cases, we make sure that

Angela Cannon:

parents understand with through disclaimers, we make sure that

Angela Cannon:

they understand that we are in this with them. And we want to

Angela Cannon:

make sure that this is a safe environment for anyone, everyone

Angela Cannon:

to be able to watch and enjoy content. So to answer your

Angela Cannon:

question, our target market market really is not only faith

Angela Cannon:

centric audiences, and we're very unique in that regard. So

Angela Cannon:

we're able to go broader, right. But however, like most

Angela Cannon:

businesses, the new privacy policies, and also the

Angela Cannon:

elimination of specific targeting, particularly on

Angela Cannon:

Facebook has prompted us to diversify and broaden our reach.

Angela Cannon:

So you know, quite frankly, because of those limitations, it

Angela Cannon:

has allowed us to be more innovative, and be more creative

Angela Cannon:

in our approach, and how we're doing our marketing and really

Angela Cannon:

thinking outside of the metaverse. You know, seeking

Angela Cannon:

those outsiders wherever they are.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, absolutely. And I can imagine not about

Guy Powell:

that, but the targeting with, you know, if part of your

Guy Powell:

audience's children, you know, in the very strict controls and

Guy Powell:

limitations that you have, really does force you to be

Guy Powell:

creative in terms of how you reach that, that market or the

Guy Powell:

parent market that's related to,

Angela Cannon:

absolutely, you know, you have to go out to the

Angela Cannon:

parents and the ones with the money. But, you know,

Angela Cannon:

particularly when you're going through social channels, and

Angela Cannon:

things like that, but it's very, the the way we do it, in my

Angela Cannon:

opinion, fosters an environment of safe, and fosters an

Angela Cannon:

environment of values driven. And I think that alone, you

Angela Cannon:

know, parents are definitely looking for that, in our world

Angela Cannon:

now. And with so many choices, and so many, you know, varying

Angela Cannon:

perspectives, they're just looking for someplace where, you

Angela Cannon:

know, they feel that family is safe.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, and you know, and there's so many

Guy Powell:

opportunities to go wrong, so to speak. And, and I think you're

Guy Powell:

so right, there are so many families who are family oriented

Guy Powell:

parents that really want to, or values oriented family, parents

Guy Powell:

that really want to make sure that their children are exposed

Guy Powell:

to the right things. And as best as possible, it's hard on the

Guy Powell:

internet, it's very hard. It's very hard to expose them to the,

Guy Powell:

to the wrong things, so to speak. So for you, I'm surprised

Guy Powell:

it's only 40 million, I would have thought that I would have

Guy Powell:

hoped maybe that it would have been higher. But yeah,

Angela Cannon:

yeah. I mean, you know, we've been doing this

Angela Cannon:

research for years. And I'm sure you know, that's why we say the

Angela Cannon:

plus, right, because that's what we can kind of ascertain through

Angela Cannon:

our research, but I'm certain that there's many more that

Angela Cannon:

really just want to see positive entertainment.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, yeah. You know, and especially when you're

Guy Powell:

targeting children. Well, and I don't mean to, say targeting

Guy Powell:

children, you're not targeting children. No, no, we're not.

Guy Powell:

Exactly. You know, that brings up a very, really tough question

Guy Powell:

is first party data and, and the control of that, because if you

Guy Powell:

getting that hacked, or you know, just being protected in

Guy Powell:

that, number one, and then also your policies on how you're

Guy Powell:

actually using that in some fashion to, to help, you know,

Guy Powell:

grow the business, retain your customers, and what have you. So

Guy Powell:

can you tell us a little bit about that?

Angela Cannon:

Absolutely. You know, on my team, we really kind

Angela Cannon:

of have driven this conversation of the digital atmosphere here

Angela Cannon:

for entertainment. And we have a saying that, you know, content

Angela Cannon:

is king. The data is the kingdom. So our Head of

Angela Cannon:

Technology and Innovation, he has created a tech stack that

Angela Cannon:

put first party data at the core of our data set. And it truly

Angela Cannon:

allows for a greater ROI and more value to our customers

Angela Cannon:

through, you know, personalized content and also communication.

