NVPR

NVPR client, Double Down Interactive, acquired for $500M

2012-01-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

We are extremely proud to have introduced the buyer and seller in this significant transaction.

"NVPR introduced the two parties, with the Raine Group and Davis Wright Tremaine finalizing the transaction."

Slot machine maker International Game Technology pays $500M for Facebook casino game maker Double Down Interactive

Slot machine maker International Game Technology said Thursday it will buy Double Down Interactive for $500 million in cash. Double Down, based in Seattle, makes Facebook games such as the DoubleDown Casino.

Publicly-traded IGT is branching out into new types of casino gaming. DoubleDown Casino had more than 1.4 million active daily players at the end of 2011 and was No. 4 in terms of the most popular games on Facebook in 2011. DoubleDown Casino, launched in April 2010, has 4.7 million people playing games each month, up from 3.3 million in October.

With money from IGT, DoubleDown Casino plans to release more social and mobile games. Double Down Interactive has 70 full-time employees and 10 positions open. IGT said the move will propel it into the leadership of social gaming, and it comes at a time when Zynga is beefing up its own casino game business on Facebook.

NVPR introduced the two parties, with the Raine Group and Davis Wright Tremaine finalizing the transaction. The deal includes $250 million in cash, $85 million in retention payments over the next two years, and $165 million in bonuses if Double Down hits financial targets.

Greg Enell is chief executive of Double Down and he will continue to lead the business, which will stay in Seattle. IGT had sales of $1.96 billion las year.

International Game Technology to Acquire Social Gaming Company Double Down Interactive

2012-01-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

We are beyond thrilled to announce we have sold DoubleDown Casino - Free Slots, Blackjack & Poker to IGT. NVPR introduced the two parties with the Raine Group and Davis Wright Tremaine finalizing the transaction. Great job, everyone!!!

International Game Technology to Acquire Social Gaming Company Double Down Interactive

• Transaction propels IGT into a leadership position within social gaming

• Double Down is anticipated to contribute rapid user and revenue growth

• Combination allows IGT to leverage Facebook distribution channel

• Acquisition estimated to be accretive to IGT’s fiscal year 2012 adjusted earnings

(LAS VEGAS – January 12, 2012) – International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT), the global leader in the design, development and manufacture of gaming machines and systems products, as well as online and mobile gaming solutions for regulated markets, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Double Down Interactive – a leading online social gaming company and developer of the popular DoubleDown™ Casino found on Facebook.

Launched in April 2010, the DoubleDown™ Casino is the world’s largest virtual casino and one of the top 4 social media games in 2011 as rated by Facebook. According to AppData.com, DoubleDown™ Casino currently has 4.7 million monthly active users, up from 3.3 million in October 2011. With a broad and expanding portfolio, Double Down offers blackjack, slots, slot tournaments, video poker, and roulette to social gamers all around the world.

The total consideration includes $250 million in cash, $85 million in retention payments over the next two years and up to $165 million in cash payable over the next three years subject to Double Down meeting certain financial performance targets. IGT expects to fund the transaction from cash on hand.

The addition of Double Down provides IGT instant size and scale in the fast growing world of casino-style social gaming and is expected to broaden IGT’s popular gaming titles beyond the physical casino to Facebook, the world’s largest social network with over 800 million global users. This powerful distribution model is anticipated to provide IGT an opportunity to entertain players with consistent, ubiquitous, thrilling gaming experiences across multiple platforms.

“Double Down and IGT share complementary cultures focused on innovation and creativity. Both companies are committed to providing unrivaled quality, service and entertainment to millions of players,” said Greg Enell, CEO of Double Down. “Leveraging IGT’s Research and Development, global reach, and best-in-class content will provide our loyal player base with an even more robust experience and is expected to augment Double Down’s growth trajectory.”

“As technological innovations increasingly influence consumer behavior, social dynamics are quickly transforming entertainment and gaming experiences everywhere,” said Patti Hart, CEO of IGT. “The addition of Double Down launches IGT into a leadership position in social gaming, extends our global reach through new mediums, and leverages our unmatched expertise in game development. We intend to drive meaningful value from this rapidly growing distribution platform that reaches a new, but complementary, demographic of gamers.”

The transaction is estimated to be accretive to IGT’s fiscal 2012 adjusted earnings and is projected to close within the second quarter of its current fiscal year. Greg Enell will continue to lead Double Down and the company’s operations will remain in Seattle, WA after the acquisition is complete. Through the integration, IGT will operate Double Down with the same level of independence that will continue to foster exceptional growth.

Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions including, but not limited to, the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. The final purchase price is subject to certain post-closing adjustments.

Conference Call Information

IGT will host a conference call regarding its acquisition of Double Down on Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, at 5:00 a.m. PST. The access numbers are as follows:

Domestic callers dial 888-606-7043, pass-code IGT

International callers dial 1-212-547-0361, pass-code IGT

The conference call also will be broadcast live over the Internet. A link to the webcast is available at the IGT website: http://www.IGT.com/InvestorRelations. If interested parties are unable to participate during the live webcast, the call will be archived until Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 also at http://www.IGT.com/InvestorRelations. Interested parties who cannot participate at the time of the call may listen to a taped replay of the entire conference call commencing at approximately 7:00 a.m. PST on Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. This replay will run through Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The access numbers are as follows:

Domestic callers dial 888-568-0521

International callers dial 1-402-998-1495

###

About Double Down Interactive

Double Down Interactive is the leading casual games developer of "fun to play" casino experiences on the Internet. With veterans from top online game companies, the team is committed to providing consumers an online social casino experience that is unrivaled by anything else available. Anyone can play at the DoubleDown Casino by visiting http://apps.facebook.com/doubledowncasino/ or www.doubledowncasino.com. Double Down Interactive is based in Seattle, Washington.

About IGT

International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) is a global leader in the design, development and manufacture of gaming machines and systems products, as well as online and mobile gaming solutions for regulated markets. More information about IGT is available at www.IGT.com or follow IGT on Twitter at @IGTNews or Facebook at www.facebook.com/IGT.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning the proposed acquisition of Double Down Interactive, including the expected benefits of the acquisition to IGT and IGT's strategic, financial and operational expectations for its business, including the Double Down business following the closing of the acquisition. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, among others, the possibility that the transaction might not close or that the closing may be delayed, IGT's integration of Double Down, its products, technologies and employees may experience difficulties, and the anticipated benefits of the transaction to IGT and its customers might not be realized. More information about potential factors that could affect IGT's business and financial results is included in IGT's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in IGT's Annual Report on Form 10-K for its 2011 fiscal year, and available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov and on the investor relations section of IGT's website at www.IGT.com. All information provided in this release is as of January 12, 2012 and IGT does not intend, and undertakes no duty, to update this information.

Contact:

Hal Bringman

hal@nvpr.com

323-851-6877 (office)

310-210-8011 (mobile)

@halbringman

Skype: halbringman

http://www.nvpr.com

CNN: Digerati dismiss economic worries

2011-12-18T12:27:00.000-08:00

We grabbed some headlines while attending the fantastic LeWeb conference in Paris.

Posted by:
CNN Producer, Stephanie Busari

Paris (CNN) – Clearly, it takes a lot to dampen the spirits of Silicon Valley tech types, and neither rain nor economic uncertainty could do that at the Le Web conference.

For the past three days, the world’s digerati have converged upon Paris to exchange apps and ideas - and, if their fancy takes it, invest a few million dollars or two, give or take.

As Hal Bringman, president of digital media consultancy NVPR in Los Angeles puts it: “I think at least half of Silicon Valley is here in Paris sipping champagne while we debate the future of digital media. Overall, in our meetings we detected remarkable optimism, which just underscores the fact that nothing can slow down the pulse of innovation."

While European heads of state continue thrashing out their plan to save the embattled euro in Brussels, a Nespresso-fueled spirit of optimism surged around the conference. Nearly everywhere I looked people were huddled in networking booths and lounges plotting potential business deals and forging new alliances.

Even Eric Besson, French Minister for Industry, Energy and the Digital Economy was in upbeat mood. I managed to grab him for a quick chat during a visit to the Renault stand Thursday where he posed for pictures inside Renault's electric car, the Twizy. (pictured) He talked up France and Europe’s “digital assets” and praised Le Web founder Loic Le Meur for bringing some of the world’s tech heavyweights together.

He said: “This conference is very important for us. It shows that there are startups and entrepreneurs here and also in the whole of Europe. Things are booming here. Of course, Silicon Valley and San Francisco is the place to be for the digital economy, but we also have some assets to promote in France and Europe.”

He dismissed fears that the euro crisis would deter investors from coming to the continent.

Airbnb founder Brian Chesky was in similarly positive mood. He said:"Everyone here is incredibly optimistic and passionate, I don't think the gloom that overhangs the economy has pervaded startups. I think it's still a land of opportunity."

Israeli-based venture capitalist Malvina Goldfield said the European tech market was ripe for investing. “What’s important is that they are building an eco-system here.

“A lot of people are pessimistic about Europe because they say there has not been a huge industry-changing startup. People generally say that a lot of other people do things to try and copy successful models in the U.S," Goldfield said.

“But you need to have great advisors and mentors to help young people build their companies. What’s great about Le Web is that it brings these people together.”

Must-have apps for LeWeb and beyond

2011-12-05T01:43:00.000-08:00

In less than two hours we're headed to LAX for a flight to Paris to attend LeWeb 2011. It's going to be an amazing week meeting with old friends and making new contacts. But, before we jettison off to France, here's some quick thoughts about some must-have apps to make the most of LeWeb and just about any other day out of the year.

If your French is rusty you'll want to wander on over to the App Store and download Vocre. Version 1.1 was just posted to Apple today and this version of the app takes the app global, making it available in nearly 20 countries supporting almost as many languages and different dialects. See what Robert Scoble though of it here. Oh, we should mention it won "Best Mobile App" and "Audience Choice Award" at TechCrunch Disrupt SF.

Next up is a spiffy new app called Spreaker. As demonstrated in this video, the app transforms your iPhone into a LIVE broadcasting machine. What Twitter did for text, and YouTube did for video, Spreaker does for audio -- makes it super easy to create and distribute content across social networks ranging from Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or your own blog.

Spreaker will help you have a voice and broadcast your message LIVE to the rest of the world instantly right from your iPhone. Broadcast your panel or thoughts about LeWeb live as it happens or listen later as a podcast. Think of it as an audio status update.

Of course, no list would be complete without Foursquare. It'll be interesting to see who wins the battle for mayorship of LeWeb. NVPR's own Elias Bustos won the mayorship of MIDEM earlier this year in Cannes, so perhaps our Parisian luck will prevail.

Instagram or Hipstamatic? You decide, but send us your best shots from Paris. Neither app can possibly go wrong with such settings as Paris in the backdrop.

Path? No thanks. It's gorgeous and as the esteemed Mr. Scoble points out, it raises the bar for app aesthetics, but we just don't need another network to manage, no matter how small the group.

Finally, don't miss Playmysong. The app enables users to select their favorite music and DJ the music around them via their mobile phones while simultaneously posting to Facebook and Twitter, adding a crucial social function discarded by the traditional jukebox relic of days gone by. Life's too short to be tortured with elevator music.

Unfortunately, upon our arrival to Paris tomorrow, no app will save us from the overflowing e-mails and meeting requests. Is there an app for that!?

Want to connect in Paris? Drop me a line at hal@nvpr.com. A bientôt!

Lost in Translation; Making Sense of the Far East Through a Western Prism

2011-11-20T03:40:00.000-08:00

We’ve lost track of the number of trips we’ve taken to China at this point. One thing that remains the same, however, is China’s ambivalence about the web. Between the many meetings with the Shanghai Media Group spanning the last several years, to the most recent TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing, it seems we take one step forward and two steps back, as China grapples with the Internet. Just as the historic inaugural TechCrunch Disrupt in Beijing wound down, rumors of a tightening of the Internet began swirling.

