Oxygen: Lipstick and recipes or a media revolution?

Oxygen: Lipstick and recipes or a media revolution?
By Courtney Macavinta
Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM

NEW YORK--Entertainment industry maverick Gerry Laybourne guides her ventures by what she calls Mother's Little Management Manifesto, a simple list topped with "know the audience" and "honor creative people."

But it's No. 6 that embodies her: Think big.

With her new cable-TV and Internet network for women, Oxygen Media, Laybourne is doing just that.

After 16 years pioneering children's programming at Nickelodeon, which she followed by heading Disney/ABC Cable Networks, the former elementary school teacher is taking on the daunting task of erecting a media empire based on the growing convergence of television and the Net.

"It's the right time," Laybourne said in an interview. "My feeling is that it's going to be much tougher for the big media companies to really move their battleships to get this right."

From the time Laybourne was a little girl, she has felt the need to build things, from complex backyard forts to her dad's portfolio.

Noticing her resolve, Laybourne's stockbroker father brought her to the office to advise on investments; it's no surprise that at the ripe age of eight, she picked some winners. And it was her mother, a former radio soap opera star, who nurtured her imagination by turning off the television in the middle of a program and making Laybourne and her sisters finish the story at the dinner table.

Oxygen is now the focus of her determination.

The company unveiled its new Web site today, primarily a portal for properties it bought from one of its first investors, America Online. The site is expected to change dramatically when Oxygen's television network goes live in February with seven hours of original programming, from a comedy block to a talk show starring Candice Bergen and two hours of after-school content for teenagers. (See related story)

Although it isn't easy to get picked up by entrenched cable companies or to stand out among the "pink" Web sites already saturating the market, it's even harder to find anyone who will snicker at Laybourne's lofty goal. There are several reasons.

First there are Oxygen's top-billed partners, as well as Laybourne's track record for spotting untapped genres. Then there is the target audience. That's a no-brainer. Women watch more television than men, according to Nielsen Media Research's latest report, and they surf the Net from home during the day more often than men. Women also hold the wallet in most households. Advertisers love that part.

And Laybourne's convergence strategy is a dream that many expect to come true. The same May 1999 report by Nielsen stated that "with convergence knocking on the door, it may soon be commonplace for people to move seamlessly from one medium to another on the same delivery platform--TVs or PCs."

A usual suspect on media lists of the most influential people in business, entertainment, and the country, Laybourne also is building her team across platforms.

She has lured Hollywood untouchables such as Oprah Winfrey, along with Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, and Caryn Mandabach, the masterminds behind TV hits such as the Cosby Show and Roseanne. New economy players are on board too, such as Oxygen's vice chairman, Silicon Valley consultant Lawrence Wilkinson. In addition, Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures infused Oxygen with a $100 million investment, and Laybourne's husband, Kit, an animation trailblazer in his own right, is Oxygen's chief creative director.

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But Laybourne's greatest advantage seems to be that Oxygen's employees and backers are intoxicated by what she is trying to start: a media revolution. That claim is blasted across a banner as one enters Oxygen's headquarters, which takes up three floors in a brick building that used to house a Nabisco cookie factory and is modestly tucked between Bowery Kitchen Supply and the Manhattan Fruit Exchange in New York's Chelsea District.

It's clear after talking to her employees that Laybourne is respected but not feared. She is known for enjoying a good mistake and not blowing up. She has a self-deprecating air about her but won't let the so-called glass ceiling trap anyone she works with.

She is troubled by another phenomenon she calls the "glass floor," however, in which chief executives are isolated by middle management, pacified instead of engaged. To combat this at Nickelodeon, she moved out of her corner office and planted herself right behind the receptionist so she could stay in the thick of things. Ironically, at Oxygen her office will be mostly enclosed by glass, but that is so she "can see everything."

Rejecting descriptions of Oxygen as a sorority or religious movement, people at the company do say their mission is to "do the right thing." That is why they're convinced they will prevail.

That said, Oxygen is under tremendous pressure to get off the ground.

A studio dominating the top floor of Oxygen, where live segments from news broadcasts to band performances will be filmed, is still being built with less than four months to go before the network is launched.

Then there is the product. The company's online and TV program producers, who in the spirit of convergence share offices, are still hammering out ideas, poring over proposals, and kick-starting production. Amid all this, Oxygen is fighting homogeneity. It doesn't want to be just another source about boys and beauty for affluent white women.

Laybourne, for one, is confident that she will flick the switches on time, and that critics and the audience will be waiting.

