Thursday, February 26, 2009

Matt Groening: The Animator Who Was Ahead of His Time.

With 11 Emmys and the longest-running animated series on his resume,  Matt Groening is considered one of the most creative minds in TV history.

Nobody could blame him if he decided to call it a career, but the Simpsons creator told CNN Entertainment he's still planning more seasons for the Simpsons, and Fox ordered an additional two seasons for the series.
One of Groening's quotes in the interview really stood out to me, when he explains his journey from comic strips to television.

I always thought that television was the way to go in my goal to invade pop culture, because it got to towns in which there were no bookstores. That's how I used to think of it: How do I reach kids who not only don't read but probably have no access to much in the way of books?

In other words, Groening,who was drawing comics at the time, recognized a trend (away from print & toward TV), and adapted his art to keep pace with the changing culture.TV provided the perfect avenue for him to blend satire and slapstick comedy into a cartoon that transcended the Saturday morning kids crowd and appealed to an audience of diverse ages and interests.   As  the Simpsons grew in popularity, he continued his weekly comic strip, and managed to produce a second cartoon series- Futurama.
So how does this fit into marketing? I consider Groening as a visionary, because in 1989,nobody would have blamed him for being content as a comic strip writer. After all, newspaper was still a viable media, where there was plenty of money to be made. But Groening saw the writing on the wall and took the risky leap to TV.

At the time, animated TV shows fell into their own group, now the Cartoon Network airs programs for almost every genre. 20 years later, his gamble is still paying off, and he can claim one of the most successful shows in American history. Today,  companies are reaching youth through Hulu and Youtube, and I believe they're noticing a media shift near the same magnitude that Groening foresaw.

Posted By Matt O'Hern at 04:30 PM
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