Archive for the ‘Broadman & Holman’ Category

A couple of weeks ago I posted about HolmanTV, a videoblog being produced mainly to promote a new student Bible being published by Broadman & Holman Publishing Group, a division of LifeWay. Earlier this week I connected with Steve Nesmith, Director of E-Business for B&H. He kindly agreed to an e-mail interview. Check it out.

What is HolmanTV?
HolmanTV is a videoblog, also called a vlog, produced by B&H Publishing Group in Nashville. It’s about a twenty-something guy named Holman who is stuck in his first job out of college. Holman wants to be a musician, and videoblogs from a camera in his office cubicle. We don’t try to hide the fact that it is a fictional vlog, but we don’t emphasize that fact either. It’s just meant to be fun entertainment for a young adult audience. We created it to build buzz around the new Holman Student Bible.

Who’s idea was it to use videoblogging to promote a new Bible?
Technically I presented the idea to B&H but I have to give credit to Tim Jordan, B&H Bible Marketing Manager, for getting on board immediately with the idea.

Is it working?
I think it is. A LifeWay retail store manager recently told us about a customer who walked in talking about HolmanTV and connecting it to the new student Bible. From the beginning this was designed to be a slow-burn campaign, that is, a low budget grass-roots effort that would slowly build buzz over a long period of time.

Every now and then we get kind of an “artsy” episode like episode 9 (4th of July). Do you find yourself walking a fine line between just doing something that feels cool and doing something that really develops the storyline?
I’m impressed that you liked episode 9. Honestly a lot of those decisions are made by our in-house vid editor David Woodard. We trust David’s judgement about how to craft an episode in the editing suite. Believe it or not, episode 9 was two different episodes that David decided to combine into one, and ya couldn’t even tell could ya!

Do you actually know where the storyline is headed?
The one thing we all agreed on is that this thing would act,look and feel grass-roots, like a real vlog. Most vloggers out there don’t have a script or tight storyline and neither do we. We all want Holman to find his big break and meet some cool people in the process, and that is probably where the storyline will go, with more meetups and interviews.

Does MWS know that Holman has a man-crush on him?
Yeah, we kinda over sold Holman’s infatuation with Smitty didn’t we.

Seriously, is MWS aware of the HolmanTV project?
One of the HolmanTV producers Eric has a friendship with Smitty’s son, and Eric has communicated our intentions to have Holman one day meet the big kahuna. So the answer is, I hope so.

I can see a ton of cross-promotional opportunities popping up out of this thing (Rocketown Records?). Any plans for stuff like that?
That was our idea from the beginning. And that’s why we believe HolmanTV is destined to be around for a long time. Most marketing campaigns last about
3 months. This one is completely different, much more innovative in my opinion.

Can I have a cameo on HolmanTV?
HolmanTV is a low budget vlog desperate for content and ideas. What do you think? Of course!

HolmanTV is a relatively new videoblog that is supposedly being produced by a young, chubby, fairly cool dude with a goatee (a man after my own heart!) named, wait for it… Holman. Didn’t see that coming, did you? Holman recently moved to Nashville to make his way in the Christian music biz. If you live in Nashville then I can guarantee you that you know someone like Holman. Think mussed up hair, shops at The Buckle, reads Relevant. You know the one. Anyway, the weekly episodes follow Holman as he toils away in a cubicle at his day job, interviews artists at the GMAs and attempts to sneak into Michael W. Smith’s dressing room. There’s definitely a little bit of a one-sided man-crush going on with Holman and MWS.

About 30 seconds into the first episode you’re probably going to realize that Holman is a fictional character. What tips you off? The intro is too good and the acting is too bad. And I don’t mean “too bad” like “I can’t watch this freaking thing!” On the contrary, I think it’s entertaining. I just mean “too bad” as in “you totally realize there’s acting going on.” The good thing is, I don’t think the producers are trying to trick you into thinking it’s real. In fact, at the end of each episode you get to check out a slickly-produced ad for the Holman Student Bible that looks like it could air on MTV tomorrow. Holman the dude… Holman the Bible… you seeing the connection here?

Like I said, I find it very entertaining and stylistically, I think it’s very well done. Nine episodes into it, I’ll admit that I’m kind of wondering where it’s all going. Does the end game looks like Holman getting a record deal with Smitty’s Rocketown Records? I’m definitely staying tuned to find out. Holman has a MySpace page. What, no Yuwie yet? Get with it boy! Yuwie is where it’s at! And Holman, let’s have coffee sometime. Mussed up hair, Buckle receipts in your wallet, Relevant subscription… You have to like coffee, right?

So what do you guys think? Is this a good idea? Do you like HolmanTV? Please, before you comment, go watch a couple of episodes.