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Film Marketing Firm Embraces 360 Degree Thinking

Faced with a change in audience viewing habits, the CMP Entertainment Group needed to change its strategy to reach people with their trailers and television campaigns for feature films. Computers and portable devices are supplanting the living room TV set as the main means to watch entertainment which in turn reduces the importance of the 30-second television commercial. A new strategy led Burbank-based CMP to acquire Deadline Advertising, a Web and print design agency responsible for the revamped Disney.com and Disneybooks.com Web sites, online film promotion campaigns and online gaming sites. The buyout of the West Los Angeles-based Deadline satisfies the goal of CMP becoming a full service agency for promotional campaigns in both traditional and new media. They aren’t the first firm to employ what’s called 360-degree thinking but it’s a necessary step, said Craig Murray, the agency’s founder. “It’s our desire to bring everyone together in a room,” Murray said. “Instead of working independently, we work under one roof and say here is the movie and we are all going to attack it together in an integrated sense.” <!– 360: Tehrani (left), Murray and Parstabar. –> 360: Tehrani (left), Murray and Parstabar. Acquiring Deadline Advertising concluded a year-long search for the right partner already working in the online space. Smaller firms did great work but were not prepared for the type of intensity that is the world of movie marketing, Murray said. CMP and Deadline worked together for six months on projects for clients from both agencies. That test period showed the firms brought out the best in each other. “Their culture and their mindset [agree] with ours and what it takes to come up with a team effort,” Murray said. Founders Amir Parstabar and Jay Tehrani remain as co-presidents of Deadline and will oversee a facility and personnel expansion at its West Los Angeles offices. The agency currently employs 30 people. Murray’s company includes many of the major studios on its client list. They have devised campaigns for “Enchanted,” “Ratatouille,” and “Transformers.” Deadline has done work for video games released by Microsoft and Sony, and for studios and networks that CMP has not often worked with. With its expertise in online and viral campaign Deadline adds new links to the marketing chain. True 360-degree thinking starts before the camera begin to roll on a feature film, Murray said. Crews are sent out to capture behind-the-scenes footage and interviews that are later used across the entire campaign. Multi-purposing a few minutes with a major star for a TV spot, an electronic press kit and for online use is not only an efficient use of time but also money. Stretching the dollars is never a bad thing in Hollywood. “Certainly that is on everyone’s minds these days,” Murray said. Visual Effects White Papers Due The Visual Effects Society will publish a series of white papers this year to better educate the entertainment industry on the business and practice of visual effects. The first, “The State of VFX” comes in March from the Encino-based society. The publications will focus on the eroding lines of the production phases; the demands of new roles in the production process; and industry misconceptions that visual effects can be done easily, quickly and cheaply. “The State of VFX” includes information and opinions from the 2007 Visual Effects Society Think Tank made up of leaders from the visual effects and software industries. “This will be the beginning of an important industry-wide dialogue lead by the practitioners who experience these changes on a daily basis,” said VES Chairman Jeff Okun. “Key issues need to be addressed now, not only within the visual effects industry, but as part of an industry-wide initiative to move the art and business of filmmaking forward.” Initial analysis of the research done for the paper indicates a majority of the entertainment industry does not have an understanding of visual effects; guilds and societies need to come together to address the key issues; and educating decision-makers at the studio level about the visual effects production process is crucial. Mandalay Merges With Mobile Content Sherman Oaks-based Twistbox Entertainment will merge into Mandalay Media Inc., upon completion of an agreement between the two companies. Twistbox, a producer and publisher of mobile content, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mandalay Media, a publicly traded development stage company. Shareholders and other security holders of Twistbox will receive shares of common stock in Mandalay Media. Twistbox CEO Ian Aaron will continue in that position after the merger completes and will be appointed to the Mandalay Media board of directors. The closing of the deal is expected in the first quarter of 2008. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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