Write a SWOT analysis on Odyssey Arts, aiming at acting as a business structure consultancy, and also include a reflection on the experience.
Write a SWOT analysis on Odyssey Arts, aiming at acting as a business structure consultancy, and also include a reflection on the experience.
Odyssey Arts were founded in 2016 by Alexander Bishop and Christopher Sutcliffe shortly after graduating from Liverpool John Moore’s University. The company was initially intended as a theatre company and ran two critically and commercially successful theatre productions, ‘Sutty & Sweep’ and ‘The Curator,’ before transitioning into film. The idea of the interactive film was conceived before the Odyssey Arts’s founding but took many months to realize and conceive fully.
Industry: The Entertainment Industry.
Specific Market Segment: Film & Video Games.
Odyssey Arts Status: Active Limited Liability Partnership, registered under ‘Odyssey Arts LLP’ and operating under the business name, ‘Odyssey Arts’ (Trademark Pending)
Designated Members: Christopher Sutcliffe, Alexander Bishop
Members: Mark Sutcliffe
Lead Writer, Director, Head of Casting: Christopher Sutcliffe – BA(Hons) Drama, 6 years of industry experience
Music & Composition, Director, Head of Editing & Programming: Alexander Bishop – BA(Hons) Drama, 10 years industry experience, LAMDA Diplomas
Brand Manager, Production Manager, Lead Graphic Designer: Mark Sutcliffe – BA(Hons) Graphic and Interactive Design, 3 years of industry experience
Business Structure:
Partner – Alexander Bishop
Partner – Christopher Sutcliffe
A revitalization of the film medium suitable for the modern consumer, we intend to allow the viewer complete control over the stories they see play out. Heavily inspired by the incredible success of video games within the last few decades and the ‘choose your adventure books that preceded those, the viewer watches the film, perhaps at home, perhaps on the go, and as they watch the film, they are regularly given choices to make which directly impact the film’s plot. They choose which proverbial fork in the road to walk down. The significance of choice may appear small; ‘do we buy the coffee or not?’ Or they may be much more immediate and impactful; ‘Does she live or die?’ However, the decisions always affect the plot in some way and will almost always impact the film’s conclusion. Every decision made unlocks a different path, and each path ends in a different way. These multiple endings really make the viewer feel in control, and this is how the value of our film translates to the consumer. It is proof that the decisions the viewers make really do make a difference, and this is what will keep them coming back; action and consequence.
The film, as most people know it, is a passive medium, and with streaming on track to becoming the dominant form of media consumption and the video game industry being the most successful form of media, there have never been more options for a consumer. We can offer them something that most people have never experienced, a chance to control the media they consume and shape it in any way they want. We eliminate potential frustration from a viewer’s perspective by having variable narrative decisions. Did a character do something you wished they hadn’t? Replay and change it. We put the power in the hands of our audience.
Odyssey Arts intends to complete three filmed productions in 2019, with tentative release schedules for each film in July, October, and January. The company aims to release three films per year for the foreseeable future, with the intention to increase this number over time from three to four per year, and so on. Odyssey Arts will begin with a product-based model, selling each film for a fixed fee as a digital product, but will ultimately transition to a streaming-based service model once we have a substantial library and an increased production rate.
Our main competitors are the other companies who are also utilizing this style of filmmaking, primarily Telltale Games (now defunct), Supermassive Games, Netflix, and Wales Interactive, with a rumored project by Ken Levine, the former head of Irrational Games, reported to be of a similar nature.
All of our main competitors have one substantial advantage over us; budget. We simply cannot match Odyssey Arts’ production values at this stage in our company’s development. They have also established brands with greater marketing ability in terms of budgets and networks. Whilst these latter advantages cannot be overcome at this stage, meaning they’re better treated as goals to achieve, the budget disparity can actually serve as an advantage to us. It may seem that a lower budget limits what we can do, which is mostly true; however, many of these bigger companies are creatively constrained by their financiers. Our unique selling point is narrative and scope. It is this latter part that we will utilize to our advantage. The more content a film has, the more expensive it is and the longer it takes to make. If the price of the film does not increase to accommodate the additional content, then it would be considered, by many financiers, to be a waste of budget. Our films will be far more substantial in terms of content than our competitors can offer, and it is because of this commitment to substantial content, and therefore value for money, that separates us from our competitors. Our products will be longer and will cost less than our competitors’ products, favoring the customer by offering them value for money. We will give them more for less, whilst maintaining a high narrative and product quality, allowing us to carve a niche for ourselves as a high-quality but affordable media company.
