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Play It FWD
Business Plan
Gabrielle Banks
Manuel Delgado
Ankie Titulaer
Chris Wade
Maxwell Wright
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
May 5, 2014
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
3
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
5
MANAGEMENT
&
COMPANY
STRUCTURE
6
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
8
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
11
PORTER’S DIAMOND ANALYSIS
14
MARKET ANALYSIS
17
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
25
OPERATIONAL
PLAN
28
STRATEGIC
PLAN
31
MARKETING
PLAN
43
TIMELINE
49
FINANCIAL
PROJECTIONS
50
APPENDICES
51
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
"Despite mounting evidence of its role in student achievement, arts education is disappearing in
the schools that need it most." - National Education Association
Play It FWD was founded in 2013 with the aim of delivering a free online music education
service.
Our principal offices will be located in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Business/Product or Service
Play It FWD is a non-profit business. It is an interactive online music education platform where
children all over the world can receive music lessons for free.
These lessons include celebrity musicians as guest teachers, with relevant brands and sponsors
providing the financial support.
Presently, Play It FWD is in the start-up stage. Future plans include developing a stable platform
with engaging content and brand recognition over the next three years.
Competition
The online music education industry is very competitive. There are potential competitors who
control the technology that is used by Play It FWD. Also, there are a number of online music
education companies that are already operating. However, what differentiates PLAY IT FWD is
the leveraging of famous, popular, and recognizable music professionals to be part of the
educational curriculum. The main focus of Play It FWD is not to develop technical skills, but to
inspire and encourage the youth interested in learning more about music. Also, as a non-profit,
we will also seek for brand partners to join the effort of promoting free music education.
Management Team
Chief Executive Officer, Chris Wade, who founded the company in 2013, leads the management
team. He experience includes marketing with a focus in brand and artist relations.
Ankie Titulaer is the Chief Educational Officer. She has a master’s degree in music education
and performing.
3
Max Wright is the Chief Creative Officer of Play it FWD. He has received a Latin GRAMMY
award and has performed all over the world with the band, “Ojos de Brujo”. He was also
involved in many organizations that provide music lessons.
Gabrielle Banks is the Artist Relations and Licensing Manager. Gabrielle has experience in film
and music licensing.
Manuel Delgado is the general manager of Play It FWD. He has a degree in Commercial Music
and runs an independent record label.
All members of the management team will also be graduating from the Berklee College of Music
with a master’s degree in Global Entertainment and Music Business in July, 2014.
Operations
The operational process of Play It FWD begins with the research and development of the
curriculum, the content, and the website and platform. We will partner with brands and
organizations to fund Play It FWD. Also, we will recruit the right artists that fit the brand and
target market to deliver the content to the consumers.
Capital Requirements
We are seeking $1.1 Million that will fund the start-up costs of Play It FWD. This includes the
creation of the website and platform, the production of the celebrity videos, and the educational
exercises that make up the curriculum. It also includes workspace expenses, travel costs to
connect with the brands and the artists, and wage and salary expenses.
4
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Play It FWD is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that unites Artists & Brands to provide music
education to Children for free. Due to the trend in decreasing Arts and Cultural funding in many
countries, we see the opportunity to provide an innovative approach to fulfill the need for
progressive music education across the globe. As a result, we are developing an interactive
online platform that educates and excites young people about music via an engaging live
streaming experience and additional web-based content.
Our free business model functions by creating key relationships with and between Artists,
Brands and our consumers, whom are Children and their Parents. We will work with top music
Artists to serve as Virtual Teachers to Children in an online classroom environment, providing
unique educational experiences that are both enlightening and entertaining. Our Brand partners
will provide the funding to help underwrite the costs of our programming and educational
initiatives in exchange for brand integration into our platform and content. The additional
revenue generated from our partners will be reinvested back into the organization for continued
curriculum development and enhanced content creation.
Our approach is specifically designed to bring significant benefits to every stakeholder in our
ecosystem. Artists are able to contribute back to music culture as well as create a deeper
connection with their fans (Children & Parents). Brands succeed by being socially responsible
and reinvesting in lives of their core consumers. Children are the biggest winners by receiving an
accessible high quality, innovative music education at no cost to them or their parents. This
dynamic creates value for all parties involved through the means of working together for a
common good.
At Play It FWD, our goal is to enrich the lives of children and elevate their cultural awareness to
ultimately contribute to a better world society.
5
MANAGEMENT
&
COMPANY
STRUCTURE
Play It FWD Org Chart
Chris
Wade
Chief
Executive
Of8icer
Ankie
Titulaer
Chief
Educational
Of8icer
Gabrielle
Banks
Artist
Relations
&
Licensing
Max
Wright
Chief
Creative
Of8icer
Manuel
Delgado
General
Manager
6
Roles & Responsibilities
Chris Wade - CEO
• Leads in overall direction and strategy of the company
• Overseas management of all departments
• Leads in concepting Artist/Brand partnerships and ongoing development of Marketing
Plan
Ankie Titulaer - CEdO
• Leads in development of methodology and approach of curriculum
• Responsible for consulting with Educational Professionals on pedagogy
• Overseas the development of lesson plans
Max Wright - CCO
• Leads in development of all creative aspects of the company including Lesson
Programming, Content Aesthetic & Brand/Platform Look & Feel
• Responsible for concepting and developing new ideas for company
Gabrielle Banks - Artist Relations & Licensing
• Leads in building and maintaining relationships with Artists, Managers & Agents
• Responsible for providing insight and managing negotiations regarding music licensing
Manuel Delgado - General Manager
• Leads in managing all day-to-day internal processes (Timelines, Meetings, Presentations,
Content Creation, etc.)
• Responsible for providing advice on legal matters
7
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Industry Life Cycle
The industry of online education is very much in its growth phase. While personal technology
has been growing for decades, advancements have allowed the field to constantly renew itself in
growth. Online and mobile-based education has become a staple within education as a whole and
is projected to continue to see double-digit growth over the next few years.
E-Learning has seen growth of nearly 60% since 2011. Also increasingly, schools are becoming
advocates for mobile technologies to assist with learning. The use of tablets, e-readers, iPods and
even smartphones is being noted for its space efficiency as well as its mobility. Now, learning
can happen in numerous locations, including in recess yards, on the school bus and at home.
Jonathan Wiley from Scholastic argues,
Mobile learning is an exciting opportunity for educators, but in many ways we are just scratching
the surface of all that can be achieved with it. With proper training, and time to explore these
high-tech gadgets, teachers will soon be able make rapid strides with them, and be able to support
and instruct the use of such devices in the classroom on a regular basis. Now is the time to act.
Our digital natives are counting on us.
(http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742)
Because the online education industry is in its growth phase, the market is incredibly fragmented,
with new competitors entering the market constantly from varying vantage points, offering a
variety of products. Success for Play It FWD will be found in our ability to distinguish ourselves
within the market. Our “ABC” (Artists-Brands-Children) Business Model is our primary point of
differentiation and innovation. Leveraging Artists and Brands will help us stand out, attract
publicity and eventually gain a substantial market share.
By taking advantage of the power of mobile technology and personal computing to provide
widespread education, we have the opportunity to use the many distribution channels technology
provides to our benefit. By making our product available across multiple platforms we enhance
our opportunities to increase exposure and thereby gain a considerable audience, which
ultimately leads to a large market share.
8
Industry Growth Statistics
Source: http://elearningindustry.com/top-10-e-learning-statistics-for-2014-you-need-to-know
9
Source:
http://www.talentlms.com/elearning/benefits_and_drawbacks_of_online_learning
Industry Delineation
Play It FWD is in the online music education industry. We considered making placing it
only within the online education industry. However, we felt that this industry would be too broad
and general, considering the many different types of schooling that can be done on the Internet
that we would not consider competition. We also discussed the music education industry. This
again is not specific enough. There are many different types of music education that do not fall
under the same category of the work Play It FWD does, including on-campus and in-person
education. This is why we felt that the online music education industry would be broad enough
to describe the work Play It FWD does, yet also specific enough to differentiate Play It FWD
from other areas not related to what is offered.
10
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
PULSE
Description: Pulse is an online music education platform that prepares students on a pre-Berklee
level, meaning an age target between 10 years of age and 18. It provides interactive instruction
through a wide curriculum of games, lessons and research materials available through an
engaging online service.
Similarities: Pulse offers content on musical education through a well developed curriculum
(designed by professional academics) that focuses on the ability of being able to access it from
any point and have the possibility of teaching yourself at any time during the day, wherever you
may physically be.
Differences: On the whole, Pulse matches with many educational tools we would like to
incorporate but the main difference lies in that it's business mode is that it isn't a non profit
organization and that it doesn't focus on partnering with established artists or celebrities.
KHAN ACADEMY
Description: Khan Academy is essentially an online schooling method, that provides material
for both students and parents to access it and teach themselves through a large variety of fun and
intelligently designed interactive windows.
Similarities: Just like Kahn Academy, we aim to provide such interactive windows that will
guarantee the engagement of our users. Khan Academy offers different levels of curriculum
based on the knowledge acquired through each lesson.
Differences: As far as we know by researching on their website, Khan Academy doesn't offer
music lessons and is more based on general education such as Math, Science and Humanities.
GOOGLE HELP OUTS
Description: Google help outs is a ''new p2p video chat helpline service. Anyone can sign up to
receive or provide help, and providers can make money off chat sessions''
Similarities: In Play It FWD, we aim to have Artists and Celebrities interact on live sessions
with our users in specific occasions during the curriculum. Also, we aim to provide multimedia
content available at all times without personal interaction.
11
Differences: In Play It FWD we are there to engage and make sure people use the platform in a
linear development in time, not just for one specific occasion. Our differentiation is the
curriculum we will provide in different stages of the program, which will have a clear evolution
from class number one to class number ten.
ONLINE MUSIC INSTITUTE
Description: The Online Music Institute puts together music students with music professionals
via online connections. The idea is that you can learn anything about music, whether it be how to
play an instrument or learn notation, production and much more, through professionals who will
personally interact with you on a private video call.
Similarities: Main similarities are the experience of learning an instrument or a specific set of
music skills through online guidance by a professional.
Differences: Our difference is that our music professionals aim to be well known and established
music celebrities. Also, we aim to provide more entertainment in our delivery by introducing a
more 'inspirational' approach to music which isn't so skill oriented. Our idea is that we engage
future music students to want to learn those skills, whilst remaining as the platform that will
enlighten our users to want to do that.
LITTLE KIDS ROCK
Description: Little Kids Rock is an online platform that works on popular american music with
weekly interactive lessons.
Similarities: The approach by Little Kids Rock is that to inspire and engage kids across America
to value music as a tool to increase your studying abilities and self-confidence. It is to ensure
music education isn't pushed out of our basic education and to show the bridges between popular
music and musical knowledge.
Differences: The differences lie in that Play It FWD will host recognizable Artists and
Celebrities to attract immediate attention from kids in ages from 8 to 10. Our curriculum will be
strategically focused on keeping motivation by leveraging fame and popular idols.
POINT BLANK ONLINE MUSIC SCHOOL
Description: Point Blank Online Music School is a derivative option from the physical school it
12
hosts in London, UK.
It focuses on teaching digital musical software programs through online courses, aimed at degree
level students.
Similarities: PBOMS offers online guidance in music related tuition. It also hosts, as Play It
FWD aim to do, legends in the music business.
Differences: PBOMS ins't aimed at children and doesn't include current celebrities. It isn't a
non-for-profit organization and doesn't focus on fun delivery but more technical skills for
advanced users.
13
PORTER’S DIAMOND ANALYSIS
However difficult it may be for us to pinpoint our exact industry (given the nature of our 3-part
company) we have decided to use the Porter's Diamond analysis upon Music Education in an
online context.
At a first glance, the attractiveness of our business model is substantial and offers great potential
in an upcoming competitive market such as online entertainment.
14
Competitive Rivalry within the Industry:
We believe within the Online Music Education Industry we have high competition. It is a highly
competitive and fragmented market.
Since the industry is still in rapid development, rivalry to become the number one reference can
pose a direct problem to our business.
Threat of New Entrants:
As mentioned above, the industry has high growth potential. Therefore the threat of new players
is large, not only because it is an easy business model to emulate, but also creating online forms
of education is highly accessible.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers:
On hand our business depends largely on the resources of artists and brands, but on the other
hand we believe our value proposal for them is very attractive.
We believe we have enough bargaining power for the collaboration to work interestingly in both
ways.
Bargaining Power of Customers:
Since we have a free business model, the bargaining power of our customers is practically nonexistent.
Threat of Substitute Products:
Any visual media such as TV, Video games and other engaging internet platforms are potential
substitute products to our company. However, due to our specific 'edutainment' approach, direct
substitution isn't a direct threat.
Market Analysis of Music Education:
The market of Play It FWD consists of multiple targets. The children who will use this platform
will be the consumers but not our direct clients. These are the parents of the children. We did a
lot of research to the importance of music education for parents but we were unable to find the
15
needed information to analyze the market of music education in the USA. Therefore we sent a
survey out to receive more information about our target.
HOW ATTRACTIVE IS THIS INDUSTRY?
The online music education industry is not very attractive. There are potential competitors who
control the technology that is used by Play It FWD. Also, there are a number of online music
education companies that are already operating. It is a very fragmented industry. The barriers to
entry are very low and any professional (or even non-professional) musician can begin teaching
online music education courses.
However, what differentiates Play It FWD is the leveraging of famous, popular, and recognizable
music professionals to be part of the educational curriculum. The main focus of Play It FWD is
not to develop technical skills, but to inspire and encourage the youth interested in learning more
about music. Also, as a non-profit, we will also seek for brand partners to join the effort of
promoting free music education.
Collectively, we stand by Play It FWD’s ability to create a unique and outstanding value
proposition for all parties involved. A strong brand and value will improve our ability to bargain
with suppliers (Artists and Brands) to make their involvement with Play It FWD something that
they cannot miss out on. Similarly, leveraging parents and hooking them onto the value we offer
for having A-list talent teach remarkable life lessons through music for absolutely no cost to
them will sway their choice in our favor when combing through the multitude of options
available for this type of service.
As we structure our business, it is crucial for us to develop and grow our own branding/copyright
and other intangible assets as soon as possible to not only differentiate ourselves in the
marketplace, but to strengthen our sustainability. As this is a very competitive and unattractive
market we are entering into, sustainability will be a key factor in weeding out those companies
that survive the growth phase.
To help us tackle our efforts in branding and developing top-of-mind recall, we have allocated
substantial funds in our first year costs and onward towards marketing both online (web banners,
a website, social media, etc.) and offline (schools, shopping malls, recreational centers, etc.).
16
MARKET ANALYSIS
Market Segmentation
The two criteria we chose for our segmentation were ‘Media Consumption’ and ‘Attitude
towards Music Education.’ Exploring how Americans in particular feel about Music Education
will help to determine how and in what capacity there is a market for an online music education
platform. If people aren’t interested in music education in general, they are less likely to “buy”
into the need of our product. Because Play It FWD takes a nontraditional approach towards
music education – that is musical education via technological mediation, it is also important for
us to explore Media Consumption habits of both Parents and Children.
Engaged But Uninterested - The segment in which people are high consumers of media but
aren’t particularly moved by efforts to improve music education would not be a beneficial
segment for us.
Disconnects - The most unattractive segment, which consists of people who have a negative
attitude towards music education (or just don’t care) and don’t consume much media.
17
Enlightened But Not Engaged – A segment of people who are passionate about music education
but are not consuming a lot of media. Focusing on this group means that we would most likely
be targeting more traditional music education platforms.
Engaged & Informed Parents / Connected Children - Unique to Play It FWD is the importance of
targeting consumers (Parents and Children) who care enough about music education that they
would be invested - in time and energy - enough to be active on our site. Media efficacy would
prove three things: 1) Parents and children would be attracted to and enticed by the presence of
“celebrities” on Play It FWD that they can recognize from their favorite movies, television
shows, or Top 40 radio stations, 2) High online content consumption gives us a preexisting
behavior to build upon and 3) Previous engagement in mediated activities or with media
technology (with Parent or Child) will show a willingness of parents to let their children partake
in activities on their computers, tablets, and smartphones with little to no supervision and with
little to no time limits. This for us is the most attractive segment based on the following figures
we found (sources of information found in the appendix):
•
6 out of every 7 people in the world have internet access
•
81% Internet Penetration in North America
•
Half of Americans 18+ own Tablets
•
US Adults spend 4:34 hours consuming TV and Video Media Daily
•
212 of 278 M Internet Users are Active Online via Computers/Laptops
•
Media consumption among kids (up to 9 yrs) has grown over the past four years to nearly
35 hours per week, a 2.2 hours increase since 2009
•
Computer and gaming consoles make 27% of kids' daily media consumption (ibid)
•
3/4 of kids say they watch short form video on their iDevice. More than half of kids with
an iDevice now watch long-form content - 23% increase over last year (ibid)
•
3/4 of all kids (0-8 yrs) have access to a mobile device at home
o 63% Smartphone / 40% Tablet
•
TV still remains main source of educational content (61%) compared to mobile (38%)
and computers (34%) (ibid)
18
•
58% of higher income kids use educational content on their mobile devices compared to
28% percent of lower income kids (ibid)
o This disparity evens out for kids with access to computers and mobile devices
•
Half of all babies use a computer or smartphone before age 2
Market Research
Methodology: Our market research data collection is based on a combination of a qualitative
approach and a quantitative approach.