One hectic day last month in between her meetings with potential content partners and hungry producers, CNET News.com interviewed Laybourne to discuss management lessons from the industry and motherhood, how she got players like Oprah to pump Oxygen, and how the company plans to change the world.

News.com: For starters, "Oxygen"--what does it mean?
Laybourne: It's about giving breathing room to creative people and to the audience. It's that simple. Americans are pushed and pressured in such amazing ways that they deserve to have a place where they can take a deep breath. I think women consumers are hoping for a breath of fresh air.

AOL has slightly more women than men as subscribers. Right now the ratio is about 50-50 overall on the Internet. Why do you think women find the Internet such a great home?
It's made for them; it thinks like they do. If you think about the Internet, it's the most wonderfully collaborative democratic institution in the media that we've ever seen. It's no longer Father Knows Best hierarchical media that gets pushed down--it's a co-created media that everybody gets involved in.

Women love community first and foremost. You take the fact that women love community and then you take the fact that women have all these multiple jobs. We're the chief purchasing agent, we're the chief maintenance worker, we're the chief child development experts. We either need to buy, to learn, or to communicate. So what better than [to use] the Internet?

What's surprising is that it has taken women so long to understand it's their medium. In 1994 only 5 percent of Internet users were women. So we've seen a dramatic change. Women are able to buy automobiles online without paying the 20 percent premium that they often pay when they go into the showroom. So there are huge advantages to the lack of gender bias.

Your whole strategy is based on TV-Net convergence, but we haven't seen many breakthroughs in this entertainment arena. How are you going to integrate your online and television properties?
The Internet is the thing I've always waited for. Even when I went into television to begin with, I wanted it to be more interactive and more responsive. The great thing about the Internet is it's a fabulous research tool because every day, every second, you know what women are asking, what they want to know, and you can turn that back into programming and content.

We see the Internet as a giant casting agent for issues, stories, and personalities. We will take that and turn that into television. Our Internet producers and our television producers sit in the same room. It isn't about an adjunct. Neither one of them is in a secondary position--they're both getting created together. We think that's the smart way to go.

NEXT: Building a brand for women

Building a brand for women

In your career you started out focusing on children, and now it's women. What has inspired you to focus on this area?
I've always been an advocate of kids and women. In my previous existence at Nickelodeon, I was able to be an advocate for women in business. I was able to be an advocate for women in my big entertainment company and in developing women as great leaders. I care that women get a fair chance. The reason I left Nickelodeon was that we had done a tremendous job for kids and that it would be great to tackle my other passion. By the way, I also like men enormously!

What kind of programming are we going to see on Oxygen?
You're going to see everything from animation, where we're capturing the voices of creative women all across the country, to really hard-core, great tips about how you start your own business. We'll have news, we'll have sports, we'll have a full range of programming for women. It is a thinking woman's network, but it's also a laughing woman's network. We believe in humor as the greatest teacher and as the greatest reliever. So although there will be a lot of smart stuff, I promise you, there will be a lot of laughter. We will virtually be about 98 percent original content.

Your on-camera talents aren't the traditional kind of cookie-cutter look. Tell me about that.
We believe that women want to see real women. The Internet has been an amazing teacher to us. People are fascinated with real solutions from real women, and they want to see people like themselves. So the criteria we have is not that

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somebody has a lot of prior broadcast experience, but that they are deeply passionate about some subject area. So we are [presenting] women who are passionate, but who also lead real lives.

You know, I get such a kick out of technology folks because they think, "If we build it, they will come." Well, that's actually not true for everybody. It's particularly not true for women. They have to know, "Why is this important? How is this going to influence my life?"

It seems that you've done a lot of research on what women want, both on television and on the Internet. What have you learned?
We've talked to a lot of women over the last few years about what they want, what their life is like, what's going on in their world…and basically we've found that women feel pretty terrific about where they are; they feel very independent, they feel take-charge, they do have a million jobs, and they're doing them very well. They don't want a kind of hierarchical voice that tells them what to do or what to think. They want choices; they want different perspectives. Our research has been based both in focus groups and online and in one-on-one interviews. Even sitting here with you, this is a research session for me.

How do you think Oxygen will change the face of women's programming online and offline?
When we changed the face of children's television for Nickelodeon, we did it by putting up what the stereotypes were and what broadcasters told us you had to do, and then we debunked them. We're doing the same thing with women. We don't believe that the only kind of drama women want are the "victim of the week" movies; we don't believe that women only want soap operas; we don't believe that they only want raucous talk shows. We think they want a whole range of things.