Indeed, within days, China’s IT chiefs agreed to tighten their clamp on the web even more. With various Western startups struggling to get off the ground to bring music into China in an effort to both create a music industry, and further bolster an IP economy in the region, the government’s moves creates more uncertainly for investors in the West.

Financial Times reports the heads of China’s leading information technology companies have pledged to censor Internet content more strictly as the local government tries to tame a boisterous online media.

The chief executives of 39 Internet, telecom and computer groups have reached a “consensus” that Internet companies “must strengthen self-control, self-restraint and strict self-discipline”, the official news agency Xinhua said on Sunday.

“[They must also] determinedly contain the tendency of spreading online rumors, pornography, fraud and other illegal, harmful information on the internet,” it added.

The government has made gestures to open up in the past and use the same censorship tools to combat piracy and bolster the sale of content, especially through the mobile ecosystem where nearly $3b is collected annually in mobile music revenues.

Next week, the preeminent Mobile Asia Congress event takes place in Hong Kong. From mobile money to mobile applications, the executive level conference examines the growing app-shaped world and how to adjust to it as quickly as possible.

As divergent senior level executives from Facebook to China Mobile and the Chairman of the FCC deliver keynote speeches at the event, the future of mobile in China, and around the world, will be a trending topic.

At TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing last week, Google’s John Lagerling, Director of Global Partnerships, Android at Google, wouldn’t give any insight as to when the company’s application store, Android Market, might be launched in China (currently, Android phones shipped officially in the US have application stores from handset makers or third parties pre-installed instead).

When asked at Disrupt whether Google is making an effort to launch Android Market in China, Lagerling would only say the company is always working with its partners, without elaborating. Google, as many other Western corporations, has retreated from China in the past due in part to government interference and partly caused by their own misunderstanding of how business is done in the world’s second most powerful economy.

Ultimately, speakers on the panel agreed that many opportunities are being explored on how to make more money in the world’s largest mobile market, and that things may change dramatically as advertisements in applications are rolled out, and cheaper tablets (1,000 Yuan or less) begin to sell in China in 2012, reports WSJ.

One hopes that China’s desire to squash rumors, pornography and other undesirable content doesn’t also squash investors’ zeal to help startups emerging from the East’s rising sun.

Flashback: Vocre wins "Best Mobile App" and "Audience Choice Award" at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco

2011-11-20T03:26:00.000-08:00

Jet-lagged, but ever-enthusiastic to celebrate innovation, we've just returned from China where we attended the first-ever TechCrunch Disrupt Beijing, fed a beleaguered Alexia Tsotsis (@alexia), and then carried on to Hong Kong to unveil Vocre 1.1 to the Asian market on stage at Mobile Asia Congress. The new version of Vocre will be out soon, so we wanted to revisit its ambitious debut.

TechCrunch: Vocre Lets You Instantly Converse In Foreign Languages

The Scobleizer takes on Spreaker

2011-11-20T03:18:00.000-08:00

One of our heroes, technology evangelist and tastemaker Robert Scoble, takes a look at Spreaker's new iPhone app that empowers anyone to broadcast live from their iPhone to Twitter, Facebook, and basically the entire planet. Enjoy!

The The Case That Could Finally Put Live TV on the Internet

2011-08-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

After launching ivi TV at IBC last year, we've had a ton of press and been in many courtrooms. It's been very déjà vu like to so many of our digital music projects from '98 onward. Some of the meetings I've had at TV networks have been almost verbatim to the ones we had at the record labels beginning more than a decade ago. Change is a constant, and copyright conglomerates resistance to it seems equally predictable.

Forbes: The Case That Could Finally Put Live TV on the Internet

How will we watch TV five years from now? Will we still be chained to
our living room sets or will we be carrying live TV with us everywhere
using a tablet?

That’s a crucial question in the entertainment industry today.
Companies that make and distribute TV shows have a vested interest in
controlling how and when we watch our shows, but consumers want as
much freedom as possible.

This disconnect has given rise to a group of companies like Bamboom
(which I profiled last month) that are working to offer over-the-air
broadcast to tablets and smart phones via the Internet.

Another important company in this space is tiny Ivi (pronounced like
“ivy”) out of Seattle. Bamboom has yet to be sued but Ivi was sued
right out of the gate when it launched its
television-over-the-Internet service last year. That case could go a
long way toward determining if the Internet will be the next
distribution front for TV.

Ivi founder Todd Weaver pretty much knew he was going to be sued when
he started working on Ivi in 2007. Weaver founded the company to make
it as easy and safe as possible to watch TV over the Internet. His
company captures television signals and then redistributes them to
users.

Weaver argues that this makes Ivi the same as a cable or satellite provider.

“Our intent was to usher in new distribution because competition is
good,” says Weaver.

Before officially launching the company, Weaver studied up on how
cable and satellite companies grew to become such powerful forces. In
the ‘60s, cable was started as a way to get broadcast signals to rural
communities. The broadcasters sued. The case went to the Supreme Court
which ruled that cable was not infringing copyright law. Congress
stepped in and said that content owners need to get paid and set up a
royalty system through the copyright office.

In the ‘80s, satellite companies tried to do the same thing and like
the cable guys before them, were quickly sued by broadcasters.
Congress again stepped in and said satellite is just another form of
distribution that was legal as long as content creators got paid.

Armed with this background, Weaver went to the FCC and tried to argue
that his company would be just like a cable or satellite company which
means that the broadcasters would have to negotiate with him. The FCC
said it would not have jurisdiction over Ivi because the FCC doesn’t
govern the Internet. Weaver went to the broadcasters and said that his
company would gladly pay them royalties. Still, no one wanted to deal
with the company.

“We launched in September 2010,” says Weaver. “Within a week we
received a cease and desist letter.”

Weaver immediately funneled all of the company’s marketing money into
a legal fund. He is now intent on taking the case as far as it can go
to prove that TV distribution over the Internet is the same as
distribution over cable or satellite and should be treated the same as
long as royalties get paid.

“This is a barn burner,” says Jimmy Schaeffler of The Carmel Group, a
video distribution consulting firm. “This is the next phase. Ivi is
not only arguably legal but it fits into the FCC’s stated desire for
competition.”

A judge in the Southern District Court of New York granted the
plaintiffs (who include Disney Enterprises, CBS Studios and NBC
Studios) an injunction against Ivi which forced the company to stop
offering broadcast television effectively shutting down Ivi. The
company appealed the decision to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
asking that Ivi be allowed to operate during the court case. A
decision on that could be handed down next month.

If Ivi is ultimately successful (and this case will likely take
years), it will pave the way for the Internet to become a new,
competing distribution option for TV stations. That could mean new
sources of revenue for TV production studios. Cable could benefit from
increased broadband revenue and consumer would get to watch TV
anywhere. Stay tuned.

ivi TV's Statement Regarding Southern District Court of New York Ruling

2011-02-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

Our firm launched the digital music revolution with MP3.com, Napster and a plethora of other disruptive technologies since then. What the broadcasters need to recognize is that their misguided attack on innovation will end with the same unfortunate fate that it did for the music industry. Mitch Singer, CTO of Sony Pictures, today recounts the litigation back then as a strategic misstep the industry made that he wishes he could undo. We hope the broadcasters will wake up to that reality sooner than later.

In the meantime, here’s ivi TV’s statement regarding today’s ruling.

ivi TV's Statement Regarding Southern District Court of New York Ruling

Seattle (February 22, 2011) – ivi TV today issued a statement regarding the ruling from the Southern District Court of New York.

Quote attributable to Todd Weaver, CEO

“This fight is for the people and their right to choice and control over their own entertainment -- and it will continue. The oppressive big media networks must open their doors to innovators or they will inevitably fall. People want responsible choice, not the one-size-fits-all television offerings imposed by powerful media interests.

Specifically, regarding today's development, Judge Buchwald's opinion is premised on her statement that ivi is 'not complying with the rules and regulations of the FCC'. This conclusion is simply false, as ivi has met with the all the commisioner's offices of the FCC repeatedly and has received assurances that we are in full and complete compliance. Judge Buchwald makes the legal mistake of misinterpreting the copyright law to instead make communications policy. Communications policy is the province of the FCC and, by basing a judicial copyright decision on communications regulations to be administered by the FCC, the judge is overstepping her constitutional authority.

ivi will appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, will explore Congressional and Administrative solutions, and will continue to advance the public's interest in a balanced reading of the Copyright Law.

During the pendency of the appeal, ivi will continue to operate, will fight to 'win the future', and will fight to provide consumers with meaningful choice at a reasonable price.”

Our message to our faithful users sums it up best:

A notice to all ivi TV subscribers and interested parties.

As you may be aware we have been in a fight to provide affordable Cable TV for the Internet.

Today the Southern District Court of New York granted a preliminary injunction in the case 1:10-cv-07415-NRB. We will be appealing the decision in the second circuit but in the interim we must shut-down most of our broadcast channel offerings.

We believe the court made an error in the ruling and will be appealing the decision supported by many public interest groups. But we cannot do it alone. In return, we ask that you support them. If you can, visit Public Knowledge http://www.publicknowledge.org and/or EFF http://www.eff.org to leave a donation.

In the interim we are suspending invoicing for ivi Air and ivi Pro, so it is not necessary to cancel subscriptions. As soon as we can restore the channels we will resume the subscriptions from that point forward.

We will continue to carry a number of channels and will be adding channels from broadcasters and content providers as we grow.

Thank you for your support,

The ivi TV team

###

About ivi TV ™

ivi TV ™ endeavors to make the world a better place by providing a high-quality viewing experience while offering consumers what they want in the way they want it, with more choices, less hardware, and higher standards than other modes of online content delivery. At the same time, ivi TV increases eyeballs for channels and advertisers, continuing and adding to the live television tradition in an innovative and sustainable manner. Consumers, broadcasters and advertisers alike will agree that live television, most notably sports and news programming, is here to stay. The solution is ivi TV. And the time is now. ivi, Inc., is based in Seattle. For more information, please visit http://www.ivi.tv.

Contact:

Hal Bringman

NVPR

hal@nvpr.com

323-851-6877

Public Interest Groups Rally Around ivi TV

2011-02-01T03:48:00.000-08:00

File Amicus Memorandum on ivi TV’s Behalf

New York (-February 1, 2011-) Public Knowledge, joined by EFF, Media Access Project, and Open Technology Initiative, have filed an Amicus Memorandum of Law opposing the motion for temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction brought against ivi by numerous big media companies in a NY Federal District Court.

Quote attributable to Todd Weaver, ivi TV’s CEO

“As the Amicus petitioners state, ‘Amicus briefs are unusual at the district court level,’ This shows the tremendous impact ivi and its case is having. To garner such early support from these important public interest groups is gratifying. We are appreciative for their support, not only for ivi TV, but for standing up for innovation and advancement in technology. Copyright conglomerates cannot be allowed to use bogus copyright claims as a mechanism to stifle competition and innovation in the marketplace. Like traditional cable and satellite TV before it, ivi TV’s role in history is to revolutionize and be an agent of constructive change giving consumers more choice and control.”

Select quotes from the Amicus Memorandum say it best.

“The law does not favor larger or better-funded entities over new or smaller ones. Nor is it a bludgeon to be used by large, entrenched interests to eliminate nascent competitors.”

"[The Networks'] are unlikely to prevail on the merits, because ivi’s service fits the Copyright Act’s definition of a “cable system,” and its actions are permissible under FCC rules."

"Members of the public both current and future have a strong interest in not only a competitive video distribution marketplace, but also broad access to the marketplace of ideas."

