Marketing Closer To Truth in the New Media: Promoting Cosmos, Consciousness, God

The mission of Closer To Truth (CTT) is to promote appreciation and provide understanding of cosmos, consciousness, God. CTT is our long-running public television / PBS series, and we propose to expand its outreach and impact substantially by optimizing, distributing and marketing CTT’s unique content of cosmos, consciousness, God on the web and in new media. This grant will enable CTT to accomplish these objectives by reversioning CTT content for the web and new media, emphasizing interactivity and user engagement, establishing strategic alliances, and building a CTT community. JTF funding would: reversion CTT content (C,C,G) for web optimization; redesign CTT website (user friendly, interactive, scalable); develop mobile apps (e.g., iPad); market CTT website (links, blogs, social media); explore new models of CTT content delivery such as web courses and webinars; emphasize interactivity; build a dedicated CTT community (to discuss, promote CTT content of C,C,G); develop CTT content for online video/new media channels (YouTube, Hulu, iTunes, etc.); develop CTT content for education markets (with major partner); develop CTT content for various specialized markets (with major partners); and build the CTT brand as a/the leader in C,C,G through broad marketing in the new media (social media, blogs, partnerships with leading websites, and the like). While the Kuhn Foundation continues to fund new content, we need to build, over time, a more self-sustaining business model, which would be enabled by this JTF grant. Featuring >200 scientists, philosophers, theologians and creative thinkers, CTT is the leading archive of high-quality video interviews (>2000) and high-production-value TV shows (130, to 234) on the big questions of cosmos, consciousness, God. Our goal for the CTT platform (web, online video, mobile, alliances) is to become a/the new media center for serious, informed discourse on the meanings and implications of cosmos, consciousness, God.