The Handmaid’s Tale premieres today on Hulu, based on the 1985 novel by Margaret Atwood. The novel—which has yet to go out of print since it premiered in the mid-1980s—has been several plays, a ballet, a movie and a radio serial, and launched to the top of Amazon’s Bestsellers List ahead of the TV adaptation. The emotionally and politically charged show is perfectly timed with public concern for women’s rights and political turmoil, especially within the US. For this reason, the show naturally lends itself as a conversation piece—one that Hulu has kept going across the country ahead of the show’s premiere.
Large groups of women in striking red and white garments have appeared across the country at events to silently promote the series, handing out cards that say, “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” These handmaidens were seen at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 23 and prior to that at SXSW, New York City and many other locations. The cast and crew discussed The Handmaid’s Tale themes at length during the Tribeca Film Festival, setting the stage for a deadly serious, provocative TV experience.
The show follows Offred, an oppressed woman in a dystopian near-future in which women’s rights have been stripped. Offred (Elisabeth Moss) is the handmaid assigned to an elite Commander and his wife, and as such is subject to the strictest rules and constant scrutiny—living in constant fear of execution. Offred, so named because her master is named Fred, can remember the “time before” when she was married with a daughter and had her own name, but all she can safely do now is follow the rules of Gilead in hope that she can someday live free.
Audiences can take a 360-degree tour of Offred’s modest room on YouTube to get a sense of a handmaid’s drab life.
Fans were able to follow a livestream of the series’ red carpet premiere on Snapchat, and the official Twitter account has been abuzz with behind-the-scenes looks, interviews and teasers.
For writers, Hulu is hosting a contest on Wattpad in which 500-word short stories inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale will get a chance to be included in an anthology by Margaret Atwood.
A partnership with fashion collective, Vaquera has resulted in looks such as a red jacket emblazoned with “Maiden.” In June, the brand will host an experiential performance in New York, at an as-yet-undisclosed location, featuring the pieces from the collection.
The first three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale premiered April 26 with subsequent episodes added on a weekly basis. In Canada, the series will be broadcast by Bravo, beginning with the first two episodes premiering on April 30.
Imagine watching an Unreal Tournament match and seeing a logo for Mountain Dew on the side of a crate, on a wall or on the back of a player’s outfit. Then imagine being able to click on it and other placements to interact with the live broadcast and give a sponsored cheer, drop health, or influence the match in some other way. You don’t need to imagine it, because Genvid is already making that interaction a reality across livestreaming platforms such as Twitch, YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Beam and more.
Speaking with AListDaily, Jacob Navok, CEO at Genvid Technologies, described the technology as “a toolkit for game developer broadcasts to create interactive streams—and I don’t mean interactive from the perspective of Twitch Plays Pokémon. I mean, you can literally click, tap, touch and interact with what you’re watching. You’re able to touch a YouTube Live stream and it will recognize what you’re clicking on and what the information is in real-time.”
The technology overlays branding locally as part of the in-browser experience, so its viewing data can be tracked. A child watching might see a soda ad, while an adult would see one for beer, and someone in Japan could see something else.
Genvid’s plugin allows game developers to include these interactions from within the game without having any of the players see them. With the technology, developers can do three key things: deploy multiple camera positions in the video stream; make the stream interactive with clickable objects and players; and lastly, understand the viewers’ needs.
“For example,” said Navok, “if we detect that the chat is talking about or cheering for a specific player, we can have the camera focus on them. Alternatively, if we detect that viewers don’t like a specific player, the game creators can choose to have that player killed by the audience like in a Roman coliseum.”
Novak went on to discuss how Genvid could greatly benefit game developers, publishers, viewers and brand sponsors by livening up livestreams.
Jacob Navok, CEO at Genvid Technologies
Is Genvid meant only for game developers, or can other livestream creators make use of it?
We started on a key theory on where the game industry is going, which is that game creators will begin to own and operate premium streams. In my opinion, judging from what we’ve seen in the last year, that’s what esports is—it’s the creation of streams by certain entities, whether they be the game developers or otherwise, for the purpose of generating viewership that is then monetized. The deal that Riot did with BAMTech is indicative of how they want to own and operate streams, and the acquisition of MLG by Activision is indicative of that too. Smaller developers are doing this as well. So, we’re starting to see deep and rich involvement from game creators into the production of streams, which (up until a few years ago, with the exception of Valve and Riot) were mostly left to Twitch streamers.
So, we wanted to begin with a toolkit that was usable by game developers, which allowed them to differentiate their streams and also took advantage of the fact that they were the creators. They have a lot more access than whatever is in a retail build. In the future, I think individual streamers could use this tech, and it could take a couple of different directions. Game broadcasters like MLG and ESL are going to have game builds that use our tech for streamers to operate. I think if we partnered with a larger streaming platform, we would allow for individuals to stream from their computer.
Who do brands talk to if they want to become involved with esports using this technology? Genvid, game developers or broadcasting platforms?
There have been a lot of brand attention coming to us. We’ve been speaking with not just agencies, but with brands themselves. All of them are looking for the next big thing that will differentiate them, but they’re also looking for something that’s better than the standard video ad roll. Ideally, in the future, we would have the game publishers and creators working with brands directly without us a middleman. But, for the time being—because everything is so new—we’re bringing brands to our customers and enabling it.
How does Genvid compare to brand placement in a broadcast?