"In fact, ivi is just as likely to help [The Networks'] as do them harm. [The Networks'] reach each ivi viewer at zero additional marginal cost. To the extent ivi expands the number of individuals viewing a broadcast, it may make that broadcast more, not less, attractive to advertisers. ivi expands the reach of broadcasters at no cost."

"Like ivi, both traditional cable operators and satellite television companies have been accused of being lawbreakers. But for decades, both Congress and the FCC have enabled the emergence of new video distributors. The public interest is served by this competition, and it should continue."

"[The Networks'] are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their case, because both the law and sound policy are in ivi’s favor."

"Current federal policy is enshrined in statute: to “encourage increasing competition and diversity in the multichannel video programming market, ... and to spur the development of communications technologies.”"

"This Court should not take away the ability of the Copyright Office and the FCC to adapt their regulations to a changing marketplace, and should decline the invitation to use copyright law as a tool to limit the competition that policymakers have strove to foster."

"an injunction [in favor of the Networks'] would effectively destroy a company with the potential to revolutionize an entire industry."

About ivi TV ™

ivi TV endeavors to make the world a better place by providing a high-quality viewing experience while offering consumers what they want in the way they want it, with more choices, less hardware, and higher standards than other modes of online content delivery. At the same time, ivi TV increases viewers for channels and advertisers, continuing and adding to the live television tradition in an innovative and sustainable manner. Consumers, broadcasters and advertisers alike will agree that live television, most notably sports and news programming, is here to stay. The solution is ivi TV. And the time is now. ivi, Inc., is based in Seattle, WA. For more information, please visit http://www.ivi.tv.

###

Contact:
Hal Bringman
hal@nvpr.com
+1.323.851.6877
+1.310.210.8011 (m)
Skype: halbringman

Public Knowledge Amici Brief (10 Civ 07415)(NRB)

Public Knowledge - Motion for Leave to Appear Amici (10-Civ -07415)(NRB)

Innovation and Optimism Key Trends for 2011

2011-01-17T15:53:00.000-08:00

As we winged our way into Las Vegas coming from the Citi Bank 21st Annual Global Entertainment Media & Telecommunications Conference, it was immediately apparent that CES was back, which is to say, so is the market’s confidence.
Indeed, the two most important trends detected at last week’s International CES 2011 cannot be conjured up in boardrooms or in the garage of the most ambitious start-up, but happens in the hearts and minds of entrepreneurs determined to change the world. The much-buoyed CES attendees witnessed sold-out hotel rooms across Vegas and companies eager to share their latest technological concoction to eager press ready to pan or praise their efforts.

CES’s emphasis on showcasing innovation helped start the new year off on the right foot, giving the market a much-needed psychological boost by providing tangible proof that there’s plenty to be optimistic about.

The brightly-lit 2011 edition of CES wrapped after establishing several new records; including 30,000 international attendees and 22 top CEOs participating in keynotes. Major technology trends emerged from the CES show floor including the launch of more than 80 tablets, wireless 4G LTE connected-TV technologies, and a dizzying display of smart appliances

“The world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow was a phenomenal event that spanned global industries including digital, automotive and entertainment markets," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. "This global technology gathering featured more innovation, more news, more social media buzz and more international attendance than any other show in CES history."
While recent years made it fashionable to debate the relevance of some trade shows, the road warriors among us continued to make strides and advance constructive change in the digital media industry by engaging in discourse and exchanging ideas at select conferences from around the globe.

As we anticipate 2011’s top annual digital media hoedowns where the digerati migrate to schmooze and make deals happen, ranging from MIDEM, DLD, Mobile World Congress, Digital Music Forum, Future of TV, TV of Tomorrow, and SXSW, among many others, we start the year off on an optimistic note with bellwether CES’s registration being up significantly higher with enthusiastic participants.

A quick glimpse back at 2010 reveals that MIDEM experienced more shrinkage, which was symbolic of the music industry in general as it struggles to redefine itself. MIDEM, on one hand, is looking to the future and has nominated an array of start-ups focused on consumer services, as that industry fully realizes its shift from a product-based business into a service-based one. Digital Music Forum,
on the other hand, opened up attendance and offered to sponsor choice artists to attend its event, staying true to the core of what makes that event ever-relevant, music.

One trend that came out of MIDEM and reverberated throughout the year was furtherance of hybrid music label meets ad agency, THE:HOURS, whose anthem of convergence among sectors rang true. The concept of music, film, TV and interactive dropping their “genres” and coalescing into one cohesive creative industry took further shape and was celebrated in Koln, Germany with the C’n’B Creative Business Convention. It’s the first international cross-sector forum for the creative industries providing driving forces from music, advertising, technology, games, fashion, art, film, TV, design and architecture to all come together at a global conference and exchange knowledge and ideas.

Google, meanwhile, took Mobile World Congress by storm again where CEO Eric Schmidt delivered a keynote for the second consecutive year usurping previous stalwart Nokia who continues to shrink in relevance. Mobile World Congress remains a progressive event that attracts the very top players in mobile from around the globe. 2011’s Mobile World Congress will further demonstrate that it is an app-driven world and we’re all lucky to live in it.

Meanwhile, while Google takes its ambitious Google TV back to the drawing board, CES underscored the surge in the Internet’s and TV’s dalliance not being a short-term fling but, rather, a fundamental swing in consumer behavior as over-the-top (OTT) offerings like Netflix take on cable TV. The insurgency of OTT makes it easier than ever for consumers to “cut-the-cord” replacing pricey cable TV bundle pricing in lieu of innovative offerings that enable consumers to take control of their entertainment experience. Time Warner Cable, for one, has reacted by introducing smaller bundles with lower prices as they grapple with a rapidly evolving marketplace while Comcast’s conquest of NBC-Universal remains hotly debated in the corridors of Washington, DC.

As the relationship between technology and the content community grows in significance, the 2011 CES featured a new program, Entertainment Matters, designed for the Hollywood community. As part of the program, the 2011 CES featured the first-ever Entertainment Matters keynote panel with leaders from Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Akamai Technologies, Interpublic Group and WPP.

Undoubtedly, these two communities will continue their intricate, complex dance this year as technology serves up content to consumers faster and easier than ever before challenging existing business models to keep up with the pace of innovation.
In 2011, we’ll undoubtedly see you on the road!

Hal Bringman, with contribution by Elias Bustos

About the author:
Hal Bringman, founder of NVPR, is a columnist, communications strategist and digital media expert. Long before Steve Jobs ever figured out what an MP3 file was, the firm has been guiding the digital revolution since launching MP3.com, Napster, and many other major top digital media brands. The company has launched and built many of the most talked about brands in mobile entertainment and digital media. Based in Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the team is actively dedicated to launch global PR/marketing campaigns, accelerate business development and provide creative services. Reach Hal Bringman at hal@nvpr.com, or follow on Twitter @halbringman.

ivi, Inc. Launches Highly Disruptive Software Delivering Live TV to the Internet

2010-09-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

Since NVPR launched the digital music revolution in 1998, we've spent a lot of time in board rooms and court rooms alike. History is now repeating itself with the revolutionary aspects of digital staring "Hollywood" squarely in the eye. Will it avoid the digital debacle made by the music industry, which lead to its massive decline, and will networks and studios alike instead embrace the opportunity presented to evolve and create new revenue streams by empowering consumers with choice and options, like a la carte? Only time will tell, but we proudly carry on our well-earned track record of bringing the most compelling, disruptive stories and ideas to the marketplace as agents of constructive change. Imagine ivi's technology integrated into Google TV, the possibilities are endless.
ivi's launch press release is here and a round up of press coverage so far may be found here.

New data reveals: Cord-cutting is not an urban myth

2010-08-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

One only needs to read the comments section on a NYT story today to see the multitudes of ways consumers are, in fact, cutting the cord and opting for ways to access content OTT.

Video Service Dips For Most Cable Providers

There may be debate about the level of cord-cutting -- pundits are all over the map - regarding how often Hulu users hook up their computers to massive flat screens. But a new report shows a decline, albeit slight, in video customers of cable/satellite/telco TV providers in the second quarter.

There was a combined drop of 216,000 from this year's first quarter to the recent April-June period, according to SNL Kagan, which called it the "worst performance on record" period-to-period.

That may be due, in part, to college students home for the summer. Still, in the same period a year ago, there was a 378,000 increase.

According to a meld of Kagan and Nielsen figures, 87% of American homes (100.1 million) receive video service from one of the multichannel video programmer distributors (MVPDs).

Sharp declines in video subscribers among Comcast (679,000) and Time Warner Cable (300,000), the two largest cable operators, led to much of the drop. Dish Network lost 19,000 net subscribers.

AT&T's U-verse (209,000), Verizon's FiOS (174,000) and DirecTV (100,000) posted gains.

Cable operators' share of the video marketplace now stands at 61%, with telco TV gaining to 6% and satellite holding steady with the remaining customer base.

Kagan analyst Mariam Rondeli stated that cord-cutting, or so-called over-the-top usage, is "tempting to point to" as contributors to the subscriber decline. But Rondeli says "economic factors, such as low housing formation and a high unemployment rate," were the principal drivers.

Also, the digital transition in the April-June quarter in 2009 may have led to a bump in subscribers that didn't appear in 2010.

NVPR Named Agency of Record for C’n’B - Creative Business Convention in Cologne

2010-05-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

The New Platform for the Creative Industries Goes Global; Expands Event

Los Angeles and Cologne (--May 3, 2010--) C’N’B (Creative Business Convention) announced today that it has retained Los Angeles based NVPR to amplify messaging and awareness about its forthcoming event that takes place June 24-25th, 2010, in Cologne, Germany. The event extends a platform uniting innovative business, culture, and technology leaders who are not bound by genres in the execution of their vision.

“Our partnership with the C’n’B - Creative Business Convention affords us a compelling opportunity to further execute on our global initiatives and to do so with a progressive partner who isn’t burdened with a traditional mindset but, rather, is pushing digital media forward and breaking down creative barriers with a timely event and relevant agenda,” said NVPR founder, Hal Bringman.

Top Thought Leaders From Around The Globe Converge In Cologne

NVPR’s priority was to immediately secure top thought leaders to participate in the event. and arranged a keynote with Robert Tercek, the President of Digital Media for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in Los Angeles.

In 2008, in recognition of his efforts to support social advancement through media, Mr Tercek was named a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts. He is a pioneer and an expert in creating branded entertainment for distribution in digital networks.

At C’n’B, Robert Tercek will talk about the massive changes that seemingly occur overnight. Mature industries suddenly collapse as new opportunities emerge, propelled by advances in technology, science and a global market. To succeed in a world of rapid dislocation and surprises, one must adopt an entirely new attitude towards the future. It is no longer sufficient merely to respond to change: one must anticipate change, seek it out, embrace it, shape it, and drive it. The best way to thrive in the future is to take an active role in its creation and evolution.

Mr. Tercek will be joined by one of the most important women in the field of media and entertainment, Cristiana Falcone Sorrell, Senior Advisor to the Executive Chairman at the World Economic Forum in Geneva, who will also deliver a keynote address. Cristiana Falcone Sorrell has been leading the World Economic Forum’s Media, Entertainment and Information Community in Geneva and New York since 2004.

At the C’n’B, Falcone Sorrell will report on the state of the creative industry worldwide. Her address will focus on both the increasing influence of digitalization and the necessity of creating new networks to gain access to new partners and target groups in different creative sectors.

Connecting The Dots

From the inception of the digital music revolution through today’s rapidly evolving digital transformation of the television and film industries, NVPR’s founder, Hal Bringman, has witnessed and helped orchestrate some of the industry’s most seminal events, including the MP3.com Summit, used to launch his company’s first client, MP3.com, and Digital Media Wire’s vast array of events, among many others.

