Thomas Clifford /// Humanizing Business Communications

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, has a great riff on what happens when things get to be nearly free.

Chris suspects we move out of the conversation mode and into exploitation mode.  

True...look around you.  Lots of stuff, yes?

So what happens when things get to be nearly free?  It's worth pondering.

Here's my comment on Chris's riff:

For over 23 years as a documentary filmmaker specializing in corporate-image films, I used to edit in edit suites that cost $750,000 or more to buy.  Oh...catered lunches, with that, thank you.

Same holds true for cameras and the filming production equipment.

Now, for a few thousand dollars, anyone can grab a camera and be an editor.  It's free, in essence...they're giving it away.

So what happens now? Michael Schrage, quoted in Chris's comment, says it's hard to beat free.  I think he's right.  

Here's how I and my fellow producers/directors in this industry will survive: through the power of a great story. 

There are a ga-zillion videos on You Tube...testimony to the power of free.  But how many powerful and gripping stories are stored on the ga-zillion storage devices?  My bet, very few.

Those who tell a compelling story and those who can capture it in creative and moving ways, may just have a shot of staying alive in these "free times."

Tom