The difference between this and what you see in a broadcast is the clickability and interactivity. I can’t click on an ad that’s occurring inside of a video stream. Here, I can. From a brand perspective, that’s amazing. We don’t just want to take this as an opportunity to do arenas. The larger vision for the company is to enable fully interactive capabilities where everybody is a participant in a larger world.
For example, you could broadcast a game with a million viewers watching through consoles, mobile phones and PCs. Everyone can choose the level of engagement they want—do they want to play, set traps or give health? Here, the clickability of the brand is very important, because viewers can click on things happening on the map and they get points for it. With points, they can do interactions and engagements. This would be a new monetary stream for the developer and a new form of creative play for the players.
How does Genvid maintain a sense of authenticity for brands?
I think what’s most important is to discover whether the game works for your brand or not. For example, I don’t think putting advertisements in the middle of outer space within a game like Fractured Space works, no matter what the brand is. When we consider what brands we’re connecting with the developers we’re working with, we always think about whether the game has something visually appropriate to match the context.
Will broadcasters have total control or will viewers be able to choose which players they want to keep track of?
There was a big thread last year in the League of Legends Reddit where users said they wanted to watch the LCS from the perspective of the teams they followed, not necessarily from the broadcaster’s camera. The way we’ve been thinking about it has been very similar. We want to enable game creators to create a camera for every player and every team, as well as all the interesting perspectives, allowing the viewer to swap between them.
Genvid also supports VR broadcasts. Is that interaction for 2D livestreams or from within a virtual reality experience?
We’re starting with 2D because that’s the most urgent requirement. VR game creators want more people to learn about and play their games, so we focused on that. A lot of them understand that most people don’t own headsets yet, and if they want the ecosystem to grow, they have to get all those people interested.
The headset experience is a terrible one to watch, and it might make you feel sick, so developers wanted to use us to show additional perspectives. For a racing game, instead of watching from the helmet, you could watch it from the side like a real race. But very quickly, we realized that we wanted people in the headset to get cheers, so we helped with that. From there, we had VR developers asking if we could stream it back into the headset as video, which we can. We’ve got a VR developer exploring that option right now.
Can Genvid benefit a live in-stadium experience?
People in stadiums want to see what is being broadcast on monitors, but they also want to swap between different angles, follow what they want using their phones, and do the cheering in person. They want to see the action through their phones and tablets, but get all the excitement from the people around them. Frankly, I think this technology is applicable for traditional sports and general media properties.
Twitch may be known for gaming, but it has evolved into a massive community that extends into a vast array of other interests. The Amazon-owned streaming platform has just kicked off Science Week with a 13-episode marathon of the original Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, hosted by Carl Sagan. In addition to the classic TV program, Twitch is conducting a series of interviews with personalities from the science community to celebrate Science Week, Earth Day and March for Science. March for Science rallied tens of thousands of scientists and concerned citizens across an estimated 600 simultaneous locations on April 22.
Among those taking part in the event are Ann Druyan (Cosmos: A Personal Voyage and Cosmos: a Spacetime Odyssey), Ariane Cornell (Blue Origin), Matthew Buffington (NASA spokesperson), Scott Manley (astronomer and sci-fi gamer), Pamela Gay (CosmoQuest), Kishore Hari (Satellite City Coordinator, March for Science), Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy blog), Fraser Cain (Universe Today) and more to be announced.
“Carl [Sagan] wanted to tear down the walls that exclude most of us from the scientific experience, so that we could take the awesome revelations of science to heart,” said Ann Druyan, co-creator of Cosmos in a statement. “The power of the original Cosmos series, with its enduring appeal to every generation since, is evidence of how much we hunger to feel our connection to the universe. Truly excited to share Cosmos now with the vast Twitch community.”
The company has livestreamed everything in recent years from poker, to Julia Childs, to Bob Ross and the Pokémon animated series. Twitch’s Power Rangers marathon resulted in 12.9 million channel views alone. Twitch also launched its own music library, and has helped companies like Netflix promote Stranger Things and HBO market Game of Thrones directly to its active community. So what’s next for the streaming giant?
“While we do have a fairly regular pipeline of programmatic TV on our platform—such as the recent marathons of Power Rangers, Amazon Pilots, and now Cosmos—it’s too soon to say where it might evolve from here,” Twitch PR director, Chase told AListDaily. “In terms of original content, our Twitch Studios team is interested in telling stories about our community, which includes their recent mini-documentary Ironsights, but they are still testing the waters.”
Indeed, Twitch has evolved beyond gaming, but that passion remains at the heart of everything the company does.
“Twitch is the celebration of our love for games,” Kevin Lin, co-founder and COO of Twitch told AListDaily. “But games only define one piece of who we are. Over time, a lot of streamers were also artists and musicians, and IRL became a thing because creators wanted to be able to talk about life philosophies and shoot the breeze. As you see people get together at TwitchCon and people meeting together for the first time or viewers and broadcaster relationships, Twitch is about sharing commonalities.”
Twitch earns 37 percent of Gaming Video Content (GVC) revenue despite only having 16 percent of the viewers, according to SuperData. In addition, 51 percent of Twitch revenue comes from direct spending, versus 31 percent for the industry overall. Amazon recently launched the ability to purchase digital PC games directly from Twitch streams, making the platform even more attractive for developers, streamers and marketers alike.
