2. This is interesting
The Very Special* is the definitive urban guide to interesting things, for interesting people.
You’d think the world needs another city guide like we need a hole in the head. They’re all much the same, lists of
stuff to do, reviews, things, and they’re all much alike. And they all do things in pretty much the same way as
they’ve always done it.
But what if there was a more interesting way to curate content and approach the business of creating an urban
guide?
What if instead of running a urban guide like an on-line magazine you ran it like a creative laboratory – as a
collective for bright, interesting, people to explore what a on-line channel could be.
What if it was approached as an ongoing evolution, a creative experiment the product of which was an on line
magazine, a digital channel and a new kind of creative business.
What if it connected people to events, things, places and each other in a deeper more engaging way?
And What if everyone who worked on owned a share of the business and received a share of the profit? How
would this change everything?
We’re going to find out.
3. So what are we?
Here’s the sound bite:
We’re the definitive urban guide, to interesting things, for interesting people.
The Very Special is a carefully curated guide; we cover arts, music, clubs, fashion,
film, the performing arts, events, design, photography and culture.
But there’s three things about the way we do this that make us different.
4. Different? How?
There are three things that differentiate our approach to content from that of the
competition:
1. We’re the ‘insider’
There are lots of places to find out what’s happening and what’s new. We go deeper.
Having a little inside knowledge confers upon a person a certain status. It’s the key
emotional driver for interacting with us.
But there’s no one that’s doing this well. No one that makes this their mission. And
this is why we’re different. We take people a little deeper; we take people ‘inside’.
2. We curate
We don’t just cover anything that’s new. We curate carefully. We look only for things
that are ‘special’. We look for things, people places and events that offer a little
more.
3. We make a stand for the authentic
In a world of mass produced interchangeable things and experiences, we’re looking
for something else, we’re looking for what’s real, true and authentic. We’re setting a
standard.
5. What makes our business different?
Ok, so there are three things that make our approach
to content different, but there are also 4 things that
make the way we do business different:
1. A collaborative
We’re going to work with practicing professional
across a range of disciplines, from technology, to
media and the arts.
But we’re also going to open our doors to students
and interns – our aim is for the people who will
create the future of media to start by creating it with
us.
What we’re going to do is quite unique; probably the
closest thing would be Fabrica, run by the Colours
and Benetton people out of Italy, Google this if you
have a moment.
2. A creative laboratory
This is an interesting place for interesting people to
do interesting things.
We’re going to continually experiment with content,
design and technology. Digital gives us new ways of
telling stories, connecting and sharing ideas and
experiences; we’re going to use them.
6. 3. A channel
This is more than an on-line guide; we’re an on-line
multimedia ,cross platform channel. This means
conversations, interaction, deep engagement and
creating new applications to support them.
4. A collective
If you look at the publishing world, digital, media the
arts, fashion and music, you’ll find one thing – the
people that work in these disciplines love what they
do. They are in it for the love of it.
What if the people that loved the work owned the
business? How would that change their
commitment? How would it motivate them to create
something remarkable?
This is what we’re going to do. We’re a business and
we will return a profit. However everyone who works
on the project, from an intern to a development or a
business partner, can work to own a share of the
business and receive a share of the profits.
7. An academy
A collaborative creative laboratory – that’s staffed by professionals and interns...
From this you can draw a conclusion: we’re (for want of a better word) an
academy. Think of it as a ‘school’ if you want, it’s where young creative people
get to learn while they create.
It’s an interesting idea – a school where you get to learn by ‘doing’ and the
outcome of all that ‘doing’ is the content for a new media channel.
It’s a place where the people who will create the future of media are actually
engaged in the business of creating the future of media.
There’s no one else doing this, and it’s quite an interesting way of doing things.
8. Time line and project status
It’s an ambitious project, it will take time, but we’re not in any hurry.
The first phase is underway, we’re gathering resources, meeting interesting
people, acquiring data for launch, scoping channels, our brand is coming
together, (*The Very Special is our project name only, the ‘real’ brand identity
will be launched soon) a lot’s been done, things are happening.
We hope to have the first Beta1 site live by July this will be a small scale version,
mostly static content and images that we’ll be using to test editorial direction.
By the middle of September we hope to have a 12 month project plan and
business ‘roadmap’.
