10:45 PM – Noon
Track IV:
Video Bling! Audio Bling - The Evolving Bling Bling Phenomenon: From Audio and Video Ringtones, Ringtunes, Advertainment to Games & Custom Branded Experience
The entertainment experience in the mobile environment is evolving from novelty platform to what will be nothing short of a fully realized world of games, music, video, advertising and branding experience. While the developing relationship between the consumer and content provider may be dependant on platforms, technology, standards and gateways, the goalposts are now in full view. And most importantly, the consumer is ready to embrace the relationship, both as participant and paying customer. In fact, the resistance of the consumer to mobile add-on fees has easily out-paced the early barriers experienced by the first generation broadband content pay packages. In this session we will explore the mobile entertainment experience, from product packages to the advertainment and branding experience.
Cindy Mesaros, Vice President, Marketing, Moderati
Mitch Rotter, Director, Content Licensing & Acquisition, Infospace Mobile
Scott M. Jensen, Vice President, Head of Licensing & Brand Partnerships, MFORMA Group, Inc.
Anthony Stonefield, CEO, USA Wireless
Michael Pinto, President, CEO, mobZilla
Tim Shey, Shey Media, Moderator
Cindy Lundin Mesaros is responsible for Moderati's marketing strategy,
planning and activities, including branding, product management, content production, public relations and promotions. Cindy created the identity for the Modtones polyphonic ringtone services, launched in the summer of 2002, as well as the new Moderati corporate identity in 2005. She is particularly proud to have voiced the original "incoming booty call" ringtone for Modtones. Cindy previously directed branding, advertising, promotions and public relations for online music provider Listen.com, solidifying awareness with their target market of young music fans and striking partnerships with independent record labels. As the first employee of Internet recruiting start-up Career Central, Cindy created the company's identity, built promotional partnerships with 50 business schools and an enrolled base of 35,000 MBA job candidates. Her background also includes stints in sports and non-profit marketing. Cindy holds a B.S. in business administration from U.C. Berkeley and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern.Mitch Rotter, Director, Content Acquisition and Licensing, InfoSpace: Mitch Rotter, director, content acquisition and licensing for music, has more than a decade of experience in the music and entertainment industry. He joined InfoSpace from New Line Cinema, where he most recently served as senior vice president for soundtracks and music development. In that position, Rotter oversaw the major motion picture studio division responsible for music development, soundtrack releases, and music marketing. Among Rotter’s many accomplishments, he established New Line Records and under his direction, New Line Records went from zero to more than $15 million in revenues. In addition to negotiating soundtrack deals with major record labels and song production and licensing deals with artists, managers, record labels, and music publishers, Rotter also served as executive producer for two Grammy-nominated soundtracks, I Am Sam and Lord of the Rings. Rotter joined New Line Cinema as senior director in 2000. Earlier in his career, Rotter worked as a new media project manager for Capitol Records, where his duties included managing the online presence of Capitol Records and Blue Note Records and its many artists. A keynote speaker and featured lecturer at numerous industry gatherings, Rotter is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording and Sciences.
Scott Jensen, Vice President, Licensing & Brand Partnerships, MFORMA
: Scott Jensen manages MFORMA’s partnerships with brand owners and media companies and is primarily responsible for the acquisition and management of entertainment brands. Prior to joining MFORMA, Jensen was president of NuvoStudios, a leading wireless games developer. Previously, Jensen was a member of the management team that founded SportSkill, where he negotiated contracts with the NFL, MLB, and Fox Sports. Earlier Jensen was vice president of business and legal affairs at StreamSearch, where he helped launch the first online film and music festival. Jensen began his career as a practicing attorney, specializing in advising entertainment and technology clients.Michael Pinto, President, CEO, mobZilla: Mike has 15 years of entrepreneurial experience including 8 years of international business development. Most recently Mike entered the European wireless entertainment space in early 2000 leading a start-up team to profitability in 6 months. He is responsible for leading the overall vision of the company as well as planning the commercial distribution strategy. Prior to mobZilla Mike was the Managing Director of Sonar Telecom, a European-based wireless service provider which specialized in selling wireless entertainment products to major media properties. While at Sonar he successfully signed and led the national launch of the first branded interactive phone version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". Prior to Sonar Mike was the Managing Director of Advanced Telecom Group, a European-based company specializing in premium billing and content aggregation. Mike led a team that aggregated premium sms billing with 23 operators in 6 countries, and formed strategic revenue partnerships with over 50 media and content companies, including major magazine, newspaper and television networks. A partial client list while at those companies includes; Monstermob, Lycos, Telegraph.co.uk, Cat Games, Stealthnet Interactive, TV5 Spain, Canal Sur, Grupo Correo, Bauer Group, The Phone House (60 independent shops), Active Media, Wicked Colors, RTL 4, Teletext (Valencia, Galicia, Canal Sur), Channel 25 Barcelona, DooYoo (bought by Yahoo!), and BattleMail.
