Taran Swan At Nickelodeon Latin America - Essay Example

Taran Swan at Nickelodeon Latin America Mass media, and television as a part of it, has a great impact on development of children. Children copy their identities from the media favorites, and in this very case television fantasy becomes their frame of life. That’s why the role of a manager or creator of programs for children is of great importance. Taran Swan, a general manager of the kids program “Nickelodeon’ proved the fact that she was a real master in the field of kids media. During a long period of time she has developed and managed a powerful and fascinated programs for children in Latin America. Under her leadership Nickelodeon Latin America was transformed into one of the most popular International brands. Twelve years ago, Taran Swan explored the possible opportunities for penetration into Latin America media market. She found that the market did not look promising, because “Latin America was a volatile market, subject to frequent currency fluctuations and devaluations, and the cable industry infrastructure was in its infancy” (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). She saw no opportunities to develop Nickelodeon in Latin America, but for four months experience in Germany where she worked around the clock being involved in all aspects of TV programming decisions. She understood that “in international markets, even key decisions had to be made with minimal information” (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). Taran Swan understood that children who watch television are not only entertained but assume, consciously or unconsciously, they are learning more about the world they live in, who they are in that world and how they should behave. She has everything – ideas, enthusiasm, desire, hope to modify and reconstruct the channel, but for money. Taran Swan had found that “for kids in Latin America there was nothing on TV except for the same old cartoons. Because it was largely a poorer, developing region, people thought they could put anything on the air, and they did. Nickelodeon was good for kids, gender-neutral, pro-social, and gave kids a voice” (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). World-wide there are not enough local, relevant programs that affirm the identity of children and help them to learn social and moral values, and the life-skills they need to know that day. Under Swans leadership, Nickelodeon Latin America became the fastest growing cable and satellite channel in the region, and won several awards. “Swan decided, in the first of what would become Nickelodeon Latin Americas characteristic "big bets," to concentrate its money and efforts on one major project to "make a splash." (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). To build an influential and popular brand Taran Swan needed a team of enthusiasts who would help her to create and affiliate sales. The new team began to put in place the necessary channel infrastructure, including transmission centers, programming libraries, and advertising contracts, all with the clause contingent on final corporate approval. The most important was that Taran Swan and the members of her team understood the negative response which means that childrens television is more and more looked upon as a market, paid for and dominated by advertisers, who want to sell toys and childrens products. Usually the images and adverts in the media encourage children to be obsessed with outward appearances of wealth. Taran Swan did a great job motivating people “when the project could have been pulled at any time. I just kept pushing, and kept believing.” Taran Swan said. The next step was to find people who would be able to “represent the channel”. Stephen Grieder and Valerie McCarty were the first candidatures approved without saying. The first success was evident in September 1996 when Nickelodeon “finally secured its minimum distribution targets, and obtained full corporate approval” (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). It is possible to say that after 1996 the Nickelodeon new strategy allowed managers to provide a powerful combination of Nickelodeon entertainment, coupled with entertaining tools and services designed with a Nickelodeon attitude. There was no other candidate able to manage the channel better than Swan did, that’s why “senior management had asked her to commit to staying on as general manager with a two-year contract” (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). Swan knew that media did not project a positive and realistic world image. It does not provide images of children to show a variety of human beings, deserving of respect, who happen to be young. That’s why the next important step was to develop programming that would be the "heart and soul of the channel" (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). It took pain for Swan to persuade a famous presenter, Stephen Grieder, to lead the programs. Marketing’s role in brining the organization closer to customers and thus in growing long-term and profitable customer relations, was crucial to the success of the organization. Tara Swan understood that this role was best fulfilled where marketing was treated as an integrated philosophy, discipline and function within Nickelodeon. In seeking to achieve the right organizational culture, Taran Swan used the following criteria suggested as essential feature of successful TV channel. Tara Swan proved the fact that Nickelodeon ability to strengthen the level and scope of professionalism lay clearly with its skill and dedication to assimilating learning. Nickelodeon responded appropriately to the need for organizational revision as result of more integrated and interactive processes have secured, or were the way to securing, enhanced value through Nickelodeon capability and operational capacity. Nickelodeon essential feature of marketing and control was that it closed the loop and connected marketing plans to marketing actions. Ultimately, therefore, the way its team managed marketing was the major determinant of commercial success. In spite of Asian crisis influenced the economic situation in Latin America Swan “was faced with increasing external pressure”. She had an intuition which help her to be "three steps ahead of the game, and a peacetime leader who arranged so we never had to go to war," commented the company’s executive. In 1997 Nickelodeon company included television programming for kids from 2-11 years old and consumer products. The organizational structure and staff members were carefully selected by Tara Swan. She said: “I focused on getting the best team possible. I wanted really bright, ambitious people who would give their all” (“Taran Swan at…”, 2000). Tara Swan forced audience to love the channel developing customer relationships. Cross-functional marketing used by Nickelodeon team focused on the processes that created and delivered customer value, drawing together multi-disciplinary teams which marshaled resources to achieve customer-based objectives. An organiza­tional culture imbued with collaborative and empowering practices and a marketing orientation will promote the kind of innovation and inspiration required for such relationship-building. The success of Swan explained by the deep understanding that media had an impact on children in the way that they portrayed childhood and adolescence both to adults and children. Developments in technology had seen the growth of the cultural industries, allowing ideas to be communicated on a global scale. The Nickelodeon new TV strategy in Latin American’s allowed kids to watch a powerful combination of Nickelodeon entertainment, coupled with entertaining tools and services designed with a Nickelodeon attitude. Thanks to personal charisma and creativity of Taran Swan, Nickelodeon Latin America became number one among kids’ entertainment channels. Nickelodeon, now is the most popular and profitable channel the reputation of which is maintained by professional team leading by Taran Swan. This woman was able to built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. References 1. "Taran Swan at Nickelodeon Latin America (B)," HBS No. 9-400-036, March 24, 2000. Read More