Angela Cannon:

So it allows us a basis to understand historically and of

Angela Cannon:

course, real time events as customers are, you know, how

Angela Cannon:

they're interacting with our service. But also, again, it

Angela Cannon:

allows us a way to lean in and create a look alike audiences

Angela Cannon:

from data that is coming directly from our customers, and

Angela Cannon:

particularly customers that have high engagement levels,

Angela Cannon:

customers that are coming back more than once or twice a week.

Angela Cannon:

So we're able to really kind of hone in on them. And we have the

Angela Cannon:

ability to cut and dice the data, whether it's by region by

Angela Cannon:

viewing patterns, and behaviors. We also have tastes,

Angela Cannon:

preferences, tastes, preferences is essentially just allowing the

Angela Cannon:

customer to tell us exactly what they want to see on the front

Angela Cannon:

end of their subscription. And, you know, of course,

Angela Cannon:

recommendation opportunities. So, you know, as people interact

Angela Cannon:

with us, and they start their subscription, they ultimately

Angela Cannon:

give us valuable data. And then that data, you know, again,

Angela Cannon:

affords us the abilities to gain customers at a greater

Angela Cannon:

percentage, while you know, really understanding that

Angela Cannon:

streaming is a churn business, right? You get them in, and

Angela Cannon:

sometimes you Fortunately, you churn them out quicker than you

Angela Cannon:

want. So it's really about understanding, you know, your

Angela Cannon:

job. And our job is to make sure that we fill the funnel

Angela Cannon:

consistently with new customers that have a high propensity to

Angela Cannon:

start a free trial, that will convert to becoming a paid

Angela Cannon:

customer, if they're a monthly subscriber that they're going to

Angela Cannon:

convert, you know, or we can upgrade them to an annual

Angela Cannon:

subscription, all of that in an effort to lower churn and

Angela Cannon:

increase our LTV or lifetime value.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned on the on the, I

Guy Powell:

guess the subscription process where you're capturing

Guy Powell:

preferences data? Do you reach out very often to get them to

Guy Powell:

update that and give you kind of a? Well, you know, I said this

Guy Powell:

in the beginning, but now I kind of like that, do you get that

Guy Powell:

data as well?

Angela Cannon:

We do. So we're very fortunate to have an

Angela Cannon:

audience insights team that, you know, we're able to run

Angela Cannon:

quarterly, or maybe even bi annually, surveys on our

Angela Cannon:

customers, so we can get a good understanding of, you know,

Angela Cannon:

what's changed for them? What are they failing, and that

Angela Cannon:

really helps us to not only engage them in their

Angela Cannon:

opportunities on the front end of their subscription, but also

Angela Cannon:

throughout it, particularly if they're our longtime customers,

Angela Cannon:

and really help us from a programming perspective to see

Angela Cannon:

like, what's working, what's not working, what do we need to

Angela Cannon:

acquire more of maybe maybe we pull back on this particular

Angela Cannon:

category, we do a lot of testing with our content. So you know,

Angela Cannon:

we do a B testing is our life. So we really utilize all of

Angela Cannon:

these elements are to make sure that we're offering and

Angela Cannon:

subscribing the best, you know, experience customer experience

Angela Cannon:

across a lot of different avenues. Yeah,

Guy Powell:

yeah. Well on that testing and constant learning

Guy Powell:

and constant insights gathering is so critical to success. And

Guy Powell:

in your case, you know, not only success on the acquisition, but

Guy Powell:

potentially also on the on the retention. And so, wanted to go

Guy Powell:

on to maybe another question, so, but let me preface it with

Guy Powell:

about three or four days ago, our apple tv went out. And so

Guy Powell:

we're now like, we have Amazon, we had Amazon and Apple TV.

Guy Powell:

We're not a big subscriber to and I apologize, I'm not a

Guy Powell:

subscriber to update, confirm.

Unknown:

But we'll be after today. We're really after today.

Guy Powell:

That now we're trying to decide my wife says,

Guy Powell:

Oh, I don't want any of that Macintosh stuff. Let me let's

Guy Powell:

get the Roku and, and I've been so busy the last couple of days,

Guy Powell:

that I haven't had a chance to actually sign up for it, you

Guy Powell:

know, on our, on our, on our TV. So. So are we able to find a

Guy Powell:

faith and family on Roku then?

