More uses for digital video .
TV-BASED COMMERCIALS COME TO THE WEB
SEATTLE, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine a new breed of web sites where
familiar TV commercial characters crack jokes on command, give you a
personal brief on new products and play a part in your daily
"webisode." Equipped with the latest streaming technology and a fresh
perspective, two Seattle firms have joined forces to reinvent
storytelling for the web.
Broadcast editorial company Rocket Pictures and state-of-the-art
on-line animators Honkworm today announced they will offer corporations
an easy way to leverage TV-commercials into entertaining content for
the web. Called "webisodes," these Internet-based commercials
incorporate characters from existing advertising campaigns, which are
then animated and placed in customer-interactive, fully scripted and
produced shorts that can be posted on corporate web sites.
Both companies have extensive experience in their respective
industries, with customers that include MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom
Inc. (Amex: VIA), Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR), Fox Searchlight Pictures,
WONGDOODY, Microsoft(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT), EvansGroup, which
was recently acquired by PUBLICIS, and RealNetworks, Inc. (Nasdaq:
RNWK). Honkworm and Rocket Pictures see this joint venture as a
concrete example of what the convergence of television and web-media
can offer commercial storytelling.
"This partnership allows us to take an existing Nike or Taco Bell TV
campaign and turn it into entertainment for the web that everyone with
a regular modem can experience," explains Honkworm CEO and former
Microsoft executive Johan Liedgren. "Little new production is
required, the corporate web-site doesn't need to be changed, and all
this at a fraction of what a traditional media campaign would cost."
The companies use on-line streaming to create the webisodes, which
allows for animations and film-clips to be played on a website telling
a story, with motion, characters, sound and customer interaction. The
team's services would not only help bring new customers to a site but
also reinforce a consistent message and style over all media.
"TV advertising is still essential to introduce a company or product,"
says Rocket Pictures CEO, Dan Pepper. "What we're doing is deepening
the relationship with a brand by creating web-content that builds upon
what advertising agencies are already doing for their clients."
Corporate web-sites today lack entertainment value, Liedgren and Pepper
say. They also claim that the days of web surfing are over and
corporate sites need to find ways to keep consumers coming back to a
site -- very few companies offer enough incentive to justify repeat
traffic.
"My wife cries when long lost lovers re-unite in the AT&T commercials
and I have not seen any corporate web-sites that could do that to her,"
says Liedgren. "I am convinced that the ability to entertain is what
will differentiate the Coke site from the Pepsi site."
But even in the near future, when technology allows full-motion, full
screen video, the partners see the web as a very different kind of
media. The commercials seen on TV today will not be effective if
viewed over the web, they say.
"The web changes the broadcast model," Pepper states, "Brand loyalty
won't be created by blindly casting a message to the airwaves in hopes
it will be absorbed by millions of anonymous couch potatoes -- the
customer has already sought-out your corporate site. Now it's about
telling a story that takes them another step towards brand loyalty --
and keeps them coming back for more."
"Honkworm combines a very unique artistic style with a solid
understanding of the technology," says Philip Rosedale, vice president
of Media Systems at RealNetworks. "They are professionals and could be
the next generation of Monty Python for corporate America."
Rocket Pictures provides creative editorial and broadcast media
services to advertising agencies, production companies, networks,
motion picture studios, corporations and independent producers and
directors. The company is located at 1114 Post Avenue, Seattle, WA
98101, telephone (206) 623-POST.
Honkworm International is an online advertising and entertainment
consulting company headquartered in Seattle, Wash.. The company is
privately held, and is a partnership between Johan Liedgren and Noah
Tannen. The company is located at 210 3rd Avenue South, Suite 3A,
Seattle, Wash. 98104; telephone (206) 748-7730; email:
info@honkworm.com; web site address honkworm.com.
SOURCE Honkworm International
-0- 06/15/98 /CONTACT: Johan Liedgren of
Honkworm International, 206-748-7730, johan@honkworm.com; or Dan Pepper
of Rocket Pictures, 206-623-POST; or Belinda Young of Belinda Young
Public Relations, 206-932-3145, byoung@bypr.com, for Honkworm/
/Web site: honkworm.com
CO: Honkworm International; Rocket Pictures ST: Washington IN: MLM
SU: |
