Venice, Calif. - A new creative studio, Mothership, has launched in Los Angeles to create original transmedia content for advertising agencies and brands. A sister company to Digital Domain, Mothership represents top global creative talent and develops the content, strategies, and campaigns that take ideas and brand experiences from concept through completion, across multiple media platforms, says a company official.
Mothership has curated an international creative roster of directors, designers, and artists; a handpicked group with roots in hybrid filmmaking approaches that blend live-action, animation, CG, motion graphics, and other techniques to create new visual realities. The company launches with talent including Robert Hales, Dael Oates, David Rosenbaum, Sil Van Der Woerd, Brent Bonacorso, Pierre Michel, Matthew Santoro, and Happycamper, and represents Nathan Love on the U.S. west coast.
Guiding Mothership is a seasoned leadership team including Digital Domain Commercials Division president and executive producer Ed Ulbrich, executive creative director Alejandro Lopez, and executive producer Tanya Cohen.
Ulbrich says, “Consumer demand for compelling content on connected devices creates an enormous opportunity for advertisers. To capture it, agencies need integrated cross-platform strategies and creative services, and they’re turning to companies who can execute a brand vision from concept to completion. A new breed of digitally literate directors and designers has emerged to meet this need. Mothership collects these talents and lets them tap into a wealth of resources, technology and expertise, so they can always produce what they envision.”
“Transmedia offers brands the opportunity to integrate directly with entertainment properties instead of standing alongside them,” adds Lopez. “The key is, these brand experiences must enhance entertainment value. Mothership has brought great talents on board who can create the kinds of digital properties that will capture and entertain new audiences — extending both the original entertainment property and the brand.”
As a sister company to Academy Award-winning digital production studio Digital Domain, Mothership has direct access to the studio’s highly advanced technology infrastructure and Hollywood pedigree. This structure enables Mothership to offer its clients the confidence of knowing that every project receives total backing and support. While Digital Domain is known for creating breakthrough visual effects for movies and commercials, Mothership will develop core creative, build concepts and drive and execute productions from beginning to end for advertising agencies and brands.
Mothership founder and president Ed Ulbrich is also president of Digital Domain’s Commercials Division and Corporate EVP. He oversees the company’s advertising business and executive produces select feature films -- roles he has held since Digital Domain’s inception in 1993. He is President of the Board of Directors of AICP Digital and is on the Board of Directors of AICP. In 2009 Ulbrich was named one of the 100 most creative people in business by “Fast Company” magazine, and he has spoken about creativity and innovation at top worldwide conferences and seminars including TED, NASA, PICNIC, and others.
Alejandro Lopez is recognized as one of the most forward-thinking digital marketing pioneers in Asia. He spent 22 years in the ad industry with Leo Burnett and serving as ECD and President of Tokyo Publicis agency Beacon Communications, which he co-founded, before ‘defecting’ from the traditional school of advertising to found Tokyo boutique agency (Suit)men Entertainment. There, Lopez, who speaks five languages, led a team of strategists and creatives that developed transmedia campaigns for blue-chip clients across four continents.
Before joining Mothership, Tanya Cohen was executive producer at The Institute, a Michael Bay company. Previously, she was a Literary Agent at the William Morris Agency in London and Los Angeles, and Vice President at Robert Lawrence Productions/20th Century Fox.
Work from Mothership talent can be seen at www.mothership.net – including a series of launch films that embody the Mothership creative approach and represent the wide-ranging styles, disciplines and techniques these filmmakers offer.
Digital Domain will continue to provide visual effects services to production companies, creative studios (including Mothership), and ad agencies.