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January 22, 2007
Inside With: Super Deluxe's John Buzzell, VP of Product Development and Jim DiStefano, Community Director
Turner made heads turn and tongues wag last week with the launch of its slick new broadband/social networking portal Super Deluxe. We got Super Deluxe's John Buzzell (left), VP of Product Development and Jim DiStefano(right), User Experience/Community Director on the horn to answer the questions that matter.
Congratulations on such a successful launch. There's so much great stuff and amazing people involved. Tell us, how long has Super Deluxe been in development and what was your role with its launch?
Jim: Thanks for the kind words. We're excited about Super Deluxe too. We began brainstorming in late 2005. Product development started soon after and content development kicked off in Summer '06.
The core product team was led by John Buzzell, and consists of Todd Dominey, Robert Occhialini, and myself. This team was responsible for the design and development of Super Deluxe.
Who were some of the first artists you approached?
John: The artists are the most important thing to us. We had lots of opportunities to take existing libraries and chop them up, but it never felt the like the right first step. As it happened, the team went to a bar in East Atlanta to welcome Eugene Mirman to our project in Summer '06. We hit it off with him, and he became one of the first we considered a 'signature' artist--one who helped define the voice and tone of Super Deluxe. Other artists from back in the day were Brad Neely, Fark TV, Honor Student, and The Post Show. We want Super Deluxe to be defined by the artists and their work, not the other way around. New stuff is showing up literally every day, so who knows where we'll be this time next year. It's just one big comedy love fest (wink).
The elephant in the room with all broadband networks is: How do they make money? Quality doesn't come cheap, and it sure seems like a lot of time and money went into the site. Is there pressure to be immediately profitable? Or is Turner content with a long term approach?
John: Broadband programming is strategically very important at Turner, so management isn't pushing us too hard for short term financial results. It's important that we stay true to our artists and the brand we're trying to build. This is reflected in our 'soft launch' strategy. Instead of going for broke with a huge media buy, we're confident enough to let things spread virally--the way that anything good grows on-line.
As for how we'll stay in business, Super Deluxe is ad-supported (read: free), with additional opportunities around licensing, distribution and merchandise. We want to build a large regular audience, so no registration or download is required. If you want to upload your own videos you have to register, but sign-up is easy and free.
Clearly, the site is fertile ground for Adult Swim development. Should we look forward to seeing videos from Super Deluxe make the jump to television? Is there any chance of a user-uploaded video making the jump?
Jim: 
Here at Williams Street, we are already working very closely with Adult Swim on some innovative cross-promotion. I can't give away too much, but we're *really* excited about working with Adult Swim. So if you're an A.S. fan, I would recommend that you stay tuned to both networks.
In fact, you'll soon be able to find us in more places than just your web browser. Of course, we launched on-line, but soon you'll also find us on mobile phones, cable video-on-demand, downloads and other emerging platforms. We're watching every video that comes in and there's a good chance of content contributed by our audience appearing on these platforms.
Besides the videos, what are some of the other features with the site that are worth checking out?
Jim: Well, we're certainly not trying to out-do other social networking sites, but we recognize that people communicate that way, so we didn't want to hold them back. Super Deluxe's social network is built to allow like-minded comedy fans to find each other and share their favorite artists and videos. Our artists and advertisers are active members of the community . Cross-pollination is encouraged, and it's already happening in some spots. It's great to see.
After eighteen months spent building this thing, you'd think we'd all be on vacation. Actually, we're already adding more sophisticated features, trying to improve how comedy fans find each other and share their favorite artists and videos. This was just our 'core' release. There's a lot more in the pipeline.
Well, good luck. Anything else?
John: We're just thrilled that everyone is enjoying what we've built for them. In the end, this is all about creating a place for artists and fans to get together and share good comedy. We're adding more every day, so keep checking back. Thank you so much for the interview!
A SD sample: "I am Baby Cakes - Diary #1" created by Brad Neely
Photo: Leo Allen w/ hat via Super Deluxe's Flickr page
Posted by The Apiary at January 22, 2007 3:02 PM
Comments
Aww man, I want a SuperDeluxe cap!
Posted by: Scott Bateman at January 24, 2007 4:20 PM