Confusion in the Ranks: TCN's trying!

From: chance <chance_at_unix.infoserve.net>
Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 22:27:23 -0700

>Hmmm. They do appear to be having a slight problem with confusion,
>don't they?

I get the idea that everyone's trying hard, but it's like trying to change course
in a great ship. You give the orders quickly enough, but it's quite some time
before the ass-end swings around to the new heading. Their handling of the
fan-mail responsibility is pretty illustrative. To begin with, every piece of
mail WRT whatever show had 11 copies made of it to be distributed to various
places including marketing, PR and certain staffers. Everyone got pretty much
the same form-letter in reply which, though very consistent, was equally impersonal.
Then they passed the task off to Hanna-Barbera's "Classic Characters" division
under Mark Hughes and Michael Diaz, with the intention of creating a database of
fan-commentary for demographic purposes and such, and even starting up some
kind of interface with the fans whereby they could buy T-Shirts and such of their
favourite H-B characters. That didn't last long either, and Mark Hughes left.
There was some other temporary setup to cover the interim after "Classics" was
relieved of the task, and now it's been given to "Cartoon Network". Some of the
"confusion" is because they've never had a stable fan-interface structure in place
long enough to learn anything useful, so in effect, TCN is starting from scratch,
and these little inconsistencies can be put down to "growing pains".

If they're smart, they'll realize how important such a fan-responsive setup truly
is, and maybe they can be convinced to add some of the things that Hughes was
after (wouldn't we all like to be able to get Kats' T-shirts and stuff through the
fan-relations system?). 'Till then, let's be patient while they sort themselves out.
_____________________________________________________
"Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed
 antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters,
 through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in
 the winter of 1925. Endurance, Fidelity, Intelligence." -- "Balto"
_____________________________________________________

Received on Thu May 23 1996 - 02:37:10 PDT