The Tribeca Film Festival celebrates entertainment in practically all its forms, from movies and documentaries, to virtual reality experiences, to television. This year’s event marks the second annual Tribeca TV program and it includes a number of prominent television premieres, including the first episode of NatGeo’s Genius, covering the rebellious life of Albert Einstein; Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the bestselling dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood; and Netflix’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt as it kicks off its third season, among many more. These premieres are being shown in movie theaters to large audiences and they’re followed by live Q&A sessions with the cast and creators.
Cara Cusumano, director of programming for the Tribeca Film Festival, discussed this year’s Tribeca TV program with AListDaily. “We have a combination of about 15 shows in total,” she said. “They include new series premiering for the very first time, new seasons of fan favorite and critically acclaimed shows, some independent pilots that we curated from submissions, and we have a featured documentaries and sneak peeks. So, we have a cool spectrum of work.”
Cusumano then highlighted some of the most prominent show premieres. “Of the new series, I would highlight Genius from Ron Howard and Geoffrey Rush about the life of Einstein. It’s cinematic, and NatGeo’s first scripted TV show,” she began. “Then, of course, The Handmaid’s Tale is hugely anticipated. One of the executive producers on that, Reed Morano, directed the first episode and is a Tribeca alum. She premiered her first feature film, Meadowland, with us a couple of years ago. The Sinner, which comes from USA Network, is a gritty crime procedural about a murderer that stars Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiswJXMMK04
Cusumano also emphasized how each show premiere was followed by in-depth conversation with the cast and creators behind them. “That’s one of the ways we do it a little bit differently and bring that festival energy to audiences so that they’re seeing their favorite shows on the big screen with an audience together getting to hear from those minds behind them,” she said.
Insights at the premiere for Genius included how Geoffrey Rush, who plays Einstein said, “We had to get beyond the two dimensional ‘emoji’ of Einstein.” While the Q&A session for The Handmaid’s Tale discussed possible parallels with today’s political climate, actress Ann Dowd stated that she hoped the show would have an impact on society. “I hope the series has a massive affect on people,” said Dowd, “and they picket the White House wearing these costumes [from the series], and we learn to never underestimate the power of morons.”
With both Genius and The Handmaid’s Tale dealing with issues of totalitarian governments, we asked Cusumano if there were any other trends that tied this year’s selections together. “I think one of the things we were drawn to that compelled us to create this section of the festival was how strong the storytelling is—and some of the work being made that we found the most exciting, beautiful and cinematic was happening in the TV space,” she replied. “I mentioned Reed Morano with The Handmaid’s Tale, Ron Howard with Genius, and (director) Antonio Campos with The Sinner. The folks behind TheEyeslicer (an experimental variety show) made the feature, Collective : Unconscious. There’s a kind of bleeding between television, film, online and even virtual reality, which we’re also involving in the festival—and I think the way those barriers are coming down is the trend we responded to the most.”
Netflix, Hulu, NatGeo and USA Network represent a broad mix of digital and more traditional cable channels. When asked how digital platforms were growing in comparison to traditional ones, Cusumano said, “I think audiences are adapting and companies are adapting too. Everyone is very agnostic about how they share their stories. We found that our audience was just as willing to come to a big theater as they were to watch things on a phone, online or on television. Some of these companies that are embracing the different formats are thriving. We’re certainly reflecting that in the way we’ve structured our programs. Things like our new online works section include Snapchat filmmaking.”
With the online works section and shows like The Eyeslicer shown to an “invite only” audience, where only watchers can invite others to watch, we asked Cusumano if she thought digital platforms were more likely to take risks with their content than traditional television. “Maybe,” said Cusumano. “I think that we’re a festival that likes boundary-pushing creators, so we gravitate towards that in the film, TV and online works programs. But if there are people who have a new out-of-the-box idea, often the internet is a great testing ground for that. That’s the place where they can bring their ideas—where the more institutional companies would want to see that it can be done successfully before they get behind it in a big way. So, I think if people are interested in stuff that’s a little more experimental, they should check out the new online works program.”
Cusumano also discussed how festivals may play a valuable role in promoting the launch of new shows as more audiences turn to digital viewing. “There’s so much amazing stuff out there, and audiences that are hungry for these stories might not necessarily know where to start,” said Cusumano. “So, having a curator who has seen everything come in and present them with 15 new shows or 10 new web series creators [is welcome]. You know Tribeca, you know our face, and we provide an easy access point for audiences to explore. We heard from TV show creators at last year’s festival, and they felt happy, proud and humbled that their work had been selected for a film festival. So, the exposure that we’re able to grant is beneficial for shows and audiences. Hopefully, we’re connecting the two in a very meaningful way.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJTonrzXTJs
We asked Cusumano if binge-watching was having an impact on how the Tribeca Film Festival was presenting its selections. “Yes, it does,” she said. “I think that it depends on the project—each individual piece—and if it’s something that demands to be seen all at once. After we showed O.J.: Made in America [last year], we premiered the entire series in one sitting. People came in and had the whole seven-and-a-half-hour experience. This year, we’re showing The Eyeslicer—and officially, we’re showing one episode, but we’re co-hosting a bigger screening in early May for the binge audience that wants to experience it that way. We and the creators wanted to make it available to them that way.”
Cusumano also noted how binge-watching is, “bleeding over to film as well. We’re doing an amazing marathon event for The Godfather parts I and II on our closing night. That’s going to be an all-day affair, and it’s going to be epic and amazing. The fact that people are so open to experience stories of that magnitude [makes for] a great way to revisit these classic films.”