The mechanics cannot be copyrighted, but any scripts are protected under creative copyright. Pending trademarking for the brand (logo, name, etc.).
In order to find the best solution, we looked at the company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats.
One of the strengths of Odyssey Arts is, for instance, its unique product. There are not a lot of other companies providing a similar product. Video games are similar in that sense, but not many movies are interactive yet (only Netflix). At the same time, the company is able to deliver more substantial content than the competitors can offer because of the commitment to substantial content, and therefore value for money, that separates Odyssey Arts from its competitors. Another strength of the company is that it offers more for less because the products will be longer and cost less than the competitors’ products.
The available budget of Odyssey Arts right now is a weakness. Because of the small budget, the company cannot get better or more staff and better or more equipment to make higher quality content.
Then at the same time, Odyssey Arts cannot match the production values of competitors for the same reason. The company is also small; all the work is mostly done by the two owners themselves, making it even harder to grow, as well as insufficient equipment.
The budget disparity is also working in Odyssey Arts’ profits because right now, they are no constraints or limitations by other financiers. Bigger companies do have those constraints they have to deal with. The unique selling point of the Odyssey Arts is narrative and scope.
Another opportunity is the target market. Which is really broad. This can be a threat as well. Market research can be quite hard to decide the marketing strategy, but if the marketing strategy is decided, you can easily target everyone with the same strategy.
The main threats are the biggest competitors of the Odyssey Arts, which are Telltale Games (now defunct), Supermassive Games, Netflix, and Wales Interactive. Those are all bigger companies and therefore have a bigger budget and higher customer loyalty. Another threat might be the demand. Because there are not a lot of similar products yet, it might be really hard to create a high demand to make a profit out of this.
By conducting a business consultancy process for Odyssey Arts, I learned that a client-consultant association that is marked by trust and honesty, proven through experience, and maintained over the long term, produces value for both parties. It provides a dependable and secure source of advice to the client (Obeidat et al. 2016; Randall et al. 2018). For the consultant, it means the prospect of continued work, given that the standards remain high and the outcome is good (Thelwell et al. 2018). In this form of relationship, the consultancy assignment is perceived as a collaborative endeavor between the consultant personnel and the client’s staff. Using Gibb’s model of reflection, it is evident that in the Odyssey Arts case, it is evident that working as a team enables the consultant to perceive the work in the same viewpoint as the client, although from an independent professional perspective.
While carrying out the business consultancy process for Odyssey Arts, the undertaking I assigned was successful. Arguably, this was the case because the process comprised various steps, which, when followed sequentially, provided logic and order to the consulting process. I created a relationship with the client by adopting the principles of process consultancy and solutions. The approach involved getting into a relationship with the client to determine what was wrong and how to fix it (Schein 2016). The association allowed the management to act on, understand, and perceive the process events that transpired in the external and internal environment of Odyssey Arts, and this allowed for the improvement of the situation as defined by the client. In this way, I could help the Odyssey Arts do what it needed to do more effectively, considering its basic mission and function.
Adhering to the 10 principles of process consultancy and solution was very helpful. The first one was always to try to be careful. In this case, I established that the best guarantee to ensure the relationship with the client leads to mutual learning and is rewarding is the intention to be helpful as a consultant (Schein 2016). Secondly, it was vital that I stay in touch with the current reality because I could not be helpful by failing to decipher what was occurring in the client, me, and the situation. Thirdly, accessing my ignorance was essential, which was the key to overcoming assumptions and expectations. In this way, I could distinguish what I truly do not know from what I assume I am familiar with and what I know. Fourthly, I was aware that everything I do is an intervention; thus, it was important to evaluate the consequences of everything I did to ascertain whether they fit my objective of establishing a helpful relationship.
Based on the fifth principle, I was aware that the client was the one who owned the challenge and the solution. Thus, my task was only to form a relationship where Odyssey Arts could get assistance. Sixth, it was imperative to go with the flow. The flow became a shared process once the client and I, as the helper, shared a set of insights into what was occurring (Schein 2016). Seventh, time was of the essence in that the introduction of my viewpoint, such as the suggestion of alternatives or asking a clarifying question, should be timed to those moments when the client’s attention is available. Eighth, I had to be constructively opportunistic with confronting intervention. Ninth, errors are unavoidable, and I had to learn from them; apart from that, everything is a data source. Lastly, when I felt frustrated or did not know what to do next, I found it useful to share the challenges with the client.
