I complain about needless complexity in credit card agreements, telephone bills and government forms when it is a nuisance. Once in awhile, an example stops me in my tracks because it is much more serious. Reading the January, 2009 edition of Vanity Fair, I was horrified to read that unclear instructions had killed hundreds of people. On September 29, 2006, a Legacy 600 private jet caused an accident with a Boeing 737 in South America that killed everyone onboard the 737. I had heard about this accident in the news, but until I read the magazine article, I hadn’t realized that unclear instructions and an unwieldy computerized Flight Management System were the roots of the accident.

Two pilots were flying a new but “inherently simple jet that had been stuffed with electronic capabilities-most of them nested, and therefore hidden from immediate view.” As the Vanity Fair author points out, they were unable to answer the offhand question from a passenger who asked, “How much longer (to the destination)?” because the computer screen offered them:

“Duty time, Block time, Local time, Push time, Release time, Time Off, Time en Route, Time of Arrival, Fuel-Remaining Time, Void Time and Coordinated Universal time (aka Zulu time).”

Much more seriously-fatally for others-they had unknowingly turned off the TCAS transponder in mid-flight during their fumbling and searching. They had been flying on a collision course with the Boeing 737, yet they weren’t transmitting their position so that collision-avoidance systems on the ground and other aircraft could detect them.
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With the holiday season upon us, much of our attention will invariably shift to the kitchen; some say the most important room in the house. It is here that vital decisions will be made by wannabe culinarians and their interloping relatives, as to what are the best combinations of ingredients to delight the group’s collective palates. And if my large, Irish family is proxy for what goes on elsewhere, getting the “right mix” to dazzle the oft-demanding taste buds of our clan, can be tricky business.

Extending this metaphor to the media landscape, it has been interesting to observe, of late, the wisdom and elegance of how certain media brands have been born from combinations that heretofore might have seemed unnatural, potentially unworkable, and to a large degree verboten.

For our first course, consider Hulu, an ad-supported, online service that provides full-length webcasts of TV shows and movies from NBC Universal and FOX and many other networks and studios. The joint venture hit the ground running and has never looked back. And while some were skeptical at first about the unlikely combination of these media titans, the way Hulu has served up its content and business model is a case study in how strategy and simplicity must be interwoven to produce successful co-branding in the media business.

So, what did they do? First they understood that to co-brand is to never lose sight of the objective that: 1+1 must = 3, or it’s not worth doing. Here, both partners decided that the brand needed a unique identity, which meant neither organization would be prominently featured, and viewers were thus allowed to taste a whole new experience, albeit supported by a treasure trove of original content from both known brands. To this end, the service was given an evocative and very memorable name, which literally comes from a Mandarin Chinese proverb, and means holder of precious things. Further, the ‘look and feel’ of the Hulu wordmark is simple, inviting and very easy to digest. Overall it is clear that lessons from the past, where the rocky media shoreline is littered with the strewn wreckage of high-profile combinations, prompted NBCU and Fox to subordinate their own brands for the sake of the venture, allowing Hulu to tack past the ghostly sirens of yesteryear’s failed ventures.

Next, Hulu built their business model around simplicity – something Siegel+Gale knows quite a bit about. Here, instead of again being tempted to create new types of advertising inventory, they kept their advertising products the same as the industry standard - 30 and 15 second video spots inserted within full-length programs. Boring right? Maybe - but it has allowed Hulu’s prospects to avoid reformatting all their current ad spots, which saves lots of time and money and makes doing business with Hulu much easier. Finally, with 30s and 15s being the currency of most media buyers, having familiar advertising products has made it very simple for these buyers to include Hulu in any potential cross-platform advertising program they are planning with NBC or Fox.

Now for our second course of co-branding. Recently, in September of 2008 another media venture popped up on the radar, and the reception thus far by consumers and advertisers has been stellar. Known as “Delish” this new digital brand, formed by the union of MSN and magazine behemoth Hearst Publishing, offers another window into how understanding the nuances of co-branding in the media space can lead to success.

Since its launch, Delish has become one of the top 5 food sites, and the reasons for this are numerous. Most importantly, the site was launched not as a rehashing of evergreen recipe content, which has been tried many times only to encounter dubious results, but as a new digital brand that looks at “all things food” through a pop-culture lens. While, Delish does offer top-of-class editorial from Good Housekeeping Red Book and Country Living, as with Hulu, the editorial brands have been somewhat subordinated so as to allow the Delish brand identity to take hold with a younger demographic, who know little about the magazines – a strategic objective of the venture from the start.

Finally, the whole site is powered by MSN’s online platform and thus features great applications such as: a recipe engine, step by step cooking video, plenty of contextual advertising opportunities and an array of related links to other more than 30 strategic partners such as Eating Well, Food and Wine, Celebrity Chef and more.

In all, both Delish and Hulu offer tasty insights into the idea that co-branding in the media space is not only a function of what brands you combine, but also how to go about combining them.

Bon appétit!