Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood, October 19-22, 2009 Thursday, October 22nd Strategic Investigation - Drill Down Day 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM Track II: The Advertising Platform Advertising, Games and Game Networks - Mobile, Broadband and Console - Serving Individuals and Communities of Interest As the platforms become more robust, as broadband, mobile, social media and TV provide greater consumer interactive flexibility, games as a product, as a destination, as a network or community and as a force in commerce grows. The growing power of the network, the relationship between the technology and the consumer, is opening the door to an entirely new and more complex set of tools in designing a multi-layered gaming consumer experience. From the explosion in casual gaming to the dedicated hardcore gamer, the power of the network is redefining games and user engagement which is ultimately revolutionizing the bottom line of the industry. Joe Hyrkin, Vice President of Sales and Business Development, Gaia Online Rick Mathieson, Award-Winning Writer and Author, Branding, Advertising & Marketing Kevin Ray, Chief Technology Officer, Majesco Jon Phenix, VP of Sales and Operations, gamerDNA Robert Norton, Managing Director, North America, King.com Alok Kejriwal, CEO and Co-Founder, Games2win Sangita Verma, CEO, TAG Networks James Green, CEO, Giant Realm, Moderator Joe Hyrkin, Vice President, Sales and Business Development, Gaia Online: Joe Hyrkin has more than 15 years of experience in senior sales and business development management both domestically and internationally. He has focused his career on creating and launching new businesses around the world, and has been instrumental in pioneering creative revenue opportunities in the consumer and community Web space. At Gaia, Joe oversees all revenue including virtual goods, advertising and merchandize as well as all Business Development efforts including strategic partnerships, and distribution. He has pioneered business models that create some of the best brand and consumer engagement on the web. Prior to Gaia Online, Joe headed up the business side of Multimedia Search at Yahoo!, where he also served as head of Business Development and Sales for Flickr. Before his time at Yahoo, Joe served as Vice President of Strategic Accounts and Asia Pacific Operations at publicly listed company, Virage Inc, a provider of video search and publishing services and software. While at Virage, Joe and his team pioneered some of the first business relationships in the broadband entertainment space, working with some of the world's leading media companies. Prior to Virage, he headed sales for Sina.com, the top Chinese language web portal, and before that Joe ran The Economist Group's business in China for 4.5 years establishing the company's presence in the country and overseeing offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Rick Mathieson, Award-Winning Writer and Author: Over the last few years, Rick Mathieson has emerged as one of the leading voices on marketing in the digital age. An award-winning writer, author, speaker and media commentator, Mathieson helps brands understand and capitalize on new digital platforms as part of integrated communications initiatives. His insights on postmodern marketing have been featured in ADWEEK, Advertising Age, Wired, Broadcasting & Cable and on MSNBC, CBS Radio and NPR. His research into next-generation business models has earned praise from USA Today and Dow Jones Interactive. His first book, BRANDING UNBOUND, was hailed as “one of the best marketing books of the year” for its “visionary and grounded” perspective on mobile as an emerging marketing and media channel. And his new book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND (Spring 2010, AMACOM Books) looks at the 10 most important rules for building brands in an anytime, everywhere world. Mathieson has been a featured speaker at industry events such as The Microsoft Leadership Forum, Yahoo’s “Branducation” lecture series and The American Management Association’s “Corporate Branding” series, among others. Over the last few years, he has briefed executives from FedEx, Virgin America, Bloomingdales, Yahoo, MasterCard, Hard Rock Café, Accenture, Franklin Templeton, and many others, on trends in digital marketing and emerging media platforms. As Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge puts it, Mathieson is “a strategic marketing expert” whose work “demystifies successful practices in a way that should encourage and inspire other marketers.” A veteran of the advertising industry, Mathieson also serves as vice president and creative director for one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent advertising agencies. Over the course of his career, he has produced award-winning creative work for a “Who’s Who” of global brand names, including HP, Palm, T-Mobile, Ferrari Club of America/West and Specialized Bicycles. Kevin Ray, Chief Technology Officer, Majesco: Kevin Ray has 14 years of experience in engineering and programming, including seven years in the interactive entertainment