The model of Play It FWD consists of 3 segments: Artists, Brands & Children. Therefore, our
marketing strategy will be a combination of targeting these three different groups respectively.
As a result we’ve chosen to conduct research on each of these groups to determine the best
overall approach for our business.
Artists
The data about the type of artists we want to use and the proper methods to approach the will be
collected through interviews. These interviews will not be directly with the artists themselves but
rather with their managers. Knowing that managers are often the key individuals that present
opportunities to artists, we believe they are best resource to determine how to form valuable
partnerships with artists. Given that we are focused on the U.S market, these interviews will be
conducted by phone or Skype.
Brands
To collect data on brands we will to interview executives, preferably Brand Managers/Directors,
at different types of brands that we think would fit with our business and have a strong audience
in the U.S. We will seek out information such as what brands seek in partnerships, especially
around social responsibility, and how they analyze these opportunities. Much like the artists
managers, we will do the interviews over Skype or phone.
19
Parents
We will collect quantitative data from parents via questionnaires. Since we need to get a large
number of respondents to have a significant base to draw data from, questionnaires are the best
method for us to create quality data. We will present the questionnaires to parents that live in the
U.S. to get a clear image about the demographic we are targeting and their need. We will gather
our respondent by a few different methods: personal relationships and referrals, contacting
schools and reaching out to parenting groups.
Parent Survey Results:
197 total survey responses
1. Did you receive music education?
We received 143 responses to this question and 100% of the people responses were answered a
YES.
This implies that all of our survey takers have in someway an understanding what music
education is.
2. Is music education important to you?
There were 143 people who answered this question and 93% of the people answered the question
with a YES in contrast of the other 6% of people that answered this question with a NO.
3. What age are your children?
Most of the parents that answered this question have children in the age between 0-7 (66%).
Next are the parents with children between the age of 8-12 (31%) and parents with children in
the age of 13-18 (14%). And 15% of parents have children that are 18 or older. With the
information that we received we can imply that most of the parents that took our survey have
very your children.
4. Did/do your children receive music education?
Most of the parents have children who receive music education in school (59%). There is also a
good number of children that receive music education outside of school (32%).
20
5. Why not?
Due to the way this question was set up, there was no defying answer. Most parents chose the
option “other”.
6. At what age did your child begin music education?
With the number of 83%, the 0 to 7 year old children are far out the biggest group here. This
implies that most young children get exposed to music education in some form or way. We could
also see by the answers to the survey that the older the children the smaller amount receives
music education.
7. If music education were freely available for your child, what objections (if any) would you
have to engaging in it?
This question was answered by 99% of the parents to no objections.
8. Would you want your child to receive traditional music education?
This question was answered a YES by 93%.
9. If there were a good, new online alternative to teach music education would you be interested
in that for your children?
Most of the parents answered a YES to this question (78%), but there are parents who said NO to
this question as well (22%).
10. How many hours per week would you be willing to help your child with his/her music
studies?
Most of the parents would be willing to help their children for 1 to 2 hours a week (72%). There
are also parents who would spend more time with their children’s studies, as 30% of parents is
willing to help their child for 3 to 4 hours a week or even 4 plus hours (15%).
11. How important is it to you for your child to have fun while learning?
21
The most popular answer to this question was “very” with 79% of the votes. And the second
most popular answer was “somewhat important” with 19% of the votes. There were almost no
parents who answered this question with “indifferent” or “somewhat unimportant”.
Conclusion:
The information we retrieved from this marketing research is very useful to our company. We
gained a lot of information on the subject of music education that we were not able to find in
another way.
From the outcome of the survey about music education we can conclude that most of the parents
that filled out the questionnaire received some form of music education at a certain point in their
lives and believe in the importance of music education for their children. Also most of the
children have received some kind of music education during their lives.
We can also see that most children receive music education in their school at least when they are
young of age since most parents that took the survey have young children. Therefore we do not
have enough information about the older children in this marketing research.
We do not have any information about what kind of music education is taught in the schools. We
can only make assumptions about the kind of music education as most of the schools have some
kind of music class but we don’t know to what extent.
What was very interesting for us is to see the answer of the parents to the question about
traditional music education versus online music education. To this question the parents
massively preferred their children to receive traditional music education. This is very important
for us to know, as we need to make a big effort to gain the trust of the parents. We will
strategically work on marketing the platform as valid and supported by professionals and
organizations as possible.
We also got a much more clear image of how important it is to parents for their children to enjoy
their learning experience. This is good to know since we are trying to make our platform very
engaging to children and have them spend a lot of their time on it.
22
Marketing Executive & Artist Manager Interview Results
For our qualitative research on how to target artists and brands, we conducted interviews with
relevant marketing executives from corporate brands and an artist manager that has worked with
some of the top artists in the music business. They helped in providing a clearer image about the
interest of brands and artists to support our platform.
Below is are the profiles of our interviewees:
Donae Burston – Regional Marketing Director / Moet Hennessy USA
Kwesi Fraser – Former Heineken Brand Manager & Account Director for Alloy Access
(Marketing Agency for Heineken)
Jamal Henderson – Senior Brand Manager / PepsiCo
Jeannah Ho – Former Assistant Manager for Scooter Braun (SB Projects/Justin Beiber) &
General Manager for Erving Wonder Mgmt (Now part of Atom Factory) and Current Road
Manager for Sean Kingston
Summary / Key Takeaways
The main learning that was gained from our initial round of interviews with marketing
executives and artist managers was that the process of approaching and partnering with artists
and brands must be unique for each party. As one former executive stated, “There is no such
thing as “one size fits all.” If it does, it won’t work.” That means that we must customize and
tailor our approach to each specific artist and brand to make the best impression and have the
optimal chance of securing a partnership.
Some of the main elements that brands consider are the following:
•
Who’s Tied In?
o Major Partners or Celebs (a big plus)
o Organization history/Legacy
o What is done with the money? (Brands like transparency)
•
Matching of goals between businesses
23
•
Partnerships need to organically match both brand’s personalities
o "Organically forged relationships”
o What does the partnership say about me (and my company)?
•
Who is pitching the idea?
o They need to be Smart / Well Connected / Established
o 60% of selling the idea is the person representing the company that is pitching
•
Bigness of the Idea / Global Impact / Staying Power
o Companies are looking for the “big splash”
o Multiple Touchpoints to reach a large group of people
o Will people talk about this many years later?
One common point that artists and brands alike seek in partnerships is an easy, turnkey process
where they don’t have to do excessive amounts of work to make the partnership successful. The
more things are thought out for partners ahead of time makes them more likely to choose to start
and remain in a partnership. For most, partnerships are not their core business and, although
many like to participate in charitable activities, the convenience of having a partner with
foresight and a solid process plan in place is imperative.
With artists in particular their main asset is their time. A large majority of talent has an affinity
for non-profit, charitable work - especially things that involve music and children. That said,
they are often willing to give of their time (and sometime other assets such as music, merch, etc.)
to help a cause they believe in. However, the expectation of artists and their
management/agent/labels is that the organization they partner with is professional and does not
abuse any of the time that artists give. Therefore, our plan to shoot content with artists must be
very easy and respectful of an artist’s time and their abilities.
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INTERNAL ANALYSIS
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
-Free Platform
-Innovative Model
-Fun & Engaging Interactivity
-Strong Appeal via Celebrities
-Connection with Reputable Brands
-Charitable Aspect
-Strong Dependency on Brands
-Strong Dependency on Celebrities
-Only accessible via Internet Connection
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
-Rise in Digital Devices
-Growing Awareness of MOOC's
-Emerging Global Markets
-Decrease in Traditional Music Education
-Easy Entrance of Competitors
-Attention Economy / Substitute Products
25
CANVAS MODEL
26
27
OPERATIONAL
PLAN
VALUE CHAIN OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL
IT/Platform
Development
&
Maintenance
Business
Affairs
(Finance,
Legal,
etc.)
Human
Resources
Creating
Knowledge
(Research)
-‐Academic
Experts
-‐Lesson
Plans
-‐Strategy
Course
Design
&
Development
-‐Curriculum
-‐Platform
-‐Content
Course
Physical
Production
-‐Celebrities
-‐Brands
-‐Production
Partners
Marketing
&
Distribution
-‐Exposure
-‐Strategy
-‐Campaign
Student
Learning
-‐Experience
-‐Edutainment
CREATING KNOWLEDGE
Before we can develop our curriculum we will undertake extensive research from professionals
in the field of music education. Leveraging academic expertise is key to identify the correct
approach towards developing the foundation of our company’s mission, which is to offer the
highest quality of music education online.
The next step is to create the lesson plan and have it verified by professionals in education. When
we have the approval of educators we will design the videos and the exercises on the platform
that belong to each lesson. We might make a demo to test the platform on groups of children
before finalizing and continuing our strategy.
COURSE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
CURRICULUM:
The next step in our value chain would be to transfer all relevant data to devise the most
engaging and stimulating educational experience in our lesson program. We aim to construct a
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ten-lesson plan, previously approved by academics, which would guarantee the most effective
educational growth. When we have the approval of educators we will design the videos and the
exercises on the platform that belong to each lesson. We might make a demo to test the platform
on groups of children before finalizing and continuing our strategy. In this step we will also start
contacting the artists we would like to use for our organization and design the lessons with the
person in mind to make the fit as perfect as possible.
PLATFORM:
Working hand in hand with web developers and designers we will merge the curriculum’s
content into an inspirational and interactive online platform.
We are aware that our online experience represents the cornerstone of our business model. On
the platform we will put all the video content and the exercises that belong to each lesson. The
users need to have easy access to the content and love to spend time on it. We will make our
platform as interactive as possible, which means that we need to work with professional
developers that know about all the newest techniques in this area. We will hire a team to work
very closely with our education department to create an engaging platform.
CONTENT:
Each lesson will be specifically designed in relation to each chronological step in the program.
Other factors to consider will be what each artist will deliver as relevant content. Conditions of
delivery will be agreed upon with the artist to ensure the best performance of all parties. We are
looking at different use of the artists in our videos and will have to make sure that we use the
time of an artist as effective as possible.
COURSE PHYSICAL PRODUCTION
ARTISTS:
We will identify the most appropriate artists that would fit our curriculum. The nature and
character of these artists is key to reach our goals in each step of the program. The artist needs to
be both appealing to our customers (the children), as well as to the brands that will support the
initiative. We will contact their managers first to see if the artist is interested and pitch the idea to
them. If an artist agrees we will need to schedule a time to inform the artist of all that is expected
29
of them and to set a time and place to record. This will take a lot of time in organization and we
need to work on a smooth production.
BRANDS:
It is important that the brands are relevant to the content that will be delivered and by the artist in
charge of this delivery. We will serve as the bridge between both to guarantee value to all
parties. Therefore we will have our marketing department contacting brands and pitching the
idea to them. Our marketing team will have to travel for meetings and negotiations to close
enough deals for us to keep operating.
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION
Once we have confirmed all players we have to maximize exposure by planning a strategic
marketing campaign. We will leverage a multimedia approach to ensure that we are reaching a
broad base within our target of 8-12 years and their parents.
This includes online media, print, and promoting in schools and communities.
STUDENT LEARNING
In this step of the value chain we are at the finalization of the product. All efforts converge to
offer the best experience possible for the consumer. The right balance between engaging content
and effective delivery must be created to ensure that we are consistently providing a dynamic
experience that is entertaining just as it is educational. The platform will expand organically with
every new lesson that is introduced. In this way our students can grow with our company and
remain open for starters.
30
STRATEGIC
PLAN
Play It FWD’s strategy is to enter the marketplace of online music education with a
revolutionary approach to how children are delivered quality music lessons. Our ABC model is
innovative in its ability to connect Artists and Brands together for music education in a manner
that is not currently being executed in the marketplace. It is thru this method of reaching our
target consumers of 8-12 year old children and their parents that we believe is our true
competitive advantage and point of differentiation from our competitors.
Our plan is to initially build an operational beta version of our online platform to be able to
showcase to artists and brands to gain their interest. We intend to target a select group of artists
to being working with to serve as essentially spokespeople for our platform. From there, we will
begin the process of pitching to brands to begin creating the content that will live on our
platform. We will replicate and scale this process over time with the intention of creating a
broader reach to more consumers and increasing our brand awareness in the marketplace with the
long term intention of globalizing our platform
VALUE PROPOSITION
The overarching value proposition for Play It FWD is that our platform provides an innovative,
quality music education for to children for free. We see that as a powerful proposition to all
parties who might be interested in engaging with our business, because everyone involved is
contributing to a greater cause. However, since we have 3 groups of shareholders in Artists,
Brands and our Consumers (Parents & Children), there is specific value that we provide to each
group respectively.
ARTISTS
From our perspective, Artists can benefit greatly by being involved with Play It FWD. Through
our research in talking with artist managers, we know that most artists are very open to charitable
initiatives, especially those associated with music. Via our platform, we provide artists with an
easy and effective way to give back to younger generations of music listeners and music culture
at large. Most artists are products of music education and many artists are passionate about the
cause of providing more access to better educational resources. We believe that these types of
31
artists can truly provide a great benefit to the children in need of music education and, in
addition, they will create incremental PR value for themselves in the process.
The impact of teaching children the important elements of music is rewarding in and of itself, but
there is also a greater benefit for artists to be involved. As many artists are looking for new and
creative ways to engage with their fans, we see the Play It FWD platform as a vehicle for artists
to connect directly to their fan base in a new way and provide a valuable exchange between both
groups. By educating children, artists have the ability expose themselves to potentially new
segments of fans that their music and relevance might not have reached. Moreover, the artists
have the opportunity to develop deeper connections with parents, who could be existing fans or
the primary purchasers of artists’ content, depending on the artist and genre.
BRANDS
It is common knowledge that many brands invest in charitable causes that relate to their brand’s
mission and/or target consumers. Smart brands understand the value of promoting noble causes
and giving back to those who support them with their dollars and brand loyalty. We believe that
brands can play a unique role in the lives of their consumers by participating in Play It FWD and
reap great benefits in the process.
By partnering with Play It FWD, brands take a positive stance on music education and the value
that it brings to the lives of children and their parents. This is an area of charitable giving that is
open to brands from a wide selection of industries from Consumer to Technology to Fashion to
Beverage and many more. This is one of the key values that Play It FWD provides to brands –
any brand that is interested and does not do business that is a detriment to children can be a part
of our platform to some degree.
On an individual brand level, each brand involved will have to the opportunity to have its logo
and (potentially) products strategically placed in our proprietary content. This exposure
heightens brands’ awareness with consumers and can create a deeper emotional connection with
them by being a part of a worthy cause that is beneficial to a large group of people, in particular
parents whom have considerable amounts of buying power and influence.
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From talking with expert marketers at major brands, we know that many companies consider
sponsorship opportunities based off their reach and scale. Brands that partner with Play It FWD
in the first stages have the ability to play a key role in helping grow the brand into the global
entity that we ultimately intend it to be. This will give these brands additional touchpoints in
international markets and the ability to connect to a broader set of consumers.
Since Play It FWD is a Non-Profit organization, there is also a U.S. tax benefit that companies
will receive for sponsoring our initiatives. We will consider all monies provided from brands
(and other donors) as charitable donations; therefore, these funds will be tax exempt for all
companies that partner with us.
CONSUMERS (Parents & Children)
We see our consumers as the biggest winners within the ecosystem that Play It FWD creates. .
We know that in many states across America, funding for arts education in schools has been cut
drastically over the past few years.3 As a result, many children are receiving little to no music
education at all within the public school curriculum. When you couple this with the high cost of
private music lessons and the current economic situation of most middle class families, a formula
for a future society of people with no access to music education is being created.
