Back in June, as part of SHOOT‘s coverage of the 2009 Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase, Richard Myers, creative director, global culture, for Saatchi, and Tom Eslinger, the agency’s worldwide creative director of interactive, noted that the online dynamic had taken on a more prominent role in uncovering Showcase talent.
“We’ve been trolling worthwhile video sites for a couple of years but it’s worth saying that our embracing of online has grown this year,” related Myers.
Eslinger said that Saatchi sought out relevant social networking places and quality video sites–including, for example, the Aniboom site for animation–to tap into work and directors for Showcase consideration. “We still go through production companies and other conventional channels but the online component is also proving of value,” related Eslinger.
Now Aniboom (www.aniboom.com), a virtual animation studio with a network of nearly 8,000 animators from 72 countries, has progressed further, graduating beyond serving as a conduit of directorial discovery for Saatchi’s Showcase to being a clearinghouse that could help to line up talent for specific ad industry projects.
Spurring on that maturation is this week’s announcement that Interpublic digital agency MRM Worldwide has entered into a strategic partnership with Aniboom. Per the deal, MRM clients can access the Aniboom platform for talent and resources that can be applied to branding initiatives. Among the animation solutions that MRM can tap into via Aniboom are:
o Crowdsourcing creative concepts: Aniboom can execute advertisers’ concepts and creative ideas using a proprietary technology that organizes their animators into production teams. This process makes animation faster, cheaper and of comparable quality to traditional studios.
o Creative competitions to source new ideas and executions: MRM’s clients can launch a content creation competition in the Aniboom community for advertising solutions and have the community at large or a panel of judges select the top finalists and ultimate winner of the assignment. Or the competition could be private, with only the final results exhibited to the public.
o And updating current materials: Marketers and advertisers could take their existing iconic symbols, logos or mascots and have Aniboom bring them to life through exciting new executions.
Aniboom’s alliance with MRM Worldwide comes on the heels of several partnerships Aniboom is executing on behalf of entertainment brands. Fox Broadcasting Company and 20th Century Fox Television recently turned to Aniboom to help develop concepts for their next animated holiday special. Also, the Aniboom/HISTORY competition is underway, where Aniboom’s animators are developing short form animations for The People Speak film airing on HISTORY later this year.
Aniboom is also launching a partnership with Marvel Entertainment, through which animators registered with the Aniboom community will have the opportunity to create unique motion comics based on Marvel’s super heroes. Previously, Aniboom had a successful partnership with Radiohead who looked to the virtual animation studio to create music videos for their recent album, “In Rainbows.”
Uri Shinar, founder/CEO of Aniboom, which is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with offices in New York and San Francisco, expressed confidence that Aniboom’s worldwide community of artists “will supply creative answers to MRM’s clients in this digital era.
MRM’s agency network has 62 offices in 40 countries and counts Microsoft, Intel, MasterCard, Verizon, and General Motors among its clients.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More