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December 2011

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OUTLOOK NEW MEDIA doors to your audience you are giving them an opportunity to interact and give feedback on what they are going to be watching. They become part of the conversation rather than an idle viewer. "The strength is communication. We are hearing back as the show is airing; we are not waiting for Nielson-type ratings to come back to us before altering our trajectory to address viewer feedback. The infor- mation that is being gleaned is instantaneous and it's a gut reaction — and it's not filtered. It's coming straight from the source." WEAKNESSES: "Because the message needs to be distributed over many different arenas, it can be a challenge to get a unified mes- sage across without increasing budgets. If we are creating a promo for a show and are only peripherally involved in the social media campaign or the Web distribution strategy, then creating a unified campaign is often overlooked. We rely on the program producers, who are often already bogged down with on-air deadlines to stitch it all together. In short, creating a unified media experience for the viewer/user is a full- time job, and bringing in an organization that understands that will pay for itself in spades. "It's getting better by the day, but the message across all the various media outlets is often less consistent than desired." OPPORTUNITIES: "We are bringing social to everyone in a way that people are only just starting to understand. Sharing your thoughts and your feelings through all these different tools is letting users get to know one another without ever meeting face to face. It levels the playing field. The whole world is now your audience. "What we are putting out there isn't just reaching the targeted demographic any more. The entire world is now watching. The US Inter- OUTLOOK FOR 2012: "We are growing because we have embraced the Web and many multimedia aspects of the industry. We have a lot of new projects coming up looking for this kind of 'one-stop shopping' and an easier way to give a campaign a single unified voice. The Internet ship is smoothly sailing the high seas. It's power and 'reach' is just being realized, and we are glad to have booked passage when we did." BRENDAN KIERNAN Executive Producer Futuristic Films www.futuristicfilms.com Venice, CA & Denver Futuristic Films creates motion pictures for brands, advertising and entertainment. A recent project for international retailer Forever21 includes an augmented reality billboard, a six-spot campaign and a holographic fashion show. They also created an interactive music video for the recent opening of the 77kids New York City flagship store. STRENGTHS: "The biggest strength in the area of interactive and emerging media within the advertising industry is that brand and advertising agencies are finally recognizing that for most consumers today, it is not enough to provide them with a message in a traditional format. It is imperative to create an engaging, on-going relationship with consumers to create a message that is interactive. Fueling this is the advances in technology, enabling the execution of these kinds of projects, which is improving by the day. "I believe 2011 was the year that we saw a major breakthrough in interactive and emerging media projects, across a wide spectrum of brands and marketers. Up until now, there was a great deal of talk about these projects. But this year, we actually saw them emerge, and from brands and marketers who had historically been more traditional. We were used to seeing technology and videogame companies be very aggressive and progressive with their advertising, but this year we saw the implementation of interactive, augmented reality and emerg- ing media applications across the board." WEAKNESSES: "Fundamentally, and contrary to the strengths In addition to a six-spot campaign, Futuristic created an augmented reality billboard for clothing store Forever21. net audience is at about 250 million and we are now reaching just over 2 billion people who have access worldwide. With 10 times more 'reach' than just a few years ago, the Internet opportunities are endless. Broad- casters are well aware of the value they get from Internet campaigns. The percentages of 'media spend' for Web campaigns is now about the same as 'spend' on TV campaigns. The shift is just beginning." THREATS: "Clients are going to keep on asking for this type of work, and they want more bang for the buck. They want that media campaign and that custom Facebook page, but the budgets haven't changed that much. At one time you had 20 bucks to get the promo done, including graphics and sound design, now you have 25 and they want the promo, the graphics, the audio and a social media campaign strategy. 36 Post • December 2011 www.postmagazine.com we are seeing in the marketplace, there is still a challenge where bud- gets are concerned. There is still a disproportionate amount of budget allocated to these projects, and I believe it is an issue of education. Branders and marketers don't truly understand the cost and complex- ity of these projects, which is necessary for them to be effective. We often educate our clients about the need for these projects not to just be 'one-off ' endeavors. By the very nature of interactivity it is impor- tant there is a holistic approach to campaigns so consumers are engaged in a participatory experience, which has lasting impact." OPPORTUNITIES: "We see a great deal of opportunities awaiting us in 2012. There continues to be an expansion of these projects into what were traditional or mainstream brands and adver- tisers. There are more opportunities because there are more agen- cies and clients willing to take a chance on this area. We are also seeing an explosion in terms of technology, with advances in geo- location and augmented reality technologies, as well as the evolution of the QR Code with new offerings such as SnapTag, etc. As consum- ers continue to adopt consumption technology, such as smart phones and tablets, the opportunities for this type of work is endless." continued on page 45

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