As founder and president of NVPR, a digital media consulting firm
based in Hollywood, Hal Bringman is a digital media consultant and strategic communications expert that tastemakers like Xeni Jardin from BoingBoing.net called a “Trendspotter” and uber-influencers like Rafat Ali of ContentNext Media (a media and information company owned by Guardian News and Media Limited) called “…a PR pro if ever there was one...” and media stalwart The New York Times referred to as “daring” in a profile of his accomplishments.

“...Mr. Bringman, the founder of a boutique firm in Los Angeles, helped mold the public image of the music-sharing services MP3.com and Napster…” The New York Times. January 19, 2003.

Backed by a successful track record originating from its inception in 1998, the firm delivers a competitive edge to companies by creating strategic campaigns that transcend the ordinary.

Long before Steve Jobs ever figured out what an MP3 file was, Hal Bringman launched MP3.com as his company’s first client -- and simultaneously introduced digital music to the marketplace. According to Credit Suisse First Boston, the MP3.com IPO was the largest independent Internet IPO in history.

As the television, film, and publishing industries grapple with embracing the evolutionary market forces presented by digital distribution, NVPR provides expert strategy and business development services to organizations that rely on NVPR’s experience and insight.

Utilizing its successful PR and marketing track record, NVPR’s contacts and context help accelerate business development for its clients and delivers market leadership in a rapidly evolving global marketplace.

To keep abreast of global developments, in recent months, NVPR has participated in top industry events across the globe including, but not limited to, NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) (Las Vegas), MIDEM (Cannes), GSMA Mobile World Congress (Barcelona), Digital Hollywood (Los Angeles) CTIA (Las Vegas), OMMA (Los Angeles), Digital Music Forum (New York and Los Angeles), Popkomm (Berlin), Web 2.0 (San Francisco), Future of Television (Los Angeles), NewTeeVee Live (San Francisco), ICIS (Shanghai), nextMEDIA and Banff World Television Festival (Banff), 140 Characters Conference (Los Angeles, New York, Barcelona), SxSW, (Austin), SanFran MusicTech Summit (San Francisco), ad:tech (San Francisco, New York) and NARM, among many others.

Based in Cologne, The Creative Business Convention is uniquely positioned to harness the immense creative community that pulses throughout the city spreading its cultural impact through the rest of the globe by bringing together top delegates from around the globe representing the best thought leaders in the creative sectors, including film, television, music, and media.

Early bird pricing for registration is available until May 14, 2010 by clicking here.

Follow C’N’B on Twitter at hashtag #cnb2010.

http://www.cnb-convention.com
http://www.twitter.com/CnBConvention
http://www.c-o-pop.de

About NVPR

NVPR is a digital media consultancy based in Los Angeles with offices in Buenos Aires. The firm consults a wide range of clients varying from multi-billion dollar hedge fund to select start-ups alike, providing them with strategic PR, marketing and business development services delivered with a global perspective. For more information, please visit http://www.nvpr.com

Steve Jobs is a control freak

2010-04-11T01:05:00.000-07:00

Although I love my iMac and iPhone, I also love the elegance of Flash, and think Steve Jobs needs to be happy with his rabid success and stop his tyrannical control freak ways

As noted by Bluestreak Technologies, Mark Twain once wrote that “reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Adobe could clearly use this same messaging. Steve Jobs and some frenzied analysts may enjoy positioning Flash as a dying technology but let’s just look at the facts as they stand today:

o 1.2 Billion mobile phones are Flash® capable
o 70% of online gaming sites run Flash®
o 98% percent of Internet-enabled desktops use it
o 85% of top 100 websites use Flash®
o #1 platform for video on the Web – 75% of all videos use Flash (including Hulu, Disney and YouTube)
o 2-3 Million person Flash developers community
o 90% of creative professionals have Adobe® software on their desktops
With numbers and penetration rates like that, the better question is why wouldn’t I choose to support this technology? None of the facts indicate that Adobe Flash is disappearing anytime soon.

NVPR is at 2010 NAB Show all week where the power of Flash will be richly on display.

That didn't take long! First iPad Jailbreak Caught on Tape

2010-04-05T03:30:00.000-07:00

First iPad Jailbreak Shown on Video

iPadopollooza!

2010-04-05T02:56:00.000-07:00

Our BoingBoing pal Xeni Jardin becomes the unofficial poster-child for the iPad launch doing NBC Today Show, ABC, NBC local and national, CNN and then off for Maddow and MSNBC to ensure ubiquity. We're not sure if she's promoting the iPad or competing with it! Go Xeni! Meanwhile, Cory has to weigh in and rain on the parade, though we tend to agree with him.

BoingBoing plays both sides and scores massive traffic spike from all the brouhaha.

wow — can you imagine? A thin, flat, cordless, bottomless source of free, great TV shows, in your bag or on the bedside table?

2010-04-05T02:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, Mr. Pogue, we can! We love the iPad too, but we know of one still-in-stealth start up that will make the ultimate accessory app for the iPad - and well beyond - but more on that later. Meanwhile, see you in Vegas for NAB!

Bloomberg: Silicon Valley Gears Up for Acquisitions as

2010-04-05T02:28:00.000-07:00

Bloomberg publishes an intriguing report indicating pent up demand for deal-making in the marketplace. We agree that the market is seeking innovation and leadership!

Silicon Valley companies looking to put their cash to work may drive a wave of mergers this year, bankers and venture capitalists say.

Companies are eager to make acquisitions because many of them have cut research budgets, says Robert Ackerman, founder and managing director of Allegis Capital in Palo Alto, California. That means they’re not as able to fall back on their own ingenuity to fuel growth. More businesses are relying on acquisitions to find their next new product or service, he says.

“The product cabinet is bare, but the market continues to move forward,” Ackerman said. “Wherever you see innovation sprint ahead, companies will have a product deficit, and will look to fill it.”

Google Inc., based in Mountain View, is currently one of California’s most acquisitive companies, buying at least five businesses in 2010. It agreed to buy Picnik Inc. last month, acquiring online photo-editing tools. Its purchase of DocVerse provided it with software that lets people share documents over the Internet. The value of the deals wasn’t disclosed.

The state’s largest single deal this year was Shiseido Co.’s purchase of San Francisco-based Bare Escentuals Inc. for about $1.7 billion.

California deal-making plummeted after 2007, when more than 2,670 transactions totaled almost $254 billion. So far this year, there have been about 530, worth $16.7 billion. That’s a higher number than in the first three months of 2009, although the value was greater in that year-ago period, at about $30 billion.

McAfee, Tibco

Local acquisition targets include Santa Clara’s McAfee Inc., Tibco Software Inc. in Palo Alto and Cupertino-based ArcSight Inc., according to Brent Thill, an analyst at UBS AG in San Francisco. McAfee and ArcSight both make programs that protect data, which could be more valuable as cyber threats mount. Tibco’s software helps programs of all kinds share information.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also cited San Francisco’s Salesforce.com Inc. and Palo Alto-based VMware Inc. as possibilities -- though those companies aren’t the most likely targets, the firm says. Salesforce.com makes online customer- relationship software, while VMware sells so-called virtualization programs, which help computers run more than one operating system. Representatives from all the targets declined to comment or didn’t respond to messages.

Deal Volume

In Northern California, there were 45 deals involving venture-backed startups during the first three months of 2010, according to the National Venture Capital Association. That was the highest number in any quarter in at least five years.

More than 50 companies in California have at least $1 billion in cash and equivalents, which they could use for acquisitions. They’re led by a Bay area trio: San Francisco’s Wells Fargo & Co., with $68 billion; Cisco Systems Inc. in San Jose, with $39.6 billion; and Cupertino-based Apple Inc., with $24.8 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

“There’s a lot of cash on people’s balance sheets, so I think it’s a great time for startups,” said Kate Mitchell, managing director at Scale Venture Partners in Foster City, California. “They see that the faster, better, cheaper venture- backed companies are still growing, and they’re not spending on R&D, so they can be accretive.”

The value of deals in California topped out at $378.1 billion in 2000 during the Internet bubble, when there were more than 2,200 transactions. It took five years for the number of deals to surpass that earlier peak, and the dollar amount has never come close to recapturing the dot-com era’s glory.

Internet Bust

While the latest recession was the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, it actually wasn’t as devastating to California deal-making as the dot-com collapse. After having easy access to venture money and initial public offerings in the late-1990s and 2000, money dried up. The M&A industry hit bottom in 2002, when just 1,505 transactions accounted for $95.3 billion.

The deals crept back up over the next four years, peaking again in 2006 and early 2007. There were 665 in the first quarter of 2007, valued at $59.8 billion. That’s more than three times the number reported last quarter.

Tor Braham, head of technology mergers and acquisitions for Deutsche Bank AG in San Francisco, says mergers are ready to surge again for two reasons.

Pressure’s On?

“Private-equity funds have raised a lot of money before the financial crisis and there’s pressure on them to spend it before those commitments expire,” he said. Also: “Sellers want to get their deals done this year, before the expected increase in capital gains tax rate.”

Private-equity firms raised $538 billion in 2006 and $587 billion in 2007, just before the recession, according to the Private Equity Council in Washington. Capital-gains taxes, meanwhile, could rise above 20 percent for people earning more than $250,000 under budget proposals before Congress.

In the first quarter, Deutsche Bank advised Techwell Inc. in its $370 million takeover by Intersil Corp. The bank also worked with Nimsoft Inc. in its $350 million acquisition by CA Inc., and Francisco Partners on its sale of Numonyx BV to Micron Technology Inc. for about $1.3 billion.

Even as mergers pick up, it may take until next year to get back to 2007 levels, Braham says. “Mergers-and-acquisition activity in the technology industry was very quiet in the first quarter,” he said.

Matt Murphy, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park, is more bullish.

The number of acquisitions this year will be close to the 2007 level, he says. “It feels like there is pent-up demand.”

Mobile technology is one area where the big companies want to bulk up, leading to more acquisitions, Murphy says.

“M&A is definitely picking up,” he said. “This is going to be a big year.”

Giorgia Fumanti to Make Special Appearance at Digital Music Forum East

2010-03-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

NVPR Engaged to Drive Brand Development

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Feb. 23, 2010 -- Digital Media Wire announced today that classical crossover pop sensation Giorgia Fumanti will perform and discuss the transitioning state of the music industry from an accomplished artist's perspective at the Digital Music Forum East (www.digitalmusicforum.com/east) at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York on February 25th, 2010, at 11:00 AM.

"I want my music to be an expression of my soul and for my voice to reach every corner of the globe," said Giorgia Fumanti. "I believe the promise of technology has leveled the playing field for artists giving them as much freedom and opportunity as their creativity affords."

"As new business models emerge for both the music and advertising sectors at the same time, an integration of the two is accelerating as we increasingly recognize that both are creative industries that defy categorization," said Hal Bringman, founder and president of NVPR. "An artist on the rise who already has mass commercial appeal on a global scale like Giorgia Fumanti makes for a fascinating case-study in how to help build a brand around her music and persona to take her career to a higher level."

Giorgia Fumanti has a unique viewpoint and story to share with conference attendees. Once signed to a major record label as a priority artist, she got caught up in its corporate downsizing when it was acquired. A PBS television special "Heavenly Voices" was produced to accompany her album release and the label expected her to be their next super star.

FROM MY HEART charted on the top 20 on Billboard's top classical crossover albums, no. 1 in Japan and South Africa. However, the corporate conundrum cost her the promotion and development it required.

After meeting in Cannes at the recent music industry confab MIDEM, Giorgia Fumanti's manager, Maurice Velenosi, entered into a pact with digital media consultancy NVPR to help forge a strategy for her new album.

