Interview with Al Jones of ClubCom
MVP: It is January 11th 2006 and we are with Al Jones from ClubCom in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ClubCom is one of the countries leading content providers for health clubs, bowling alleys, and other active lifestyle environments. Curious, Al, how it came to be that you guys were able to convince the folks at these particular retail outlets to have you guys provide their content as opposed to someone else?
Al Jones: Our company was founded by a group of people, our CEO in particular, that had a background in the health club industry. So, using their knowledge of how the industry works and their contacts and ins they were able to develop a product. Initially it was geared toward the health club environment. Since then we’ve been able to expand that out to other lifestyle oriented, activity oriented venues such as the Brunswick bowling centers. Also, two years ago a company called Precor (who manufactures exercise equipment) purchased ClubCom with the goal to integrate us as an entertainment source into their product line.
MVP: I see. So these guys saw a gaping niche where having music videos playing at a health club would make the customers time there more enjoyable.
AJ: Exactly. Music and entertainment is a huge part of the health club experience. Motivation and music go hand in hand. The health club industry requires a different approach than say a shoe store when it comes to video programming. The average time people spend in the gym is anywhere from 30-90 minutes. It’s a captive audience and we provide entertainment geared towards the workout environment, where a lot of other outlets are geared more towards just providing a popular music mix. Whereas we know the environment, we know that there are tempo issues involved, there are different demographics visiting the clubs at different times during the day. We gear our product so that the clubs that use it can customize the music to fit the clientele that they have and also create the type of environment that they want. We can play a video, as long as it’s up-tempo and fits the mood of the channel that it happens to be playing on, that’s really more what we’re concerned about. We ask “is this something that fits the expectation of our clients” As opposed to, is this something that MTV is playing 20 times a week?
MVP: I see. So, each particular client of yours gets to tailor make the reel that gets played in their establishment through working with you guys.
AJ: Actually, the way that it’s set up is every venue that we’re in we has a video server installed that’s tied into their house audio video system. The venue can then log onto a customized web interface and they can schedule the type of music that they want over the entire week in fifteen minute intervals. So, basically they can log on and say I want rock music from 9:00-9:15 every morning. From 9:15-9:30 I want some high energy pop. And they can do that throughout the day and make a custom schedule from our list of channels that we provide. We then send the playlist to that particular video server, based on the preferences that the club had set. When videos are added they become part of our network library, we don’t have a reel that loops over and over again like a lot of the other video pools do. We actually have a library of 3500 videos on site at every location and we custom make a playlist based on their preferences, pulling from that library. I should also mention that we are now offering “multi-zone” servers so clubs can play different genres of music in different parts of the club. For instance the weight area may have hard rock music scheduled, the cardio area dance, and A/C or Adult Alternative in the locker rooms.
MVP: It’s pretty impressive that you’ve not only got your services activated here in America, but you’re also in Australia?
AJ: We’re in Australia. We have a host of clubs in Sydney and a few other cities in Australia. We just opened ClubCom UK a year ago. We have an office over there and we’re in, I believe, 150 locations in the UK, London, we’re branching out into different parts of Scotland. We have plans to have installations in Japan this year, as well as other parts of Europe.
MVP: That’s pretty exciting Al.
AJ: It is actually, it’s very exciting that most of our growth in the past year was concentrated on other parts of the world outside of the United States. It’s definitely an international market and of course licensing and that type of thing has been the issue that we have been trying to resolve. It’s the only thing that has really been holding us back right now in some parts of the world. It’s also been fun for me to learn the differences in the music between the States and England. I’ve been exposed to a lot of really cool videos this past year that I may have never had the opportunity to see if it wasn’t for ClubCom UK.
MVP: I see. Did Universal Music’s decision to want to charge programmers have any effect on all of you folks at ClubCom in Pittsburgh?
AJ: Well, it did. We took a positive spin on it. Whereas we’re assured now that we can receive the music that we need. Universal, being that they have a lot of labels, they offer a lot of content and that assures that our venues will be getting the music that they want. Obviously we’re a very mainstream medium, and we want to provide the type of music that people are hearing on the radio and that people are seeing on television. We want to match that, and the best way to assure that we received those videos was to pay the fee. Obviously, there are some downsides to it, It wasn’t something that we had budgeted for necessarily, but so far it’s working out. If we can provide the kind of music that clubs want, it’s in our best interest.