Play It FWD intends to serve as a solution to help fill the void of quality music education within
the school systems in the U.S. and enrich the lives of its young people. Studies show the music
education/appreciate helps to create more well-rounded students that perform better in all areas
of academics.1 Our goal with Play It FWD is to provide children with an entertaining and
appealing method to learn about the fundamentals of music.
We see this as a great value to the lives of young people as it gives them a deeper appreciation
for music and access to greater cultural learning. We also see equal value for parents as they
have the opportunity for their children to receive music lessons from a trusted source at no cost
to them.
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Pricing Strategy
Our Pricing strategy is broken down into two sections. The primary part, Brand Sponsorship, is
the focus of how we will create revenue for our non-profit. We will also take in Charitable
Donations that will serve as a supplementary source of revenue to help cover our costs.
Brand Sponsorship
Within our ABC business model, our Brand Partners are our clients since they are the main
source of funding for our educational initiatives. For Brand Sponsorships, we will offer our
brand partners 3, tiered packages that provide deeper brand engagement and exposure in
exchange for greater investment. The tiers with the associated brand exposure and pricing is
listed in the table below:
PACKAGE
Basic / Opening Act
BRAND EXPOSURE
•
Brand Logo inclusion and Product
PRICE
$100K/year
Placement in 1 piece of video content
per month
Intermediate / Emerging
•
Limited Website Ads
•
Brand Logo inclusion and Product
$250K/year
Placement in 2 pieces of video
content per month
•
Brand Logo inclusion on Platform for
6 Months
Premier/ Headliner
•
Website Ads
•
Yearly Presenting Sponsor Rights
•
Brand Logo inclusion and Product
$500K/year
Placement in all video content per
month (4)
•
Brand Logo inclusion on Platform for
1 Year
•
Sponsorship of offline events
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We also see the opportunity for specialty pricing options for brands that might be interested in
creating custom packages based of their budget and specific needs.
It is our goal to close on 4 Premier packages with major brands within the first 18 months of
operating to cover our projected 1st year costs. We will seek out smaller and custom sponsorship
packages from other brands to provide the company with additional revenue to reinvest into the
educational curriculum and enhance the platform and its content.
In terms of performance tracking for our sponsors, we intend to build in a backend tracking
system within our platform that can provide real-time analytics and feedback on the performance
of each piece of content. This helps us to justify our pricing to our brand clients, as well as to
monitor the efficacy of our content and make adjustments to how our content is developed and
presented in an ongoing manner. This is one perspective of how we intend to provide full
transparency to our clients.
As an additional revenue stream, we will accept Charitable Donations from individuals,
consumer groups and small businesses. These funds will be used in the same manner as revenues
from the sponsorships; once all costs are covered, the remaining money will be reinvested back
into the company to continue to develop the enhancement of the platform.
STAKEHOLDERS & PARTNERSHIPS
As previously stated, our business model is structured by 3 groups of stakeholders: Artists,
Brands & Consumers. In order for our business to function successfully and have the opportunity
to scale, we need significant contribution from each party and the ability to create value for them.
We understand the importance of each group of shareholders to our business model and, as a
result, we have developed unique approaches to target and provide unique value to them
specifically.
35
In terms of Partnerships, we view both Artists and Brands as key partners to Play It FWD, as
both are integral to how our business model operates. We plan to strategically seek out both in a
manner that is easy for all potential partners and effective for us as a company. We will detail
our methodology to these partnerships in the following sections.
ARTISTS
Top music artists will be a very visible component of our platform. In essence, they are the face
of the brand to the public and will serve as the attraction point for parents and their children to be
involved with Play It FWD’s educational curriculum. Therefore we must build strong
relationships with key artists that positive public images to best connect and resonate with our
consumers.
We have created a 4-step process to how we create our artist partnerships:
•
Selection
•
Outreach
•
Training/Content Creation
•
Retention
The first step in building a roster of qualified artists is to have a defined Selection process. We
will accomplish this by developing an ongoing internal filtering practice by which we assess
each potential artist to partner with. The main areas that we will measure each artist by is as
follows:
•
Positive Image
o All artists must have a positive public image and cannot have any history of
negative acts that would hurt the perception of Play It FWD’s initiatives
•
Connection to our brand and core Consumer
o There must be a natural fit and/or good relation to our consumer (or the
opportunity to create that relationship)
•
Musical Ability
o Each artist must have the ability to explain musical ideas and concepts
o We do not expect them to be academians in the subject matter, however
36
•
Previous Charitable Work
o Artists that have done charitable work, especially with children and/or music, is a
plus for consideration
We understand that much of this filtration process is subjective. However, it will be our
responsibility to do our due diligence on each artist that we consider partnering with in order to
build and retain trust from our consumers and maintain the quality of each educational lesson
that we give. Therefore, we will initially hold monthly artist strategy meetings to brainstorm and
assess the potential of new artists to be considered for our educational programming.
Once we’ve selected an artist, the next phase is Outreach. By interviewing managers, we’ve
learned that the best way to approach artists is through the best relationship that we have with
that artist’s camp. Essentially, there is no one simplified way to contact any particular artist and
therefore, we will have to be very strategic and leverage many of our existing relationships to
start this process in the early phases of our company’s development. Whether the relationship
lies with the artist directly or their management, agent, label, etc., we will have to assess the best
path of reaching each artist individually to field interest in partnering with our organization.
The promising thing that we also learned from managers is that many artists are open to doing
work with charities and non-profits, especially those that help the lives of children. A lot of
artists have non-profits themselves and they view doing charitable work as part of their
responsibility of being in the public eye – which also helps their PR value in return. We see this
as a critical part of our presentation to artists because we will be expecting them to be an integral
part of our educational approach.
Our goal in the initial phase of Play It FWD will be to identify and partner with 3-4 key artists
that can serve as ambassadors for our initiatives to be and attraction to our consumers, brands
and other artists.
As a part of our process, we will not pay artists directly for their time, however we will cover
their travel and lodging and all necessary expenses for them to be involved with Play It FWD.
37
Managers informed us that artist usually do not expect to be compensated for the time they give
to charities as long as expenses are covered by that organization.
In addition, we will seek legal advice on any agreements and contracts that will need to be
created to determine the parameters of our partnerships with artists, as well brands.
Once an artist agrees to partner with Play It FWD, we will go into our next phase, which is
focused on creating the actual content that will run on our site. We know that an artist’s time is
limited, so we will have a structure in place where we can shoot artists in either New York City
or Los Angeles. We will outsource the production of our content to video crews in both cities,
while we oversee the logistics and the content creation process. It’s important to note that an
additional strategy that we have to develop a large cache of content is to shoot artists while they
are at key festivals around the U.S. Through this method we can potentially get content from
numerous artists within one specific short period of time. Ultimately, the process of creating
content with artists has to be easy and respectful of their time in order for this phase to be
successful
As we are creating content, one of the main areas that we will focus on is ensuring that artists
have a good understanding of what we are looking to accomplish with the content we are
creating and that they can deliver the messages in an effective manner to children. All lesson
plans and scripts will be sent to the artist’s management prior to the shoot date. Also beforehand,
we will have one of our Educational Consultants brief the artist on set about the lesson plan that
we want them to teach and allow them to cover the basic key messages that need to be
communicated. This way we ensure a standard of quality with all of our content and we manage
the expectations of our artist partners and reinforce their confidence in their ability to teach
music.
Retention of our artist partnerships is very important to us. It is our desire to ultimately have
long-term relationships with the best artists in the industry. We intend on doing this by having a
dedicated person within our company who is responsible solely for developing and maintaining
artists relationships. As our organization chart shows, we have a position for Artist Relations &
38
Licensing that is held by Gabrielle Banks. Working with artists and their teams will be a primary
responsibility for her, so that we can always have a growing database of contacts and artists that
we can create new content with.
BRANDS
Brands play an integral role in our business model, as they serve as the primary source of
funding for our business. We will identify brands that have a strong interest in music, charitable
giving and organic connection to the Play It FWD brand and our consumers. We’ve learned
through our interviews with marketing executives that there is not one simple solution that works
for all brands in terms of partnerships. Therefore we must tailor how we reach out to brands and
develop equally valuable relationships that have the potential to grow over time.
As a result, much like with artists, we have created a 4-step process to how we create our brand
partnerships:
•
Selection
•
Outreach
•
Content Creation
•
Retention
Our brand selection process is primarily rooted in identifying brands that have a good fit with our
educational initiatives. From our research, we’ve created 4 key areas that we will analyze to
determine which brands we’d like to consider partnerships with:
•
Relationship with Children
o All brand partners must have a positive relationship with children and cannot
engage in any business that is detrimental to the lives of young people
•
Matching of goals between businesses
o Partnerships need to organically match both brands’ personalities
•
Types of Brands
o Niche or Mass?
o Industry Leading or Not?
o Brand Uniqueness?
39
•
Opportunity for Growth
o We prefer to have long-term partners over short term
Again, very similar to how we intend to identify and contact artist, we’ve learned that there is no
one particular model that can be adhered to when considering brand partnerships. Each brand has
their own identity, initiatives and needs and we have to be aware of those as we are considering
entering business relationship with each brand. We also know that brands are keen on great ideas
being presented by great people, therefore is imperative for us to consistently have a strong
presentation that conveys the message of the intention of Play It FWD in compelling manner.
Another key point that is critical in securing brand partnerships is identifying the main decision
makers within a brand. Most sponsorships are lead internally by one or two people who are
passionate about the concept of that particular sponsorship. It will be our responsibility to
research each brand we are considering and determine who are the integral people who can help
champion our cause.
For our first phase of development, we intend to target on big consumer brands as our main
sponsors. This strategy helps us in a few ways. First, brands such as Target, Master Card and
Samsung have large budgets that we can tap into at relatively minimal cost to these brands. The
support of these larger partnerships can help buoy our business and provide stability during our
growth phase. In addition the association with major brands will help solidify the Play It FWD
brand and make the platform more attractive to other brands and artists as well. Once we’ve
developed strong ties with a few key big brands then we would focus more efforts on lifestyle
brands.
Another element of our partnership strategy will be creating non-competing partnerships. Once
we’ve secured a brand in a particular area of business, we will not develop a conflicting
partnership with a potential competitor. For example, if Apple were to become a Premier sponsor
for the 2015 business year, we would not seek partnerships from a rival tech company within that
same year. Brands pay for category exclusivity as a part of our sponsorship packages. However,
40
if a brand wants to waive their rights to that exclusivity at any point, they would have the ability
to do so.
The content creation process for brands should be relatively simple and streamlined since we
would know how much exposure a particular brand is designated to receive based off their
sponsorship package. Once the first round of content is shot and edited, we will have a one-time
approval process with each of our brand partners to make sure that their brand elements are
placed correctly within our content and are aligned with their brand identity standards. We will
be open to feedback from our partners, however we want to make our content creation process as
efficient as possible and having to receive approvals from potentially multiple brand partners for
every piece of content we shoot would prove to be very time consuming and counter productive.
Since brands are the backbone of our revenue model, it is imperative that we establish great
relationships with those that are good partners with us. It will be the responsibility of all
members of the Play It FWD team to work with brands in an effective manner. However, as the
company is currently structured, the lead in managing these relationships will be the CEO, Chris
Wade. He will be in charge of maintaining connections with key executives at brands to nurture
existing brand relationships and find business opportunities with new brand partners. A lot of
this will consist of identifying networking opportunities and attending select events where
marketing executives are present to help increase the visibility of Play It FWD in the
marketplace.
One very important element that we learned in our qualitative research with marketing
executives is that brands prefer transparency when they are giving money to non-profits. Because
some non-profit, charitable organizations have private accounting practices, many brands have
an understandable concern about where the money they donate or contribute actually goes. It is
our goal to be fully transparent with our brand partners about where their dollars are being used
and the impact that they have on our platform. We will do this by releasing quarterly reports
detailing the sponsorship activity for each brand for the previous quarter, as well as the
performance of the content those dollars generated. We feel this is the best way to build and
sustain the confidence of our brand partners
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One special area that we would like to note is the pre-existing relationships that Artists and
Brands may have. For example, Pepsi currently has a business relationship with Beyoncé.2 If we
were to consider partnering with Pepsi, we could potentially have greater access to Beyoncé as
well if Pepsi agreed that her involvement with Play It FWD would be beneficial to enhancing the
promotion of their products and their relationship with her. This scenario could work the
opposite way where an artist that we are partnering with already has an existing deal with a
brand and that brand gets involved with our platform via that relationship. Obviously, we would
still have to be the discerning agency between both parties and determine if this type of cross
collaboration fits within our brand and makes sense for our consumers. However, we do believe
that situations as those described could prove to be fruitful for all parties if executed and
managed correctly.
Regardless of how these relationships are formed, there is a great value in partnering the right
artist and the right brand together. This creates a stronger consumer connection to our platform,
but it also can create significant benefits to the artists and brands involved that extend beyond
our platform. Every artist and brand has the ability to leverage their affiliation with one another
to further enhance their own initiatives and relationships with their respective consumers. This is
an intentional spill over effect from our ABC model that we believe provides added value for all
artists and brands that choose to be involved with Play It FWD. It is one of our secondary goals
to help manage these relationships in a manner that create Wins for each stakeholder that is
engaged with our platform.
42
MARKETING
PLAN
Target Customers
Our primary Target Costumers in Play It FWD can be analyzed in two different groups: the
direct customers, in this case the children, and the secondary indirect customers, the parents of
these children; equally important to the success of our business model.
Demographic Profile of Direct Costumers.
In Play It FWD, we are focusing on an age group that goes from 8 to 12. Reasons behind this
decision lie in that they are computer friendly and know how to independently interact with
technological devices such as computers connected to the internet. Added to this, recent data
from the US Census Bureau1 indicates that 62% of children between 3 and 17 years old already
access the internet from home individually. Percentages are practically equal in male and female
usage, which benefits our approach to gender equity in education.
We believe this age group is ideal when considering an approach that is based on an inspirational
introduction to music, rather than a profound technical approach on skill-based knowledge.
Entertainment in education is key to our success as recent data shows that 9 in every 10 children
aged between 8 and 18 play currently play video games in the US. What is more, the age group
on which we are focusing (8 to 12) was the biggest group last year for massive multiplayer
online gaming in the US2.
Demographic Profile of Indirect Costumers.
The age group of the parents that we are targeting oscillates between 30 and 40 year old. We aim
to focus on engaged parents who are also comfortable with the usage of technology and that are
comfortable surfing independently through the internet. It is important to us that they have good
media awareness and that Music education is also important to them. In this matter, according to
data, US adults spend on average 4.30h daily on media consumption3 and according to our latest survey
results a striking 93% out of 143 participants answered that music education is very important to them.
1
https://www.census.gov/hhes/computer/publications/2012.html
2
http://crisisboom.com/2012/09/18/programmed-‐for-‐demise/
3
http://www.emarketer.com/
43
Shareholders
Given the many different parties involved, we have come up with guidelines for targeting both
artists and brands with which to collaborate:
Artists/Celebrities:
•
Should be a musician, but can primarily be a celebrity (actor, athlete, etc.) with some
musical knowledge
•
Kid-friendly, animated image
•
Non-controversial (especially through the filter of the parents)
•
Would be recognizable by the children
•
A bonus would be if they have children
•
Should be current, but could be legendary as long as they are still culturally relevant
•
Should not have any current scandalous endorsements/partnerships
Brands:
•
Should not have a mission that contradicts with the mission of PlayItFWD in any way
•
Need not be nonprofit
•
Should not be affiliated with any child-labor controversies, domestically or abroad
•
Cannot be a brand that produces or markets tobacco, alcohol, or firearms
•
Doesn’t have to be linked to an exclusive children’s brand
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
In Play It FWD, our Unique Selling Proposition is:
"The best quality music online education, absolutely for free"
Pricing & Positioning Strategy
Within the industry of Online Music Education, Play It FWD aims to deliver the best quality, at
no price for the consumer. It is important to us the fact that it is free of charge, as we don't want
any socio-economic filters to exclude children from the experience.
Our positioning strategy is to create differentiation within competitors by being the only brand
that offers active engagement by celebrities.
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Distribution Plan
Consumers of Play It FWD will be able to log on and engage freely with our platform as soon as
it goes live on the web. The experience, based on a chronological set of lessons, will start with
easy accessibility and will only require a computer, a web camera and a working internet
connection.
Once engaged, the distribution plan is to set up a system of accumulative points that any
consumer can gain to unblock different content.
Offers
Our strategy is to reward users to invite friends and family onto the platform. This will serve to
expand the awareness of our brand and increase engagement from day one. Other approaches
will include acting within specific time frames during the launching period of the platform, so as
to gain further points.
Marketing Materials
Print.