We asked if the theater experience for established digital shows such as The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt helped to attract first-time viewers. Cusumano said, “Certainly, when you’re familiar with the characters, it maximizes the humor. But I think the episodes will work on their own. If there are people who haven’t seen the show before and are looking to experience it, they can come and enjoy it.”
So, what brings audiences to the red carpet premiere of a single TV show episode? Cusumano explains that “it’s different than watching it at home by yourself. I think people love the access and the cast and being able to ask questions. For some, this might be their only opportunity to see some these on the big screen before they come to Netflix or Hulu in the coming weeks. So, there is a kind of ‘catch it here or you’ll miss it’ moment for these events.”
From media networks to content creation, here are the week’s biggest job moves.
Mazda announced the appointment of Dino Bernacchi as their new chief marketing officer for the US. Bernacchi will focus on the overarching role brand communications play in consumer experience with Mazda at all touch-points.
Dawn Hudson, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, had her contract renewed through June 2020.
Lara Richardson has been promoted to executive vice president of marketing for Discovery, Animal Planet and Science Channel.
Turner’s digital-media sports unit, Bleacher Report, has hired Keith Hernandez as their mew senior vice president of brand strategy and sales.
Alma Derricks is the new chief marketing officer at El Rey Network. The position was newly created to oversee all consumer and trade marketing.
Karlin Linhardt has been named as Subway’s new senior vice president of North American marketing.
Bento Box Entertainment has a new creative director in artist and animator Ben Jones.
Lauren Snyder has been appointed chief marketing officer for Atlantis, Paradise Island, on of the leading destination resorts in The Bahamas.
Jonathan Carson is headed to Mic, a youth-centric digital news and lifestyle media startup. Carson formerly served as the chief revenue officer of Vevo and CEO of Nielsen Digital.
Whistle Sports expanded its executive team with the hire of J LaLonde, who’ll now oversee the company’s multi-platform content development, production and programming worldwide.
Judith A. Shoulak, the North American president for Buffalo Wild Wings, will retire from the restaurant chain, effective June 30.
Roberto Marques, president of Mondelez International’s North America business, is leaving the consumer goods giant.
Casey Carl is exiting his post as Target’s chief innovation and strategy officer.
PlayStation Vue users in the US will soon have access to 24/7 esports content thanks to a partnership between Sony and ESL. Just in time for the 12th season of the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) tour beginning May 4, esportsTV will host linear programming as part of PlayStation Vue’s Elite viewing plan.
EsportsTV will be the first linear US channel dedicated solely to esports content. While PlayStation Vue is available for PlayStation 4, it’s not limited to a gaming audience. The service is also available for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, PC/Mac, mobile devices and more, which begs the question—just how big is the market for a subscription esports channel?
“We’re going after the PlayStation user who is today not watching TV, driving a large ratings decline and is at high risk [for abandoning the pay-TV ecosystem],” Sony Computer Entertainment Group CEO Andrew House told TheWall Street Journal when PlayStation Vue was announced in 2015.
House was referring to the growing number of “cord-cutters” in the US who are abandoning traditional cable TV in favor of on-demand subscription services like Hulu and Netflix. Video game enthusiasts are obviously the most likely to subscribe to an “all esports all the time” channel—a massive demographic that is less likely to engage with mainstream platforms like cable TV, according to recent findings by analyst firm, SuperData. Twenty-seven percent of video game livestream viewers watch most often during weekday evenings, often replacing primetime TV. In addition, 20 percent of US Gaming Video Content (GVC) streamers are “cord-cutters,” SuperData found, compared to eight percent of the general US population.
The audience is definitely there, but will they pay to watch?
“Overall, PlayStation has been doing a great job at further solidifying its leadership position in the console space,” SuperData CEO, Joost van Dreunen told AListDaily. “Traditionally, however, offering linear programming and VOD content has been only a minor growth driver. The partnership with ESL does have potential on the long run, but since access requires at a minimum a $55/month subscription to the Elite package it is unlikely to move the needle in the short term.”
Between YouTube’s 517 million users and Twitch’s 185 million, the GVC audience surpasses mainstream channels like ESPN and HBO and—according to the 2016 Adobe Digital Insights Gaming Report—esports has a larger social following than the NFL, NHL and MLB (individually). ESL, in particular, has already amassed over 320 million hours of content broadcast on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, esportsTV outside the US, ESL TV and Movistar eSports via Telefonica.
Time will tell whether esportsTV will revolutionize the way competitive gaming is consumed, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
National Geographic is unraveling the complicated mysteries of Albert Einstein’s universe with Genius, a 10-part series that looks into the life and times of one of the most brilliant icons of his generation.
Genius, the network’s first-ever fully scripted series, explores Einstein’s extraordinary achievements and reveals his volatile, passionate and complex personal relationships. The series, executive produced by Ron Howard, marries science with a bit of sexy by featuring Einstein’s lovers, enemies and fellow luminaries. The big-budget dramatization is based on acclaimed author Walter Isaacson’s book Einstein: His Life and Universe. The anthology show stars Geoffrey Rush, Johnny Flynn and Emily Watson.
At their Upfront presentation Wednesday in New York, National Geographic announced that Genius already has gotten the green light for season two, which will focus on a different, still-to-revealed iconic figure.
Some of the marketing in recent months to promote Genius was a Super Bowl commercial that was widely considered a smashing success, sponsorships with brands like Viking Cruises and a perfectly timed experiential takeover in Austin for SXSW to celebrate Pi Day and Einstein’s birthday with week-long programming.
