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.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More