Angela Cannon:

Absolutely, you can do it two ways, actually on

Angela Cannon:

Roku. And you can either have our direct app that you can just

Angela Cannon:

get our download our app onto Roku, or Roku channels also has

Angela Cannon:

a Patreon family. Once you get it going, you can search us out

Angela Cannon:

search of faith and family and we're right down. All

Guy Powell:

right, fantastic. So which one do you recommend or is

Guy Powell:

the is it both the same whether you

Angela Cannon:

call it the same? It's about the same but you

Angela Cannon:

know, if you want to take it with you go ahead and get that

Angela Cannon:

app, download the app and you can download and view on the

Angela Cannon:

road.

Guy Powell:

Absolutely, well, I've never been gets to the

Guy Powell:

multiscreen environment, you know, I don't know, I watch TV

Guy Powell:

or the news or whatever, you know, on my iPad on my iPhone,

Guy Powell:

on my laptop, and then of course, on the TV and whatever.

Guy Powell:

And that's got to really be a challenge for you in your

Guy Powell:

industry to really understand what's going on, and how your

Guy Powell:

viewers that are actually consuming your content.

Angela Cannon:

You know, I don't know if it's so much of a

Angela Cannon:

challenge as it is the ability to keep us on our toes. So for

Angela Cannon:

instance, I've looked at that as being an enriched viewing

Angela Cannon:

experience for everyone. Because, you know, I'm not even

Angela Cannon:

close to being a Jimsy, or by any means, but I have my phone

Angela Cannon:

with me, you know, all the time. So I'm never far from my phone.

Angela Cannon:

But there are several stellar stats out there now that, you

Angela Cannon:

know, we pick up our phone as much as 90 times a day up to as

Angela Cannon:

high as I've heard, you know, like 300 times a day. It's

Angela Cannon:

incredible how much we check in to see, you know, if we have a

Angela Cannon:

new text, we have a phone call, we miss some notifications, wait

Angela Cannon:

to see if anybody liked our posts on Instagram. But you

Angela Cannon:

know, if you think about the overall viewing experience, Long

Angela Cannon:

gone are the days of a laid back experience. And you know, you

Angela Cannon:

and watching your TV on your couch with no interruptions, you

Angela Cannon:

know, we use our phones, we use our tablets to enhance that

Angela Cannon:

experience through, you know, either researching the actors,

Angela Cannon:

you know, what are their movie that they started? What day did

Angela Cannon:

that movie come out? I know, for me, it allows me the opportunity

Angela Cannon:

to go and look at their social pages. If there's a particular

Angela Cannon:

movie page, or if there's a service page, you know, I find

Angela Cannon:

myself on know, Netflix a lot or homework a lot, of course, I've

Angela Cannon:

been a family a lot to see if there's any additional

Angela Cannon:

information that will gain me a greater experience or a greater

Angela Cannon:

knowledge base of that particular movie that I'm

Angela Cannon:

watching or series that I'm watching. So again, I feel like

Angela Cannon:

you know, us the usage of our phones and our tablets has just,

Angela Cannon:

again enriched the way in which we view content. So if anything,

Angela Cannon:

not only do I think it's improved our industry

Angela Cannon:

holistically, but I also think that it's, you know, a value add

Angela Cannon:

for for viewers. And yes, it does, does make marketers even

Angela Cannon:

more so savvy about having a buy through marketing message on all

Angela Cannon:

of those different elements?

Guy Powell:

Yeah, absolutely. And, and we're guilty of that.

Guy Powell:

And I don't know if I'm in the 300 range on my phone, but

Angela Cannon:

I hope I'm not but I don't know, I'm just start

Guy Powell:

to count, it would be awful. Yeah, I, my wife and I

Guy Powell:

do quite often will be, you know, watching something and

Guy Powell:

we'll say, I wonder, you know, who is that? Or who was that?

Guy Powell:

Or, you know, and, and then we'll go and look them up. And

Guy Powell:

then you know, and just like you said, the other thing I've

Guy Powell:

noticed, though, is that the use of QR codes on? Certainly on the

Guy Powell:

commercials now. And now I will admit one of the challenges I've

Guy Powell:

had, I've never been able to get my I've never been able to pick

Guy Powell:

up my phone to be able to take a picture the QR code to get it

Guy Powell:

actually the link over. And but do you see something like that

Guy Powell:

influencing what you guys are doing?