Jill Cress, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for National Geographic Partners, leads the marketing mission for a company that reaches over 730 million globally each month through its television channels, magazines, books, studios, digital, social media and children’s media. She joined AListDaily to shed light on how Genius will explore “Further,” their new tagline as the consumer-facing expression of the brand.
Jill Cress, CMO and executive vice president for National Geographic Partners
What kind of advertising and marketing impact does a cultural icon like Albert Einstein open for a brand?
Albert Einstein was truly an icon and a celebrity of his day. He was a big thinker and a rebel. He also was incredibly promiscuous, and quite the lady’s man. As the series Genius is all about the man behind the mind, our campaign taps into the many dimensions of Albert. We know so much about Albert’s prodigious work in science and his theory of relativity, but it’s his not widely known personal life that we found so fascinating. One of the things we have really tried to do is make the campaign contemporary, so while it is a period piece, the effect with music and style is very edgy. Also, issues that Einstein faced are just as relevant as ones we are facing today. I was on set for a week in Prague and I became obsessed with Einstein. I had this intense desire to learn more about him and his views on life. Also, I was blown away by up-and-coming actor Johnny Flynn’s portrayal of the young Einstein. He brings innocence to this role, coupled with his intensity that really inspired how we wanted to advertise this.
How do you plan on carrying on the marketing momentum for Genius as you get ready for the premiere?
Genius was a comprehensive and integrated four-month global marketing campaign that really kicked off with spots in the Golden Globes and SAG Awards and continued the momentum with our Valentine’s Day spot. We also had local market spots for the Academy Awards, a premiere in London and multiple events in the US maximizing National Geographic’s portfolio of brands. Marketing lived across all media platforms, as well as experiential, PR and strategic partnerships. What’s so great about National Geographic, we can also maximize our existing portfolio of our brands to amplify the series. We wanted to engage viewers globally with this brand-defining, first fully scripted series that tells the dramatic, inspiring and untold story about the life of Albert Einstein.
Why was it critical for National Geographic to be a part of the Super Bowl conversation earlier this year? Aside from the actual show, what brand philosophy did you want to reintroduce?
We were presented with this amazing opportunity to promote the show during one of television’s most watched event. We were able to show a broader audience that we can take a topic like Albert Einstein and make it relevant, timely and create a global conversation around Genius, and the National Geographic brand in general. This was a great way to introduce Albert the man, not just the physicist, showcasing “the man behind the mind.”
Were you surprised how well “Bad Romance” was received, and even winning a Super Clio award?
I think I was more thrilled, than surprised. The Super Bowl is crowded and a very noisy field and we only had less than three weeks from conception to production to air. And we knew we didn’t want to do a trailer—that would’ve been too safe and easy, and we wanted to break through. We wanted to do something simple, yet provocative to get attention and own this moment, and ultimately create a conversation. Not only were we able to successfully tap into the zeitgeist of Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated halftime performance, but we were also able to give a peek into the surprising side of Einstein the series captures. To build awareness throughout the weekend leading into the Super Bowl, we supported the Super Bowl spot with a carefully coordinated communication plan and an extensive push across our social and digital platforms.
How are you leveraging the success to create a global conversation on social around the series? How are you using social data to better connect with consumers? What was your social media marketing strategy that you executed?
The success of the Super Bowl spot was due largely to an extensive push across social and digital platforms. With a fan base of 352 million people across all of our social pages, when we engage with them in a contextual conversation, we see incredible results. Throughout the weekend, we published curated Einstein content to showcase Albert’s love of music and his other passions. In addition, we executed National Geographic social page and handle takeovers with Genius and had fun with in-game tweets touting the physics of football. The tremendous response the spot received was the result of a truly integrated campaign across National Geographic Partners. Since then, we’ve continued to find ways to make this historical genius contextually relevant to issues that our fans and followers care about. In fact, he may have just something to say during our upcoming Earth Day content.
You joined National Geographic late last October. What’s the one big thing you’ve learned on the job so far?
Most immediately I found out that the National Geographic brand has such strong equity and the power of the yellow border is the power of our brand. And at the core of the brand is quality and I’ve seen why it hasn’t been hard to attract A-level talent to work with us. I was fortunate to come into such incredible team already in place at National Geographic, led by Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Global Networks. I was totally wowed by the passion of the people and the amazing work that they have done to push the boundaries of exploration and making the world a better place. There are powerful stories there that are ripe for being shared in a more emotional way.
How do you see the National Geographic brand strategy evolving this year? How do you plan on taking the brand to new heights?
The National Geographic and the yellow border has been such a revered and iconic brand. What I hope to do is shift the brand from reverence to relevance. The Genius Super Bowl spot was a key opportunity to make Albert Einstein relevant to the Super Bowl. We delivered in a way that was still at its heart National Geographic, but able to tap into the zeitgeist. We hope to launch our new tagline ‘Further’ as the consumer-facing expression of the brand. Inspire people to fall in love with our renewed, forward-thinking brand and build on the insight that your heart will take you further than your mind ever will. Great brands connect at a functional and emotional level and we are bringing more heart to our stories to drive that emotional connection. At National Geographic, every day we are inspired by the determination and insatiable curiosity of our explorers—it’s what pushes us further. But you don’t have to climb to the top of Mount Everest to be an explorer. They are all around us and we hope that the work that we do incubates the next generation of explorers.