Since our brand awareness will consist largely of early negotiation and connection of all parties
onto the platform, we will need much of our marketing materials to be easy for trade. Business
cards will be essential and also brochures that explain the model in an accessible manner to
parents and children alike, as well as brands that could be interested in sponsoring the business
model.
Digital.
However, further marketing of our business will consist mainly on digital strategies such as
digital banners to be used within our initial phase of email contact. Similar to this, will be to have
well designed press kits and HTML's that explain the formula and also have animated videos that
we can send through our network.
Promotions Strategy
Implementation of a good strategy of awareness of our brand is key to a fast positioning in the
45
industry of education. In order to promote ourselves with solid credibility we aim to attend
international educational summits worldwide such as Education International4 or the Higher
Education Summit5 in Arizona, US, to name a few.
Furthermore, we intend to contact schools and educational centers all across the US, with digital
ads and animated videos that explain our approach.
Same strategy will apply to high traffic websites that are actively engaged by the age group we
identified (8 to 12) and also on popular video games, by partnering with some of the most
successful brands in the entertainment industry.
We aim to use printed strategies too by creating posters for selected neighborhoods across the
country and selected malls, sports centers and large populated sites such as playgrounds, skate
parks, supermarkets and airports.
Online Marketing Strategy
Keyword Strategy
We would implement keywords such as 'online music education', 'celebrities teaching' or 'play
and learn with music', to name some examples, in order to appear in specific search engines,
when typing similar content.
Search Engine Optimization Strategy
We would create and deliver constant updates on our platform to make our website show up
more prominently for our top keywords.
Paid Online Advertising Strategy
Some of the online advertising programs would be developed by digital platforms we would
invest in, such as Google Ad Words, for instance. We would purchase packages that would
include visibility on the web and that would offer strategic placement in related fields.
Social Media Strategy
Creating profiles on most visible social media networks would be an absolute priority. Platforms
4
http://www.ei-‐ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/3247
5
http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/events/higher-‐education-‐summit-‐2014/
46
such as Facebook, Twitter and Google + would enable us not only to create profiles of our
business but also to engage and communicate with our users; whether for updates, news worth
sharing of upcoming events and celebrities or for further possibilities such as getting different
users in different parts of the country to interact with each other. Independently of whether we
had or not our own social network, we would definitely seek to partner up with these existing
trends so as to not isolate from popular culture.
Conversion Strategy
As part of our marketing plan, a conversion strategy would be crucial to undertake. Making sure
kids that had already interacted with our platform served as testimonials on our web to increase
participation and encourage the necessary hype for the excitement to be a part of the experience
we delivered.
Joint Ventures & Partnerships
Play It FWD aims to establish long lasting partnerships with related areas of our services.
Companies providing instrumentation or music sheets or hardware that could interact with our
lessons, such as Wii by Nintendo (to give an example) are only a few ideas of possible
relationships that could benefit both parties and increase our awareness in both fields of
entertainment and education.
Referral Strategy
As mentioned earlier, part of our program in Play It FWD is to create an ongoing engagement
with our platform that guarantees active interaction on a weekly basis. We have developed a
model that will work with accumulative points, meaning that with specific rewards the users will
be able to unblock content and surprise packages. We believe that if we are able to implement
successfully this idea, we can benefit largely from customer referral and revolutionize our
success.
For every customer that would refer to us to another they would gain extra points and situate
them further into the learning process by having additional access to our educational services.
47
Strategy for Increasing Transaction Prices
Due to our non-profit model we won't have to directly incur in economic transactions with our
consumers.
Retention Strategy
Referring back to our accumulative point system, our plan is to develop constant feedback with
loyalty programs, which we intend to use in order to retain our customers. Incentives to engage
longer and more efficiently will be set so as to promote our platform through the ongoing usage
of it. The more we can develop an entertaining relationship between the platform and our
customers, the better for the promotion and marketing of our service.
48
TIMELINE
Note: The timeline is developed based on a chronological set of actions we engage in once we
had access to capital to cover our basic financial needs.
49
FINANCIAL
PROJECTIONS
50
Balance Sheets
January'1')'December'31,'2015
Fixed'Assets
Liabilities
Notes'Payable
Prepaid'Insurance
Furniture
Computers
Supplies
Total&Fixed&Assets
1038757
1,000
5,000
6,600
6,000
18,600
Current'Assets
Cash'Avail.'for'Operating'Expenses
1,020,157
Total&Current&Assets
1,020,157
TOTAL&ASSETS
1,038,757
TOTAL&LIABILITIES
1,038,757
January'1')'December'31,'2016
Fixed'Assets
Liabilities
Prepaid'Insurance
Furniture
less$Depreciation
Computers
less$Depreciation
Branding'&'Copyrights
Supplies
Total&Fixed&Assets
1,000
5,040
)630
6,600
)1,650
20,000
6,000
36,360
Current'Assets
Cash'Avail.'for'Operating'Expenses
Accounts'Receivable
Total&Current&Assets
1,473,656
700,000
2,173,656
TOTAL&ASSETS
2,210,016
Notes'Payable'(Balance'of'Loan)
Corporate'Contribution
Notes'Payable'(Debt'from'Loss)
TOTAL&LIABILITIES
831,006
700,000
679,010
2,210,016
January'1')'December'31,'2017
Fixed'Assets
Liabilities
Prepaid'Insurance
Furniture
Computers
less$accumulated$Depreciation
Branding'&'Copyright
Supplies
Total&Fixed&Assets
1,000
5,040
6,600
)3,300
30,000
6,000
45,340
Current'Assets
Cash'Avail.'for'Operating'Expenses
Accounts'Receivable
Total&Current&Assets
619,464
1,500,000
2,119,464
TOTAL&ASSETS
2,164,804
Notes'Payable'(Balance)
Corporate'Contribution
TOTAL&LIABILITIES
664804.48
1,500,000
2,164,804
Financial Ratios:
2015
2016
2017
Debt Ratio
1
0.69
0.31
Budget of Percentage for Personnel
0.35
0.31
0.36
51
APPENDICES
BIOGRAPHIES
Chris Wade
Chris Wade was born and raised in Greensboro, NC. He
earned his love for music from his parents whom often
played classic records in their home. Chris began playing
music at an early age, starting with piano, then moving to
viola and ultimately settling on the saxophone, which he
played for nearly 10 years.
Chris attended North Carolina A&T State University and received a Bachelor’s of Science
in Finance with Honors. Instead of pursuing the traditional path of becoming an
Investment Banker, Chris chose to follow his passion and decided to work in the music
industry. Starting out as an intern at a record label, Chris held numerous roles within the
business, which included Artist Management, Label Consultant and, most recently, Account
Director at Octagon, serving as a Music Strategist for Artists and Brands.
It is from this last experience that Chris got the initial idea for Play It FWD. He saw the
need for Children to receive a quality music education due to the lack of funding of the arts
in public school systems. His previous work with partnering artists and brands together
gave him the inspiration to create a new educational approach to provide children with
engaging music lessons for free.
As CEO of Play It FWD, Chris is responsible for leading the overall strategy and
direction of the company. He overseas the progress and workflow of all respective
departments and is hands on with the development of the artist/brand partnership process, as
well as marketing of the brand.
52
Chris is currently working on his Master’s in Global Entertainment & Music Business at
Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. Upon graduation, he intends on continuing to
develop Play It FWD and take the business live by the end of 2014.
Ankie Titulaer
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Ankie Titulaer has
a Bachelor’s degree in music education and a Master’s degree in
performing arts. She studied classical singing at the Conservatory
of Maastricht and her music education is specialized in teaching
different voice techniques from pop to classical music. She wrote
her thesis on the healthy development of new vocal techniques for young musicians throughout
various music genres. Ankie has also obtained a Master’s degree in Global Entertainment and
Music Business at Berklee College of Music.
Ankie has extensive experience as a professional vocalist with Opera companies and musical
events throughout Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and the Czech Republic. As a teacher, Ankie
has worked with diverse groups of young students across many different age groups at the
United World College and as a personal teacher.
At Play It FWD, Ankie is in charge of the development of the academic curriculum and the Edesign of the lessons. She oversees all educational elements of Play It FWD, while working
closely with the Creative and Artist Relations departments.
53
Maxwell Moya Wright
Maxwell Moya Wright is part French and part American, but
grew up between Spain and the United Kingdom. He speaks 4
different languages and has been exposed to various cultures
from a very young age. His passion for music began early and has
been his source of inspiration throughout his professional career in the arts. He has made a living
as a musician, as a producer, as a promoter, as a tour manager and as a composer. He has also
been in charge of international relations for different bands, among many other musical related
works, due to his grasp on various languages.
Maxwell's education in the arts starts during his A-Levels in London, UK, where he studies
Theatre and Music in the BRIT Performing Arts School, a school launched by Sir Richard
Branson and George Martin.
Upon this experience and further dedication to his passion for Theatre he continues to study at
the University Darting College of Arts, where he is to meet great music professionals that
initiate him into further musical practice and audio engineering. Thanks to his efforts there, he
is awarded with n honorary diploma in music, for participating with other students in college.
After many years doing professional work, Maxwell is currently expanding his studies in
Spain, undertaking a Master in Music Business at the Berklee College of Music, Valencia
Campus.
Maxwell's professional work as a musician starts after University, when he joins his talent as a
percussionist to the band 'Ojos de Brujo', band that was awarded with the BBC Best European
Band in 2004, with the Latin GRAMMY in 2008 and a second nomination in 2011.
The exposure and network he obtains from this work allows him to offer many educational
programs across the globe related to music in different pedagogical organizations such as Save
the Children, Roots and Routes, GMMAZ and Aftershock.
54
Maxwell has just recently launched a company specialized in composing original soundtracks
for advertising in TV, Video Games and Film, under the name of Royal Sonora
(www.royalsonora.tv). He continues to play and tour music in a new acapella project titled
'Man Ex Maqina' (www.manexmaqina.com) whilst he helps to organize the first TEDx event
in Berklee College of Music as part of his Culminating Experience.
Gabrielle Banks
A Philadelphia native, Gabrielle Banks began her undergraduate
career at New York University, studying Media, Culture, and
Communication. She later transferred to the University of Miami
to continue to study Communications, but specializing in Film.
She graduated with honors in the top 4% of her class with a
double- major
in
Motion
Pictures
and
Studio
Art.
To
pursue graduate studies in Global Entertainment & Music
Business, Gabrielle studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, at its global campus in
Valencia, Spain, where her concentration was in publishing/licensing.
Gabrielle has nearly three years of experience in music licensing for various outlets, ranging
from small independent films, to international brand campaigns, in the U.S. and abroad. In the
midst of a multi-decade-long obsession with media, pop culture and music, Gabrielle spent
several years during her undergraduate years working as a nanny to several families in the Miami
area. It was here – along with coursework in Teaching & Learning and Children’s Literature—
that she really gained an inside perspective of media and entertainment geared towards children.
As head of Licensing and Artist Relations for Play It FWD, Gabrielle manages the licensing for
all of Play It Forward’s showcased musical works used to teach children, directed by the
Education lead. Additionally, she works with the Creative Chief to scope out and contract
celebrity partners with which to collaborate.
55
Manuel Delgado
Manuel Delgado is originally from South Florida. He grew up
learning to play several musical instruments, but his love and
passion for music was developed through many years of
studying the piano.
He received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young
University in Provo, Utah, majoring in music. After graduating from BYU, Mr. Delgado
entered the Berklee College of Music at the Valencia, Spain campus, where he is now
finishing his master’s in Global Entertainment and Music Business. He plans to enter law
school after completing his degree at Berklee.
As a high school and undergraduate student, Mr. Delgado taught piano lessons at the Provo
Piano Academy and was asked to teach a Keyboard Fundamentals class at the Young
Musician’s Summer Festival held at BYU for high school students. Mr. Delgado also
worked at the university’s record label, where he helped coordinate and manage projects
and oversaw licensing matters. He also started his own record label to helped manage and
promote performing artists in the local area.
Mr. Delgado’s role at Play It Fwd includes advising on legal and business matters, among
other responsibilities. His background and experience in music and teaching allow him to
understand the vision of Play It Fwd. His experience as a music industry businessman
permits Mr. Delgado to connect that vision with reality and results.
Mr. Delgado and his wife Tiffany, a professional pianist, currently live in Spain and are
expecting their first child in September 2014.
56
DRAFT EDUCATIONAL PLAN*
*On a monthly period with a total of 10 months per academic calendar.
CLASS 1
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
INTRODUCTION
TO MUSIC
CLASS 2
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
INTRODUCTION
TO MUSIC
CLASS 3
DRUMS+
BEATS
CLASS 4
DRUMS+
BEATS
CLASS 5
GUITAR+
PIANO
CLASS 6
GUITAR+
PIANO
CLASS 7
VOICE+
SCALES
CLASS 8
VOICE+
SCALES
CLASS 9
MAKE A SONG
CLASS 10
MAKE A SONG
57
Bibliography
1. Winner, Ellen, Thalia R. Goldstein, and Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin. "Art for Art's sake?:
The Impact of Arts Education, Educational Research and Innovation." OECD READ
Edition 1 (2013): 85-119. http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-AssetManagement/oecd/education/art-for-art-s-sake_9789264180789-en#page87 (accessed
May 2, 2014).
2. Sisario, Ben. "In Beyonce Deal, Pepsi Focuses on Collaboration." The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/business/media/in-beyonce-deal-pepsi-focuses-oncollaboration.html?_r=0 (accessed April 28, 2014).
3. Stubbs, Ryan. "Public Funding for the Arts: 2013 Update." Grantmakers in the Arts.
http://www.giarts.org/article/public-funding-arts-2013-update (accessed April 27, 2014)
4. Dahl, Darran. "How to write an Operational Plan for your business.
http://www.inc.com/guides/201107/how-to-write-an-operational-plan-for-your-smallbusiness.html (accessed April 28, 2014).
5. Susan, Ward. About.com, "The operating plan section of the business plan." (Accessed
May 4, 2014). http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/businessplans/a/bizplanoperplan.htm.
6. James Manktelow & Amy Carlson. Mind Tools, "Porter's five forces." (Accessed May 4,
2014). http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm.
7. Wylie, Jonathan. "Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms."
Scholastic Publishes Literacy Resources and Children's Books for Kids of All Ages.
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742 (accessed May 4, 2014).
8. Pappas, Christopher. "Top 10 e-Learning Statistics for 2014 You Need To Know." Top
10 e-Learning Statistics for 2014 You Need To Know. http://elearningindustry.com/top10-e-learning-statistics-for-2014-you-need-to-know (accessed May 4, 2014).
58
9. "The history of e-learning." The history of e-learning.
http://www.talentlms.com/elearning/history_of_elearning (accessed May 4, 2014).
Sources for Market Segment Information and Statistics:
•
6 out of every 7 people in the world have internet access
o RESOURCE: http://www.wearesquared.com/family-guy-rosanne/
•
81% Internet Penetration in North America
o RESOURCE: www.wearesocial.sg
•
Half of Americans 18+ own Tablets
o RESOURCE: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/01/16/e-reading-rises-as-deviceownership-jumps/
•
US Adults spend 4:34 hours consuming TV and Video Media Daily
o RESOURCE: http://www.emarketer.com
•
212 of 278 M Internet Users are Active Online via Computers/Laptops
o RESOURCE: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/exploring-theconsumer-media-universe.html
•
Media consumption among kids (up to 9 yrs) has grown over the past four years to nearly
35 hours per week, a 2.2 hours increase since 2009
o RESOURCE: http://www.4-traders.com/VIACOM-INC-9548248/news/ViacomInc--Nickelodeon-Introduces-The-Story-of-Me-Research-Study-Providing-InsideLook-At-Tod-17481902/
•
Computer and gaming consoles make 27% of kids' daily media consumption (ibid)
•
3/4 of kids say they watch short form video on their iDevice. More than half of kids with
an iDevice now watch long-form content - 23% increase over last year (ibid)
•
3/4 of all kids (0-8 yrs) have access to a mobile device at home
o 63% Smartphone / 40% Tablet
o RESOURCE: http://cdn2d7.ec.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/about_us/zero-to-eight20131.pdf
59
•
TV still remains main source of educational content (61%) compared to mobile (38%)
and computers (34%) (ibid)
•
58% of higher income kids use educational content on their mobile devices compared to
28% percent of lower income kids (ibid)
o This disparity evens out for kids with access to computers and mobile devices
•
Half of all babies use a computer or smartphone before age 2
o RESOURCE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/theswitch/wp/2013/10/28/half-of-all-babies-use-a-computer-or-smartphone-beforeage-2-heres-why-thats-bad/
60
Business Plan
Gabrielle Banks
Manuel Delgado
Ankie Titulaer
Chris Wade
Maxwell Wright
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
May 5, 2014
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
3
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
5
MANAGEMENT
&
COMPANY
STRUCTURE
6
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
8
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
11
PORTER’S DIAMOND ANALYSIS
14
MARKET ANALYSIS
17
INTERNAL ANALYSIS
25
OPERATIONAL
PLAN
28
STRATEGIC
PLAN
31
MARKETING
PLAN
43
TIMELINE
49
FINANCIAL
PROJECTIONS
50
APPENDICES
51
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
"Despite mounting evidence of its role in student achievement, arts education is disappearing in
the schools that need it most." - National Education Association
Play It FWD was founded in 2013 with the aim of delivering a free online music education
service.
