Balcom Agency

There has been a lot of talk about the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien battle, so I thought I'd throw my digital marketing gloves into the ring. For the record, I'm Team Conan.

Conan's target is younger males (probably around 18 - 35). Most young males don't watch NBC or care about Jay Leno. I'd jump ship to a network willing to take a chance. The FOX crowd (with the likes of The Simpsons, Family Guy) would be a perfect fit. FOX would be happy to give him the 10:35 spot. However, I wouldn't depend on TV to build his personal brand. Instead, I'd recommend Conan investigate these opportunities:

• Offer his show on iTunes - both as a full show and bite-size pieces. Do it for free. Get some big-name sponsors to do funny product placement bits (à la Stephen Colbert).
• Conan has always been more interactive with his fans. Imagine the best-executed Facebook page, where fans could submit jokes, videos, comments and ideas. 
• Conan is great off-the-cuff. He would be great personality for live Q&As with his fans.
• Jimmy Fallon has 2.4 million followers on Twitter. Imagine insight into Conan's life on Twitter. It could be incredibly funny.
• Equip him with a phone to broadcast live video. Similar what we did to Justin Bent Rail, his never-before-seen moments could be more popular than the (sometimes) well-rehearsed show.
• Give each of his popular characters a chance to have their own presence. Fake twitter accounts have attracted millions of followers, I'm sure some of his characters could do the same.
• If Apple's much-rumored tablet comes out to fruition, knock down Apple's door to be one of the founding content providers.
• Create a robust, mobile-friendly site with video formatted to work on many devices (Blackberry, Windows, Android, etc.). Encourage visitors to get text-message updates when new videos are posted.
• Offer free stand-up shows to those following Conan on social media or text-message.