Publicly traded, Minneapolis-headquartered iNTELEFILM has launched DCODE, a New York firm offering strategic planning, creative, production of commercials and emerging ad forms, and media buying to advertisers and agencies. The new venture is headed by president Bill Perna, an industry veteran experienced on both the ad agency and production house sides of the business.
Perna most recently served as East Coast-based executive producer of bicoastal M-80 Films. Prior to that, he was executive producer at Voyeur Films, a division of bicoastal Giraldi Suarez Productions. During his tenure at now defunct Voyeur, Perna was a key player in Artustry Partnership, a boutique New York ad agency he co-founded with director Bob Giraldi, Giraldi Suarez partner Phil Suarez, and David Sklaver, a former president of now defunct Wells Rich Greene BDDP. Upon exiting Voyeur, Perna severed his ties to the ongoing Artustry. Earlier in his career, Perna was an agency producer at such New York shops as Grey Advertising and DDB. He later was executive producer at now Venice, Calif.-based Smillie Films.
Perna presented a business plan to iNTELEFILM which led to the formation of DCODE. His vision is to provide clientele with another marketplace option: a one-stop source for comprehensive advertising, production and media services. This streamlined approach, he reasoned, could prove cost-effective for clients, who are also free to shop la carte and plug into DCODE for any service or services.
While acknowledging that a portion of DCODE’s business will come from clients who want an alternative to having to enter into a long-term contractual relationship with an agency, Perna said he doesn’t view his company as necessarily being competitive with established ad shops. "We’re meeting a need for some advertisers who might not use an agency anyway, or who want to seek outside help for a particular project," he related. "At the same time, we are offering our services to ad agencies to help complement their resources."
According to Perna, DCODE has several projects pending which he wasn’t at liberty to publicly discuss at press time. He is in the process of hiring a strategic planner/account executive.
Perna has assembled a pool of what he described as "high-end" creatives-freelancers, and staffers with ad agencies-he can call on for DCODE jobs. The iNTELEFILM connection also opens up resources that Perna can tap into for spotmaking and interactive projects. For example, the iNTELEFILM family of production houses consists of bicoastal/international The End and Chelsea Pictures, bicoastal Curious Pictures, and New York-based Populuxe Pictures. INTELEFILM also maintains Internet-related holdings, including webADTV.com (SHOOT, 3/3, p. 7) and InteleSource.org (SHOOT, 1/7, p. 7). Through its Internet initiatives, iNTELEFILM is looking to apply its expertise in shortform to new media advertising models.
Though he isn’t obliged to use any of the iNTELEFILM companies, Perna reasoned there are times when it will be appropriate. "To have access to the production and creative talent at those houses is a major plus," he assessed. "But we’re also free to work with directors at other companies as well."
Perna added that freelance and/or agency creatives on DCODE jobs may in some cases also want to direct that work. DCODE can serve as the production house to facilitate those jobs.
Christopher T. Dahl, CEO/ president of iNTELEFILM, characterized DCODE as "a creative company that combines the talents of advertising agencies with the skills of commercial production." Dahl said this hybrid represents an approach to advertising that is "perfectly aligned with iNTELEFILM’s goal to create new ways of improving the quality and methods of commercial production."