The cable and satellite industry is always fluid and shifting. How do you plan to amp up your marketing to reach digital natives and cord cutters? What are the insights and data that influence your marketing strategy? Is there a new product or service that you think will influence decisions?
Consumers are more connected than ever before and even if they aren’t cutting the cord the prevalence of dual and triple screen behavior is real. That can be seen as an opportunity more so than as a threat. This was key to our Super Bowl activation. We are diving into our consumers behavior and mindset in a renewed way to understand how we can meet them where they are. We are thinking digital first and innovating around our products and solutions. We are the No. 1 non-celebrity brand on social media. Our consumers have already told us they want to engage with us a, and now it’s up to us to meet them with the right stories and content. We will be getting more personal with our fans to understand their unique interests and passions so we can be even more relevant to them. Just recently, we launched a more coordinated social conversation around climate change, a topic that we, as well as members of our community, are incredibly passionate about. #MyClimateAction is a way for us to engage that community in a more specific way that empowers them with the science behind climate change.
What is on top of your marketing “hot list” this year? What emerging trends are you zeroing on in order to explore and innovate the brand?
Our big focus will be on the intersection of content, and delivering more personalized content that matters most to our consumers. National Geographic has been inspiring the world, and particularly those with a curious mindset and associated values for 130 years. Our storytelling efforts have inspired and rallied people from all over the world. We can leverage the power of data to understand what matters most to these communities and move from broad storytelling to story-making platforms. With digital content, we can bring the power of our explorers and their work and passion to an audience in incredibly powerful and personal ways. We will also be starting more conversations with our communities to learn more about what they want, and their views on what matters, so we can continue to be as relevant as we’ve ever been.
Baobab Studios has been on a roll since debuting its VR short, Invasion! at the Tribeca Film Festival last year. In just a short time, the company raised $25 million in funding from multiple investors, debuted Asteroids! (the sequel to Invasion!), and it is now ready to premiere the first episode of its latest project, Rainbow Crow, at the Tribeca Film Festival this week.
Rainbow Crow is a multi-chapter narrative based on a Native American myth involving a beautiful multicolored bird with a mellifluous singing voice who embarks on an adventure to save the world and its creatures—a friendly but excitable skunk in particular—from freezing in a long winter. The VR experience features the voice of singer John Legend, who plays the title character and is also a producer for the series.
The series is currently in production with a launch on all major VR platforms expected later this year. Similar to Asteroids!, viewers will be able to interact with the experience, such as shaking a pair of branches using touch controllers to add snow flurries to a scene.
Baobab CEO, Maureen Fan, and chief creative officer and studio co-founder, Eric Darnell (who also directed the Madagascar movies), sat down with AListDaily to talk about how Rainbow Crow came together and how John Legend became involved. The two also go in-depth on how they’re treating VR as a new storytelling medium and why celebrities seem to be so attracted to it.
(Left) Eric Darnell, Baobab Studios co-founder and chief creative officer. (Right) Maureen Fan, Baobab Studios CEO
How has Baobab been evolving its content?
Fan: Following the success of Invasion!, we premiered Asteroids! at the Sundance Film Festival. Asteroids! takes place in the same universe as Invasion! and stars Elizabeth Banks. Invasion! is one of the top VR experiences across all platforms. Back when it launched, people thought that VR was just about hardcore games, and it was surprising to everyone that our piece shot to the top. We discovered that narrative VR is something that people want, and not just that, but specifically things that are lighthearted and comedic. Rainbow Crow is somewhat comedic, but it’s more dramatic than Invasion!, however it still proves that people want narrative experiences in VR.
The important thing about Invasion! was because it was the first time we made you a character in VR. You were a bunny and nobody had done that before. Now everyone is trying to do that. The second thing that Eric figured out how to do was to direct the viewer’s eyes using another bunny. When she looked to the right, you look there too to see what she’s looking at.
But the big thing we learned from Invasion! was how much people loved that bunny. People tried to pet her, and they waved at her and tried to play with her because they were sure that she was real. In film, you don’t really believe a person is real when they break the fourth wall and look at you. But in VR, you believe that things are there with you. So, with Asteroids! we wanted to take that feeling of caring and turn it into action. Now you can use controllers and help the characters and do tasks. Asteroids! is about Mac and Cheese, the two aliens from Invasion!, and you’re aboard their spaceship. You’re a menial task robot, and your job is to help them and earn their approval.
We like to say that if a little girl was crying on a park bench in a film, you’d feel bad for her but do nothing. If it’s in a game, you’d go talk to her, but you’re doing it to get information to reach the next level. If it’s in real life, you would probably talk to her because you care about her. Our creative vision is to get the empathy of films with the agency of games but the motivation of real life, where you interact with these characters because you care about them. We think VR allows you to do what no other medium allows: care about those characters more than in film or television.
How would you describe Rainbow Crow?
Darnell: The background is based on a Lenni Lenape Tribe Native American legend. The story has been passed down orally for generations. So, we’ve taken this story, which is the origin story about why crows are the way they are today, and expanded on it by adding detail and depth that digs deeper into some of the thematic components and makes things more contemporary for modern audiences. It’s almost like a storybook that you can imagine someone telling around the campfire, so we’re approaching it like a storybook with chapters.
John is very excited about it, and one of the reasons he wanted to do it was because of the themes of self-sacrifice, giving back, bringing light to darkness and self-acceptance.