Our principal offices will be located in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Business/Product or Service
Play It FWD is a non-profit business. It is an interactive online music education platform where
children all over the world can receive music lessons for free.
These lessons include celebrity musicians as guest teachers, with relevant brands and sponsors
providing the financial support.
Presently, Play It FWD is in the start-up stage. Future plans include developing a stable platform
with engaging content and brand recognition over the next three years.
Competition
The online music education industry is very competitive. There are potential competitors who
control the technology that is used by Play It FWD. Also, there are a number of online music
education companies that are already operating. However, what differentiates PLAY IT FWD is
the leveraging of famous, popular, and recognizable music professionals to be part of the
educational curriculum. The main focus of Play It FWD is not to develop technical skills, but to
inspire and encourage the youth interested in learning more about music. Also, as a non-profit,
we will also seek for brand partners to join the effort of promoting free music education.
Management Team
Chief Executive Officer, Chris Wade, who founded the company in 2013, leads the management
team. He experience includes marketing with a focus in brand and artist relations.
Ankie Titulaer is the Chief Educational Officer. She has a master’s degree in music education
and performing.
3
Max Wright is the Chief Creative Officer of Play it FWD. He has received a Latin GRAMMY
award and has performed all over the world with the band, “Ojos de Brujo”. He was also
involved in many organizations that provide music lessons.
Gabrielle Banks is the Artist Relations and Licensing Manager. Gabrielle has experience in film
and music licensing.
Manuel Delgado is the general manager of Play It FWD. He has a degree in Commercial Music
and runs an independent record label.
All members of the management team will also be graduating from the Berklee College of Music
with a master’s degree in Global Entertainment and Music Business in July, 2014.
Operations
The operational process of Play It FWD begins with the research and development of the
curriculum, the content, and the website and platform. We will partner with brands and
organizations to fund Play It FWD. Also, we will recruit the right artists that fit the brand and
target market to deliver the content to the consumers.
Capital Requirements
We are seeking $1.1 Million that will fund the start-up costs of Play It FWD. This includes the
creation of the website and platform, the production of the celebrity videos, and the educational
exercises that make up the curriculum. It also includes workspace expenses, travel costs to
connect with the brands and the artists, and wage and salary expenses.
4
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Play It FWD is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that unites Artists & Brands to provide music
education to Children for free. Due to the trend in decreasing Arts and Cultural funding in many
countries, we see the opportunity to provide an innovative approach to fulfill the need for
progressive music education across the globe. As a result, we are developing an interactive
online platform that educates and excites young people about music via an engaging live
streaming experience and additional web-based content.
Our free business model functions by creating key relationships with and between Artists,
Brands and our consumers, whom are Children and their Parents. We will work with top music
Artists to serve as Virtual Teachers to Children in an online classroom environment, providing
unique educational experiences that are both enlightening and entertaining. Our Brand partners
will provide the funding to help underwrite the costs of our programming and educational
initiatives in exchange for brand integration into our platform and content. The additional
revenue generated from our partners will be reinvested back into the organization for continued
curriculum development and enhanced content creation.
Our approach is specifically designed to bring significant benefits to every stakeholder in our
ecosystem. Artists are able to contribute back to music culture as well as create a deeper
connection with their fans (Children & Parents). Brands succeed by being socially responsible
and reinvesting in lives of their core consumers. Children are the biggest winners by receiving an
accessible high quality, innovative music education at no cost to them or their parents. This
dynamic creates value for all parties involved through the means of working together for a
common good.
At Play It FWD, our goal is to enrich the lives of children and elevate their cultural awareness to
ultimately contribute to a better world society.
5
MANAGEMENT
&
COMPANY
STRUCTURE
Play It FWD Org Chart
Chris
Wade
Chief
Executive
Of8icer
Ankie
Titulaer
Chief
Educational
Of8icer
Gabrielle
Banks
Artist
Relations
&
Licensing
Max
Wright
Chief
Creative
Of8icer
Manuel
Delgado
General
Manager
6
Roles & Responsibilities
Chris Wade - CEO
• Leads in overall direction and strategy of the company
• Overseas management of all departments
• Leads in concepting Artist/Brand partnerships and ongoing development of Marketing
Plan
Ankie Titulaer - CEdO
• Leads in development of methodology and approach of curriculum
• Responsible for consulting with Educational Professionals on pedagogy
• Overseas the development of lesson plans
Max Wright - CCO
• Leads in development of all creative aspects of the company including Lesson
Programming, Content Aesthetic & Brand/Platform Look & Feel
• Responsible for concepting and developing new ideas for company
Gabrielle Banks - Artist Relations & Licensing
• Leads in building and maintaining relationships with Artists, Managers & Agents
• Responsible for providing insight and managing negotiations regarding music licensing
Manuel Delgado - General Manager
• Leads in managing all day-to-day internal processes (Timelines, Meetings, Presentations,
Content Creation, etc.)
• Responsible for providing advice on legal matters
7
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Industry Life Cycle
The industry of online education is very much in its growth phase. While personal technology
has been growing for decades, advancements have allowed the field to constantly renew itself in
growth. Online and mobile-based education has become a staple within education as a whole and
is projected to continue to see double-digit growth over the next few years.
E-Learning has seen growth of nearly 60% since 2011. Also increasingly, schools are becoming
advocates for mobile technologies to assist with learning. The use of tablets, e-readers, iPods and
even smartphones is being noted for its space efficiency as well as its mobility. Now, learning
can happen in numerous locations, including in recess yards, on the school bus and at home.
Jonathan Wiley from Scholastic argues,
Mobile learning is an exciting opportunity for educators, but in many ways we are just scratching
the surface of all that can be achieved with it. With proper training, and time to explore these
high-tech gadgets, teachers will soon be able make rapid strides with them, and be able to support
and instruct the use of such devices in the classroom on a regular basis. Now is the time to act.
Our digital natives are counting on us.
(http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742)
Because the online education industry is in its growth phase, the market is incredibly fragmented,
with new competitors entering the market constantly from varying vantage points, offering a
variety of products. Success for Play It FWD will be found in our ability to distinguish ourselves
within the market. Our “ABC” (Artists-Brands-Children) Business Model is our primary point of
differentiation and innovation. Leveraging Artists and Brands will help us stand out, attract
publicity and eventually gain a substantial market share.
By taking advantage of the power of mobile technology and personal computing to provide
widespread education, we have the opportunity to use the many distribution channels technology
provides to our benefit. By making our product available across multiple platforms we enhance
our opportunities to increase exposure and thereby gain a considerable audience, which
ultimately leads to a large market share.
8
Industry Growth Statistics
Source: http://elearningindustry.com/top-10-e-learning-statistics-for-2014-you-need-to-know
9
Source:
http://www.talentlms.com/elearning/benefits_and_drawbacks_of_online_learning
Industry Delineation
Play It FWD is in the online music education industry. We considered making placing it
only within the online education industry. However, we felt that this industry would be too broad
and general, considering the many different types of schooling that can be done on the Internet
that we would not consider competition. We also discussed the music education industry. This
again is not specific enough. There are many different types of music education that do not fall
under the same category of the work Play It FWD does, including on-campus and in-person
education. This is why we felt that the online music education industry would be broad enough
to describe the work Play It FWD does, yet also specific enough to differentiate Play It FWD
from other areas not related to what is offered.
10
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
PULSE
Description: Pulse is an online music education platform that prepares students on a pre-Berklee
level, meaning an age target between 10 years of age and 18. It provides interactive instruction
through a wide curriculum of games, lessons and research materials available through an
engaging online service.
Similarities: Pulse offers content on musical education through a well developed curriculum
(designed by professional academics) that focuses on the ability of being able to access it from
any point and have the possibility of teaching yourself at any time during the day, wherever you
may physically be.
Differences: On the whole, Pulse matches with many educational tools we would like to
incorporate but the main difference lies in that it's business mode is that it isn't a non profit
organization and that it doesn't focus on partnering with established artists or celebrities.
KHAN ACADEMY
Description: Khan Academy is essentially an online schooling method, that provides material
for both students and parents to access it and teach themselves through a large variety of fun and
intelligently designed interactive windows.
Similarities: Just like Kahn Academy, we aim to provide such interactive windows that will
guarantee the engagement of our users. Khan Academy offers different levels of curriculum
based on the knowledge acquired through each lesson.
Differences: As far as we know by researching on their website, Khan Academy doesn't offer
music lessons and is more based on general education such as Math, Science and Humanities.
GOOGLE HELP OUTS
Description: Google help outs is a ''new p2p video chat helpline service. Anyone can sign up to
receive or provide help, and providers can make money off chat sessions''
Similarities: In Play It FWD, we aim to have Artists and Celebrities interact on live sessions
with our users in specific occasions during the curriculum. Also, we aim to provide multimedia
content available at all times without personal interaction.
11
Differences: In Play It FWD we are there to engage and make sure people use the platform in a
linear development in time, not just for one specific occasion. Our differentiation is the
curriculum we will provide in different stages of the program, which will have a clear evolution
from class number one to class number ten.
ONLINE MUSIC INSTITUTE
Description: The Online Music Institute puts together music students with music professionals
via online connections. The idea is that you can learn anything about music, whether it be how to
play an instrument or learn notation, production and much more, through professionals who will
personally interact with you on a private video call.
Similarities: Main similarities are the experience of learning an instrument or a specific set of
music skills through online guidance by a professional.
Differences: Our difference is that our music professionals aim to be well known and established
music celebrities. Also, we aim to provide more entertainment in our delivery by introducing a
more 'inspirational' approach to music which isn't so skill oriented. Our idea is that we engage
future music students to want to learn those skills, whilst remaining as the platform that will
enlighten our users to want to do that.
LITTLE KIDS ROCK
Description: Little Kids Rock is an online platform that works on popular american music with
weekly interactive lessons.
Similarities: The approach by Little Kids Rock is that to inspire and engage kids across America
to value music as a tool to increase your studying abilities and self-confidence. It is to ensure
music education isn't pushed out of our basic education and to show the bridges between popular
music and musical knowledge.
Differences: The differences lie in that Play It FWD will host recognizable Artists and
Celebrities to attract immediate attention from kids in ages from 8 to 10. Our curriculum will be
strategically focused on keeping motivation by leveraging fame and popular idols.
POINT BLANK ONLINE MUSIC SCHOOL
Description: Point Blank Online Music School is a derivative option from the physical school it
12
hosts in London, UK.
It focuses on teaching digital musical software programs through online courses, aimed at degree
level students.
Similarities: PBOMS offers online guidance in music related tuition. It also hosts, as Play It
FWD aim to do, legends in the music business.
Differences: PBOMS ins't aimed at children and doesn't include current celebrities. It isn't a
non-for-profit organization and doesn't focus on fun delivery but more technical skills for
advanced users.
13
PORTER’S DIAMOND ANALYSIS
However difficult it may be for us to pinpoint our exact industry (given the nature of our 3-part
company) we have decided to use the Porter's Diamond analysis upon Music Education in an
online context.
At a first glance, the attractiveness of our business model is substantial and offers great potential
in an upcoming competitive market such as online entertainment.
14
Competitive Rivalry within the Industry:
We believe within the Online Music Education Industry we have high competition. It is a highly
competitive and fragmented market.
Since the industry is still in rapid development, rivalry to become the number one reference can
pose a direct problem to our business.
Threat of New Entrants:
As mentioned above, the industry has high growth potential. Therefore the threat of new players
is large, not only because it is an easy business model to emulate, but also creating online forms
of education is highly accessible.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers:
On hand our business depends largely on the resources of artists and brands, but on the other
hand we believe our value proposal for them is very attractive.
We believe we have enough bargaining power for the collaboration to work interestingly in both
ways.
Bargaining Power of Customers:
Since we have a free business model, the bargaining power of our customers is practically nonexistent.
Threat of Substitute Products:
Any visual media such as TV, Video games and other engaging internet platforms are potential
substitute products to our company. However, due to our specific 'edutainment' approach, direct
substitution isn't a direct threat.
Market Analysis of Music Education:
The market of Play It FWD consists of multiple targets. The children who will use this platform
will be the consumers but not our direct clients. These are the parents of the children. We did a
lot of research to the importance of music education for parents but we were unable to find the
15
needed information to analyze the market of music education in the USA. Therefore we sent a
survey out to receive more information about our target.
HOW ATTRACTIVE IS THIS INDUSTRY?
The online music education industry is not very attractive. There are potential competitors who
control the technology that is used by Play It FWD. Also, there are a number of online music
education companies that are already operating. It is a very fragmented industry. The barriers to
entry are very low and any professional (or even non-professional) musician can begin teaching
online music education courses.
However, what differentiates Play It FWD is the leveraging of famous, popular, and recognizable
music professionals to be part of the educational curriculum. The main focus of Play It FWD is
not to develop technical skills, but to inspire and encourage the youth interested in learning more
about music. Also, as a non-profit, we will also seek for brand partners to join the effort of
promoting free music education.
Collectively, we stand by Play It FWD’s ability to create a unique and outstanding value
proposition for all parties involved. A strong brand and value will improve our ability to bargain
with suppliers (Artists and Brands) to make their involvement with Play It FWD something that
they cannot miss out on. Similarly, leveraging parents and hooking them onto the value we offer
for having A-list talent teach remarkable life lessons through music for absolutely no cost to
them will sway their choice in our favor when combing through the multitude of options
available for this type of service.
As we structure our business, it is crucial for us to develop and grow our own branding/copyright
and other intangible assets as soon as possible to not only differentiate ourselves in the
marketplace, but to strengthen our sustainability. As this is a very competitive and unattractive
market we are entering into, sustainability will be a key factor in weeding out those companies
that survive the growth phase.
To help us tackle our efforts in branding and developing top-of-mind recall, we have allocated
substantial funds in our first year costs and onward towards marketing both online (web banners,
a website, social media, etc.) and offline (schools, shopping malls, recreational centers, etc.).
16
MARKET ANALYSIS
Market Segmentation
The two criteria we chose for our segmentation were ‘Media Consumption’ and ‘Attitude
towards Music Education.’ Exploring how Americans in particular feel about Music Education
will help to determine how and in what capacity there is a market for an online music education
platform. If people aren’t interested in music education in general, they are less likely to “buy”
into the need of our product. Because Play It FWD takes a nontraditional approach towards
music education – that is musical education via technological mediation, it is also important for
us to explore Media Consumption habits of both Parents and Children.
Engaged But Uninterested - The segment in which people are high consumers of media but
aren’t particularly moved by efforts to improve music education would not be a beneficial
segment for us.
Disconnects - The most unattractive segment, which consists of people who have a negative
attitude towards music education (or just don’t care) and don’t consume much media.
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Enlightened But Not Engaged – A segment of people who are passionate about music education
but are not consuming a lot of media. Focusing on this group means that we would most likely
be targeting more traditional music education platforms.
Engaged & Informed Parents / Connected Children - Unique to Play It FWD is the importance of
targeting consumers (Parents and Children) who care enough about music education that they
would be invested - in time and energy - enough to be active on our site. Media efficacy would
prove three things: 1) Parents and children would be attracted to and enticed by the presence of
“celebrities” on Play It FWD that they can recognize from their favorite movies, television
shows, or Top 40 radio stations, 2) High online content consumption gives us a preexisting
behavior to build upon and 3) Previous engagement in mediated activities or with media
technology (with Parent or Child) will show a willingness of parents to let their children partake
in activities on their computers, tablets, and smartphones with little to no supervision and with
little to no time limits. This for us is the most attractive segment based on the following figures
we found (sources of information found in the appendix):
•
6 out of every 7 people in the world have internet access
•
81% Internet Penetration in North America
•
Half of Americans 18+ own Tablets
•
US Adults spend 4:34 hours consuming TV and Video Media Daily
•
212 of 278 M Internet Users are Active Online via Computers/Laptops
•
Media consumption among kids (up to 9 yrs) has grown over the past four years to nearly
35 hours per week, a 2.2 hours increase since 2009
•
Computer and gaming consoles make 27% of kids' daily media consumption (ibid)
•
3/4 of kids say they watch short form video on their iDevice. More than half of kids with
an iDevice now watch long-form content - 23% increase over last year (ibid)
•
3/4 of all kids (0-8 yrs) have access to a mobile device at home
o 63% Smartphone / 40% Tablet
•
TV still remains main source of educational content (61%) compared to mobile (38%)
and computers (34%) (ibid)
18
•
58% of higher income kids use educational content on their mobile devices compared to
28% percent of lower income kids (ibid)
o This disparity evens out for kids with access to computers and mobile devices
•
Half of all babies use a computer or smartphone before age 2
Market Research
Methodology: Our market research data collection is based on a combination of a qualitative
approach and a quantitative approach.