Angela Cannon:

Absolutely. We've been using QR codes now for

Angela Cannon:

about a year. And you know, we're constantly testing and

Angela Cannon:

getting better at it every day. But we just really feel like not

Angela Cannon:

only QR, I feel like the QR code has made a resurgence right. I

Angela Cannon:

remember using it when it first came out probably back in 12, or

Angela Cannon:

13, especially when we've just had launched a spire. But now it

Angela Cannon:

kind of went away. And then when COVID came back, it seems like

Angela Cannon:

it's back everywhere. Right? You can have a QR code at the

Angela Cannon:

restaurant to get your menu. So you're not you're having a

Angela Cannon:

contactless experience and you know, while you're eating, and

Angela Cannon:

even now with our spots, that's exactly what we do. We put them

Angela Cannon:

on our spots, and we make sure that we're tracking everything,

Angela Cannon:

you know, all the way down to where it was late. But I really

Angela Cannon:

feel like it's a way that people have become accustomed to just

Angela Cannon:

getting their phone, putting it on. They're going to the

Angela Cannon:

website, making that transaction really easy and seamless.

Angela Cannon:

Because that's the point, right? You want to make sure that your

Angela Cannon:

customer doesn't have any friction. It's a frictionless

Angela Cannon:

transaction, and the more you're able to do that and to really

Angela Cannon:

get to the point where they feel like you've made it super easy

Angela Cannon:

for them. And I feel like you would have a customer for a

Angela Cannon:

longer period of time.

Guy Powell:

Yeah. And I think, you know, it's interesting when

Guy Powell:

you talk about QR codes originally coming out versus

Guy Powell:

now, the big difference is that the QR code, you had to

Guy Powell:

previously have a QR code reader to be recognized the QR code now

Guy Powell:

Apple, and you know, and all the iPhones and Android have built

Guy Powell:

that into the camera. So when I shine my finger on the QR code

Guy Powell:

that it automatically recognizes that, right? Yeah, last night, I

Guy Powell:

was at a event, we were doing an event with an on virtual

Guy Powell:

reality. And, and I, I apologize, I don't mean to have

Guy Powell:

wine on my desk. But we had it on here. And so there's now you,

Guy Powell:

the labels have QR have virtual reality. And the difference,

Guy Powell:

though, is that the, you have to download an app. And so I have a

Guy Powell:

feeling that the VR that's on on the different bottles of wine or

Guy Powell:

different products, it doesn't really matter. But that's on

Guy Powell:

those, if they can get it native inside the camera on, you know,

Guy Powell:

on the apple, you know, the iPhone or on the Android, that I

Guy Powell:

think the VR will really, really take off at that point. So I

Guy Powell:

agree with that. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So what other trends

Guy Powell:

do you see coming up here now, now that we're looking at post

Guy Powell:

COVID are hoping that we're post COVID? So what kind of

Guy Powell:

interesting marketing trends do you see?

Angela Cannon:

You know, I think, just having to be really

Angela Cannon:

careful about data, really. Because from a trends

Angela Cannon:

perspective, there's so many different things from a

Angela Cannon:

marketing perspective, I should say, data has really afforded us

Angela Cannon:

the opportunity to, like I said earlier, our first party data

Angela Cannon:

has really afforded us the opportunity to, you know, really

Angela Cannon:

understand our audiences. But because of the privacy policies,

Angela Cannon:

and the things that have happened, it is going to really

Angela Cannon:

be an area where marketers are going to have to focus their

Angela Cannon:

efforts to really kind of learn new boxes and new things that

Angela Cannon:

are coming down the pike. And one of those things, you know, I

Angela Cannon:

don't know if recently if you saw, but Netflix has added

Angela Cannon:

gaming to their service. So, you know, that is a pro for sure.

