Broadband/Interactive TV Firm To Target Dot-Com Advertising Arena.
By SARAH WOODWARD
Because dot-com companies will often go to extremes to get people to remember their Web addresses, e-commerce has meant a creative windfall for the advertising business. But San Francisco-based StoryWorks’ principal/director Michael Shaun Conaway predicts that the second generation of e-commerce ads won’t feature hamsters shooting out of cannons or burly tow truck drivers. "Now, there’s Petstore.com, Petco.com and Pet.com," Conaway said as a means of explaining the proliferation of Web sites covering one specific area. "They’re going to have to start showing the product [in order to build an individual brand]."
For Conaway and his partner, president/executive producer Alex Melnyk, that signals opportunity. StoryWorks is a creative design and production company focusing on entertainment, advertising and promotions for broadband and interactive TV (iTV). "For years, we’ve been designing interactive experiences for both the computer and the television," Conaway said. "So we know how to build the graphics for commercials that make digital assets look great."
Formed in January ’96, StoryWorks was originally geared toward the development of creative content for entertainment-oriented CD-ROMs. The founding duo first met when Melnyk was head of MCA Music’s CD-ROM division and hired Conaway to serve as a creative director on several CD-ROM titles, including On the Road with BB King. Previously, Melnyk served as executive producer of bicoastal/international Propaganda’s music video division, while Conaway earned a master’s degree in writing from the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colo.
Soon after Conaway and Melnyk formed StoryWorks, however, the entertainment industry pulled out of the CD-ROM business. According to Melnyk, Time Warner and MCA, among others, closed down their fledgling CD-ROM ventures and the industry essentially dried up. Conaway and Melnyk, not content to return to traditional media ventures, set their sights on broadband and iTV.
StoryWorks launched its commercial production division this summer. Since then, Conaway has directed client-direct ads for NBColympics.com featuring Olympic Gold medalist Michael Johnson, and for Championship Auto Racing Web site Cart.com. The former shows Johnson sitting on a track, writing an e-mail about his training strategy for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The spot then segues from Johnson’s laptop computer screen to the interior of the Web site itself.
Conaway said StoryWorks’ strength lies in its ability to blend live action with graphics that help to visually and realistically depict the dot-com experience. "[We] design the animation from the start of the production so that the live action and animation seamlessly tell the same story," he said.
Additionally, StoryWorks has created iTV and broadband productions for clients such as Nike, ZDTV, Excite, Quokka Sports, Tide and Pantene. By and large, those projects were demonstrations designed to help the client visualize future branding possibilities in this fast-approaching convergent age. For instance, two iTV ads for Quokka Sports, a Web site, are not actually interactive, but they demonstrate what an interactive ad might look like. In them the frame looks similar to a Web site, with various rich media features including streaming information, audio and video. In "First Ascent," the primary footage shows an expedition to China’s unclimbed Karakoram mountain range, while graphics simultaneously denote the climbers’ location, vital signs and elevation. Other footage in the ad consists of previous attempts to climb the region. Its graphics include a map of China and a topographical map that delineates the climbers’ trek.
Done in collaboration with Venice, Calif.-based Digital Domain, the client-direct Nike assignment consists of an ad designed to work on multiple platforms. Graphics displaying Nike merchandise in a Web-like environment are paired with a well-known Nike live action spot, "Airport ’98," directed by feature filmmaker John Woo via A Band Apart.35mm, Los Angeles, for Wieden & Kennedy, Amsterdam.
There are great advantages for marketers in this landscape, according to Conaway and Melnyk. "Advertisers are getting excited about broadband and interactive TV because of two things," said Melnyk. "The user or consumer will spend longer with the brand, and also the ‘buy now’ button [offers them] an immediate transaction." Adds Conaway: "You can [also] take a national spot and localize it and target it."
Moreover, both maintain that the broadband and iTV audience shares are increasing. While the U.S. lags behind Europe, the interactive set-top box market in the U.S. is growing, thanks to Microsoft’s Web TV and a similar initiative by cable giant TCI. There is also a surge in high-speed Internet access providers, such as @Home and DSL, a digital subscriber line offered by Pacific Bell, among others. Last year, only about 500,000 Americans subscribed to a high-speed Internet service, while this year that figure has grown to about two million, according to Conaway, who said experts are projecting that the number will swell to 10 million by the end of next year. In other words, Conaway added, "here comes the future."
StoryWorks has several other projects in the works, among them a soon-to-launch original broadband content Web site. On the commercial front, Conaway said it was likely they would team up again with NBCOlympics.com. StoryWorks has also been awarded another commercial campaign that at press time the partners weren’t at liberty to discuss. The company is in the process of securing commercial sales representation.
Jury Presidents Named For The One Show 2025
The One Club for Creativity has announced the global creatives from around the world who will serve as jury presidents for The One Show 2025.
These creatives will lead judging for each discipline, and have a vote on the work.
Confirmed One Show 2025 Jury presidents, by discipline, are as follows:
--Brand-Side/In-House: David Lee, CCO, Squarespace, New York
--Branded Entertainment: Malcolm Poynton, Global CCO, Cheil Worldwide, London
--Creative Use of Data, Creative Use of Technology: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, CCO, FCB Canada, Toronto
--Cultural Driver: Bianca Guimaraes, partner, ECD, Mischief, New York
--Design: Liza Enebeis, creative director, partner, Studio Dumbar/DEPTยฎ, Rotterdam
--Direct Marketing: Vicki Maguire, CCO, Havas London
--Film & Video: Javier Campopiano, global CCO, McCann Worldgroup & McCann Global, Madrid
--Gaming: Taj Reid, global chief experience officer, US CCO, Edelman, New York
--Integrated, Experiential & Immersive: Chris Beresford-Hill, worldwide CCO, BBDO New York
--Fusion Pencil: Walter T. Geer III, CCO, Innovation North America, VML, New York
--Green Pencil: Barbara Humphries, ECD, The Monkeys, Sydney
--Health & Wellness, Pharma: Wendy Lund, chief client officer, WPP, New York
--IP & Product Design: Ronald Ng, global CCO, MRM, New York
--Moving Image Craft & Production: Irene Kugelmann, chief creative officer, DDB Group of Companies Germany, Berlin
--Music & Sound Craft: Joel Simon, CCO, JSM Music, New York
--Out of Home, Print & Promotional: Kainaz Karmakar, CCO, Ogilvy India, Mumbai
--Public Relations: Patricia รvila, regional director for Latin America, รgora, Sรฃo Paulo
--Radio... Read More