John Legend, singer, songwriter, musician and actor. Star and producer of Rainbow Crow.
How did John Legend become involved?
Fan: In general, Eric is very pure. He doesn’t do things based off how much of a celebrity someone is. So, we come up with a list of people, and he closes his eyes while we play YouTube videos. Then he figures out which voice sounds most like the character he’s envisioning. John Legend was one of the voices Eric really liked, so we approached him, and he has apparently been looking into the VR industry for quite some time. He has been approached by many people, but he specifically loved the themes in Rainbow Crow. John is a huge social activist, so it’s always important for him to always be giving back to the community. He’s interested in VR because it’s another platform for him to share his values with people. He’s an artist—a singer—but he was also an actor and an executive producer for La La Land. It was just a perfect match for us.
It’s been amazing that we’ve been able to attract so much star power. Usually, it’s Hollywood putting their stuff into new technologies. But these artists are doing it because they’re so creatively excited by this medium. We’re really honored because they have so many people they can choose to work with, and they’ve chosen us because we’re similarly minded. John isn’t just a voice, he’s creatively involved and he has helped us come up with ideas. But it’s also from a business perspective in terms of our relationships, our distributors and the success of Invasion!
Why make Rainbow Crow an episodic series instead of another short?
Fan: It’s about length. All of our episodes will be between five to twelve minutes long, and we do this because we know that people don’t necessarily want to be in the headsets for extended periods of time. We’re going to have a minimum of three episodes, and it’s a matter of figuring out where the natural breaking points are. Then people can decide whether they want to binge watch them all or experience them in short chunks. Right now, what’s important is experimenting, and working with shorter chunks allows us to experiment more.
Darnell: This is a magical story that exists outside of reality. Perhaps it will remind you of some of the storybooks you read as a kid. We were thinking about what it would be like if you could step into a page from your favorite storybook. We’re thinking of it like a book with chapters, and thinking of the world as one that’s not trying to be photoreal—but it will feel real because it’s virtual reality. [Chapters] are also part of the experimentation. If people are leaning into a moment, thematic component, or character—that’s great for us to know. Then we can look at our chapters down the road and think about how we can leverage off the things people are responding positively to.
Ethan Hawke is a voice in Invasion!, Elizabeth Banks is in Asteroids! and now John Legend is in Rainbow Crow. Are you surprised that so many celebrities want to be involved in VR?
Fan: I think it makes sense. It doesn’t necessarily make sense for studios to get deeply involved yet, because VR is still experimental and they don’t know if it will ever monetize. So, it makes sense that they use VR more as a marketing budget for other things. But actors and actresses are creatively minded. They want to do what is exciting to them. So, it’s no surprise that VR is exciting to them, because it’s magic. For John, he doesn’t just get to be a part of it, he gets to drive it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F99EjvJ94DM
What audience are you targeting with your VR projects?
Fan: Definitely families. We were told that one of the reasons that Invasion! took off is because most VR caters to a very specific audience with hardcore games or documentaries about Syria. Samsung told us that one of the reasons they liked using us as their main demo was because it brought delight and smiles to everybody’s faces, from children to grandmas. When you can do a story very well, audiences will like it. Rainbow Crow is more dramatic than Invasion!, so it may be more appealing to certain audiences. We’re going after VR enthusiasts while hoping that we’ll bring more audiences to the medium.
Darnell: It was very encouraging for us because when we came out, most of the audience was early adopters. In the sea of games and more mature content—or at least content that was targeted for adults—we were able to leap to the top of the charts with our cute little bunny. That meant that there were a lot of twenty-something-year-old gamers who were responding to our stuff. If we can have a great story and tell it well with characters that people can connect with, then I think that opens up a broad audience for us. That includes children, grandparents, teens, adults and anybody who is excited about VR.
The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off this week, and one of its main showcases includes Tribeca Immersive, which debuted as two separate exhibits (The VR Arcade and Storyscapes) last year. This time around, the two exhibits are being brought together into one event, which will run from April 21 to 29, and features multiple worldwide premieres on a variety of virtual reality platforms. Sponsored by AT&T, Storyscapes will include six virtual reality projects from four countries. At the same time, The VR Arcade will showcase 23 experiences from six countries, with 17 of them being world premieres.
Loren Hammonds, programmer and live events producer at Tribeca Film Festival
AListDaily talks to Loren Hammonds, programmer and live events producer at Tribeca Film Festival, about the event’s second annual VR showcase and how the medium continues to grow.
“VR has grown in a major way over the past year, mainly due to the way the creators have led the charge,” said Hammonds. “We’re now seeing VR move beyond the demo phase and into an age in which a lot of creators are putting story front-and-center as they acknowledge the storytelling benefits that the technology offers.”
When asked about how this year’s Tribeca Film Festival VR exhibit compared to last year, Hammonds said that, “this year’s showcase is different in a few ways. First is the fact that The Virtual Arcade now also houses the Storyscapes selections. Now that both programs are running concurrently under the Tribeca Immersive banner, which allows for a larger and more varied exhibition while also allowing the work to be available for a longer period of time during the festival (April 21st-29th). Next, in terms of content curation, we had such amazing submissions this year, along with new work from creators that we have wonderful relationships with. This made curating the program a bit more difficult but also more exciting. I think that there are some remarkable breakthroughs in the program that reflect not just where VR is at the moment, but also where it can go in the future.”