Angela Cannon:

Because you have millions and millions and millions of gamers

Angela Cannon:

in the world. And they experience gaming through, you

Angela Cannon:

know, Mitch outlets, but in, in some instances, probably

Angela Cannon:

disjointed experiences. But Netflix saw that void, and they

Angela Cannon:

capitalize on that opportunity. So I think if there's other

Angela Cannon:

technologies or other data sources that will allow us to

Angela Cannon:

kind of chime in to what's hot, what's not, you know, what's

Angela Cannon:

actually swaying customers attention. That's how marketers

Angela Cannon:

are going to be most successful in their job. So we have to

Angela Cannon:

really be ahead of the curve. And we have to figure out, you

Angela Cannon:

know, what, what technology is coming, is coming down the pike

Angela Cannon:

that could work for you. So yeah, that's, that's one of the

Angela Cannon:

trends is adding, adding gaming into to there, but also, again,

Angela Cannon:

just being really cognizant about about about data.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, yeah, no, I think you're right, I think, and

Guy Powell:

data is gonna get more and I have a feeling it's gonna get

Guy Powell:

more clamped down and clamp down as as, you know, as the

Guy Powell:

regulations and what have you kind of evolve, but it's kind of

Guy Powell:

interesting that you bring up Netflix with their, with their

Guy Powell:

gaming, one of the biggest challenges that marketers have

Guy Powell:

is how do you reach the male, you know, 25 to 35? Because

Guy Powell:

they're not on the traditional media channels. And, and, and so

Guy Powell:

then gaming is certainly one way that you can, you know, reach

Guy Powell:

them reach also the the women in the same age, but the bet that

Guy Powell:

male 25 to 35 really, really tough to reach. And if Netflix

Guy Powell:

is able to crack that with their offering a gaming, that could be

Guy Powell:

a real value for a lot of advertisers that want to take

Guy Powell:

advantage of them.

Angela Cannon:

Yeah, I mean, I, in my opinion, I really think

Angela Cannon:

it's a game changer, right? Because I think there's another

Angela Cannon:

opportunity in animation. You know, you have a lot of 3d and

Angela Cannon:

2d animators that are also male centric, and in some instances

Angela Cannon:

you in then you have again, like I said, the gaming part of it.

Angela Cannon:

So it's really kind of finding out what makes men tick, and I

Angela Cannon:

haven't cracked that curve yet. Okay. But, but I think that that

Angela Cannon:

is definitely one way to do it. And you're right, if the,

Angela Cannon:

they're, I'm sure they're having some success with that. And, you

Angela Cannon:

know, advertisers, overarching leave, obviously Netflix doesn't

Angela Cannon:

have advertising like that, but I think they'll start to see

Angela Cannon:

maybe some other opportunities, whether through their social

Angela Cannon:

media platforms or, you know, start taking other extensions

Angela Cannon:

from the gaming that they just have on the platform and

Angela Cannon:

utilizing it made me through YouTube, or whatever, I'm sure

Angela Cannon:

they're gonna figure out what other revenue generating

Angela Cannon:

opportunities are going to be there for them on that.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, and they definitely are a leader in the

Guy Powell:

industry in so many ways. And with them now taking you know,

Guy Powell:

such as a strong offer, or putting out a such a strong

Guy Powell:

offering with gaming, it'll be interesting to see how that

Guy Powell:

evolves, and then how all of the other competitors, you know,

Guy Powell:

evolve behind them and, and maybe that'll be an opportunity

Guy Powell:

for you is to offer kind of a family friendly or family value

Guy Powell:

centric gaming in some fashion. So

Angela Cannon:

yeah, you know, maybe I mean, that you say

Angela Cannon:

competition, right. So, you know, that is definitely a topic

Angela Cannon:

that we should talk about, because streaming has exploded,

Angela Cannon:

but then so has a bot and so has fast. But, you know, you see all

Angela Cannon:

of these Meech s VODs. And they come into play, and then you're

Angela Cannon:

also now seeing a lot of the large mega corporations merging,

Angela Cannon:

and then they're combining their content together into more even

Angela Cannon:

more robust services. So I think Monday, I think you're gonna see

Angela Cannon:

that Discovery's acquisition of Warner media coming into play.

