Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood Events at CES Sunday, January 6th 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Track II- GP2 - Game Power Game Power: 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. Cody Alexander, Head of Video Games, William Morris Agency Cindy Cook, CMO and Executive Strategy Officer, Vivendi Games Bill Nielsen, Senior Director, Xbox LIVE, Microsoft Nicholas Longano, President and COO, Brash Entertainment Chris Charla, Director, Business Development, Foundation 9 Entertainment Brett Close, President and CEO, 38 Studios Matthew Ringel, President, Games Media Properties, Moderator Cindy Cook, Chief Strategy and Marketing officer, Vivendi Games: Cindy Cook is chief strategy and marketing officer for Vivendi Games. Vivendi Games is a global developer, publisher and distributor of multi-platform interactive entertainment. Cook leads corporate strategic activities and drives the Company’s worldwide marketing, communications and public relations initiatives. She also is responsible for the management of Vivendi Games’ Sierra Online and Mobile divisions. Cook has more than 20 years of global marketing and branding experience. Prior to Vivendi Games, Cook was vice president of marketing for Flexplay, a DVD technology startup company where she was responsible for the Company’s worldwide marketing programs, promotional and business-to-business development activities. Prior to Flexplay, Cook was vice president of marketing for Pressplay, a digital music subscription service and joint venture with Universal Music Group/Sony Music. Previously, Cook served as new product director at Seagram Beverage Company, where she led new product strategy initiatives and marketing for the low alcohol beverages group and spearheaded its entry into the beer market. Cook also served in a variety of management roles at Pepsi-Cola, including marketing manager responsible for developing marketing programs for brands such as Diet Pepsi, Slice, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC. Cook holds a master’s degree in business administration from the NYU Stern Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Lehigh University. Brett Close, President & CEO, 38 Studios: Brett Close is a video game industry veteran with more than a decade of experience delivering highly successful entertainment products and leading multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, artists, game designers, and audio experts. Brett most recently served as the general manager and production director of Midway Games’ Austin, TX game development studio where he oversaw global production as well as managed the studio’s game teams on the BlackSite: Area51 and NightCaster product lines. Brett is an expert in the intersection of technology, game design, and software development after having held a number of technical and managerial roles in the software industry. Earlier in his career as a development director at Electronic Arts, Brett was responsible for all technical aspects of development and production for the award winning Medal of Honor game franchise, based out of EA’s Los Angeles studio. He honed his skills at Devil’s Thumb / VR-1 / Jaleco Entertainment in Boulder, Colorado, where he began his game career as a software engineer and technical director, and quickly worked his way up to senior producer for the NightCaster Xbox launch, and eventually became general manager of the Boulder studio. Brett holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science as well as a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Kansas. He also studied philosophy and chemistry at Universität Dortmund in Germany. An avid athlete, musician, and environmentalist, Brett is a respected industry leader known for both encouraging and establishing a true work-life balance in the game development environment. 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. Nicholas Longano, President and COO, Co Founder, Brash Entertinment: Nicholas Longano has extensive operational and marketing experience in the video game industry, and has launched numerous successful franchises worldwide.   As president/new media at Massive Incorporated, he was a key player in building today’s billion-dollar in-game advertising market, and his industry insight and relationships led directly to 42 exclusive, long-term publisher agreements for Massive with 20 of the industry’s top video game publishers.  He also pioneered Massive’s unique greenlight process, which is rigorously applied to any potential games for the network. During four years as general manager and head of marketing for Vivendi  Games, Longano worked on Chronicles of Riddick, The Hulk, Diablo II (expansion pack), The Thing, Van Helsing, Half Life – Blue Shield, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Baldur’s Gate II, Cat in the Hat, Metal Arms, and over 30 other titles.   Previously, as president of MOJO Advertising in Los Angeles, he formed a new video game division with clients such as Atari, 2K Games, Epic, Vivendi Universal Games, and Groove Games.   Prior to the video game industry, Longano served as general manager for Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Canada and Latin America operations, and head of marketing, worldwide. Matthew Ringel, President, Games Media Properties: Matthew Ringel, President 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. Chris Charla is director of business development at Foundation 9 Entertainment, working with teams across the company on game pitches and new IPs. Prior to selling out and becoming a suit, he helped conceive and produce F9E subsidiary Backbone Entertainment's original IP, Death, Jr. He produced a number of other titles at Backbone since 2001. Before joining Backbone, he wrote about games and interactive entertainment in a variety of press jobs, including editor-in-chief of Next Generation magazine and launch editor of IGN.com. In his spare time, he writes text adventures and goofs around with robots.