By JEREMY LEHRER
Palace Production Center (PPC), a postproduction/multimedia studio in South Norwalk, Conn., has acquired ServiSound, a New York-based video editing/audio post facility. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ServiSound will be renamed ServiDigital Studios.
The two companies have a preexistent relationship. Five years ago, ServiSound built a high-end audio post facility in PPC’s South Norwalk location. The two companies formed an LLC to run the facility, and both companies were pleased with the financial and creative results of the collaboration. That led to discussions about developing a more extensive relationship between the two companies.
Chris Campbell, CEO of PPC, said he wanted to solidify the PPC/ServiSound partnership while adding the latter company’s talents to the PPC roster. "We’ve been in business for a long time with [ServiSound] and we share clients, so it was a very natural marriage," Campbell said. "They have a very good talent pool, and the whole name of the game these days is talent. … This is the first step in building a world-class studio without walls in this region."
Michael Shapiro was president/creative director/COO of ServiSound and will have the same roles at ServiDigital. Shapiro said that PPC and ServiSound had a shared vision regarding good work. "We don’t just want to meet people’s expectations—we want to go beyond that," he said. "I think that bringing the two companies together makes that more doable because it makes more people available to work on any given client’s [account]." ServiSound’s VP Chris Nelson and VP/chief engineer Rick Ellicker will continue in their respective positions at ServiDigital.
Shapiro and Campbell said that the two companies would offer executives the option of working in either New York or Connecticut. Wendy Lambert, president/COO of PPC, said the combined PPC/ServiDigital entity would offer convenience to media executives, agency creatives and corporate clients who work in New York but live in Connecticut. "We wanted to have a physical location in New York City predominantly because we service a lot of customers in the metropolitan New York area," Lambert explained.
Campbell said that PPC and ServiDigital have set up high-speed data connections in order to exchange information and facilitate a "virtual" environment for executives that will enable them to conveniently access PPC work at the company’s two locations.
"The ultimate game is to make [the data exchange] transparent, whether the other room is down the hall or down the interstate," Campbell observed. "The application of that will be setting up virtual environments at the clients’ locations. … The whole concept of what a studio is is being redefined."
Campbell said that PPC planned to acquire additional companies, such as graphics and animation houses, which would round out PPC’s production and postproduction capabilities. He contended that these acquisitions would also facilitate the "virtual" studio environment and enable PPC to respond quickly to client demands. "[Clients] are trying to solve communications problems or challenges and get solutions created at the speed of light," he said. "In order to do that, we’re going to do everything we can to make [Palace] more of a one-stop shop."
ServiDigital now intends to expand the roster of services offered at its Manhattan location. In addition to audio post and video editing, ServiDigital currently replicates audio CDs and CD-ROMs. Shapiro said there were plans to build another studio for mixing high-end television and feature film projects. The company also plans to add a new media department that will focus on developing, designing and producing content for Web sites, CD-ROMs and other digital media. PPC has already gained experience in that field, working on distance learning and virtual symposium projects for clients such as IBM.
Shapiro, who is also a music composer, said that ServiDigital might create a music house that would be based at the company’s New York location.
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/DEPT®, 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 Ávila, regional director for Latin America, Ágora, São Paulo
--Radio... Read More