The model of Play It FWD consists of 3 segments: Artists, Brands & Children. Therefore, our
marketing strategy will be a combination of targeting these three different groups respectively.
As a result we’ve chosen to conduct research on each of these groups to determine the best
overall approach for our business.
Artists
The data about the type of artists we want to use and the proper methods to approach the will be
collected through interviews. These interviews will not be directly with the artists themselves but
rather with their managers. Knowing that managers are often the key individuals that present
opportunities to artists, we believe they are best resource to determine how to form valuable
partnerships with artists. Given that we are focused on the U.S market, these interviews will be
conducted by phone or Skype.
Brands
To collect data on brands we will to interview executives, preferably Brand Managers/Directors,
at different types of brands that we think would fit with our business and have a strong audience
in the U.S. We will seek out information such as what brands seek in partnerships, especially
around social responsibility, and how they analyze these opportunities. Much like the artists
managers, we will do the interviews over Skype or phone.
19
Parents
We will collect quantitative data from parents via questionnaires. Since we need to get a large
number of respondents to have a significant base to draw data from, questionnaires are the best
method for us to create quality data. We will present the questionnaires to parents that live in the
U.S. to get a clear image about the demographic we are targeting and their need. We will gather
our respondent by a few different methods: personal relationships and referrals, contacting
schools and reaching out to parenting groups.
Parent Survey Results:
197 total survey responses
1. Did you receive music education?
We received 143 responses to this question and 100% of the people responses were answered a
YES.
This implies that all of our survey takers have in someway an understanding what music
education is.
2. Is music education important to you?
There were 143 people who answered this question and 93% of the people answered the question
with a YES in contrast of the other 6% of people that answered this question with a NO.
3. What age are your children?
Most of the parents that answered this question have children in the age between 0-7 (66%).
Next are the parents with children between the age of 8-12 (31%) and parents with children in
the age of 13-18 (14%). And 15% of parents have children that are 18 or older. With the
information that we received we can imply that most of the parents that took our survey have
very your children.
4. Did/do your children receive music education?
Most of the parents have children who receive music education in school (59%). There is also a
good number of children that receive music education outside of school (32%).
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5. Why not?
Due to the way this question was set up, there was no defying answer. Most parents chose the
option “other”.
6. At what age did your child begin music education?
With the number of 83%, the 0 to 7 year old children are far out the biggest group here. This
implies that most young children get exposed to music education in some form or way. We could
also see by the answers to the survey that the older the children the smaller amount receives
music education.
7. If music education were freely available for your child, what objections (if any) would you
have to engaging in it?
This question was answered by 99% of the parents to no objections.
8. Would you want your child to receive traditional music education?
This question was answered a YES by 93%.
9. If there were a good, new online alternative to teach music education would you be interested
in that for your children?
Most of the parents answered a YES to this question (78%), but there are parents who said NO to
this question as well (22%).
10. How many hours per week would you be willing to help your child with his/her music
studies?
Most of the parents would be willing to help their children for 1 to 2 hours a week (72%). There
are also parents who would spend more time with their children’s studies, as 30% of parents is
willing to help their child for 3 to 4 hours a week or even 4 plus hours (15%).
11. How important is it to you for your child to have fun while learning?
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The most popular answer to this question was “very” with 79% of the votes. And the second
most popular answer was “somewhat important” with 19% of the votes. There were almost no
parents who answered this question with “indifferent” or “somewhat unimportant”.
Conclusion:
The information we retrieved from this marketing research is very useful to our company. We
gained a lot of information on the subject of music education that we were not able to find in
another way.
From the outcome of the survey about music education we can conclude that most of the parents
that filled out the questionnaire received some form of music education at a certain point in their
lives and believe in the importance of music education for their children. Also most of the
children have received some kind of music education during their lives.
We can also see that most children receive music education in their school at least when they are
young of age since most parents that took the survey have young children. Therefore we do not
have enough information about the older children in this marketing research.
We do not have any information about what kind of music education is taught in the schools. We
can only make assumptions about the kind of music education as most of the schools have some
kind of music class but we don’t know to what extent.
What was very interesting for us is to see the answer of the parents to the question about
traditional music education versus online music education. To this question the parents
massively preferred their children to receive traditional music education. This is very important
for us to know, as we need to make a big effort to gain the trust of the parents. We will
strategically work on marketing the platform as valid and supported by professionals and
organizations as possible.
We also got a much more clear image of how important it is to parents for their children to enjoy
their learning experience. This is good to know since we are trying to make our platform very
engaging to children and have them spend a lot of their time on it.
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Marketing Executive & Artist Manager Interview Results
For our qualitative research on how to target artists and brands, we conducted interviews with
relevant marketing executives from corporate brands and an artist manager that has worked with
some of the top artists in the music business. They helped in providing a clearer image about the
interest of brands and artists to support our platform.
Below is are the profiles of our interviewees:
Donae Burston – Regional Marketing Director / Moet Hennessy USA
Kwesi Fraser – Former Heineken Brand Manager & Account Director for Alloy Access
(Marketing Agency for Heineken)
Jamal Henderson – Senior Brand Manager / PepsiCo
Jeannah Ho – Former Assistant Manager for Scooter Braun (SB Projects/Justin Beiber) &
General Manager for Erving Wonder Mgmt (Now part of Atom Factory) and Current Road
Manager for Sean Kingston
Summary / Key Takeaways
The main learning that was gained from our initial round of interviews with marketing
executives and artist managers was that the process of approaching and partnering with artists
and brands must be unique for each party. As one former executive stated, “There is no such
thing as “one size fits all.” If it does, it won’t work.” That means that we must customize and
tailor our approach to each specific artist and brand to make the best impression and have the
optimal chance of securing a partnership.
Some of the main elements that brands consider are the following:
•
Who’s Tied In?
o Major Partners or Celebs (a big plus)
o Organization history/Legacy
o What is done with the money? (Brands like transparency)
•
Matching of goals between businesses
23
•
Partnerships need to organically match both brand’s personalities
o "Organically forged relationships”
o What does the partnership say about me (and my company)?
•
Who is pitching the idea?
o They need to be Smart / Well Connected / Established
o 60% of selling the idea is the person representing the company that is pitching
•
Bigness of the Idea / Global Impact / Staying Power
o Companies are looking for the “big splash”
o Multiple Touchpoints to reach a large group of people
o Will people talk about this many years later?
One common point that artists and brands alike seek in partnerships is an easy, turnkey process
where they don’t have to do excessive amounts of work to make the partnership successful. The
more things are thought out for partners ahead of time makes them more likely to choose to start
and remain in a partnership. For most, partnerships are not their core business and, although
many like to participate in charitable activities, the convenience of having a partner with
foresight and a solid process plan in place is imperative.
With artists in particular their main asset is their time. A large majority of talent has an affinity
for non-profit, charitable work - especially things that involve music and children. That said,
they are often willing to give of their time (and sometime other assets such as music, merch, etc.)
to help a cause they believe in. However, the expectation of artists and their
management/agent/labels is that the organization they partner with is professional and does not
abuse any of the time that artists give. Therefore, our plan to shoot content with artists must be
very easy and respectful of an artist’s time and their abilities.
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INTERNAL ANALYSIS
SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
-Free Platform
-Innovative Model
-Fun & Engaging Interactivity
-Strong Appeal via Celebrities
-Connection with Reputable Brands
-Charitable Aspect
-Strong Dependency on Brands
-Strong Dependency on Celebrities
-Only accessible via Internet Connection
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
-Rise in Digital Devices
-Growing Awareness of MOOC's
-Emerging Global Markets
-Decrease in Traditional Music Education
-Easy Entrance of Competitors
-Attention Economy / Substitute Products
25
CANVAS MODEL
26
27
OPERATIONAL
PLAN
VALUE CHAIN OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL
IT/Platform
Development
&
Maintenance
Business
Affairs
(Finance,
Legal,
etc.)
Human
Resources
Creating
Knowledge
(Research)
-‐Academic
Experts
-‐Lesson
Plans
-‐Strategy
Course
Design
&
Development
-‐Curriculum
-‐Platform
-‐Content
Course
Physical
Production
-‐Celebrities
-‐Brands
-‐Production
Partners
Marketing
&
Distribution
-‐Exposure
-‐Strategy
-‐Campaign
Student
Learning
-‐Experience
-‐Edutainment
CREATING KNOWLEDGE
Before we can develop our curriculum we will undertake extensive research from professionals
in the field of music education. Leveraging academic expertise is key to identify the correct
approach towards developing the foundation of our company’s mission, which is to offer the
highest quality of music education online.
The next step is to create the lesson plan and have it verified by professionals in education. When
we have the approval of educators we will design the videos and the exercises on the platform
that belong to each lesson. We might make a demo to test the platform on groups of children
before finalizing and continuing our strategy.
COURSE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
CURRICULUM:
The next step in our value chain would be to transfer all relevant data to devise the most
engaging and stimulating educational experience in our lesson program. We aim to construct a
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ten-lesson plan, previously approved by academics, which would guarantee the most effective
educational growth. When we have the approval of educators we will design the videos and the
exercises on the platform that belong to each lesson. We might make a demo to test the platform
on groups of children before finalizing and continuing our strategy. In this step we will also start
contacting the artists we would like to use for our organization and design the lessons with the
person in mind to make the fit as perfect as possible.
PLATFORM:
Working hand in hand with web developers and designers we will merge the curriculum’s
content into an inspirational and interactive online platform.
We are aware that our online experience represents the cornerstone of our business model. On
the platform we will put all the video content and the exercises that belong to each lesson. The
users need to have easy access to the content and love to spend time on it. We will make our
platform as interactive as possible, which means that we need to work with professional
developers that know about all the newest techniques in this area. We will hire a team to work
very closely with our education department to create an engaging platform.
CONTENT:
Each lesson will be specifically designed in relation to each chronological step in the program.
Other factors to consider will be what each artist will deliver as relevant content. Conditions of
delivery will be agreed upon with the artist to ensure the best performance of all parties. We are
looking at different use of the artists in our videos and will have to make sure that we use the
time of an artist as effective as possible.
COURSE PHYSICAL PRODUCTION
ARTISTS:
We will identify the most appropriate artists that would fit our curriculum. The nature and
character of these artists is key to reach our goals in each step of the program. The artist needs to
be both appealing to our customers (the children), as well as to the brands that will support the
initiative. We will contact their managers first to see if the artist is interested and pitch the idea to
them. If an artist agrees we will need to schedule a time to inform the artist of all that is expected
29
of them and to set a time and place to record. This will take a lot of time in organization and we
need to work on a smooth production.
BRANDS:
It is important that the brands are relevant to the content that will be delivered and by the artist in
charge of this delivery. We will serve as the bridge between both to guarantee value to all
parties. Therefore we will have our marketing department contacting brands and pitching the
idea to them. Our marketing team will have to travel for meetings and negotiations to close
enough deals for us to keep operating.
MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION
Once we have confirmed all players we have to maximize exposure by planning a strategic
marketing campaign. We will leverage a multimedia approach to ensure that we are reaching a
broad base within our target of 8-12 years and their parents.
This includes online media, print, and promoting in schools and communities.
STUDENT LEARNING
In this step of the value chain we are at the finalization of the product. All efforts converge to
offer the best experience possible for the consumer. The right balance between engaging content
and effective delivery must be created to ensure that we are consistently providing a dynamic
experience that is entertaining just as it is educational. The platform will expand organically with
every new lesson that is introduced. In this way our students can grow with our company and
remain open for starters.
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STRATEGIC
PLAN
Play It FWD’s strategy is to enter the marketplace of online music education with a
revolutionary approach to how children are delivered quality music lessons. Our ABC model is
innovative in its ability to connect Artists and Brands together for music education in a manner
that is not currently being executed in the marketplace. It is thru this method of reaching our
target consumers of 8-12 year old children and their parents that we believe is our true
competitive advantage and point of differentiation from our competitors.
Our plan is to initially build an operational beta version of our online platform to be able to
showcase to artists and brands to gain their interest. We intend to target a select group of artists
to being working with to serve as essentially spokespeople for our platform. From there, we will
begin the process of pitching to brands to begin creating the content that will live on our
platform. We will replicate and scale this process over time with the intention of creating a
broader reach to more consumers and increasing our brand awareness in the marketplace with the
long term intention of globalizing our platform
VALUE PROPOSITION
The overarching value proposition for Play It FWD is that our platform provides an innovative,
quality music education for to children for free. We see that as a powerful proposition to all
parties who might be interested in engaging with our business, because everyone involved is
contributing to a greater cause. However, since we have 3 groups of shareholders in Artists,
Brands and our Consumers (Parents & Children), there is specific value that we provide to each
group respectively.
ARTISTS
From our perspective, Artists can benefit greatly by being involved with Play It FWD. Through
our research in talking with artist managers, we know that most artists are very open to charitable
initiatives, especially those associated with music. Via our platform, we provide artists with an
easy and effective way to give back to younger generations of music listeners and music culture
at large. Most artists are products of music education and many artists are passionate about the
cause of providing more access to better educational resources. We believe that these types of
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artists can truly provide a great benefit to the children in need of music education and, in
addition, they will create incremental PR value for themselves in the process.
The impact of teaching children the important elements of music is rewarding in and of itself, but
there is also a greater benefit for artists to be involved. As many artists are looking for new and
creative ways to engage with their fans, we see the Play It FWD platform as a vehicle for artists
to connect directly to their fan base in a new way and provide a valuable exchange between both
groups. By educating children, artists have the ability expose themselves to potentially new
segments of fans that their music and relevance might not have reached. Moreover, the artists
have the opportunity to develop deeper connections with parents, who could be existing fans or
the primary purchasers of artists’ content, depending on the artist and genre.
BRANDS
It is common knowledge that many brands invest in charitable causes that relate to their brand’s
mission and/or target consumers. Smart brands understand the value of promoting noble causes
and giving back to those who support them with their dollars and brand loyalty. We believe that
brands can play a unique role in the lives of their consumers by participating in Play It FWD and
reap great benefits in the process.
By partnering with Play It FWD, brands take a positive stance on music education and the value
that it brings to the lives of children and their parents. This is an area of charitable giving that is
open to brands from a wide selection of industries from Consumer to Technology to Fashion to
Beverage and many more. This is one of the key values that Play It FWD provides to brands –
any brand that is interested and does not do business that is a detriment to children can be a part
of our platform to some degree.
On an individual brand level, each brand involved will have to the opportunity to have its logo
and (potentially) products strategically placed in our proprietary content. This exposure
heightens brands’ awareness with consumers and can create a deeper emotional connection with
them by being a part of a worthy cause that is beneficial to a large group of people, in particular
parents whom have considerable amounts of buying power and influence.
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From talking with expert marketers at major brands, we know that many companies consider
sponsorship opportunities based off their reach and scale. Brands that partner with Play It FWD
in the first stages have the ability to play a key role in helping grow the brand into the global
entity that we ultimately intend it to be. This will give these brands additional touchpoints in
international markets and the ability to connect to a broader set of consumers.
Since Play It FWD is a Non-Profit organization, there is also a U.S. tax benefit that companies
will receive for sponsoring our initiatives. We will consider all monies provided from brands
(and other donors) as charitable donations; therefore, these funds will be tax exempt for all
companies that partner with us.
CONSUMERS (Parents & Children)
We see our consumers as the biggest winners within the ecosystem that Play It FWD creates. .
We know that in many states across America, funding for arts education in schools has been cut
drastically over the past few years.3 As a result, many children are receiving little to no music
education at all within the public school curriculum. When you couple this with the high cost of
private music lessons and the current economic situation of most middle class families, a formula
for a future society of people with no access to music education is being created.
Play It FWD intends to serve as a solution to help fill the void of quality music education within
the school systems in the U.S. and enrich the lives of its young people. Studies show the music
education/appreciate helps to create more well-rounded students that perform better in all areas
of academics.1 Our goal with Play It FWD is to provide children with an entertaining and
appealing method to learn about the fundamentals of music.