I'm a curious sort because I've never looked at the competition as being particularly helpful or hurtful. I keep my eye so closely on the consumer that I try not to get diverted. I find a lot of energy, especially in television, where you see CBS looking over its shoulder to see what NBC is doing and both of them looking at ABC. Whenever there's a hit, it proliferates, and then of course the clones are never as good as the original hits. I'd just rather be trying to figure out what the original thing is, whether it's a hit or a flop.

So many cable channels have launched in the last few years, and so many Internet sites are struggling to make money--you guys are investing a lot in this. Why are you so positive about it?
It's the right time. Somebody has to grab on to this huge idea of the combination of the two. My feeling is that it's going to be much tougher for the big media companies--having been in several of them--to really move their battleships to get this right. They have a huge vested interest in an advertising structure that is just unbelievably different from the Internet. So the huge vested interest will keep them from the kind of full-scale experimentation that we believe needs to be done.

Cable networks that have been launched in the recent past have not had the kind of investment that is required to develop brands that really deeply understand the consumer. Most of the new networks have been repackaging and slicing the bread really thin on what's out there. We are able [to do this] because we have such incredible partners: Oprah Winfrey, [Marcy] Carsey, [Caryn] Mandabach, and Paul Allen. We are able to invest in great content because it's the right thing to do.

Let's talk about how Oxygen will make money. Are we talking about an initial public offering sometime?
Seriously, we probably will go public at some point, but right now our focus is on developing a brand that really serves consumers. We could have gone public right when we started, but then my focus would have been on presenting what we're doing to the financial community. The fact that we have patient partners who are eager to do it right is a very big advantage to us.

Our revenue will come from a variety of sources, whether it's advertising or e-commerce or deep partnerships with other companies. One of the things that's fascinating to me right now is that there is this proliferation of Internet advertising. You can't walk down the street, you can't be in a cab, you can't turn on the television without seeing "dot com" advertising. [Television] is actually creating the future for the Internet because it's driving eyeballs to the Internet.

How has the Net changed television?
When you look at the Internet and what you're able to do graphically, sometimes I feel like somebody has bound both my hands and both my feet because it's not as rich a medium as television. But on the other hand, I can deliver to people content that they are personally, passionately so deeply interested in on the Internet that you could never afford to produce for television.

When you look at kids who are growing up with a computer in their hand, they think that the remote control is broken because all it does is change channels. They can't imagine why anybody would just sit there and vegetate. You'll hear a group of old television folk say, "Well, people are always going to want television exactly the way it is because that's what television is." That may be true for the fossils, like myself and them, but that is not true for the 6-year-olds and the 7-year-olds and the 15-year-olds. They expect something completely different, and we've got to figure out how to deliver it.

What is it like to be working with one of the other "most powerful women" in business: Oprah Winfrey?
Oprah Winfrey is truly an inspirational human being. When we went to talk to her about joining Oxygen, it took her about five minutes of hearing us to say, "Wait a minute--I get it. This is about service; this is about intent; this is what I've been waiting for; you are the people I want to work with." I've never seen a more embracing person--and embracing of new ideas. She is so excited about learning about the Internet. This week she's in the studio taping "Oprah Goes Online," which is one of our first shows that will [demonstrate through a] role model to women the things that they can do on the Web.

I think she's probably the ultimate role model, isn't she? Oprah is revered by 18-year-olds and 80-year-olds, and all you have to do is walk down the street with her and see her power, because everybody will stop her and give her advice. The taxi driver will stop her and say, "Oprah, I saw your show yesterday, and you know what? You really need to do this." It's very funny, and she says, "Oh, thanks for the tip!"

One of the most remarkable things about her for me is [what happens] after she throws herself into these shows. After the show, after the taping, she sits with the audience for an hour and talks to them about their personal lives. That's how she gets her feel for what's going on with women. She has had more interviews with women than anybody on the face of the Earth.

NEXT: The maverick child, mom, and executive

The maverick child, mom, and executive

Like Oprah, you are always mentioned in profiles as one of the most powerful women in television. How does that make you feel?
Whenever anybody is listed in the "Most Powerful" lists, you think, "Oh, God, have we only gotten this far? Oh, that can't be true! There must be lots of people much more powerful than I am." I think I'm just unusual. I came at television from a completely different point of view, because I manage in a completely different way. I really believe in people, and I really believe in the creative process. I think I'm a maverick executive.