Angela Cannon:

So you have a million discovery catalog, but that has varied

Angela Cannon:

content, right? So it can be anywhere that's male centric,

Angela Cannon:

female centric, you know, you have all the reality you have, I

Angela Cannon:

think they're actually losing this gift. And Joanna, Chip, and

Angela Cannon:

Joanna Gaines content is going to HBO now. But you know, you

Angela Cannon:

have all of this content, and then you bring on the Warner

Angela Cannon:

media catalog with all of these notable movies, it's a huge

Angela Cannon:

effect, it's a vast and varied, you know, library. So you have

Angela Cannon:

that ability to tap into all of those different audiences, you

Angela Cannon:

know, at one, just one service and, and then, you know, think

Angela Cannon:

about what Disney has done to with bundling, so you get Disney

Angela Cannon:

plus, and you get ESPN and you get Hulu. So you know,

Angela Cannon:

consumers, now they have opportunity to have several,

Angela Cannon:

several services. And I think the average is three to four,

Angela Cannon:

maybe even five services. And no longer is that decision, only

Angela Cannon:

Netflix. So they had to come up with with something right. And

Angela Cannon:

you have Amazon Prime, like you talked about earlier, and you

Angela Cannon:

have Disney plus, and you have a favorite family, because, of

Angela Cannon:

course, I'm going to plug my own service. But you know, it really

Angela Cannon:

requires the opportunity to be innovative, to be creative, to

Angela Cannon:

be hyper targeted, to think about those voids in the market.

Angela Cannon:

And make sure that you totally and completely understand your

Angela Cannon:

audiences. And that you continue, you know, continue to

Angela Cannon:

promote your unique value proposition and in ours, it's

Angela Cannon:

because we want to uplift someone.

Guy Powell:

Well, you know that? And that's one of the challenges

Guy Powell:

that I have is, well, it's twofold. One is there are so

Guy Powell:

many different offerings, you know, you go into a grocery

Guy Powell:

store, and there's maybe 100,000 different things that you could

Guy Powell:

buy in a grocery store and, and you know, that that amount of

Guy Powell:

choice is now almost the same as what you have on these on the

Guy Powell:

subscription or, or other services. And, and that's just

Guy Powell:

the you know, it's almost, it's just too much and then you don't

Guy Powell:

know, you know, are they really worth it? And so, you know, you

Guy Powell:

asked your friends, do you really like this? Do you like

Guy Powell:

that? And then I don't know about you, but I have signed up

Guy Powell:

for so many services for my business and my wife as well for

Guy Powell:

her business and all these monthly charges going and we

Guy Powell:

just kind of said where we are going to limit you know, monthly

Guy Powell:

charges because it's just so many. Yeah, you don't know what

Guy Powell:

to turn them off.

Angela Cannon:

Yeah, I mean, I think that goes back to you

Angela Cannon:

know, the bundling aspects, right. So a lot of people are

Angela Cannon:

going to really kind of take companies that are offering that

Angela Cannon:

opportunity. They're gonna take them up on it because you're

Angela Cannon:

gonna get you know, your your family content and your sports

Angela Cannon:

content and your movies and your broadcast TVs all in one all in

Angela Cannon:

one payment, right? But then you're also going to go after

Angela Cannon:

the ones that make it a little bit easier. hear, you know, so

Angela Cannon:

payment gateways that make it a little bit easier. But you're

Angela Cannon:

also going to make sure that you're getting something that

Angela Cannon:

everyone in the family can enjoy. And I think, you know,

Angela Cannon:

for for Epic and family, not only, again, our value

Angela Cannon:

proposition is to be offering that something that everyone in

Angela Cannon:

the family can enjoy, but we do it at a price point, that's not

Angela Cannon:

going to hurt your pockets that much. And I think ultimately,

Angela Cannon:

what you get in that value will definitely be higher on your, on

Angela Cannon:

your list of priorities of what you're gonna do per month,

Angela Cannon:

because of that, because it is value build for back to you.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, no, and that makes a lot of sense. And, and I

Guy Powell:

think, I think consumers are, you know, in my, my examples,

Guy Powell:

way too extreme, but I think people are starting to figure

Guy Powell:

out, you know, how to trade off the different things to make

Guy Powell:

sure they're getting everything and, and I like the way you put

Guy Powell:

it as well, as you know, are you getting the sports and the

Guy Powell:

family and the other entertainment or whatever? Then

Guy Powell:

the Lord, do you have to buy it separately in some other way. So

Guy Powell:

it makes a lot of sense, just as long as I get to see the Braves

Guy Powell:

once in a while.

Angela Cannon:

That's all that matters. That matters and opener

Angela Cannon:

last night. Were you out there?