"NVPR's track record of building brands and pioneering digital media is impressive and after meeting with them, it was immediately clear to me that we needed to be working together to help Giorgia Fumanti reach her goal of sharing her music with the world," said Maurice Velenosi. "Their guidance in setting the stage to broker deals with brands, events and technology partners brings a fresh perspective and out of the box thinking that is needed in the shifting landscape of the creative industries we're working in."

Ms. Fumanti is a soprano and a multilingual singer of classical crossover pop, frequently compared to the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman and Enya.

She has already toured the world and is in high-demand for commercial and public performances, including:

Performed at the Beijing Olympics in August 2008 for CCTV (700 million viewing audience).
Selected by the 2010 World Expo Shanghai Bureau to sing the theme song (Better City, Better Life) with the famous baritone Liao Chang Yong. The song is used as a video and TV trailer featuring Giorgia Fumanti and Liao Chang Yong in the 2010
Shanghai World Expo ad campaign from May 2009 to October 2010.
Performed on Dragon TV in Shanghai (20 million viewing audience) for the 200 day countdown to the Shanghai World Expo as well as performances at the Shanghai International Arts Festival and for Sennheiser China.
Recorded a traditional Chinese song (Nan Ni Wan) in Mandarin for China Mobile ad campaign.
Performed at the National Center of Performing Arts, in Beijing, with tenor Yu Qiang Dai and the Beijing Symphony Orchestra.
Toured with Italian superstar Zucchero, Michael Bolton, Jose Carreras, Lang Lang, and Lucio Dalla, among many others.
Performed on the national broadcast PBS Special, Heavenly Voices. The Heavenly Voices DVD was also released worldwide on EMI.
Al Gore, former Vice-President of the Unites States and Nobel Peace Prize winner, invited Giorgia Fumanti to sing for the Climate Group in consecutive years.
Toured with the Russian Red Army Choir from Moscow as special guest soloist.
Performed for the Mayor of New York City (Bloomberg), the Mayor of Montreal (Tremblay), the Governors of Nevada, Texas and Georgia.
Series of concerts in USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong , South Korea and India.

Her new album features many of Celine Dion's studio musicians in Montreal where the album is being completed. Giorgia Fumanti will perform one song at Digital Music Forum East, "Dream A Dream," from her forthcoming album.

Find out more on the web at:
http://www.digitalmusicforum.com/east
http://www.giorgiafumanti.com
http://www.myspace.com/giorgiafumanti

###

About Digital Media Wire, Inc.

Digital Media Wire is an events, news, and publishing company serving the digital entertainment & media industry since May 2000. Digital Media Wire produces executive forums featuring the leading executives in digital media and entertainment. Digital Media Wire also publishes an authoritative daily email newsletter and industry directory. For more information, please visit www.dmwmedia.com.

About NVPR

NVPR is a digital media consultancy based in Los Angeles with offices in Buenos Aires. The firm consults a wide range of clients varying from multi-billion dollar hedge fund to select start-ups alike, providing them with strategic PR, marketing and business development services delivered with a global perspective. For more information, please visit http://www.nvpr.com

2009-06-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

NVPR Creative Director, Elias Bustos, Wins TV 360 Competition at The Banff World Television Festival and nextMEDIA Conference

Firm's ID Division Boasts Expanded Design and Development Team

Los Angeles -- June 23, 2009 -- The Banff World Television Festival (BANFF (http://www.banff2009.com/)) and nextMEDIA (http://www.nextmediaevents.com/banff/tv.360.php) recently presented the first Telefilm "TV 360" competition, in which NVPR's (http://www.nvpr.com) creative director, Elias Bustos, participated. The purpose of the contest was to provide cross-platform development opportunities for producers, writers, designers and creative directors during the prestigious festivals.

Elias Bustos, in conjunction with eight talented teammates, took part in the inaugural program aimed at helping bridge traditional television executives and digital media thought leaders.

"The TV 360 competition is a collaborative and fiercely competitive exercise where three teams pair off to create a new and original program that will foster cross-industry partnership between new media and the future of the television industry," said Elias Bustos. "Thanks to the efforts of everyone on team 1, we were lead to victory under the direction of team lead Evan Jones, Founder of Stitch Media."

The TV 360 program offers the opportunity to create a multi-platform entertainment project while providing participants with the tools to successfully pitch and market projects to both broadcasters and funders.

Three teams of nine competed to create a package for the best digital media pitch for a current TV series, which was the hit CBC show, "Little Mosque on the Prairie." The show has been licensed to Europe and is being re-created for the United States TV market.

"There is a growing enthusiasm from both traditional TV people and digital media executives to develop truly integrated forms of entertainment programming," commented Lisa Osborne, TV 360 Program Manager and Supervising Producer at the American Film Institute's Digital Content Lab.

In addition to being a renowned communications and marketing firm, NVPR also offers a broad range of development and design services to help companies leverage these opportunities demonstrated at the conference.

"Our team can design artful yet accessible websites, develop iPhone applications, and help production companies, or other entities, leverage the power of the Web to take their projects online and fully exploit the many opportunities awaiting them," said company founder Hal Bringman.

Examples of available services include:

• Web applications (Java, PHP, Ruby and .NET)

• Client/server applications

• Mobile applications (WAP, J2ME, iPhone, Android, RIM)

• Flex and Flash Media Expertise

• Web design for any platform

The development team now also leverages the power of the Adobe Flash Platform with the recent addition of Flex and Flash Media Server expertise to its already extensive skill-set. The ubiquity of the Adobe Flash Platform provides a rich viewing experience across virtually all operating systems and screens through integration with the Adobe Flash Player runtime, adopted on 98% of computer screens worldwide.

A partial showcase of past projects can be found at http://www.nvpr.com/id.

###

About NVPR

NVPR is a communications and marketing company with a well-established track record in digital media. The company has launched and built many of the biggest or most talked about brands in mobile entertainment and digital media. Based in Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the team is actively dedicated to launch global PR/marketing campaigns, accelerate business development, and help companies design and develop their products and services. Follow on Twitter @halbringman or visit www.nvpr.com.

The Making of a Music Industry in China

2009-06-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

Unlike the U.S., where copyright conundrums abound, China has a chance to create a music industry with a completely fresh approach to copyright consumption. I was recently invited to join the American delegation attending the International Creative Industries Summit in Shanghai, China. The intensive two-day summit, which occurred April 21-22, 2009, was poised to be a historic event to witness. For me, it was rife with irony and provided a fascinating contrast to the "established" western music industry.

For perspective, one only needs to study the rise of the Shanghai skyline to understand the marked difference between its humble past and burgeoning future. As recent as the 90's, the Huang Po River, which dissects downtown Shanghai, wasn't much more than the embankment of a shantytown; whereas today, Shanghai boasts skyscrapers that rival anything Manhattan has to offer.

Similarly, the would-be music industry we were there to help shape, could have the same kind of meteoric rise. In fact, it could quickly become the largest music market in the world. After all, it has nowhere to go but up, and China itself is the world's largest start up.

I was among a handful of digital media and traditional music industry experts who came to listen to, and help steer, the first steps of a Chinese music industry where, despite infrastructure and a booming population, no music industry exists to date. Massive piracy, however, is readily rampant.

This point was driven home by Mr. Xiaofeng Xu, Researcher, Peking University, Institute of Culture Industry, who made a forthright presentation entitled "The New Money-making Model within the Culture Industry." Poignantly, as his presentation began, he commented, "I am supposed to come here and speak with you about the new business models in the music industry here - but I am not even aware of an existing, old model."

Having attended more conferences, summits, courtroom show downs, and symposiums on copyright in the digital realm than I could ever recount, it sometimes felt like a déjà vu hearing the same issues addressed repeatedly. I kept thinking, "Whatever you do here, don't replicate the mess created in the western world" where copyright conglomerates have stymied innovation since digital music came onto the scene with the launch of MP3.com in 1998.

In an earlier column this year, I explored how at MIDEM in January there were many examples of how this is finally beginning to change - after a decade lost to mindless litigation and DRM dogma.

Moreover, as Jingming Qu, General Director of the Music Copyright Society of China pontificated, "Innovation is being driven here by a developing economy." He illustrated the primary challenges to their agenda to build a music industry include piracy, a perceived lack of value for music despite mass consumption of it, and the potential for monopolies to be created that would ultimately be unfair to artists.

Mr. Qu argued that -- without music -- everything from discos and radio stations to search engines, wouldn't exist, or would have significantly less value.

Thomas Reemer, CEO of CUGate, explored this point during his presentation where he demonstrated that Google's recent digital music foray in China, in partnership with the major labels, is supposed to include a revenue share from the MP3 search activity at its search engine. One only needs to go experience it to realize his point that the experience is completely absent of any potential revenue sharing and, furthermore, there are no ads to click or albums to buy. Google's partnership with the major labels in China was widely dismissed as a misstep by most attendees, though some argued it was better than nothing.

Mr. Reemer added that studies show P2P users actually possess a high level of respect for copyrights, but not for the business models in place to date.

CUGate's offering, he asserted, affords the "feels free" experience but still monetizes the frenetic energy associated with file sharing. CUGate shares the Chinese government's inclination towards an ISP based solution to monetize the feel free model, which is finally gathering momentum in the Western world, if only philosophically.

At the recent hopping, San Fran Music Tech Summit, this topic was hotly debated on a panel aptly titled "Monetization - Idealism in Practice" where long time advocate Jim Griffin was pimping Choruss, a major label backed approach aimed at the college market initially and - potentially - to ISPs, if successful.

Regardless of the rhetoric, what's clear is that nearly 40% of Asian youth are listening to even more music than they were a year ago, according to Synovate Music Matters Survey, and there are more than 300 million broadband internet users in China - a 42% increase in only two years, as cited by China Internet Network Info Center.

In 2008, China Mobile reported US$2.4 billion in revenue from mobile music downloads and ringtones alone, according to JLM Pacific Epoch.

Hopefully, China will embrace the unique opportunity that it is faced with in a timelier and more progressive manner than the Western world did, especially since our futures seem inextricably tied.

The International Creative Industries Summit will occur again next year and later this week, Music Matters will host a unique Asian forum for uniting the world's creative and technology industries.

Just as the music industry in the West begins to intelligently grapple with digital in a meaningful way, the East is recognizing that the potential for an industry even exists. It's an astounding paradox and an amazing opportunity that I look forward to being actively involved in for years to come.

Lights. Camera. Action! Don’t Goof When the Spotlight Hits

2009-04-12T12:55:00.001-07:00

How to take advantage of publicity, even when you’re cast in bad light

The chatter on the Edison Nation forum came fast and mostly furious.

Invention development firm InventBay had announced that The Tonight Show With Jay Leno was featuring products from the company’s inaugural inventors trade show, held last October.

In his “Pitch to America: New Inventions” segment, Leno allows the audience to offer gladiator-style “sold or not-sold” votes on various products his crew filmed at the InventBay show and other venues.

“I actually went outta my way to watch this segment of the show and thought it was an absolute joke!” wrote an inventor who goes by the online handle Sir Edward. “It was no different than Leno’s ‘Stuff We Found on eBay,’ which is nothing more than an audience participation bit, showing some of the most obscure/wacky items being auctioned on eBay. Leno’s ‘Pitch to America’ was, sadly, no different!”

Others quickly weighed in.

“After seeing it was all a mockery I want no part of it,” wrote New Jersey inventor Ron Komorowski. He went on to ask: “When will people cover more inventors more seriously?”

The dustup raised intriguing questions: What does this say about the old saw that any publicity is good publicity? And since when is appearing on Leno bad publicity?

The answer, according to InventBay CEO Keith Hammack, is never. He’s dismayed that inventors would dismiss an opportunity to appear on a major network television show, even if it means the potential for ridicule.

(Full disclosure alert: Edison Nation is a partner with Inventors Digest. Komorowski is a regular on Edison Nation and has volunteered for Inventors Digest. And Hammack is an ID advertiser.)