We see this as a great value to the lives of young people as it gives them a deeper appreciation
for music and access to greater cultural learning. We also see equal value for parents as they
have the opportunity for their children to receive music lessons from a trusted source at no cost
to them.
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Pricing Strategy
Our Pricing strategy is broken down into two sections. The primary part, Brand Sponsorship, is
the focus of how we will create revenue for our non-profit. We will also take in Charitable
Donations that will serve as a supplementary source of revenue to help cover our costs.
Brand Sponsorship
Within our ABC business model, our Brand Partners are our clients since they are the main
source of funding for our educational initiatives. For Brand Sponsorships, we will offer our
brand partners 3, tiered packages that provide deeper brand engagement and exposure in
exchange for greater investment. The tiers with the associated brand exposure and pricing is
listed in the table below:
PACKAGE
Basic / Opening Act
BRAND EXPOSURE
•
Brand Logo inclusion and Product
PRICE
$100K/year
Placement in 1 piece of video content
per month
Intermediate / Emerging
•
Limited Website Ads
•
Brand Logo inclusion and Product
$250K/year
Placement in 2 pieces of video
content per month
•
Brand Logo inclusion on Platform for
6 Months
Premier/ Headliner
•
Website Ads
•
Yearly Presenting Sponsor Rights
•
Brand Logo inclusion and Product
$500K/year
Placement in all video content per
month (4)
•
Brand Logo inclusion on Platform for
1 Year
•
Sponsorship of offline events
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We also see the opportunity for specialty pricing options for brands that might be interested in
creating custom packages based of their budget and specific needs.
It is our goal to close on 4 Premier packages with major brands within the first 18 months of
operating to cover our projected 1st year costs. We will seek out smaller and custom sponsorship
packages from other brands to provide the company with additional revenue to reinvest into the
educational curriculum and enhance the platform and its content.
In terms of performance tracking for our sponsors, we intend to build in a backend tracking
system within our platform that can provide real-time analytics and feedback on the performance
of each piece of content. This helps us to justify our pricing to our brand clients, as well as to
monitor the efficacy of our content and make adjustments to how our content is developed and
presented in an ongoing manner. This is one perspective of how we intend to provide full
transparency to our clients.
As an additional revenue stream, we will accept Charitable Donations from individuals,
consumer groups and small businesses. These funds will be used in the same manner as revenues
from the sponsorships; once all costs are covered, the remaining money will be reinvested back
into the company to continue to develop the enhancement of the platform.
STAKEHOLDERS & PARTNERSHIPS
As previously stated, our business model is structured by 3 groups of stakeholders: Artists,
Brands & Consumers. In order for our business to function successfully and have the opportunity
to scale, we need significant contribution from each party and the ability to create value for them.
We understand the importance of each group of shareholders to our business model and, as a
result, we have developed unique approaches to target and provide unique value to them
specifically.
35
In terms of Partnerships, we view both Artists and Brands as key partners to Play It FWD, as
both are integral to how our business model operates. We plan to strategically seek out both in a
manner that is easy for all potential partners and effective for us as a company. We will detail
our methodology to these partnerships in the following sections.
ARTISTS
Top music artists will be a very visible component of our platform. In essence, they are the face
of the brand to the public and will serve as the attraction point for parents and their children to be
involved with Play It FWD’s educational curriculum. Therefore we must build strong
relationships with key artists that positive public images to best connect and resonate with our
consumers.
We have created a 4-step process to how we create our artist partnerships:
•
Selection
•
Outreach
•
Training/Content Creation
•
Retention
The first step in building a roster of qualified artists is to have a defined Selection process. We
will accomplish this by developing an ongoing internal filtering practice by which we assess
each potential artist to partner with. The main areas that we will measure each artist by is as
follows:
•
Positive Image
o All artists must have a positive public image and cannot have any history of
negative acts that would hurt the perception of Play It FWD’s initiatives
•
Connection to our brand and core Consumer
o There must be a natural fit and/or good relation to our consumer (or the
opportunity to create that relationship)
•
Musical Ability
o Each artist must have the ability to explain musical ideas and concepts
o We do not expect them to be academians in the subject matter, however
36
•
Previous Charitable Work
o Artists that have done charitable work, especially with children and/or music, is a
plus for consideration
We understand that much of this filtration process is subjective. However, it will be our
responsibility to do our due diligence on each artist that we consider partnering with in order to
build and retain trust from our consumers and maintain the quality of each educational lesson
that we give. Therefore, we will initially hold monthly artist strategy meetings to brainstorm and
assess the potential of new artists to be considered for our educational programming.
Once we’ve selected an artist, the next phase is Outreach. By interviewing managers, we’ve
learned that the best way to approach artists is through the best relationship that we have with
that artist’s camp. Essentially, there is no one simplified way to contact any particular artist and
therefore, we will have to be very strategic and leverage many of our existing relationships to
start this process in the early phases of our company’s development. Whether the relationship
lies with the artist directly or their management, agent, label, etc., we will have to assess the best
path of reaching each artist individually to field interest in partnering with our organization.
The promising thing that we also learned from managers is that many artists are open to doing
work with charities and non-profits, especially those that help the lives of children. A lot of
artists have non-profits themselves and they view doing charitable work as part of their
responsibility of being in the public eye – which also helps their PR value in return. We see this
as a critical part of our presentation to artists because we will be expecting them to be an integral
part of our educational approach.
Our goal in the initial phase of Play It FWD will be to identify and partner with 3-4 key artists
that can serve as ambassadors for our initiatives to be and attraction to our consumers, brands
and other artists.
As a part of our process, we will not pay artists directly for their time, however we will cover
their travel and lodging and all necessary expenses for them to be involved with Play It FWD.
37
Managers informed us that artist usually do not expect to be compensated for the time they give
to charities as long as expenses are covered by that organization.
In addition, we will seek legal advice on any agreements and contracts that will need to be
created to determine the parameters of our partnerships with artists, as well brands.
Once an artist agrees to partner with Play It FWD, we will go into our next phase, which is
focused on creating the actual content that will run on our site. We know that an artist’s time is
limited, so we will have a structure in place where we can shoot artists in either New York City
or Los Angeles. We will outsource the production of our content to video crews in both cities,
while we oversee the logistics and the content creation process. It’s important to note that an
additional strategy that we have to develop a large cache of content is to shoot artists while they
are at key festivals around the U.S. Through this method we can potentially get content from
numerous artists within one specific short period of time. Ultimately, the process of creating
content with artists has to be easy and respectful of their time in order for this phase to be
successful
As we are creating content, one of the main areas that we will focus on is ensuring that artists
have a good understanding of what we are looking to accomplish with the content we are
creating and that they can deliver the messages in an effective manner to children. All lesson
plans and scripts will be sent to the artist’s management prior to the shoot date. Also beforehand,
we will have one of our Educational Consultants brief the artist on set about the lesson plan that
we want them to teach and allow them to cover the basic key messages that need to be
communicated. This way we ensure a standard of quality with all of our content and we manage
the expectations of our artist partners and reinforce their confidence in their ability to teach
music.
Retention of our artist partnerships is very important to us. It is our desire to ultimately have
long-term relationships with the best artists in the industry. We intend on doing this by having a
dedicated person within our company who is responsible solely for developing and maintaining
artists relationships. As our organization chart shows, we have a position for Artist Relations &
38
Licensing that is held by Gabrielle Banks. Working with artists and their teams will be a primary
responsibility for her, so that we can always have a growing database of contacts and artists that
we can create new content with.
BRANDS
Brands play an integral role in our business model, as they serve as the primary source of
funding for our business. We will identify brands that have a strong interest in music, charitable
giving and organic connection to the Play It FWD brand and our consumers. We’ve learned
through our interviews with marketing executives that there is not one simple solution that works
for all brands in terms of partnerships. Therefore we must tailor how we reach out to brands and
develop equally valuable relationships that have the potential to grow over time.
As a result, much like with artists, we have created a 4-step process to how we create our brand
partnerships:
•
Selection
•
Outreach
•
Content Creation
•
Retention
Our brand selection process is primarily rooted in identifying brands that have a good fit with our
educational initiatives. From our research, we’ve created 4 key areas that we will analyze to
determine which brands we’d like to consider partnerships with:
•
Relationship with Children
o All brand partners must have a positive relationship with children and cannot
engage in any business that is detrimental to the lives of young people
•
Matching of goals between businesses
o Partnerships need to organically match both brands’ personalities
•
Types of Brands
o Niche or Mass?
o Industry Leading or Not?
o Brand Uniqueness?
39
•
Opportunity for Growth
o We prefer to have long-term partners over short term
Again, very similar to how we intend to identify and contact artist, we’ve learned that there is no
one particular model that can be adhered to when considering brand partnerships. Each brand has
their own identity, initiatives and needs and we have to be aware of those as we are considering
entering business relationship with each brand. We also know that brands are keen on great ideas
being presented by great people, therefore is imperative for us to consistently have a strong
presentation that conveys the message of the intention of Play It FWD in compelling manner.
Another key point that is critical in securing brand partnerships is identifying the main decision
makers within a brand. Most sponsorships are lead internally by one or two people who are
passionate about the concept of that particular sponsorship. It will be our responsibility to
research each brand we are considering and determine who are the integral people who can help
champion our cause.
For our first phase of development, we intend to target on big consumer brands as our main
sponsors. This strategy helps us in a few ways. First, brands such as Target, Master Card and
Samsung have large budgets that we can tap into at relatively minimal cost to these brands. The
support of these larger partnerships can help buoy our business and provide stability during our
growth phase. In addition the association with major brands will help solidify the Play It FWD
brand and make the platform more attractive to other brands and artists as well. Once we’ve
developed strong ties with a few key big brands then we would focus more efforts on lifestyle
brands.
Another element of our partnership strategy will be creating non-competing partnerships. Once
we’ve secured a brand in a particular area of business, we will not develop a conflicting
partnership with a potential competitor. For example, if Apple were to become a Premier sponsor
for the 2015 business year, we would not seek partnerships from a rival tech company within that
same year. Brands pay for category exclusivity as a part of our sponsorship packages. However,
40
if a brand wants to waive their rights to that exclusivity at any point, they would have the ability
to do so.
The content creation process for brands should be relatively simple and streamlined since we
would know how much exposure a particular brand is designated to receive based off their
sponsorship package. Once the first round of content is shot and edited, we will have a one-time
approval process with each of our brand partners to make sure that their brand elements are
placed correctly within our content and are aligned with their brand identity standards. We will
be open to feedback from our partners, however we want to make our content creation process as
efficient as possible and having to receive approvals from potentially multiple brand partners for
every piece of content we shoot would prove to be very time consuming and counter productive.
Since brands are the backbone of our revenue model, it is imperative that we establish great
relationships with those that are good partners with us. It will be the responsibility of all
members of the Play It FWD team to work with brands in an effective manner. However, as the
company is currently structured, the lead in managing these relationships will be the CEO, Chris
Wade. He will be in charge of maintaining connections with key executives at brands to nurture
existing brand relationships and find business opportunities with new brand partners. A lot of
this will consist of identifying networking opportunities and attending select events where
marketing executives are present to help increase the visibility of Play It FWD in the
marketplace.
One very important element that we learned in our qualitative research with marketing
executives is that brands prefer transparency when they are giving money to non-profits. Because
some non-profit, charitable organizations have private accounting practices, many brands have
an understandable concern about where the money they donate or contribute actually goes. It is
our goal to be fully transparent with our brand partners about where their dollars are being used
and the impact that they have on our platform. We will do this by releasing quarterly reports
detailing the sponsorship activity for each brand for the previous quarter, as well as the
performance of the content those dollars generated. We feel this is the best way to build and
sustain the confidence of our brand partners
41
One special area that we would like to note is the pre-existing relationships that Artists and
Brands may have. For example, Pepsi currently has a business relationship with Beyoncé.2 If we
were to consider partnering with Pepsi, we could potentially have greater access to Beyoncé as
well if Pepsi agreed that her involvement with Play It FWD would be beneficial to enhancing the
promotion of their products and their relationship with her. This scenario could work the
opposite way where an artist that we are partnering with already has an existing deal with a
brand and that brand gets involved with our platform via that relationship. Obviously, we would
still have to be the discerning agency between both parties and determine if this type of cross
collaboration fits within our brand and makes sense for our consumers. However, we do believe
that situations as those described could prove to be fruitful for all parties if executed and
managed correctly.
Regardless of how these relationships are formed, there is a great value in partnering the right
artist and the right brand together. This creates a stronger consumer connection to our platform,
but it also can create significant benefits to the artists and brands involved that extend beyond
our platform. Every artist and brand has the ability to leverage their affiliation with one another
to further enhance their own initiatives and relationships with their respective consumers. This is
an intentional spill over effect from our ABC model that we believe provides added value for all
artists and brands that choose to be involved with Play It FWD. It is one of our secondary goals
to help manage these relationships in a manner that create Wins for each stakeholder that is
engaged with our platform.
42
MARKETING
PLAN
Target Customers
Our primary Target Costumers in Play It FWD can be analyzed in two different groups: the
direct customers, in this case the children, and the secondary indirect customers, the parents of
these children; equally important to the success of our business model.
Demographic Profile of Direct Costumers.
In Play It FWD, we are focusing on an age group that goes from 8 to 12. Reasons behind this
decision lie in that they are computer friendly and know how to independently interact with
technological devices such as computers connected to the internet. Added to this, recent data
from the US Census Bureau1 indicates that 62% of children between 3 and 17 years old already
access the internet from home individually. Percentages are practically equal in male and female
usage, which benefits our approach to gender equity in education.
We believe this age group is ideal when considering an approach that is based on an inspirational
introduction to music, rather than a profound technical approach on skill-based knowledge.
Entertainment in education is key to our success as recent data shows that 9 in every 10 children
aged between 8 and 18 play currently play video games in the US. What is more, the age group
on which we are focusing (8 to 12) was the biggest group last year for massive multiplayer
online gaming in the US2.
Demographic Profile of Indirect Costumers.
The age group of the parents that we are targeting oscillates between 30 and 40 year old. We aim
to focus on engaged parents who are also comfortable with the usage of technology and that are
comfortable surfing independently through the internet. It is important to us that they have good
media awareness and that Music education is also important to them. In this matter, according to
data, US adults spend on average 4.30h daily on media consumption3 and according to our latest survey
results a striking 93% out of 143 participants answered that music education is very important to them.
1
https://www.census.gov/hhes/computer/publications/2012.html
2
http://crisisboom.com/2012/09/18/programmed-‐for-‐demise/
3
http://www.emarketer.com/
43
Shareholders
Given the many different parties involved, we have come up with guidelines for targeting both
artists and brands with which to collaborate:
Artists/Celebrities:
•
Should be a musician, but can primarily be a celebrity (actor, athlete, etc.) with some
musical knowledge
•
Kid-friendly, animated image
•
Non-controversial (especially through the filter of the parents)
•
Would be recognizable by the children
•
A bonus would be if they have children
•
Should be current, but could be legendary as long as they are still culturally relevant
•
Should not have any current scandalous endorsements/partnerships
Brands:
•
Should not have a mission that contradicts with the mission of PlayItFWD in any way
•
Need not be nonprofit
•
Should not be affiliated with any child-labor controversies, domestically or abroad
•
Cannot be a brand that produces or markets tobacco, alcohol, or firearms
•
Doesn’t have to be linked to an exclusive children’s brand
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
In Play It FWD, our Unique Selling Proposition is:
"The best quality music online education, absolutely for free"
Pricing & Positioning Strategy
Within the industry of Online Music Education, Play It FWD aims to deliver the best quality, at
no price for the consumer. It is important to us the fact that it is free of charge, as we don't want
any socio-economic filters to exclude children from the experience.
Our positioning strategy is to create differentiation within competitors by being the only brand
that offers active engagement by celebrities.
44
Distribution Plan
Consumers of Play It FWD will be able to log on and engage freely with our platform as soon as
it goes live on the web. The experience, based on a chronological set of lessons, will start with
easy accessibility and will only require a computer, a web camera and a working internet
connection.
Once engaged, the distribution plan is to set up a system of accumulative points that any
consumer can gain to unblock different content.
Offers
Our strategy is to reward users to invite friends and family onto the platform. This will serve to
expand the awareness of our brand and increase engagement from day one. Other approaches
will include acting within specific time frames during the launching period of the platform, so as
to gain further points.
Marketing Materials
Print.