industry. Previous positions include CTO of Mattel Interactive, VP of Engineering at Games.com, Director of Technology at Hasbro Interactive and Principle Engineer at MicroProse. Prior to this, Mr. Ray was Director of OzzLab at Ozz Research and Director of Engineering at Byte by Byte Corporation, where he worked on the development of one of the first commercial 3d modeling, rendering and animation programs, Sculpt 3d. Robert Norton, Managing Director, North America, King.com: Robert Norton is a seasoned media executive with extensive international experience, working with some of the world’s most respected media properties. Prior to joining King.com, where he was instrumental in forming groundbreaking partnerships with global media companies including NBC, Endemol and Fremantle Media for major brands such as American Idol, Deal or No Deal, and 1 vs 100, Norton headed up TVF International in London, the UK’s largest independent distributor of factual TV programming. Norton then founded his own international production business, working with leading clients and designers including: W Hotels; Bath & Body Works; Pantone; JetBlue Airways, Peter Saville and John Maeda. Norton’s impressive new media experience spans the online health and beauty site clickmango.com, which he co-founded and raised millions of dollars in funding, establishing a strong profile for this UK-based company. Norton served as Business development Director for Nomade.fr, a French search engine, before being sold to Kingfisher and Groupe Arnault. During his time there, he set up AllEurope.com, a pan- European affiliation of local language search businesses. Norton also managed AOL Bertelsmann’s European business development and e-commerce, where he launched the UK’s first shopping channel and negotiated AOL’s first multi-million dollar European distribution deal. Norton’s media experience also extends to award-winning journalism with leading international business titles including: CBS Marketwatch, the Financial Times, Reuters and The European. Norton’s heavyweight international media experience began with his promotion of heavyweight world boxing champion Lennox Lewis. Alok Kejriwal, CEO and Co-Founder, Games2win: Alok Kejriwal is a serial entrepreneur and founded Contests2win (c2w) in 1998. c2w was the world's first customized brands promotions website and has retained its leadership position since then. Alok and c2w have gone on to create 3 new businesses - Mobile2win in China and India, Media2win and Games2win and have raised venture capital from top tier VC firms and financial institutions. Innovation, Passion and Integrity are the pillars of the group and the values that it represents. The group has experienced its first exit with the Mobile2win China business being acquired by Walt Disney in September 2006. Alok is a hands-on player, well entrenched in the media and brand space, is a relentless pavement pounder - meeting clients and partners as often as he can. Alok's USP is in assembling star teams and going to the market with new age businesses. Sangita Verma, CEO, TAG Networks: As Chief Executive Officer of TVHead, Sangita Verma leveraged 16 years of executive experience in the videogame industry to found the world’s preeminent interactive games-on-demand network in May 2003. A comprehensive turn-key content offering, TVHead delivers important new revenue streams, as well as builds customer loyalty for its network operator customers. In her role as CEO, Verma has secured Series A and B rounds of funding from private equity investors, established exclusive content agreements with leading game suppliers and global brands, and has filed seven patents covering key proprietary technologies for delivering interactive content under the TVHead brand. A strategic planner, veteran marketer and business visionary, she taps skills gleaned from a varied yet focused career to lead TVHead’s management team of seasoned game, licensing, video-on-demand, interactive television, technology and consumer entertainment product specialists. Prior to founding TVHead, Verma worked with Midway Games, starting with the company in 2000 as director of worldwide syndication. In this post, she developed her strategic vision for emerging businesses as a result of being charged with the financial analysis and due diligence reviews of new business opportunities. Structuring, negotiating and securing distribution agreements for Midway Games on wireless, iTV, handheld and Internet platforms, including with such providers as Sprint, Verizon, Qualcomm, AT&T, and Motorola, she was promoted to general manager of Midway Games' handheld business unit in 2002. This promotion added the responsibility of managing the GameBoy division for the company, while continuing to grow its businesses on the Internet, wireless, iTV and handheld platforms. Just prior to leaving Midway Games, Verma negotiated a million dollar OEM deal with Motorola to supply two games for Motorola wireless handsets. Verma came to Midway Games from Craig New Media, her own online marketing company, where, for two years, she developed online marketing, promotion and merchandising