This year’s VR Arcade features a number of world premieres. We asked Hammonds for his thoughts on how creators have taken to VR. “Creators are definitely taking to VR very enthusiastically, and many are still coming from different disciplines to build the grammar around this new medium,” he said. “This year alone, we have Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow collaborating with Imraan Ismail for their piece, The Protectors: Walk in the Ranger’s Shoes. Steven Schardt, who is an accomplished indie film producer, has his debut VR experience Auto premiering in the Arcade, which is a beautiful piece of storytelling in VR. We also continue to have established pioneers like Chris Milk & Aaron Koblin, Gabo Arora & Ari Palitz, Felix & Paul and more, who are all showcasing or premiering their remarkable new work. It’s an embarrassment of riches, which means that they are all doing something very right to be able to continue creating at this level.”
When asked whether the majority of experiences used premium headsets or mobile devices, Hammonds said, “we have a fair split between mobile and premium or room scale-capable devices this year. Surprisingly, the amount of room scale experiences has actually grown this season. I think this is mainly due to the excitement and innovation of developers and creators to build experiences that allow for richer interactivity and fuller immersion.”
Hammonds believes that artists adopt mobile or premium VR platforms depending on the stories that they are trying to tell. “We have many different types of experiences in the program, and some are just more suited to mobile as opposed to premium and vice versa,” said Hammonds. “That said, mobile experiences are definitely improving as adoption has begun to take root with the evolution of the mobile headset. Right now, these are the most easily distributed forms of VR content, so I think we’ll continue to see improvement along these lines.”
So how fast is VR becoming a mainstream form of entertainment? “It remains to be seen how quickly VR will become a mainstream form of entertainment, but there are a lot of factors that are helping to shepherd it along,” said Hammonds. “The fact that a lot of larger film studios are now creating VR content that are not just marketing pieces, but fully realized standalone experiences will definitely help to open the medium to the mainstream. Exhibition is also a really important component of mainstreaming VR. The more often we have these opportunities to show this work to the public who have yet to purchase headsets of their own, the more likely they are to seek out VR independently. That’s my hope for the immediate future.”
Imagine getting golf lessons from Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy. For many, it would be a dream come true to get expert guidance from pro players, and IMG is helping to make that dream a reality in the world of eSports and competitive video games with its new service, Boomeo. IMG, which also partnered with Turner to form ELeague, launched Boomeo—a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) boot camp—to help both pro and amateur players improve their skills using lessons created by professional Counter-Strike players from top eSports teams such as Cloud9, compLexity, Counter Logic Gaming, G2 Esports and SK Gaming.
Speaking with [a]listdaily, Simon Abitbol, founder of Boomeo at IMG eSports, said that, “Boomeo is a service designed to help users improve at CS:GO with super digestible content from some of the best pros in the world. We pair that content with our custom training mods that are revolutionizing how casuals and pros alike train and warm up—all while solving the pain point of the antiquated method of finding servers that has existed for nearly 18 years.”
Abitbol then discussed what inspired the service, stating that, “I’ve wanted to create an educational platform for eSports content for quite a while, but Boomeo’s specific short-form content format was inspired by getting tired of sifting through 25-minute videos to find content that was relevant to me and my playstyle. As it relates to Duels, our flagship training mod, I was sick of the meatgrinder that is Deathmatch, and recognized early on that it was a low-efficacy way to train and warm up. I knew there was a better way, and we think Duels is definitely better.”
When asked how Boomeo differed from asking for tips from pro players during livestreams, Abitbol said that, “learning from watching pros on Twitch is fantastic—I recommend doing it—but it’s like comparing a buckshot to a sniper rifle. Boomeo content is laser focused and short-form, so you can find the nuggets of info that apply to you and your game in just a few clicks.”
Abitbol also explained that, “Boomeo lessons are fully automated, and we update with fresh new content three times per week. In the future, we’ll be looking at human-reviewed demos, and even a coach-finder system, similar to how you’d book a golf coach.” Abitbol also stated that the eSports learning platform is designed for broad appeal. “I think we offer something for everyone,” he said. “New players have the fundamentals section which teach you the mechanics of the game. The pro strats and general guides are great for the mid-tier casual player all the way up even to semi-pros. Our gameplay definitely is beneficial for silver 1 rank all the way up to the best players in the world.”
We asked Abitbol if the learning system could be applied to a game such as League of Legends, which features an expanding roster of characters, each with their own strategies. Abitbol responded by saying, “most top-tier eSports became eSports because they are boundless in their depth and complexity, so there’s an infinite pool of content ideas to draw from. League of Legends is a great example of that. As new champions need new content—while certainly, it presents an interesting challenge as things shift with patches—overall, a lot of mechanics either stay the same or have a transferable skillset, and you’d never need to fully flush your entire library.”
With that, we asked Abitbol if there were plans to expand Boomeo to cover more than Counter-Strike. “Right now, we’re focusing on Counter-Strike,” said Abitbol. “There’s a lot to do, and we want to build the right foundation first. I like to say, we built the chassis and now we are working on adding Bluetooth. That being said, other titles are absolutely of interest down the road.”
So, what is IMG’s long-term plan with Boomeo? “To fill a whitespace and find a niche between the other awesome platforms that already exist,” said Abitbol. “Ultimately, people are going to find themselves in competitive game modes like matchmaking or a third-party service like FaceIt—we want to be the place you go first and spend some time learning and warming up before you go compete. We have some amazing features in the works that will make players want to come back after they compete too!”