Since our brand awareness will consist largely of early negotiation and connection of all parties
onto the platform, we will need much of our marketing materials to be easy for trade. Business
cards will be essential and also brochures that explain the model in an accessible manner to
parents and children alike, as well as brands that could be interested in sponsoring the business
model.
Digital.
However, further marketing of our business will consist mainly on digital strategies such as
digital banners to be used within our initial phase of email contact. Similar to this, will be to have
well designed press kits and HTML's that explain the formula and also have animated videos that
we can send through our network.
Promotions Strategy
Implementation of a good strategy of awareness of our brand is key to a fast positioning in the
45
industry of education. In order to promote ourselves with solid credibility we aim to attend
international educational summits worldwide such as Education International4 or the Higher
Education Summit5 in Arizona, US, to name a few.
Furthermore, we intend to contact schools and educational centers all across the US, with digital
ads and animated videos that explain our approach.
Same strategy will apply to high traffic websites that are actively engaged by the age group we
identified (8 to 12) and also on popular video games, by partnering with some of the most
successful brands in the entertainment industry.
We aim to use printed strategies too by creating posters for selected neighborhoods across the
country and selected malls, sports centers and large populated sites such as playgrounds, skate
parks, supermarkets and airports.
Online Marketing Strategy
Keyword Strategy
We would implement keywords such as 'online music education', 'celebrities teaching' or 'play
and learn with music', to name some examples, in order to appear in specific search engines,
when typing similar content.
Search Engine Optimization Strategy
We would create and deliver constant updates on our platform to make our website show up
more prominently for our top keywords.
Paid Online Advertising Strategy
Some of the online advertising programs would be developed by digital platforms we would
invest in, such as Google Ad Words, for instance. We would purchase packages that would
include visibility on the web and that would offer strategic placement in related fields.
Social Media Strategy
Creating profiles on most visible social media networks would be an absolute priority. Platforms
4
http://www.ei-‐ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/3247
5
http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/events/higher-‐education-‐summit-‐2014/
46
such as Facebook, Twitter and Google + would enable us not only to create profiles of our
business but also to engage and communicate with our users; whether for updates, news worth
sharing of upcoming events and celebrities or for further possibilities such as getting different
users in different parts of the country to interact with each other. Independently of whether we
had or not our own social network, we would definitely seek to partner up with these existing
trends so as to not isolate from popular culture.
Conversion Strategy
As part of our marketing plan, a conversion strategy would be crucial to undertake. Making sure
kids that had already interacted with our platform served as testimonials on our web to increase
participation and encourage the necessary hype for the excitement to be a part of the experience
we delivered.
Joint Ventures & Partnerships
Play It FWD aims to establish long lasting partnerships with related areas of our services.
Companies providing instrumentation or music sheets or hardware that could interact with our
lessons, such as Wii by Nintendo (to give an example) are only a few ideas of possible
relationships that could benefit both parties and increase our awareness in both fields of
entertainment and education.
Referral Strategy
As mentioned earlier, part of our program in Play It FWD is to create an ongoing engagement
with our platform that guarantees active interaction on a weekly basis. We have developed a
model that will work with accumulative points, meaning that with specific rewards the users will
be able to unblock content and surprise packages. We believe that if we are able to implement
successfully this idea, we can benefit largely from customer referral and revolutionize our
success.
For every customer that would refer to us to another they would gain extra points and situate
them further into the learning process by having additional access to our educational services.
47
Strategy for Increasing Transaction Prices
Due to our non-profit model we won't have to directly incur in economic transactions with our
consumers.
Retention Strategy
Referring back to our accumulative point system, our plan is to develop constant feedback with
loyalty programs, which we intend to use in order to retain our customers. Incentives to engage
longer and more efficiently will be set so as to promote our platform through the ongoing usage
of it. The more we can develop an entertaining relationship between the platform and our
customers, the better for the promotion and marketing of our service.
48
TIMELINE
Note: The timeline is developed based on a chronological set of actions we engage in once we
had access to capital to cover our basic financial needs.
49
FINANCIAL
PROJECTIONS
50
Balance Sheets
January'1')'December'31,'2015
Fixed'Assets
Liabilities
Notes'Payable
Prepaid'Insurance
Furniture
Computers
Supplies
Total&Fixed&Assets
1038757
1,000
5,000
6,600
6,000
18,600
Current'Assets
Cash'Avail.'for'Operating'Expenses
1,020,157
Total&Current&Assets
1,020,157
TOTAL&ASSETS
1,038,757
TOTAL&LIABILITIES
1,038,757
January'1')'December'31,'2016
Fixed'Assets
Liabilities
Prepaid'Insurance
Furniture
less$Depreciation
Computers
less$Depreciation
Branding'&'Copyrights
Supplies
Total&Fixed&Assets
1,000
5,040
)630
6,600
)1,650
20,000
6,000
36,360
Current'Assets
Cash'Avail.'for'Operating'Expenses
Accounts'Receivable
Total&Current&Assets
1,473,656
700,000
2,173,656
TOTAL&ASSETS
2,210,016
Notes'Payable'(Balance'of'Loan)
Corporate'Contribution
Notes'Payable'(Debt'from'Loss)
TOTAL&LIABILITIES
831,006
700,000
679,010
2,210,016
January'1')'December'31,'2017
Fixed'Assets
Liabilities
Prepaid'Insurance
Furniture
Computers
less$accumulated$Depreciation
Branding'&'Copyright
Supplies
Total&Fixed&Assets
1,000
5,040
6,600
)3,300
30,000
6,000
45,340
Current'Assets
Cash'Avail.'for'Operating'Expenses
Accounts'Receivable
Total&Current&Assets
619,464
1,500,000
2,119,464
TOTAL&ASSETS
2,164,804
Notes'Payable'(Balance)
Corporate'Contribution
TOTAL&LIABILITIES
664804.48
1,500,000
2,164,804
Financial Ratios:
2015
2016
2017
Debt Ratio
1
0.69
0.31
Budget of Percentage for Personnel
0.35
0.31
0.36
51
APPENDICES
BIOGRAPHIES
Chris Wade
Chris Wade was born and raised in Greensboro, NC. He
earned his love for music from his parents whom often
played classic records in their home. Chris began playing
music at an early age, starting with piano, then moving to
viola and ultimately settling on the saxophone, which he
played for nearly 10 years.
Chris attended North Carolina A&T State University and received a Bachelor’s of Science
in Finance with Honors. Instead of pursuing the traditional path of becoming an
Investment Banker, Chris chose to follow his passion and decided to work in the music
industry. Starting out as an intern at a record label, Chris held numerous roles within the
business, which included Artist Management, Label Consultant and, most recently, Account
Director at Octagon, serving as a Music Strategist for Artists and Brands.
It is from this last experience that Chris got the initial idea for Play It FWD. He saw the
need for Children to receive a quality music education due to the lack of funding of the arts
in public school systems. His previous work with partnering artists and brands together
gave him the inspiration to create a new educational approach to provide children with
engaging music lessons for free.
As CEO of Play It FWD, Chris is responsible for leading the overall strategy and
direction of the company. He overseas the progress and workflow of all respective
departments and is hands on with the development of the artist/brand partnership process, as
well as marketing of the brand.
52
Chris is currently working on his Master’s in Global Entertainment & Music Business at
Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain. Upon graduation, he intends on continuing to
develop Play It FWD and take the business live by the end of 2014.
Ankie Titulaer
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Ankie Titulaer has
a Bachelor’s degree in music education and a Master’s degree in
performing arts. She studied classical singing at the Conservatory
of Maastricht and her music education is specialized in teaching
different voice techniques from pop to classical music. She wrote
her thesis on the healthy development of new vocal techniques for young musicians throughout
various music genres. Ankie has also obtained a Master’s degree in Global Entertainment and
Music Business at Berklee College of Music.
Ankie has extensive experience as a professional vocalist with Opera companies and musical
events throughout Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and the Czech Republic. As a teacher, Ankie
has worked with diverse groups of young students across many different age groups at the
United World College and as a personal teacher.
At Play It FWD, Ankie is in charge of the development of the academic curriculum and the Edesign of the lessons. She oversees all educational elements of Play It FWD, while working
closely with the Creative and Artist Relations departments.
53
Maxwell Moya Wright
Maxwell Moya Wright is part French and part American, but
grew up between Spain and the United Kingdom. He speaks 4
different languages and has been exposed to various cultures
from a very young age. His passion for music began early and has
been his source of inspiration throughout his professional career in the arts. He has made a living
as a musician, as a producer, as a promoter, as a tour manager and as a composer. He has also
been in charge of international relations for different bands, among many other musical related
works, due to his grasp on various languages.
Maxwell's education in the arts starts during his A-Levels in London, UK, where he studies
Theatre and Music in the BRIT Performing Arts School, a school launched by Sir Richard
Branson and George Martin.
Upon this experience and further dedication to his passion for Theatre he continues to study at
the University Darting College of Arts, where he is to meet great music professionals that
initiate him into further musical practice and audio engineering. Thanks to his efforts there, he
is awarded with n honorary diploma in music, for participating with other students in college.
After many years doing professional work, Maxwell is currently expanding his studies in
Spain, undertaking a Master in Music Business at the Berklee College of Music, Valencia
Campus.
Maxwell's professional work as a musician starts after University, when he joins his talent as a
percussionist to the band 'Ojos de Brujo', band that was awarded with the BBC Best European
Band in 2004, with the Latin GRAMMY in 2008 and a second nomination in 2011.
The exposure and network he obtains from this work allows him to offer many educational
programs across the globe related to music in different pedagogical organizations such as Save
the Children, Roots and Routes, GMMAZ and Aftershock.
54
Maxwell has just recently launched a company specialized in composing original soundtracks
for advertising in TV, Video Games and Film, under the name of Royal Sonora
(www.royalsonora.tv). He continues to play and tour music in a new acapella project titled
'Man Ex Maqina' (www.manexmaqina.com) whilst he helps to organize the first TEDx event
in Berklee College of Music as part of his Culminating Experience.
Gabrielle Banks
A Philadelphia native, Gabrielle Banks began her undergraduate
career at New York University, studying Media, Culture, and
Communication. She later transferred to the University of Miami
to continue to study Communications, but specializing in Film.
She graduated with honors in the top 4% of her class with a
double- major
in
Motion
Pictures
and
Studio
Art.
To
pursue graduate studies in Global Entertainment & Music
Business, Gabrielle studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, at its global campus in
Valencia, Spain, where her concentration was in publishing/licensing.
Gabrielle has nearly three years of experience in music licensing for various outlets, ranging
from small independent films, to international brand campaigns, in the U.S. and abroad. In the
midst of a multi-decade-long obsession with media, pop culture and music, Gabrielle spent
several years during her undergraduate years working as a nanny to several families in the Miami
area. It was here – along with coursework in Teaching & Learning and Children’s Literature—
that she really gained an inside perspective of media and entertainment geared towards children.
As head of Licensing and Artist Relations for Play It FWD, Gabrielle manages the licensing for
all of Play It Forward’s showcased musical works used to teach children, directed by the
Education lead. Additionally, she works with the Creative Chief to scope out and contract
celebrity partners with which to collaborate.
55
Manuel Delgado
Manuel Delgado is originally from South Florida. He grew up
learning to play several musical instruments, but his love and
passion for music was developed through many years of
studying the piano.
He received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young
University in Provo, Utah, majoring in music. After graduating from BYU, Mr. Delgado
entered the Berklee College of Music at the Valencia, Spain campus, where he is now
finishing his master’s in Global Entertainment and Music Business. He plans to enter law
school after completing his degree at Berklee.
As a high school and undergraduate student, Mr. Delgado taught piano lessons at the Provo
Piano Academy and was asked to teach a Keyboard Fundamentals class at the Young
Musician’s Summer Festival held at BYU for high school students. Mr. Delgado also
worked at the university’s record label, where he helped coordinate and manage projects
and oversaw licensing matters. He also started his own record label to helped manage and
promote performing artists in the local area.
Mr. Delgado’s role at Play It Fwd includes advising on legal and business matters, among
other responsibilities. His background and experience in music and teaching allow him to
understand the vision of Play It Fwd. His experience as a music industry businessman
permits Mr. Delgado to connect that vision with reality and results.
Mr. Delgado and his wife Tiffany, a professional pianist, currently live in Spain and are
expecting their first child in September 2014.
56
DRAFT EDUCATIONAL PLAN*
*On a monthly period with a total of 10 months per academic calendar.
CLASS 1
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
INTRODUCTION
TO MUSIC
CLASS 2
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
CELEBRITY
X
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
Games +
Exercises
INTRODUCTION
TO MUSIC
CLASS 3
DRUMS+
BEATS
CLASS 4
DRUMS+
BEATS
CLASS 5
GUITAR+
PIANO
CLASS 6
GUITAR+
PIANO
CLASS 7
VOICE+
SCALES
CLASS 8
VOICE+
SCALES
CLASS 9
MAKE A SONG
CLASS 10
MAKE A SONG
57
Bibliography
1. Winner, Ellen, Thalia R. Goldstein, and Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin. "Art for Art's sake?:
The Impact of Arts Education, Educational Research and Innovation." OECD READ
Edition 1 (2013): 85-119. http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-AssetManagement/oecd/education/art-for-art-s-sake_9789264180789-en#page87 (accessed
May 2, 2014).
2. Sisario, Ben. "In Beyonce Deal, Pepsi Focuses on Collaboration." The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/business/media/in-beyonce-deal-pepsi-focuses-oncollaboration.html?_r=0 (accessed April 28, 2014).
3. Stubbs, Ryan. "Public Funding for the Arts: 2013 Update." Grantmakers in the Arts.
http://www.giarts.org/article/public-funding-arts-2013-update (accessed April 27, 2014)
4. Dahl, Darran. "How to write an Operational Plan for your business.
http://www.inc.com/guides/201107/how-to-write-an-operational-plan-for-your-smallbusiness.html (accessed April 28, 2014).
5. Susan, Ward. About.com, "The operating plan section of the business plan." (Accessed
May 4, 2014). http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/businessplans/a/bizplanoperplan.htm.
6. James Manktelow & Amy Carlson. Mind Tools, "Porter's five forces." (Accessed May 4,
2014). http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm.
7. Wylie, Jonathan. "Mobile Learning Technologies for 21st Century Classrooms."
Scholastic Publishes Literacy Resources and Children's Books for Kids of All Ages.
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3754742 (accessed May 4, 2014).
8. Pappas, Christopher. "Top 10 e-Learning Statistics for 2014 You Need To Know." Top
10 e-Learning Statistics for 2014 You Need To Know. http://elearningindustry.com/top10-e-learning-statistics-for-2014-you-need-to-know (accessed May 4, 2014).
58
9. "The history of e-learning." The history of e-learning.
http://www.talentlms.com/elearning/history_of_elearning (accessed May 4, 2014).
Sources for Market Segment Information and Statistics:
•
6 out of every 7 people in the world have internet access
o RESOURCE: http://www.wearesquared.com/family-guy-rosanne/
•
81% Internet Penetration in North America
o RESOURCE: www.wearesocial.sg
•
Half of Americans 18+ own Tablets
o RESOURCE: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/01/16/e-reading-rises-as-deviceownership-jumps/
•
US Adults spend 4:34 hours consuming TV and Video Media Daily
o RESOURCE: http://www.emarketer.com
•
212 of 278 M Internet Users are Active Online via Computers/Laptops
o RESOURCE: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/exploring-theconsumer-media-universe.html
•
Media consumption among kids (up to 9 yrs) has grown over the past four years to nearly
35 hours per week, a 2.2 hours increase since 2009
o RESOURCE: http://www.4-traders.com/VIACOM-INC-9548248/news/ViacomInc--Nickelodeon-Introduces-The-Story-of-Me-Research-Study-Providing-InsideLook-At-Tod-17481902/
•
Computer and gaming consoles make 27% of kids' daily media consumption (ibid)
•
3/4 of kids say they watch short form video on their iDevice. More than half of kids with
an iDevice now watch long-form content - 23% increase over last year (ibid)
•
3/4 of all kids (0-8 yrs) have access to a mobile device at home
o 63% Smartphone / 40% Tablet
o RESOURCE: http://cdn2d7.ec.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/about_us/zero-to-eight20131.pdf
59
•
TV still remains main source of educational content (61%) compared to mobile (38%)
and computers (34%) (ibid)
•
58% of higher income kids use educational content on their mobile devices compared to
28% percent of lower income kids (ibid)
o This disparity evens out for kids with access to computers and mobile devices
•
Half of all babies use a computer or smartphone before age 2
o RESOURCE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/theswitch/wp/2013/10/28/half-of-all-babies-use-a-computer-or-smartphone-beforeage-2-heres-why-thats-bad/
60
Media of
