Las Vegas - The NAB Show, the annual conference and expo for professionals who create, manage, and distribute entertainment across all platforms, has announced the participants in the new Super Session titled "Unboxing Advertising and Entertainment: Building a Transmedia Experience."
The panel of experts includes writer/producer, Jesse Alexander (Heroes, Lost); Ivan Askwith, director of strategy at creative agency Big Spaceship (Tim Burton at MOMA, The Million Baby Crawl); Elan Lee, chief designer and founder Fourth Wall Studios (Watchmen, Kings ARG); Mike Monello, co-founder and executive creative director at entertainment marketing agency Campfire (True Blood, Discovery Channel: Shark Week); and Ian Sander, executive producer, Ghost Whisperer.
"Unboxing Advertising and Entertainment: Building a Transmedia Experience" will reveal how top entertainment and digital advertising creatives tell stories and build brands across multiple platforms. Speakers will share their approach to designing rich, fictional worlds; shaping content for specific media; and enhancing interactivity and audience engagement. "Unboxing Advertising and Entertainment: Building a Transmedia Experience" takes place Tuesday, April 13, from 4:00 to 5:00 pm.
"Even as technology powerfully and irrevocably changes the business of media, it also provides groundbreaking opportunities to engage audiences in new ways," says Chris Brown, executive vice president, Conventions Business Operations for NAB Show. "We are delighted to welcome these pioneering artists to the NAB Show where they will share their experiences and processes with our audience."
Award-winning writer/producer Jesse Alexander was a prime creative force behind three television series that featured rich, multiplatform mythologies. He was an executive producer for the first three seasons of the acclaimed NBC epic Heroes, for which he earned an Emmy for online content." Alexander also served as executive producer on J.J. Abrams' innovative and elaborate spy drama Alias, and as co-executive producer for the first season of the worldwide television hit Lost.
Ivan Askwith is director of strategy at Big Spaceship, an award-winning creative agency. As the head of the strategic practice, Ivan works to help clients navigate the digital landscape and understand emerging behaviors. He specializes in generating deep cross-platform audience engagement and helping brands build meaningful, relevant relationships with consumers and fans. Recent projects include work for NBC, Sony Pictures, A, HBO, EPIX, Second Life, Skittles and GE. Ivan is a founding member of MIT's Convergence Culture Consortium and currently sits on its executive committee.
Game designer Elan Lee is considered one of the originators of the Alternate Reality Game (ARG) genre and has more than a decade of transmedia experience. He is a founder of Fourth Wall Studios, and 42 Entertainment, the company behind the ambitious and groundbreaking Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero, a multimedia project that includes a music album, an ARG, and an extensive online/offline promotional campaign. Additionally, Lee was the creative director on I Love Bees, the Halo 2 promotion that has been described by several news outlets as "the most successful ARG in history."
Mike Monello was one of the creators of the pop culture phenomenon The Blair Witch Project, and helped architect that film's integrated, interactive mythology and community. The Blair Witch campaign instantly changed the way entertainment marketers engage the Internet. Monello is co-founder and executive creative director at Campfire, an entertainment marketing agency whose clients include HBO, Discovery Channel, Sega and Audi. Campfire projects have won numerous awards including top honors at ad:tech, the One Show, CLIOs and Addys.
Multiple Emmy-nominee and PGA Television Producer of the Year Ian Sander is executive producer and director of the CBS hit drama Ghost Whisperer. Sander co-authored the show's companion book Ghost Whisperer Spirit Guide, and is co-creator of the award-winning Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side web series, now in its fourth installment.