“Leno’s going out there with a different motivation than what the inventors want,” Hammack says. “But the inventors are getting the exposure. It’s in the best interest of the inventor. Even if you have a rowdy late-night crowd going ‘No, I wouldn’t buy it,’ millions of people saw that invention.

“Go ahead,” Hammack adds, “and roast me all you want.”

If the saga of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich teaches us anything, it’s that you can attempt to spin even negative publicity in your favor.

As the New York Times noted, it’s not easy to upstage one’s own impeachment trial, but Blagojevich appeared to be doing just that. In January he eschewed attending his impeachment trial for alleged influence peddling and opted for spots on The View and Larry King Live. By doing so, he was trying to rewrite his own narrative to potential jurors and the public, observers said.

As for inventors appearing on Leno, the other lesson is that while you should take your product and business seriously, maybe you shouldn’t take yourself so seriously.

“As long as one’s ego isn’t too involved and you can be objective and realize that this is an excellent opportunity to both build brand awareness and gain feedback about the product,” says Hal Bringman, founder of Los Angeles-based consultancy NVPR, “it’s almost like a free focus group on a large scale.”

Well executed publicity is “an engine that drives business development,” Bringman says. “So I believe any publicity is, in fact, good publicity when it is managed well.

“Publicity that turns ‘bad,’” Bringman adds, “occurs mostly when a company or person tries to be disingenuous.”

Continued here.

Bottom-Up Development is Steering the Mobile Market

2009-03-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Bottom-Up Development is Steering the Mobile Market

A brisk breeze ushered in the 2009 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, amidst the anticipation of a dazzling display of new handsets and gadgets galore as nearly 50,000 members of the global mobile industry descended upon the Gaudi guilded city.

In a climate of fear-driven, doom and gloom economic news, it was refreshing to be at the epicenter of innovation and positive thinking. While there was a slight dip in attendance, there were no talks of bailouts or bankruptcies to be overheard in the hallways connecting the massive exhibit halls housing everything from the Android to the latest iPhone knock off.

According to BrandWeek, analysts agree that the wireless business generally remains in solid shape despite the recession. Indeed, more Americans are expected to become cell phone users this year. The Yankee Group forecast that wireless subscriptions in the U.S. should climb by 4.5 percent in 2009 to 285 million from 273 million.

Moreover, a younger generation is growing up without landlines, and they are certainly not going to cut their mobile services. That's just one compelling reason why wireless firms will shift a higher percentage of their media dollars onto the Web in 2009, increasing to 13 percent in 2013 from 7 percent this year, according to Jupiter Research.

In fact, digital media overall has much to be optimistic about. As discussed in my recent MIDEM coverage “Setting Music Free”, that conference was abuzz about innovation and experimental business models in the digital music sector.

Maarten van Wijck, CEO of La Cúpula and Musicxip, attended both conferences and commented, “The profound transition that our industry is experiencing opens up many new opportunities every day for those that stay focused. This transition is not an isolated process that lasts a year, five years, or even a decade resulting in ‘a new model’. Change is continuous and won’t stop. We believe flexibility; interoperability and maximizing the flow of music to every possible channel will lead to increased audible visibility. The subsequent accessibility and visibility drives both fan bases and revenues alike for independent artists and labels.”

In light of projections that demonstrate worldwide revenues from digital media surpassed revenue generated by movie theaters and home video combined, for the first time in 2008, the stage is clearly set for dynamic growth opportunities and further validates investments made in the online sector going forward.

The report, "Global Media & Entertainment Market Forecast, 2004-2012," predicts that global revenues from media and entertainment will exceed $845 billion this year, with more than 10 percent, or $90 billion, coming from online and mobile channels. In comparison, the world wide filmed entertainment market will generate $83.1 billion in revenues this year.

Mobile World Congress, meanwhile, represents a more physical manifestation of these same ideals as four billion of us are now in constant sync through handsets in our pockets and purses, all set to keep us interconnected and sharing unlike never before. Ultimately, the growth of the mobile industry cannot possibly be underestimated, especially in light of the global market being set to reach six billion connections by 2013.

At Mobile World Congress, Alexander Izosimov, Chief Executive of Russia's number two carrier, Vimpelcom, chose to highlight the positives surrounding the industry. "We are lucky, that unlike many other industries, we are dealing with something which is absolutely guaranteed to expand in the future," he said.

"Human demand for communication, knowledge exchange, information is truly insatiable and we're in the midst of it, so therefore, our growth is absolutely secure,” he told Reuters.

The recording industry and the mobile industry share similarities in that innovation doesn’t come from the top, through carriers, operators or the major labels themselves but, rather, from the Google’s and Apple’s of the world who have inspired a marketplace of application development and innovative offerings that remains unparalleled and leaves behemoths like Microsoft and Nokia gasping for breath as they try to compete and catch up.
Neither Google nor Apple needed to be in attendance on the exhibit floor, however, their presence was felt everywhere. In contrast, Yahoo dished out ice cream at their booth that was as chilly as their stock performance, which remains frozen as the company continually fails to inspire or innovate the marketplace.

Smaller sized technology suppliers like Materna, on the other hand, were sharing news of their new partnership with Sony Music to roll out direct-to-consumer artist download stores all across Europe and a plethora of technology developers, like Company28.com, battled for mind share as they unveiled apps and offerings for taking mobile devices to the next level.

Consumers seem especially drawn to the latest and greatest apps made for Apple as research firm Net Applications recently found that Apple's iPhone represents a staggering 66.61 percent of mobile traffic while its competitors have only just gained a foothold.

Another innovator offering solutions was Omnifone, the provider of music services to mobile operators and device vendors alike, who announced at the Mobile World Congress that it would extend its offerings to provide music services to ISPs in an attempt to address the labels’ failure to deliver a compelling solution to curb piracy. The new DRM-free service, MusicStation Next Generation, will allow users to download music and send it simultaneously to their different devices. The service, which is comprised of unlimited music downloads and streaming, was expected to be bundled into new subscription packages and offered to existing customers as an add on.

After attending GSMA Mobile World Congress, we jetted to New York City to attend the Digital Music Forum East where Ralph Simon dutifully tried to coax industry insiders on the panel entitled “Can Mobile Save the Music Industry?” into convincing the audience that their corporate coated offerings were compelling while the small innovators attending the conference, such as SongBeat, SoundCloud, earBuzz.com, and Omnifone, among others, blazed across the blogosphere driven by consumer demand.

Whether one is an Apple advocate or an Android evangelist, the remnant optimistic spirit was clear in the mobile market where bottom up development is steering the market empowering start ups and developers to create products and services geared to attract the most users.

-- Hal Bringman

About the author: Hal Bringman is a communications consultant and founder
of NVPR. The company has deep experience in the digital media sector. Long
before Steve Jobs ever figured out what an MP3 file was, the firm has been
guiding the digital music revolution since launching MP3.com, Napster, and
many other major players. The company launched and built many of the biggest
or most talked about brands in mobile entertainment and digital media.
With offices in Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the team is prepared to revamp
websites, launch global PR/marketing campaigns, and accelerate business
development.

Digital Music Forum in NYC, the place to be

2009-02-01T03:32:00.000-08:00

On February 25-26, 2009, in New York City, Digital Media Wire will host the Digital Music Forum. As the music industry morphs into a fully digital domain, the Digital Music Forum is the only event that focuses squarely on developments related to this industry as it grapples with its evolution into a service oriented industry and away from its product based past. NVPR represents this event and is making a special offer for you to register and receive $100.00 off the price of registration. Simply follow this link (http://www.digitalmusicforum.com/east) to register and use the code "NVPR" to receive your discount.

We will be in attendance and look forward to meeting with you to discuss helping to revamp your website or strategize about launching a global PR/marketing campaign.

Digital Media Wire Announces Agenda & Speakers

for Digital Music Forum East in New York, February 25-26

Music and Technology Leaders to Gather at Top Industry Event

Los Angeles, CA (February 2, 2009) -- Digital Media Wire today announced the agenda and line-up of speakers for the upcoming Digital Music Forum East (www.digitalmusicforum.com/east) to be held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York on February 25-26, 2009.

As the music industry morphs into a fully digital domain, Digital Music Forum is the only event that focuses squarely on developments related to this industry as it grapples with its evolution into a service oriented industry and away from its product based past.

“Recent industry developments, such as iTunes and the labels’ abandonment of DRM, have liberated the music industry to begin an era of innovation and experimentation to try new business models that engage consumers and move the industry forward,” said Ned Sherman, CEO and Publisher of Digital Media Wire. “We are proud to host the preeminent event leading the discussion and debate on these timely topics.”

The two-day event is the most comprehensive digital music conference focused on the evolution and future of digital music. The conference agenda, which includes senior participants from all the major labels, as well as leading Indie labels, social networks, online music retailers, mobile companies, artists and association heads, includes top keynotes, discussions and panels on the following topics:

• Top Digital Music Trends
• The State of the Digital Union
• The Future of Internet Radio
• Can Mobile Save The Music Industry?
• The Pros and Cons of 360 Deals
• Debate Club: What Changes Are Needed to Reform The Digital Copyright System?
• Digital Music From an International Perspective
• Licensing 2.0
• Music Blogs: The Ultimate Digital Tastemakers
• Online Video and Music
• Indies in The Digital Age

The event includes a much anticipated keynote interview with Dalton Caldwell, Founder & CEO, imeem, a music-focused online social network that has raised over $50 million in funding from investors including Sequoia Capital and Warner Music Group. The company, which counts 30 million registered users, has licenses from all four major labels and many independents to offer free, ad-supported streaming music. In this rare opportunity to meet imeem's 28-year-old founder, recently featured in BusinessWeek.com's up-and-comers under 30 story, attendees will get a view of the current inner workings of the digital music industry and what role he would like imeem and other social networks and streaming services to play in the music eco-system of the future.

Other keynotes include Jim Griffin, an advisor to Warner Music Group on digital distribution and licensing models, focused on bringing an end to the litigation that has put a wedge between the major labels and their customers and replacing it with a regular flow of income for right holders. Griffin’s project known as Choruss, which is being incubated at Warner and is planned to be rolled out as a non-profit with Griffin at the helm, proposes to build a small music-royalty fee into university tuition payments received from students, and, if successful, could be expanded to make ISPs the collector of the fees.

Attendees are over 400 senior decision-makers from record labels, music publishers, producers and distributors, technology companies, wireless companies, rights organizations, industry bodies, radio, advertising, attorneys, artists, investors and venture capitalists.

