Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from the last Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here CES 2007, Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall Sunday, January 7th 11:30 PM – 12:30 PM Track II- GP4 Game Power I - Entertainment as Franchise - As Games Crossover into Music, TV, Cable, Movie, Mobile, Advertainment & Custom Branded Experience In today’s global entertainment environment, the successful extension of a franchise is not only part and parcel of the business plan, it is also welcomed and embraced by the consumer. The power, quality and popularity of the various entertainment mediums, make it possible for a game to enable a successful movie franchise, just as a successful ‘70s TV show can be recast as a worldwide movie blockbuster. This of course can start the cycle all over again, generating the next generation of game, DVD, toys, CD, t-shirts, live events and so on. Unique to this phenomenon today however, is the need to protect the brand as it is extended into each category. Competition and consumer sophistication today demand a level of creativity in the games, movies and TV shows produced, something that brand extension itself can not overcome. Tim Harris, SVP/Co-Founder, Play (a division of Denuo) Julie Pitt, GM Distribution & Publishing, RealNetworks Tommy Tallarico, President, Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc. Chris Di Cesare, Director of Entertainment Marketing, Microsoft Jamie Berger, VP, Consumer Products, IGN Entertainment, Fox Interactive Media Cody Alexander, Head of Video Games, William Morris Agency Matthew Ringel, President and CEO, Games Media Properties, Moderator Tim Harris. SVP/Co-Founder, Play (a division of Denuo): Tim Harris joins Denuo with years of communication experience, a reputation for ingenuity and an intense interest in connecting with consumers via popular culture and emerging media. In 2003, Harris co-founded Play * a division of Denuo and the industry's first agency unit dedicated to leveraging videogames as a consumer contact medium. Servicing clients such as General Motors, P&G, LEGO, Miller and Allstate, the agency quickly became a recognized force in the industry. As the creative component of Play, Harris is directly responsible for guiding creative ideation and content development, crafting brand value through gaming marketing implementation, seeking out forward-thinking clients and consulting with brands and games companies on new ways to partner. Prior to launching Play, Harris co-founded Starcom IP, a digital and online media agency within SMG, and served as Director of Messaging and Cross-Contact Architecture. Harris graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in telecommunications from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Tommy Tallarico, President, Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc.: Tommy Tallarico is a veritable video game industry icon. As one of the most successful video game composers in history, he has helped revolutionize the gaming world, creating unique audio landscapes that enhance the video gaming experience. Tommy is the creator and executive producer of Video Games Live, the biggest and most successful video game concert tour in the world (www.videogameslive.com). Tommy hosts, writes and co-produces the television shows Reviews on the Run and the Telly Award winning, Electric Playground. He is the founder and president of G.A.N.G. (Game Audio Network Guild), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting excellence in interactive audio (www.audiogang.org). An accomplished musician, Tallarico has been writing music for video games for more than 16 years. In 1994, he founded Tommy Tallarico Studios, the multimedia industry’s largest post-production audio house. He has won over 25 industry awards for best video game audio and has worked on more than 250 game titles; to date, they total sales of more than 75 million units and two billion dollars. Julie Pitt, GM Distribution & Publishing, RealNetworks: Julie Pitt is responsible for content acquisition and business development for RealNetworks games products and services. During her tenure at RealNetworks, she has led the growth of RealArcade’s customer acquisition to more than 30 channels, launched partnerships with Comcast and overseen more than 20 global partnerships with Telcos, OEMs, Portals and content publishers. Ms. Pitt also directed RealArcade’s global expansion into the German, French and Spanish markets. Ms. Pitt has worked in the casual downloadable games industry for three years, and has over 20 years of marketing experience ranging from e-commerce to the retail/marketing industry. Prior to RealNetworks, Ms. Pitt was head of marketing for a Seattle start-up company which provided video merchandising for major e-tailers including Amazon.com, Walmart, JCPenny and Eddie Bauer. In 1998, she was Director of Marketing for Amazon.com where she was responsible for managing portfolio partnerships, customer segmentation, and loyalty marketing programs. Ms. Pitt graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Consumer Behavior from California State University – Humboldt. Cody Alexander, Head of Video Games, William Morris Agency: Cody Alexander is Head of Video Games for the William Morris Agency. In this capacity, he represents all of the agency's creative clients such as Quentin Tarantino, Bryan Singer, Ridley Scott and John Carpenter. Additionally he consults or has consulted for companies in the game and technology area, including ESPN Videogames, Texas Instruments, MySpace.com, Amp’d Mobile and several leading AAA game developers. A regular speaker on entertainment technology gaming, Alexander has been featured on panels at the Consumer Electronics Show, Sundance Digital, Digital Hollywood, E3 Expo, and other events. He is a member of Digital Coast Roundtable and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Alexander joined William Morris in December of 1999. Prior to that, he was in business development for The Image Bank, a subsidiary of Kodak and worked as a consultant for Energy Film Library, a Getty Images company. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas where he earned a Bachelors in Cinema/Television. Matthew Ringel, President and CEO, Games Media Properties: Matthew Ringel, President and CEO of Games Media Properties, has helped pioneer the integration of video games with "traditional" media throughout his career. Ringel founded Games Media Properties in 2002 as an entity to create properties, programming and strategies that integrate video game franchises into other mainstream media, entertainment and branding campaigns. The company’s flagship touring property, GameRiot, has now appeared 120 times in over 60 cities and 200,000 attendees. Games Media Properties has worked closely with such video games companies as Microsoft, Activision, Ubisoft, Vivendi Universal Games, LucasArts, Electronic Arts, Namco, and ESPN Video Games; technology companies such as nVIDIA, AMD and Alienware; and consumer brands and media such as Blockbuster, Pepsi, DaimlerChrysler, Kraft, and SpikeTV. Ringel also has an extensive background in television and live entertainment. He frequently speaks and writes about the video games industry and branded entertainment, leading panels on "Games and Advertising" and "Games and Hollywood" at CES, The Media Summit, and Digital Hollywood, and "The Future of Branded Entertainment" as part of Advertising Week 2004. Ringel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale, and a Ph.D. from the University of London, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. Jamie Berger serves as Vice President of Consumer Products for IGN Entertainment, a unit of Fox Interactive Media. In this role, Berger oversees the strategic direction of several of IGN’s leading gaming brands, including GameSpy and Direct2Drive. Under Berger’s direction, GameSpy has become the Web’s leading middleware services provider for the multi-player gaming community by providing technology and services to each of the world’s top ten game publishers. In all, GameSpy technology has been leveraged in more than 400 titles from publishers such as Electronic Arts, Atari and Activision. Direct2Drive, which launched in 2004, is now the Web’s top digital download store for video games and in 2006 began delivering film, television and anime content digitally via relationships with 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Films and Starz Media. With more than 15 years of professional brand management and marketing experience to the online gaming industry, Berger joined IGN Entertainment after six years with the consumer products division of The Walt Disney Company. Berger began his professional career as an account manager with the NCR Corporation. He received his B.A. in economics from Washington & Lee University and an MBA from The University of Virginia.