Co.MISSION Content Group and Magic Seed–companies with 10-plus years of expertise in remote video productions on a national and global scale for major brands–have partnered to launch Hometeam. The new venture is designed to offer original content options as a “new normal” emerges due to the pandemic.
Hometeam is being billed as a safe turnkey option, providing a production infrastructure that can evolve as conditions and needs evolve in the coming months. Hometeam offerings include:
- A national and global community of 75+ owner-operator filmmakers across 20+ countries and 20+ states who all own cinematic gear and are experienced as one-person acts as well as working with very small crews to make a lot with a little.
- A range of styles from documentary to UGC, lifestyle, automotive, tabletop, food and product content
- Ethnically diverse friends, family and locals as on-camera talent
- Access to locations
- Safety protocols
- Remote video village capabilities
- State-by-state and country-by-country filming status
- Creative consulting to help adapt and develop new creative
- An internal easily searchable crew roster database with each filmmaker’s gear list, cast of friends/family and location scout list to quickly match each project to the right team in the best location
- Creative consulting to help adapt and develop new creative
The result is a solution to continue telling stories, to remain fresh and relevant, and to help drive business forward. These resources become all the more valuable in a climate where there’s much uncertainty. Many marketing budgets have been slashed. While some states and countries are opening back up, other major centers such as New York City, Los Angeles and London are still mostly in some form of lockdown. Safety and risk are big concerns so large productions and traveling to shoots are still a ways off. As for what’s known during these times, clearly there’s a need for new original content as the market is saturated with recorded video chats, making it more difficult to stand out.
Hometeam is looking to address these times by opening up remote production possibilities and with them more creative and cinematic options, helping brands and agencies to chart a path forward.
Hometown benefits from Co.MISSION Content Group and Magic Seed’s global talent and remote production acumen. For example, Co.MISSION’s CEO, creative director and EP Harrison Winter served as a driving force behind Starbucks’ first global campaign by leading local Co.MISSION crews across 28 countries. He repeated that role for Google Android in “Young Together” which was filmed across 14 countries, for Instagram in “Brand Moments” which was filmed across three countries and also directed Hyatt’s global two-year campaign “In A Hyatt World,” Western Union’s global campaign “Chain Of Betters,” and Weight Watchers’ first global campaign. His global work captures genuine moments that connect audiences across countries and cultures while cohesively bringing together footage and stand-alone pieces from multiple cinematographers/co-directors. Among those he teams with at Co.MISSION is its president and stylist, Kris L. Young.
Director/executive producer Lagan Sebert and project manager/exec producer Sandra Sampayo are founding partners in Magic Seed. Another key player in the Magic Seed mix is creative director, director and exec producer Brandon Bloch.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More