How did you fare at Disney?
I wasn't as unpopular as you might expect. I mean, I was a different voice, and I certainly made a lot of friends. I had deep relationships with the "imagineers," who taught me more about technology than anybody in my life. It was like a Ph.D. program for me. But the essence of me is I'm a builder, and I have to make new things.

What is your management style?
If your goals are clear, and you really want to make a difference, and you're passionate about what you're doing, and you're careful when you hire people, it's a much easier way of succeeding than how most businesses gets run. I've never been anybody who was focused on my next step up the rung. It's always been, "What content area [and] what consumer group can we tackle to make a difference for?" That is something that is so refreshing in business. The people who have come to Oxygen are coming here because they believe they're part of something that's bigger than just quarterly profits. That's why I signed up.

You've mentioned that the higher you get and the bigger the company becomes, the more difficult it is to really be in touch with every avenue and every worker and every employee--that in some ways, there is a glass floor.
The glass floor is the biggest problem that business has--it isn't the glass ceiling. That's a manufactured idea to get a metaphor to make us feel bad if we're women. But a glass floor is really dangerous for both genders. The glass floor separates people from their workers and their consumers and is really made up of middle management that sort of filters and tells the boss only good news. I keep reminding everybody that the boss is not the customer; the customer is the customer. I grin when I get bad news. I mean, they still can't believe I love a mistake. I love a mistake because you learn so much more from a mistake than from being packaged.

Can you describe your "Mother's Little Management Manifesto"?
Well, you have to understand that I started out life as a teacher, and you can't ever get the schoolmarm out of anybody. When I left Nickelodeon, I sat down with myself and said, "What did I learn about managing this enterprise?" I wrote down the first ten things that came to mind.

It starts with: "It's not enough to know your customers. You also have to like them," which is a really radical thought. The second one was "honor creative people." It had everything, from "paying attention to your teammates" to "managing as a team, not as a committee." The difference in a team is that you're always looking over your shoulder to make sure that your friends are getting an "A," instead of a committee, which is trying to come up with all of the reasons why nobody should do anything.

People get galvanized around simple sayings and that they understand what the rules are if you are explicit about it. Most management is never explicit--it's just sink or swim. It's, "If you want to learn the norms of this company, God bless you. Just get in there and try to figure it out." So I figure if I'm really clear about what's important to me and to our culture, that will help people who are joining the culture.

I remember when we started the merchandising business at Nickelodeon and everybody was so nervous: "Does this mean we're selling out kids?" "Are we exploiting kids?" And so I said, "OK, let's sit down [and look at] the ten commandments. What are the ten commandments?" And the first one was, "Do not covet thy neighbor's theme park."

How did your parents encourage you when you were a kid?
My mother was a radio soap opera writer and actress and my father was a stockbroker. My mother actually had to give up her career to raise us, so she funneled all of her creativity into her four kids.

We'd be in the middle of watching our favorite television show and she would turn off the show and tell us it was time for dinner, and we would groan--it was the cruelest thing you could ever imagine. But then we'd go to dinner and we would recreate the ending. We had interactive television in our house, even though nobody else did.

I have a brilliant younger sister, a charismatic and brilliant younger sister, and a perfect and beautiful older sister…And my father looked at me, and he said, "You are my business daughter." I think he saw some initial characteristics.

How did that make you feel?
It made me feel great because I got a special role, and I got to go to work with my dad every Saturday. He would take me to business meetings and give me pro formas for companies and ask my advice. I was eight or ten years old, and I would tell him, "No, no, don't invest in Tidy Toilets." He would, and [he would] lose his money. But it gave me a lot of confidence. It was a very creative household.

Did any other life-changing events happen to you along the way to get you where you are now?
The biggest life-changing event for me was marrying my husband, who is an incredibly nurturing, creative person, who basically is my biggest fan. He made it possible for me to have a rich intellectual and business life by being a full partner with our kids and with what I was doing.

Was motherhood basic training for you in terms of business?
Absolutely. I've made whole speeches about it. I learned customer service from my son, [Sam], who was the most terrible of all two-year-olds. I learned how you service an irrational customer and also how to manage my bosses from Sam. And he's happy to tell you he's turned out to be a great and solid citizen. My daughter taught me more about creativity than anybody. She's turned out to be a comedy improviser; she [can take] any creative idea that you have and just make it richer.

What do you think Oxygen is telling young women and girls?
You don't have to shrink to fit.