Guy Powell:

No, you know, I was I really thought about it. But

Guy Powell:

my wife and I, we went to two of the playoff games last season.

Guy Powell:

And I just blew hold that money on that I can't do it again,

Guy Powell:

even though I really really wanted to.

Angela Cannon:

Understood Yes.

Guy Powell:

How to do by the way,

Angela Cannon:

you know, I don't even know, I hope they won

Guy Powell:

We are bad Braves fans!

Angela Cannon:

All I know is there was a lot of people out

Angela Cannon:

there.

Guy Powell:

Good, that's good. That's good well, after they won

Guy Powell:

them, so you know, it's so exciting. But anyway, any last

Guy Powell:

things, or one or one more nugget that you'd like to give

Guy Powell:

the listeners or?

Unknown:

Um, listeners, you know, I just think, again, I

Unknown:

know, I've talked a lot about data, but I just think that, you

Unknown:

know, thinking through how you utilize your data, and

Unknown:

understanding how the data privacy is affecting, you know,

Unknown:

marketers, it can be, you know, a pro and a con. And I think,

Unknown:

you know, marketers probably should think about the, you

Unknown:

know, a pro in the fact that, you know, you're getting highly

Unknown:

qualified leads, you know, back to your service or back to your

Unknown:

product, whatever that may be. But a con because, of course,

Unknown:

you're getting a smaller pool of leads, because, you know, people

Unknown:

have to actually opt in to say, yes, you can utilize my data.

Unknown:

And you know, unless you have valuable content, compelling

Unknown:

content, you have your value proposition is listed out, they

Unknown:

can surely see what it is, you know, a small, very small

Unknown:

percentage are actually going to opt in. So we again, as as

Unknown:

marketers, my last bit is just to really understand the data,

Unknown:

understand your consumers and go after them where they are.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, well, then I think two people are willing to

Guy Powell:

give you data, if they get something in return for it. And

Guy Powell:

if you can show that link that it's really and truly there,

Guy Powell:

then, you know, then they are more willing to do that. Now.

Guy Powell:

Now for me, I'm a marketer. So I unfortunately, I sign up for

Guy Powell:

everything and drives my wife crazy. And I use my data,

Guy Powell:

because I want to see, you know, how the data gets used. And so

Guy Powell:

we were just in the market for a new car, and we bought a new

Guy Powell:

car. And so we went out to a couple of sites. And I was

Guy Powell:

surprised at how good some of the marketers were, and how bad

Guy Powell:

some of the other ones were, they was definitely the best, we

Guy Powell:

were looking for an SUV. And within a couple of hours, they

Guy Powell:

had an ad on my TV. We had gotten out, you know, looking at

Guy Powell:

it on our iPad, and GM was a day or two behind and then the rest

Guy Powell:

of them were nowhere to be seen. Wow. Though, I was really,

Guy Powell:

really surprised, especially when you're buying something

Guy Powell:

that's, you know, of that value you have invested in that data.

Guy Powell:

And so I think to your point, you know, if you use that data,

Guy Powell:

right, and obviously with permissions, but if you use that

Guy Powell:

data, right, there is a lot of money that can be had.

Unknown:

Absolutely. And you know, again, it's just all about

Unknown:

really making sure you take the time to understand what people

Unknown:

are looking for and meeting them where they are.

Guy Powell:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, Angeles, thank

Guy Powell:

you so much. I really appreciate the time today and I know you

Guy Powell:

know we've been interrupting your emails and stuff like that

Guy Powell:

and

Angela Cannon:

it's so sorry, I turned it off!

Guy Powell:

I didn't mean it that way. But you know, like we

Guy Powell:

were talking about Friday is so email driven and and I had a

Guy Powell:

phone call come in and I thought I turned it off, but it still

Guy Powell:

rang. So we're all guilty of it. And Friday is I guess the worst

Guy Powell:

for that. But anyway, thank you so much. Really, really

Guy Powell:

appreciate it. And yeah, and otherwise then please sign up

Guy Powell:

for other episodes end the podcast series and if you get a

Guy Powell:

chance, please rate this podcast with five stars. Angela, thank

Guy Powell:

you so much.

Angela Cannon:

Thank you, Guy. Appreciate it.

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