Giphy, Airbnb, FlickerLab, and Citia Named as Launch Partners
First Creators-In-Residence Include Neuroscientist Beau Lotto and
Artist Raghava KK
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Viacom (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA) today announced the first slate of projects
and partners for the Viacom Lab, whose mission is to deliver products,
platforms and businesses that inspire and empower the future of fan
experience and engagement.
The Viacom Lab builds on the company's long-term strategic investment in
cross-platform content and storytelling, world-class talent, and
external partnerships. The unit, which reports to Ross Martin, Executive
Vice President of Marketing Strategy & Engagement, and Kern Schireson,
Executive Vice President of Data Strategy & Consumer Intelligence, will
work both independently and in conjunction with Viacom's brands
globally. Susan Claxton has been named the Lab's Executive Producer.
"Viacom's brands have always led the way in delivering breakthrough new
content for our audiences, everywhere they are," said Martin. "The
Viacom Lab builds on that unparalleled legacy, empowering visionary
creative talent to bring their biggest and best ‘fans first' ideas to
life in powerful new ways."
Viacom's Lab will source and develop projects in a variety of ways,
including: leveraging Viacom's vast intellectual property; joint
ventures with an array of internal and external partners; and tapping
the company's own creative community worldwide.
Select projects launching the Viacom Lab include:
GIPHY: The lab has partnered with GIPHY, the world's only GIF
platform with the largest searchable database of GIFs, to create and
distribute all the GIFs from fans' favorite hit shows - in real time and
all the time - across the Viacom portfolio.
"Fanufacturing:" The Lab is developing ways to enable fans to
bring their favorite characters and moments from Viacom content into the
physical world across a broad range of technologies and materials.
Livestreaming: The Lab is testing a technology that will enable
fans to livestream directly to a live Viacom television show, thereby
creating new storytelling formats.
Experiential Fan Opportunities: Fans will have unique real life
immersive experiences with opportunities to stay in replicas of places
from their favorite shows and movies. The first location, available via
Airbnb, is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lair
in New York coinciding with the opening of Paramount Pictures' and
Nickelodeon Movies' feature film, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of
the Shadows."
Citia: Viacom is expanding its use of Citia, a mobile-first
publishing system that enables content and advertising to be instantly
re-arranged and republished in multiple operating systems and social
platforms. A recent pilot with MTV News saw a 20 percent spike in
engagement for content utilizing Citia's interactive "card" technology.
The lab is also partnering with creators-in-residence who will explore
ideas using Viacom's assets and resources as they embed themselves in
the Lab for up to six months. The first group includes:
British neuroscientist Beau Lotto is the founder of augmented
reality platform Traces, which allows users to leave content like video,
audio and interactive experiences in virtual bubbles anywhere in the
world. The Lab will explore opportunities to connect fans to content in
new ways using Traces.
Harold Moss and Tom Vedel are founders of FlickerLab, a
leading animation and technology company based in Brooklyn and
Copenhagen. They have developed the live animation app Animgram, based
on their proprietary technology that empowers fans and brands to create
their own animation in seconds and instantly publish across all social
media and broadcast platforms.
Raghava KK is a multi-disciplinary Indian artist, working in
painting, film, installation, multimedia and live performance. He began
as a cartoonist in 1997 with leading Indian publications. KK will
explore identity construct, empathy, and interpersonal context through
new forms of social storytelling.
The Lab resides in Viacom's global headquarters in New York in a new
area of the building featuring an open plan, vibrant color, commissioned
art and custom furniture meant to inspire a fresh, organic, progressive
way towards collaboration and creation. In addition to its own slate of
projects, the Lab will serve as an interactive showcase for innovation
originating from Viacom's domestic and international teams.
About Viacom
Viacom is home to premier global media brands that create compelling
television programs, motion pictures, short-form content, apps, games,
consumer products, social media experiences, and other entertainment
content for audiences in 180 countries. Viacom's media networks,
including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, BET, CMT, TV
Land, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., Channel 5 (UK), Logo, Nicktoons, TeenNick
and Paramount Channel, reach over 3.5 billion cumulative television
subscribers worldwide. Paramount Pictures is a major global producer and
distributor of filmed entertainment.
For more information about Viacom and its businesses, visit www.viacom.com.
Keep up with Viacom news by following Viacom's blog at blog.viacom.com
and Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/viacom.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160512005910/en/
Press:
Viacom:
Lenore Moritz, 212-846-4950
Lenore.moritz@viacom.com
or
Chanel
Cathey, 212-846-2876
Chanel.Cathey@viacom.com
Source: Viacom
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