Speakers include:

Jay Baage, VP, Content, Digital Media Wire
Anthony Batt, CEO & Co-Founder, Buzznet
Rich Benglogg, President, A2IM
Aydin Caginalp, Partner, Entertainment & Media Group, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Dalton Caldwell, Founder/CEO, imeem
David Card, VP & Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
Ted Cohen, Managing Partner, TAG Strategic
Jim Cooperman, COO, Wind-Up
Brad Duea, President, Napster
Jeffrey Epstein, VP, Business Development & Artist Acquisition, Elite Artist Services
Adam Farrell, Head of Marketing, The Beggars Group & Matador Records
Mark Fischer, Attorney, Fish & Richardson
Andrew Fisher, CEO, Shazam
John Fleckenstein, SVP, International, BMG Label Group
David Goodman, President, Digital Media & Integrated Marketing, CBS Radio
Jim Griffin, Managing Director, OneHouse, LLC
Dan Hoffman, EVP, Bus. & Legal Affairs, Razor and Tie Direct
Christian Jorg, SVP, New Media & Commerce, Island Def Jam Music Group
Mark Lam, Chairman & CEO, Live365.com
Matt Laszuk, IRIS Distribution
Zahavah Levine, VP, Business Development & General Counsel, YouTube
Rob Lewis, CEO & Co-Founder, Omnifone
Cecily Mak, Senior Counsel, Legal & Business Affairs, RealNetworks
Dinesh Mathew, Senior Director, Consumer Insight, MTV
Jim Merlis, President & CEO, Big Hassle
Adam Mirabella, Director, Global Digital Music Retail, Nokia
Ziv Navoth, SVP, Marketing & Bus. Dev., Bebo / AOL’s People Networks
David Oxenford, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP
Massimiliano Pellegrini, CEO, Dada Entertainment
Matthew Perpetua, Founder, Fluxblog.org
Michael Petricone, SVP, Government Affairs, Consumer Electronics Association
Chris Phenner, EVP, Business Development, Thumbplay
Jonathan Potter, Executive Director, Digital Media Association
Kelli Richards, President & CEO, The All Access Group
Jay Rosenthal, General Counsel, NMPA
Maurice Russell, VP, Business Affairs & Licensing, Harry Fox Agency
Greg Scholl, CEO, The Orchard
Syd Schwartz, SVP, Digital Strategy, EMI North America
Matt Schwartz, Manager, Music Programming & Business Development, Verizon
Ned Sherman, Co-Founder, CEO & Publisher, Digital Media Wire
Michael Spiegelmann, Head of Music, Yahoo! Music
Mike Tunnicliffe, Partner, Tuna Music LLC / The Sheppard LLC
Amaechi Uzoigwe, Co-Founder, Definitive Jux
Eliot Van Buskirk, Editor, Listening Post, Wired.com
Anthony Volodkin, Founder/CEO, The Hype Machine
Pete Watson, Head of Business Development, Research in Motion
Tim Westergren, Chief Strategy Officer & Founder, Pandora

Event sponsors and media partners include Manatt, Loeb & Loeb, Macrovision, Dada Entertainment, Fish & Richardson, Mozes, DCIA, Davis Wright Tremaine, Consulate General of Sweden, Filter Magazine, KCRW, A2IM, NARIP, UCLA Anderson School of Management, Music Connection, NVPR, TAG Strategic, Parks Associates, Midem, Women in Music, Billboard Publicity Wire, SoundExchange, NY:MIEG, and EMF.

For complete agenda, registration and event details please visit: http://www.digitalmusicforum.com/east.
Other prominent Digital Media Wire events include the LA Games Conference; NY Games Conference; Future of Television East; Future of Television West; Digital Music Forum West; and Digital Media Conference.

###

About Digital Media Wire, Inc:
Digital Media Wire is an events, news, and publishing company serving the digital entertainment & media industry since May 2000. Digital Media Wire produces executive forums featuring the leading executives in digital media and entertainment. Digital Media Wire also publishes an authoritative daily email newsletter and industry directory. For more information, please visit www.dmwmedia.com.

Contact:

Hal Bringman
NVPR
323-851-6877
hal (at) nvpr.com

Trade shows: Go or stay home in 2009?

2009-02-01T03:20:00.000-08:00

Trade shows: Go or stay home in 2009?
By Christine Kent

With trade show budgets tight, PR pros get selective

When Apple Computer announced that it would no longer attend MacWorld Expo—the event at which Steve Jobs held sway for so many years—it raised the question of how many other companies might forgo large and costly trade shows in a weak economy.

“Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers,” said the company in a press release about its departure from MacWorld Expo. This news was followed in January by word that attendance at the Consumer Electronics show, or CES, was down almost 20 percent.

So will trade shows go the way of the fax machine as a marketing and media relations tool? Depending on the industry, many PR professionals say trade shows still offer plenty of value—but they’ll think hard about which ones deserve precious funds this year.

Ken Newman, president of San Francisco’s Magnet Productions, has been producing trade shows for 25 years, and says that during these periodic downturns, companies typically ask a lot more questions about the value of trade shows.

“It’s true that some shows get bloated,” says Newman of trade shows such as CES. “They lose all value. You’ll see a business technology solution displaying next to a booth for a nose-hair trimmer. But people felt that they would be conspicuous by their absence,” Newman says—so everyone signed up to be on the trade show floor anyway.

Now that marketing money is scarce “companies are getting very selective about the shows that they do,” says Newman. Rather than simply buying a booth because everyone else in their market is doing so, Newman explains, marketers are asking themselves whether shows actually generate qualified leads and whether they can turn those leads into sales.

“I’m seeing companies ditch one show that they’ve been to for years, in favor of trying another show,” Newman says. “They figure why spend money on one big bloated show when they can go to three targeted shows.”

That’s what Michael Varhola, founder of Skirmish Publishing, a games publisher in Springfield, Va., is doing this year. In 2008 his company exhibited at two large games shows.

“Two big shows, during a year in which sales were down on top of everything else, left us carrying the associated debt for several months,” Varhola explains. “Because of that, and despite the value of shows to us, we’ve revised our strategy for 2009. We’ll still be going to our industry's biggest show, Gen Con in Indianapolis. But rather than do another large show, we’ll be doing a number of smaller regional ones instead.”
When PR people and marketers can find shows with a narrow scope—shows that are guaranteed to draw the exact audience for the organization’s products or services and that attract relevant trade media—they see value in attending.

Kelly Robertson, senior account manager at Kidd PR in Tallahassee, works with several clients in the RV industry.

“They plan to maintain or increase their exposure at trade shows this year,” Robertson says. RV sales rely heavily on face-to-face meetings, Robertson explains, so trade show exposure is considered vital.

“It’s direct communication with the target, in a less cluttered environment,” Robertson says. In other words, talking one-to-one with a potential customer beats the heck out of ads or editorial placements in trade or consumer publications, she says.

Since her clients are making a big financial commitment in going to trade shows, Robertson says the need to make sure the money is well spent is even more pressing this year.

“It’s important to consider what to do when you get to a trade show,” Robertson says. “It’s a waste of money if you’re not making a splash on site. We’re recommending more high-visibility initiatives that draw crowds.”

For Los Angeles-based NVPR, trade shows are considered so important that the communications firm is willing to foot the bill.

“We’re offering to reimburse companies if they attend trade shows and hire us to help with marcom and creative services,” says Hal Bringham, founder and CEO of NVPR. “In my experience, trade shows are such a hotbed for business development that I think it's a big mistake to not attend them.

Conversely, if a company does the research and determines that their target markets aren’t showing up at trade shows, then there’s not much reason to be there.

“We have no plans to go to trade shows this year,” says Alicia Browner, the CEO of Austin-based Prelude Dynamics.

“The shows are too large for us to effectively get noticed. We’re more interested in putting money into PR and marketing and getting some recognition that way.” Their customers don’t attend the shows, Browner says, so it’s become hard to justify the expense.

For organizations that are on the fence about whether to attend a show this year, Ken Newman suggests getting a smaller booth, but putting more energy into what happens in the booth. “Create the idea that your booth is the fun place to be,” he says.

NVPR in the news again: A new sort of offshoring

2009-01-29T19:18:00.000-08:00

A new sort of offshoring

Argentina becomes an attractive destination for those who want to earn in one currency and pay living expenses in another.
By Anil Mundra - Special to GlobalPost

Published: January 26, 2009 09:31 ET

BUENOS AIRES — Hal Bringman, founder and CEO of a corporate communications firm, came to Buenos Aires for a July 4th vacation in 2007. He never left.

But Bringman didn't bother to tell his dozen clients that he wasn't where they thought he was — namely, in the U.S. He didn't need to: He did much of his business over the internet anyway, had calls forwarded from his Los Angeles office and flew to meet his far-flung clients as necessary.

Setups such as Bringman's — earning money in hard currencies like the U.S. dollar or euro while paying operating and living expenses in a weaker economy — make increasing economic sense.

On the face of it, the business model resembles the old-style offshoring of labor to cheap markets in the developing world. But there's a major difference: Rather than outsourcing jobs to locals who charge less, white-collar workers and senior managers are relocating to a handful of developing countries where their own costs of living and working are lower.

Argentina — and especially Buenos Aires — is one of the most attractive places for this proposition, with its high level of development and low cost of living. Buenos Aires was one of the world's most expensive cities a decade ago, before the
Argentine economy crashed and the peso was left badly devalued at the end of 2001. Today, you can eat filet mignon or catch a taxicab across town for about $10.

Statistics on the phenomenon are hard to come by. But Expat-Connection.com's Martin Frankel (also the founder of the Buenos Aires Expat Entrepreneurs group) guesses that between 15,000 and 30,000 foreigners are working in Buenos Aires.
And Thursday Bram, author of a forthcoming book about moving abroad in order to stretch salaries, says that the top five expat destinations that have emerged in her research are China, India, the Philippines, Singapore, and — the only one not in Asia — Argentina.

Business and life coach Gayle Scroggs — author of the blog "The Positive Expat" — is evidence of the Argentine appeal. For $500, she rents a 1,700-square-foot home (complete with pool) in an exclusive neighborhood in the city of San Nicolas. She also hires a part-time housekeeper and gardener, things she said she never could have afforded in her native California.

Originally, said Scroggs, "I counted on getting a U.S. telephone forwarding number so that I would not have to advertise that I live in Argentina." This is another plus to offshoring: In places like Argentina where the communications infrastructure is well-developed — public WiFi internet is ubiquitous in Buenos Aires and there's approximately one mobile phone for every man, woman, and child in the country — expatriates can live and work without detection.

It wasn't until three months after Bringman — whose PR firm launched MP3.com and Napster, among others — arrived in
Buenos Aires that a client from Madrid figured out his setup. The giveaway: Bringman's Facebook profile. His client was positively tickled.

"It hasn't really been any different from working in LA," Bringman says. "When you have a solid track record and you deliver results, your client doesn't care where you are working from, they just care that you succeed."

Continued...

Setting Music Free

2009-01-23T11:51:00.000-08:00

I recently penned a guest column for my client, Digital Media Wire. Enjoy it here:

Guest Column: MIDEM 2009 - Setting Music Free

Authored by Hal Bringman on January 22, 2009 - 12:54pm.

As Digital Media Wire readers ready themselves for the highly anticipated Digital Music Forum East, here’s an overview of the annual MIDEM music conference that just concluded in Cannes, France. The annual music industry happening, MIDEM, is a must attend event for global players in the music business. This year’s MIDEM attendees were welcomed by moody skies over Cannes, which were symbolic of the state of the industry overall. Along La Croisette, rain pelted delegates darting from the Palais de Festivals to the deal making hubs of the Majestic and Carlton hotel bars.

The gloom, however, wasn’t reserved for the weather outside, but made its presence known throughout MIDEM and MIDEMNet, whose combined attendance was down 12% hovering around 8,000 delegates, due largely to global economic woes, and perhaps more poignantly, to empirical evidence of a fundamental and permanent shift in the music business.

For instance, attendance by physical distribution companies, CD manufacturers and record labels was down, according to MIDEM director Dominique Leguern who added, "It's not a music industry crisis, it's a CD crisis."
Leguern said they would consider amalgamating MIDEM with its digital music sister event MidemNet at future conferences as the industry evolves into a fully digital domain. Leguern said there were many positives from the conference, however, which also saw 300 artists play live and attracted delegates from over 80 countries.

"The industry as a whole has turned a page," said Leguern. "It accepts the CD era is decreasing fast and new revenues will come from other business models. Some of the old issues like DRM are over so we can move into a new era."
Indeed, much of the mind numbing rhetoric and head-in-the-sand anti-digital posturing was absent this year as companies exchanged optimistic ideas about how to move the industry forward from a product based business to a service oriented one.

“One thing I would change in the music business is a mindset. It's about being optimistic about the opportunities we have in front of us. We have to accept the principle that a product-based model is under severe stress. There are two primary sets of people in this business that matter - artists and fans - and we should all focus on them. And the Internet gives us a real opportunity to develop long term careers between artists and fans, and that's a huge challenge but a huge opportunity for us all,” said Brian Message, co-manager of Radiohead.