campaigns, as well as provide web statistics and trend analysis to such game industry clients as Psygnosis and Panasonic Interactive Media. In fact, Verma first began working with Panasonic in 1996 as a consultant, handling marketing for its PC games and children’s educational titles software. Charged with organizing the online infrastructure, Verma is credited with creating the first online store for Matsushita Electric Corp. (Panasonic). She also developed a public relations campaign for the Baldies PC game, securing millions of dollars worth of television time through media coverage that included over 50 local stations' news programs as well as national broadcast coverage on NBC’s Today morning news program and a six-minute segment on CNN. In recognition of her accomplishments, Verma was named group marketing director for Panasonic Interactive Media Co. in 1997, with responsibility for all entertainment marketing activities. She helped established the Ripcord Games brand for the company, and launched its flagship product – Postal, a highly controversial game which won the 1998 SPA Award in Excellence for Software Packaging. She also devised Postal Online Beta Test Contest, the first contest of its kind, which yielded over half a million downloads, forty thousand registered participants within the first four weeks and tremendous media coverage - including CNN. Before working with Panasonic, Verma provided marketing support to I-Motion Inc (now Atari Corp.)., creating and managing an online contest for the Knight's Chase PC game that increased its website traffic by 1600%, overseeing two product launches and providing management stability during the company's merger with Ocean of America; and the creative execution of various marketing challenges for Velocity Inc. From 1992 through 1994, Verma lived and worked in London as general manager for Data East Europe Ltd., responsible for establishing the company's European office, as well as all of the marketing, media relations, sales and licensing of Data East's Nintendo and Sega product lines in Europe. She joined Data East USA in 1990 as a marketing manager, launching over 15 Nintendo and Sega titles, as well as five PC titles over a two year period. A graduate of UC Davis with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communications and Economics, Verma began her career in investor relations with Stoorza, Ziegus & Metzger before making her move into the game industry. Jon Phenix - VP of Sales and Operations, gamerDNA: In his role as Vice President of Sales and Operations, Jon leads GamerDNA’s revenue generation and operations efforts. Jon joins GamerDNA from Nokia. Nokia acquired his former company Enpocket, a start-up company focused on mobile marketing, in October of 2007 . Jon’s role at Nokia was Head of Eastern US Sales for the Nokia Interactive Advertising business unit. In his role he was responsible for building a sales team and managing Eastern US revenue in the emerging mobile advertising space. Prior to Joining Enpocket in early 2005 Jon was at eBay and helped launch eBay’s New York office. At eBay Jon was a Business Development manager in the Strategic Partnerships group overseeing relationships with significant eBay business partners and advertisers. Previous to that, he was at Fairmarket starting in early 1999 (acquired by eBay in 2003). FairMarket was a startup that created a commerce and promotional auction platform that Jon licensed to brand-name companies and agencies. During his tenure at Fairmarket, Jon experienced transition from early-stage startup, to a NASDAQ IPO, to an acquisition by eBay. Jon holds a BA from Union College in Schenectady NY. James Green, CEO, Giant Realm: James Green is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Giant Realm. Mr. Green began his career in the entertainment industry and spent eight years with The Walt Disney Company (Buena Vista International) culminating in his appointment as the General Manager of the Japanese market. From Disney, Mr. Green moved to Pixar Animation Studios where he worked for Steve Jobs as the Vice President of Marketing and New Business Development. In 1998, Mr. Green became a founding partner and CEO of Sabela Media, an Internet ad serving company. After an explosive 18 months of revenue growth, during which time offices were opened on four continents, Sabela Media became the subject of a bidding war and was ultimately sold in January 2000 for $70 million to 24/7 Real Media. Mr. Green remained with 24/7 Real media for nine months as President of Technology Solutions. In Oct 2000 Mr. Green was recruited by LiveWire (an investor in Sabela) to become CEO of GiantBear. He successfully launched new products with major carriers (Cingular, Rogers AT&T, and others.), and then sold the business to InfoSpace in March 2002. After GiantBear, Mr. Green became CEO of PVI (www.pvi.tv), a virtual advertising company most famous for the virtual first down line in football and the ad behind the batter in baseball. He took the company private in 2003 and then sold it to Cablevison in May of 2005. Mr. Green joined Giant Realm as CEO in January 2007.