MVP: As the video programming point person at ClubCom, what are you looking for in the videos you program, other than being upbeat and applicable to a fast moving environment? I guess you would have to keep things pretty antiseptically clean, as to not offend any of your client’s clients?
AJ: Sure, that’s defiantly a struggle. The whole Janet Jackson thing affected us just as much as it did everybody else. Language is one thing. Anything that we play has to be censored and FCC friendly as far as that’s concerned. Although we’re not under broadcast rules, we do try to adhere to them because we’re in these public venues for the most part. Although we program to primarily an adult audience, we do have to kind of sanitize things. We rate every video not only on the video content, but on audio content. We offer conservative programming options for our clients that have a need for it. The YMCAs are a very conservative club compared to say a New York Sports Club, where they don’t really put as much of an emphasis on the visuals or the audio.
MVP: That means the programming can be a little edgier.
AJ: Yes, exactly. So, some clubs realize that their average age group is 25-30, which is a demographic that doesn’t have the same convictions about what they are seeing on the screens or what they’re hearing. They just want hip music, whereas some, especially in the Midwest or parts of the Bible belt, there may be clubs where they don’t want to see midriffs and cleavage and that sort of thing. We have processes where we can filter out videos that contain that. They get the same kind of music as far as tempo to fit the environment, but they’re not seeing the same kinds of things. Let’s put it this way, a Christina Aguilera video from early in her career such as "Genie in a Bottle" will play. Whereas one from later in her career such as "Dirrty" won't.
MVP: It must be pretty painless to pitch your advertising programs because these folks are a captive audience and I’m sure if they go to the gym every day the recall is probably pretty high. I’m curious how you approach advertisers and how much out of a regular 1 hours programming block do you expect your clients to run the advertisements?
AJ: Each venue is different. The clubs have the choice as to whether they have the or not they want advertising in their venue at all. We have some places that don’t want it. So, they have the ability to turn it on or off. Obviously, if it’s turned on it’s a revenue maker for that club. We also offer the club the ability to sell their own advertising. So some clubs, because they have our network in place, can send out their own sales force and get local advertising that way. We also sell network advertising to clients. Everyone from Nike and People magazine and some of these bigger companies. It’s a great opportunity for them, because if you’re Nike and you’re selling athletic shoes, where better a venue to advertise them then a health club? That’s a very promising audience for an advertiser. They see that as a great door and our rates are very, very, competitive. I would say that it’s very beneficial for advertisers and there is no Tivo to skip the commercials. You’ve got a potential audience of 15 million monthly viewers that have no choice but to be exposed to your ad.
MVP: Ok, last question Al. Are there any special requests and or concerns you may have concerning the folks sending you videos? Is everyone doing it right or are there any important things that the folks who do service you videos should know about? Other than that you take beta-sp and that you like to have it very easily marked.
AJ: Well, we can also take mini-DV, as far as tape format is concerned. I think most of the people I deal with are under the understanding that we are a pretty mainstream organization and I try to play as much as possible. I am limited as far as what I can put on the network every month because of our data transmission restrictions. We have two ways that we update our servers. We either send a media DVD out each month, or some of our clubs receive it via satellite link. So, as far as the amount of data I can transmit to the clubs each month, I am limited. I can usually only service 45-50 videos a month. The only other restrictions are that sometimes stuff is just a little bit too left of center for us because of the public nature of our venues. I do have to sometimes put a foot down as far as what I can put on there. I think most people I work with understand why I can and why I can’t play certain things. For instance, the new Korn video for “Twisted Transistor”. It’s a great video, it’s a great song, it would work well on our hard rock programming. But the problem is there are a lot of interruptions in the video. You know, spoken dialog and they break away from the music. While it makes for an entertaining music video, it doesn’t work well in our environment because you don’t want those interruptions, you want music. There’s an example of a video I’m not playing right now that has nothing to do with the visuals or with the audio, but it’s just a matter of the concept they chose to use. As far as a request, keep sending me as many videos as possible. I love them all!
MVP: Cool, well I appreciate the time spent with us Al.