The Stanford Business Reporter

      Winter break ended a few days early for the 40+ members of the Arts Media & Entertainment (AME) Club who participated in the group's first annual trip to NY. Though participants came with varying levels of media experience, they all shared a keen interest in the industry.

      The meetings, all initiated by club members, included leading industry players within every segment of the media world. AME member Francisco Schnaas MBA1 elaborated that “the company line-up was outstanding, including rich business perspectives from top executives in niches such as TV, music, publishing, consulting and new media. The trip was a fantastic opportunity to learn the nitty-gritty from the industry.”

      About 12 students kicked off our adventure on Wednesday night, at the Hudson Hotel, with drinks with a couple of Time Inc. employees. The small group format of this session gave club members an intimate opportunity to interact with company reps in an informal setting.

      Thursday’s lineup started with an informative look at Sony. Gary Podorowsky, Head of Strategic Planning, discussed how Sony is leveraging its broad assets (including games, game shows, digital imaging, movies and music) to deliver services to customers. Afterwards, a few panelists shared their experiences in VC and business development within the company.

      After lunch, we switched to a more traditional media company. Four senior representatives from Hearst Magazines engaged the audience with presentations about their business. Pat Haegele, the SVP/Publisher of Good Housekeeping, and Donna Kalajian Lagani, the SVP/Publishing Director of the Cosmopolitan Group, discussed strategic ways to leverage the strength of their respective titles to build ancillary revenue streams. Lindsay Valk, SVP/Circulation Director for Hearst's 16 titles, had the group try to guess relative strength of newsstand sales generated by two different issue covers from the same title. Finally, Jeff Hamill, SVP of Advertising, explained how Hearst works with its biggest accounts to maximize their investment in Hearst books.

      The next presentation was by a gentleman who clearly loves what he does. As the head of AOL-TW sports' strategy, Jimmy Lynn oversees AOL’s sports channel (which has more visitors than espn.com) and its many sports partnerships. He emphasized the importance of understanding and marketing oneself as a single “brand”.

      Booz Allen Hamilton capped the day by hosting a brief discussion of its media practice a reception for club members as well as recent GSB alumni and other entertainment industry contacts. Companies represented included Bertelsmann, Sony, MTVN, Guggenheim, and Random House. Even family members got into the act; Chloe Sladden’s, MBA2, dad who is a GSB alum and a film financier.

      Friday morning started with an industry quiz by Michael J. Wolf, head of McKinsey’s media practice: What was the top-selling album of all time? (The Eagles Greatest Hits) What cable network led all others in 2001? (Lifetime) What were the top-grossing movies of all time? (Titanic or Gone With the Wind, depending upon whether you adjust for inflation.) After nailing most of the trivia questions (most of us thought Michael Jackson's Thriller was the top-selling album!), Wolf led an interesting discussion of the current issues facing media companies.

      As our group waited in the lobby of the Viacom building en route to our next meeting, two passing MTV employees looked at us with an air of mild disdain and, as if we were props of some sort, said, “What?  Are they filming T-R-Old today?” It was a timely reminder that almost every club member -- awkwardly attired in suits and skirts amidst the baggy jeans and oh-so-hip hairstyles of the average entrant to the building – fell outside of the core demo for the company we were about to meet, MTVN.

      Insiders from corporate & business development, publishing, consumer products, international and more shared insights about both MTV and Nickelodeon. The visit ended with a venture onto the creative side of the business.  Four creative folks, including the senior producer of TRL, engaged the group with a discussion of the production process. As a bonus, we were offered access to TRL taping in the future!

      The last stop on our tour was another cable network, HBO. A series of speakers all captivated the group with interesting video clips to bring their departments, and the types of programming they produce, to life. In addition to learning about the production of sports programming and marketing of original made-for-TV movies, we were also educated about HBO’s progress in video-on-demand, and were emotionally touched by a presentation of HBO documentaries.

      The trip wouldn't be a true AME production without a little entertainment, too, and club members proved they could play as hard as they worked. On Friday night, small groups dined at hip places like Radio Perfecto and Miracle Grill in East Village. After dinner, the larger group reconvened at Chez Es Saada and Decibel. Darren Spedale, MBA1, remarked, “We packed as much into 2 days as is just about possible.”

      Jennifer Eu, MBA1, summarized the two days: “It really gave me a flavor of the industry, in terms of the business issues as well as the people and culture. I think other clubs at the GSB should definitely try to organize trips like this next year- it's amazing the kind of attention we can get from companies as a GSB group. It would be impossible to get this kind of exposure on our own.”

      Michelle Hall, MBA1, adds: “I didn’t expect that firms from such diverse ends of the media and entertainment spectrum like Sony, Hearst Magazines and MTV would be wrestling and dealing with the exact same issues – the recent drop in advertising dollars and the resultant need to refine/develop more viable business models, the trend toward convergence, the impact of the Internet and what all of this is going to mean to them, etc.”