Disruption is innovation that changes the status quo. For those of us who remember, Blockbuster Video was a hallmark institution of Friday nights in the 1990s. For just a few dollars and a membership card, you had walls and shelves of decades of Hollywood at your disposal. Sure, dropping off and picking up was a hassle. And the late fees! Always a bummer. Then along came Netflix. We will mail you the movie. You can mail it back to us. And no late fees. Ever. All for a small monthly fee that was less than your weekly Blockbuster budget.
Now, we all know what happened to Blockbuster. But did you know they had the opportunity to buy Netflix, and they passed? Netflix didn’t dwell on the mail order model for long; they are now immersed in on-demand, digital streaming and with 49% of millennials subscribing, their continued willingness to embrace the future keeps them at the head of the pack.
In 2007, when I Iaunched OutdoorHub, the outdoor industry leaders shook their heads and called me overly optimistic about the impact the internet would have on everyday life, let alone the outdoors. But my experience in real estate allowed me to look at the opportunity and build something new: an aggregated ad network merging hundreds of outdoor websites. Then we took OutdoorHub and pivoted it into Carbon Media Group, a media and content machine, producing over 3,000 pieces of original content to our users.
That forward-thinking media mentality and willingness to buck convention led us to CarbonTV.com: an OTT platform (Over The Top: distribution of media without a telecom network) platform delivering outdoor programming to our core audience across all smart phones, tablets, PCs and smart TVs. This disruption is a win-win: now our users can take CarbonTV programming into the tree stand, fishing boat, or deer blind and our clients can reach their audience wherever they are. We work with producers and publishers of all sizes to get their content to an exponentially growing audience of millennials, as well as finding new viewers through cross-promotion on the Carbon Media ecosystem. CarbonTV Is helping producers build their brand, monetize the hard work of their content while driving better ratings for their traditional shows. CarbonTV is the future; this model of disruption is becoming the new standard.
The future defines the future. What worked yesterday and what works today will not be what works tomorrow. Even if the result is the same (delivering entertainment into customer’s homes), the method, the business model, the staff, the technology can all be adapted. What change or pivot can you make to your business that will improve your chance for success? We must adapt and change or die. Innovate to evolve. Survival of the fittest.
What does this have to do with hunting? As experienced deer hunters know, you don’t hunt where the deer has been, you hunt where they are going. You study the deer, take in the data, routine and use that knowledge to formulate a hypothesis about where the deer will be when it is time to let an arrow fly. My advice to you, hunters, when hunting for the future: go where the buck is going and not where the buck has been.