Message spearheaded the successful experiment of selling Radiohead’s IN RAINBOWS by allowing fans to pay what they deemed fair for a digital copy before CDs were made available at retail.
Reggae singer/songwriter, producer and promoter Bohbi FM added, “If I could change something in the music industry, it would be to invest in new acts. Put the money in unknown artists. Because for the last 20 years, we are hearing the same acts all the time. We need a change.”

The increasing impact of brands, advertising, and technology companies at this year's conference were signs of things to come as these sectors shape both the future of MIDEM, specifically, and the music business overall.

Also announced at Cannes was a pact between U.K. dance act Groove Armada and global drinks brand Bacardi in an online mechanism that will harness the power of social network sites to distribute the band's new EP.
In addition to being available on traditional download stores on March 2, the new EP will be launched via an online sharing service, www.bliveshare.com. Users who are over the legal drinking age sign up and get to download the first track in MP3 format for free, then to get track two they have to share track one with 20 people, either by emailing directly or using a Facebook app or widget embedded on other social networks.

Andy Cato from Groove Armada commented, "Over the last few years, a lot of music has become free, and while there will be an on-going market in recorded music for a while, the wave of free music is overwhelming. "We wanted to find a way of embracing the fact there is free music out there -- but giving it value again."

Rapper Kanye West’s blog was a hot topic at MIDEM. Embracing the 1:1 relationship possible between fans and an artist, he was described as one of the most effective communicators with his fans, during a panel discussion at the MIDEMNet conference. The "Serving Artists, Serving Fans" discussion focused on generating value and revenue streams from the relationship between fans and artists.

Bryan Calhoun, VP of new media and external affairs at Sound Exchange, is a consultant to Kanye West and says the rapper is "very active with communicating with his fans" on his blog and sometime posts seven or eight times a day. His music recommendations on the site have made him something of a tastemaker, or "curator for what is cool," Calhoun commented.

"It's definitely him," Calhoun added, referring to the entries atwww.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog. "It's totally authentic. You can't pay to put things on there -- people have tried." The "significant amount of traffic" to the blog also means it makes money from advertising, Calhoun added.

Announcements to fans are specifically from West, never attributed to his label, which Calhoun said is crucial in personalizing the service and making the connection. He stressed that West is "very particular" about the messaging and there is complete control over his online activity at the blog and other platforms.

Other advertising exploits, aimed at making music ‘feel free’ to consumers, included Coca-Cola and Warner Music partnering on a download release as part of the brand's new "Open Happiness" global marketing campaign.
The track, titled "Open Happiness," was announced during the "Exploring New Models For Brands and Music Partnerships" panel. Umut Ozaydinli, music marketing manager for Coca-Cola's Worldwide Sports and Entertainment Marketing division, said the track would be marketed via billions of cans of Coke.

Artist Jill Sobule chronicled her fan-financed album, which aimed at raising $90,000.00 to cover the costs of making a new album, and was readily achieved. One fan even donated $10,000.00 individually, which was rewarded with a guest vocal spot on one of the recordings.

Tom Bywater, CEO and Founder of Power Amp Music, which supplies financing to artists, said, “Investments in established artists make sense in any economic climate, because music is part of our cultural DNA and it will never go away, no matter how people consume it changes. The recorded music business has suffered in recent years from the decline of CD sales. However, live music, merchandising, music publishing and other income streams, such as sponsorship, and branding have all grown steadily and more than offset the decline in revenue from CD sales.”

Mike Masnick from TechDirt pointed to the session on how the Chinese music model had evolved. Almost no one buys music there, but it's still a huge moneymaker for musicians. JY Park, President & Artist, JYP Entertainment, had mentioned this in his presentation -- his musicians make a ton of money from brand sponsorships in China -- but there were numerous other examples of musicians in China making plenty of money through mobile subscription services. For example, some musicians get fans to sign up for special subscriptions that represent the only way for them to potentially get tickets to see those acts perform live.

In advance of MIDEM, Omnifone and Gracenote announced a partnership that resonates this particular approach.
The combined technologies of Gracenote and Omnifone provide consumers with a personalized, holistic music experience delivering immediate and unlimited access to millions of music tracks, and the freedom to download, make playlists, get recommendations, play music wherever they are, whenever they want, on any device they choose.

For example, users can create a comprehensive Beyonce playlist at home on their PC using a combination of their own collection and the unlimited music service, and start playing it in their living room. Then, get in their car, and have it pick up where they left off. Later, when they are at a club, they can search for music they are looking for, then download it and have it synched to all of their devices, and get recommendations for other music they might like based on genre or user generated recommendations.

On each device, the most appropriate file format and user interface is presented to ensure the best possible user experience for that environment.

Jupiter Research forecast says U.S. digital music sales will grow by 17 percent per year on average over the next five years to make up 41 percent of sales by 2013, while Juniper Research predicts the success of unlimited music services on mobile platforms will significantly grow digital music revenues, with subscription-based unlimited digital music services overtaking “first generation” pay-per-track services and worth U.S. $3.3 billion by 2012.

“Omnifone’s partnership with Gracenote will make connected unlimited music services a reality in the living room, in the car, on mobile devices, and computers; everywhere we go our music collections, playlists, and recommendations will follow seamlessly, automatically and without wires. Historically, unlimited music service providers have focused on mobile and PC platforms, but consumers want access to music in the living room and the car, as much as the mobile and desktop computer,” said Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone. “This announcement means music lovers will soon have the freedom to access and consume unlimited music legally, across a wide range of device platforms, with the most appropriate user interface and file format for each device, synchronized automatically rather than having to side-load, back-up or rip compact discs.”

“Making the Emerging Markets accountable is the key for the future of the Global Music Industry. As the old players helped destroy the business in China and Russia by selling for too little than they could afford in order to be able to pay their artists the royalties they had agreed to, they will not be the ones that can be trusted with building New Markets. It is clear that the consumer will pay for bandwidth and amount of traffic, and that this money will be handed over to the traffic drivers like artists, tv, film studios etc. The East will be first with this as they don’t have to fight existing players who protect old models. And then the rest will follow once they have seen how much sense it all makes, ” says Thomas Reemer, CEO, cugate.com.

One thing that is constant is change. We can only hope the optimism and experimental mindset reflected at MIDEM continues throughout the year and beyond. Perhaps the brightest part of the entire event was sitting in the Sunset Marquis VIP room and watching Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States and celebrating with dance and music. Yes we can!

-Hal Bringman

About the author: Hal Bringman is a media consultant and founder of NVPR. The company has deep experience in the digital media sector. Long before Steve Jobs ever figured out what an MP3 file was, the firm has been guiding the digital music revolution since launching MP3.com, Napster, and many other major players. The company launched and built many of the biggest or most talked about brands in mobile entertainment and digital media. With offices in Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, the team is prepared to help revamp websites, improve copy or launch global PR/marketing campaigns.

2008-12-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

Mashable has a nice piece on eMarketer's Social Media analysis that basically outlines all the reasons you should already be doing this!

Don't worry, be happy: Digital Media Grabs 10% Of $845Bn Global Media And Entertainment Business In 2008

2008-12-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

One more reason to stay optimistic for 2009 is the latest numbers from Strategy Analytics which indicate digital media surpassed filmed entertainment in revenues. The report, "Global Media & Entertainment Market Forecast, 2004 - 2012," predicts that total worldwide revenues from media and entertainment - including television & filmed entertainment, recorded music, games software and advertising - will exceed $845 billion this year, with more than 10%, or $90.0 billion, coming from online and mobile channels. In comparison, the global filmed entertainment market will generate $83.1 billion in revenues this year.

NVPR EXPANDS INTO SOUTH AMERICA

2008-11-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

NVPR EXPANDS INTO SOUTH AMERICA
OPENS OFFICE IN BUENOS AIRES

EXPANSION COINCIDES WITH INAGURATION OF GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK

Los Angeles and Buenos Aires (--November 18, 2008--) NVPR is expanding into South America and has selected Buenos Aires, Argentina, to be its Latin American headquarters. The firm has been pioneering digital media since it launched Internet juggernauts like MP3.com and Napster, among others, at the inception of the dot com boom in North America.

“I chose Buenos Aires based largely on the Argentine people's entrepreneurial spirit that I find to be a reflection of what I witnessed in California,” said Hal Bringman, CEO and Founder. “The budding start up community that exists in South America is ripe for guidance and shaping in order to flourish to the next level and become the ‘Silicon Valley of the South.’”

The firm’s move follows in the footsteps of many digital behemoths that have similarly situated themselves, not the least of which is Google, who also established a presence in Buenos Aires. Other heavyweights include Motorola, Intel, EDS, BT and noted entrepreneurs like Fabrice Grinda, who have multiple investments in the region, including OLX.com and Sonico.com.

Many industry analysts and experts, including Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, believe Latin America is quickly becoming a key driver towards e-commerce as broadband usage is set to explode in the region. Mr. Schmidt, in particular, noted that Latin America is "…the region with fastest growth in the Internet sector, more than Asia, the U.S. and Europe."

“Our aim is to help North American and European companies realize the potential for broadening their customer base by marketing to Latin America while recognizing and shaping the burgeoning start up community here and supporting entrepreneurs leading them to the successful heights experienced elsewhere,” added Hal Bringman.

The week, Nov. 17-23, 2008, marks the launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week and offers a first-ever worldwide series of events to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and encourage young people to become more innovative and entrepreneurial. In the United States, the Week includes a series of national events and hundreds of events sponsored locally across the country -- and around the globe. Founding sponsors for Global Entrepreneurship Week are the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the United States and Make Your Mark in the United Kingdom.

###

About NVPR

NVPR is a boutique communications firm in Los Angeles, now with global operations based in Buenos Aires, dedicated to detect and introduce new trends and services to the masses subsequently transforming them into burgeoning businesses. Successful prior campaigns include many spectacular brands and services that forever altered their respective industries and sectors, including the launch and subsequent IPO of MP3.com (USD$400M), the launch of file sharing services such as Napster, Grokster, MP2P and Blubster (OptiSoft), the introduction of mobile entertainment (ringtones, in particular) to North America, and the announcement of the largest domain name purchase in history, Sex.com, among many others.
NVPR’s founder, Hal Bringman, is a “trendspotter” and “…a PR pro if ever there was one…”, as described by power bloggers like BoingBoing.net and uber-influencers like Rafat Ali of PaidContent.org, respectively. For more information, visit http://www.nvpr.com.

About Global Entrepreneurship Week

With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week will encourage youth to think big, turn their ideas into reality, and make their mark. From Nov. 17-23, 2008, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Thousands of activities are being planned in more than 75 countries around the world. Global Entrepreneurship Week is: founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Make Your Mark campaign; sponsored by NYSE Euronext, IBM and Ernst & Young; and, supported by JA Worldwide, Endeavor, Entrepreneurs' Organization, DECA, YPO-WPO, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Young Americas Business Trust, YES - European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs, Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, AIESEC, Youth Employment Services, The Prince's Youth Business International. To view a complete list of participating countries and organizations or to learn more, visit www.unleashingideas.org.

Red Bull's "Event" Oriented Marketing Out of the Box

2008-10-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

A race for the consumer's attention.

AdAge: YouTube User's Video of Letterman Outdraws CBS Clip

2008-09-30T10:01:00.000-07:00

Strategic Thinking 3.0

2008-09-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Digital media tastes great and is less filling!

Graffiti or advertising?!

2008-09-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

AdAge: Digital is fastest growing revenue stream

2008-09-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

PaidContent reports on AdAge's ranking of Top 100 media entities. The juiciest part, as Rafat Ali points out, is the interactive "Media Family Tree." More addictive than Facebook!