Anthony Stonefield, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, USA Wireless:
Listed as "one of the top 50 mobile content executives" (Dec. 05, Mobile Entertainment Magazine), Stonefield has spent the last thirteen years productizing applications for digital media distribution and marketing. He and his team pioneered digital song distribution (in cooperation with AT&T Labs) in 1995; and, in 2000, popularized ringtones in the Western World--creating today’s $900 million US ringtone market. Stonefield’s company, Moviso, was acquired by Vivendi Universal (Nasdaq: VU) in 2002, then acquired by InfoSpace (Nasdaq: INSP) in 2003, where it drove five consecutive record revenue quarters for InfoSpace Mobile—the United States’ leading mobile content, applications and entertainment marketing company—and helping double that company’s stock price in 14 months. Stonefield recently founded USA Wireless to develop innovative wireless telephony applications that enable brands and content providers to offer compelling mobile entertainment experiences. Through a set of applications that bridge text, multimedia and voice products and services, the company aims to expand the mobile entertainment paradigm. He has executive produced the worldwide mobile program for the Live 8 event, the world’s first celebrity-based mobile video show, Twins TV, and the mobile charity part of Melissa Ethridge’s "I Run for Life" breast cancer campaign. Stonefield is an advisory to venture funds and industry analysts, and has served as an expert panelist on digital entertainment on five continents. He earned his bachelor's degree in natural science from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Tim Shey, Shey Media: Timothy Shey has been an industry leader and executive creating interactive experiences for over a decade, working widely in emerging media including interactive television, mobile entertainment, and social networking. Currently, Tim heads up strategy and development for Rocketboom, the popular videoblog that's currently one of the most popular shows on the internet, and is one of the executive producers of Flatland, the world’s first original action series conceived and created for broadband, handheld, and mobile distribution. Tim co-founded the pioneering interactive agency and mobile content publisher Proteus, where he and his colleagues were responsible for the first-ever interactive television broadcast in the U.S. using mobile phones, FOX's Super Bowl XXXVI, co-produced four seasons of interactive TV for FOX Sports’ MLB, NFL, and NASCAR broadcasts, and developed numerous leading ITV and wireless projects, including the first- ever commercial WAP application in North America. His ten years' interactive client work included national and international campaigns for clients including Sony, The Washington Post-Newsweek, ExxonMobil, and Motorola, among others. After Proteus’ acquisition by the For-Side Group in 2004, Tim continued to lead the company’s creative, product, and marketing strategies, where they developed and launched exclusive, network-wide premium mobile content offerings for partners including HBO, ABC, and FOX which remain some of the broadest and most ambitious offerings in the industry. Properties Tim has worked with include The Sopranos, Sex and the City, NBC’s 2004 Olympic Games, and much of ABC’s top programming in daytime, primetime, and late night. Tim is a regular speaker at industry events including CES, Digital Hollywood, NATPE, and the AFI Digital Content Lab, and he and his work have been featured in media including Wired, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, TechTV, Variety, and the Hollywood Reporter. His work contributed to a Best in Show award for Gibson Music at CES 2004 and an IAMA Best of the Web award for ExxonMobil, and he received an American Advertising Award for his work for Ericsson. His work with ABC to develop an interactive TV broadcast of The View in 2003 contributed to two interactive television Emmy nominations. A former National Merit Scholar at George Washington University, where he and his partner founded Proteus in a dorm room, Tim was profiled by Washington Techway less than five years later as one of the D.C. area's ten leading technology executives under age thirty.stry events such as AdTech, CES, and AFI’s eTV Creative Showcase.