By November 2012 we hope to launch a Beta 2 including our first applications
and support true ‘conversations’ and multimedia content.
Who is the target market?
Our target market is not a demographic, but a ‘psychographic’, we’re for opinion
leaders, and early adopters interested in our subject matter – media, arts, urban
music, fashion, festivals, clubs art and city life.
The commercial opportunity
The opportunity is considerable and we’re happy to take you though some of
the numbers, if you're interested, please contact us and we can give you a
presentation.
9. What we need
The creative, technical and editorial team: We’re looking for creatives, designers,
writers, bloggers, journalists, photographers, video makers.
We’re looking for people who like to go out to clubs, gigs parties, festivals,
exhibitions and restaurants – who can document their experience.
We’re looking for people who can develop and build. We’re looking for geeks of all
kinds and for media sales people. Importantly, we’re looking for students and
interns. We’re looking for ‘artists in residence’.
And we’re looking for professionals across the full spectrum of disciplines to mentor
the team.
10. Business partnerships
To make this work without venture capital, we’re looking
for business partners and established businesses who can
commit resources and assets to the project.
11. The team
We’ve got an experienced, well credentialed, award winning team behind us, here’s a few of them:
Ravi Prasad, Strategic Lead
Ravi is strategist and planner with has worked for advertising agencies including Sapient Nitro, Leo Burnett, FCB,
Ogilvy and Mather, Wunderman, One Digital, Tribal DDB and John Singleton Advertising. He was former Head of
Copy and Content for Euro RSCG Digital in Australia, former Senior Strategy Planner for Sapient Nitro in Australia
and most recently a Senior Strategy Planner for Clemenger BBDO.
Over the years he’s been a finalist in or won awards for his work including at AUS Trade, ADMA, APMA, W3, AIMIA,
the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival and the LACP in Los Angeles. Ravi is also a former recipient of the Elizabeth
Hasting Memorial Award at the UTS Human Rights Awards, a Nominee for the Wesley Missions Spirit of Mission
Awards and an Earth Hour Awards Finalist in 2011.
Ullash Tiwari, Social Lead
Ullash has experience on everything from Data & Analytics, Project Management, Blog and Content Strategy, Online
strategy Development , Search strategy, Viral Marketing, Facebook & Social Marketing / Optimization, UX & UE ,
Apps, Facebook Pages, Locations.
He’s completed projects for or consulted on clients including:
Salesforce. QBE insurance. Luxottica Group (Asia). Olivers Peoples. Govt of South Australia (Tourism/Transport sites)
Factual ( The Brains / Data behind Facebook places in Australia / Hong Kong / Italy) . Hermes ( South Korea +
Thailand + Singapore + Hong Kong). AusBt.com.au. Fly Electric Jeans. Billionaire Boys Club. MXP4. Star Trek records
Hollards Insurance Group (Real. Guardian and Budget). Vouchercodes.co.uk (UK). New Zealand - snow tours
ANZ (Australia)
12. Coppa Almeida: Joint Technical Lead
Coppa Almeida is a highly successful boutique digital consultancy with a strong background in developing and
running consumer targeted websites and an analytical and data focused consultancy, founded by Reuben Coppa
Arnold Almeida, Coppa Almeida provide the technical lead for The Very Special.
Reuben Coppa:
Reuben specialise in Business Intelligence, Data Management and Analytics working in pre-sales and sales across a
diverse range of industries with clients such as CBA, Westpac, AMP, Nokia, Optus and Hudson. He has worked in
corporate finance roles in the investment banking and property industries as well as built and sold a successful web
development company specialising in unique product development.
Arnold Almeida:
Arnold has been designing (infrastructure) and developing online solutions since he can remember. He developed
and maintains massively successful consumer sites with over 25 million page views a month and millions of users
including buyinvite.com.au
13. Being interesting
We have a plan and it’s evolving, this is an
experiment, a chance to create something
interesting, to own part of something that’s
going to change things.
There’s a vision, a commercial opportunity
and a path to profitability.
It’s an interesting way of creating something
quite different. And we’re looking for
interesting people top share the journey with.
14. The end. Thank you.
More information and a confidential project briefing is available on request.
To find out more, contact Ullash Tiwari:0433 785 846. ullash.tiwari@gmail.com