Initially, I felt that the tone and goals of the meeting between the client and me as a consultant was different based on the circumstances that brought us together. Since I have never worked together with the Odyssey Arts, I was anxious because the management inevitably wanted to learn about my qualifications and background as well as that of my consulting firm (Jamieson et al. 2016). We met several times to discuss how the firm might use my qualifications, strengths, and services and my general and consulting-related experience. In this way, I felt that the initial phase of our relationship was dragging on forever. However, afterward, I felt courageous and delighted because I could pass on the expertise of how to solve and diagnose the organizational challenges so that the management at Odyssey Arts could deal with the issue in the future. Working with the client, we cooperatively designed a fully customized approach from the joint diagnosis, beginning where Odyssey Arts are currently and moving toward a future strategic focus, mission, and vision.
Everything worked out as I had anticipated despite various dynamics, some that I could not dictate and some that were under my control. This was the case because I utilized the EDOPIE model, which helped build trust with the client. The mentioned approach is the acronym for Entry and agrees on a contract, Diagnosis, Options, Proposal and plan, Intervention and implementation, and Evaluation. It enabled me as a consultant to utilize the three-level questioning approach, particularly the open questions, including how, why, when, what, and who. It also enabled me to go deeper into the topic under analysis, as brought forth by Odyssey Arts, and explore why it was crucial. In this way, I avoided jumping to conclusions because the model provided a clear structure to determine what was occurring in the company. Thus, with my support as a consultant, the client was able to design a development and change process that fits the Odyssey Arts, considering its external and internal environments, critical success factors, dynamics, culture, issues, and strategic focus.
While conducting this project, I completed various exercises that helped the situation. For example, I was involved in problem-solving. Challenges are at the heart of our operations as consultants. Importantly, deciphering these issues for a client, whether complex, large, small, or simple, is the basis of the value I brought to the client in our engagement (Garrette et al., 2018). In this case, I adopted a structured problem-solving framework to ascertain that I completed critical steps. The first one was contracting, which was vital in ensuring I had been provided with enough information to make an informed choice to engage in the process. The second step was problem identification; here, I identified the concern brought about by Odyssey Arts in measurable and observable terms. Thirdly, I was engaged in intervention design and planning, which involved selecting interventions and considering implementation details (Baaij and Reinmoeller 2018). The fourth phase was intervention implementation, and it was where I delivered the intervention. The fifth one was evaluation, which was crucial in ensuring that progress was occurring. The last one was closure. It signified the formal conclusion of the problem-solving process. In brief, it resulted in the celebration of progress.
Another exercise that I completed in the course of the project was developing hypotheses. Taking a hypothesis-driven approach assisted me in arriving at solutions efficiently and quickly (Cleave et al. 2019). I found the strategy to be both practical and dynamic (Gurung and Voelker 2017). In that sense, I could always move forward to a solution to the main problems presented by Odyssey Arts. I maintained tight focus and avoided getting side-tracked, attempting to do everything. Conversely, as a consultant, my ability to work well with a group was vital to my professional success and productivity (Sturdy et al. 2016; Coelho et al. 2016). It became easier to attain common objectives and goals within a set timeframe by working as a team with the client. Lastly, once I solved the problem and developed the solution, next I needed to focus on crafting my data into a visual and persuasive presentation (Evergreen 2017; Monk et al. 2016). I achieved this by working together with the team to refine the analysis. We generated a PowerPoint deck explaining the recommendations and supporting analysis.
The route to being an excellent consultant is centered on improving consultancy skills. I need to take various steps to extend and consolidate my consultancy skills. I intend to key actions to attain the mentioned objective. First, I will put myself in a possibly uncomfortable and new situation to ensure I learn new concepts. Aside from that, I will ensure to take on unfamiliar and challenging assignments (Chang et al. 2016; Marchant et al. 2018). Lastly, I will demonstrate adaptability by remaining open to new methods of dealing with changing situations. I will achieve this by considering new approaches and lines of thought.
As a next step, I need to adopt Deming’s cycle of a plan to ensure I improve things for the next time. The mentioned strategy calls for making informed choices based on hard data. The first step that I will take considering this approach is planning. I will plan the important and desired changes using new observed or available data (Cousson et al. 2019; Schmidt 2019). The second is where I will do the small-scale tests or implement the change. Thirdly, after evaluating the results, I will act on the lessons learned (Chakraborty 2016; Arian 2016). Fourthly, I will observe or check what transpires in the test or change. Lastly, I will build upon my learned lessons and repeat the cycle. In this way, I will depend on observed data to continuously improve my consultancy skills.
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