Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood, May 2-5, 2011 Ritz Carlton Hotel, Marina del Rey, California Thursday, May 5th 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM Track I: AdvUp-21, HGmz-6 Advertising and Micro-Commerce, 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. Lee Clancy, SVP Product Management & GM Direct Revenue, IMVU Inc. Steve Klebe, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, BilltoMobile Brian McKelvey, CEO, Worlize Paul Rothkopf, Director of Advertising Sales - Exent Will Akerlof, President, Liquid Advertising, Inc. Maura Sparks, President, KissAppGames Bob Holmes, CEO, Sudden Industries, Moderator Steve Klebe, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, BilltoMobile: As the vice president of business development and strategy for BilltoMobile, a pioneer in e-commerce and mobile billing, Steve is in charge of the company’s innovative online payment service. He is responsible for the overall management of fostering new business partnerships and growing BilltoMobile’s already expansive online portfolio. Steve is a proven industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience in sales, business development, strategic alliances and product marketing in electronic payments, authentication and fraud prevention. He has worked in a variety of senior management roles at companies including VeriFone, CyberSource and RSA, and has driven numerous innovative payment solutions from infancy through their mainstream stage, including Visa’s equity investment in CyberSource and the co-branded product – the CyberSource Advanced Fraud Screen enhanced by Visa. A trusted advisor in the industry, Steve has taught classes at the NACHA Payments Institute and served on the board of directors of the Electronic Transactions Association, as well as the advisory boards of the Direct Response Forum and the Electronic Funds Transfer Association. Will Akerlof, President, Liquid Advertising, Inc.: Will Akerlof is partner and president of Liquid Advertising, Inc., a Venice-based ad agency with special expertise in online marketing for gaming clients. Liquid's current clients include Atari, Blizzard, Codemasters, Disney Online, EA Mobile, Nexon, PopCap Games, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Will got his start in media in high school where he created an alternative newspaper, writing articles, selling space and creating ads for local businesses (the venture turned enough profit to pay for a few parties). While in college at Ohio State University, he sold ad space for Ohio Magazine and then joined Fahlgren Martin, McDonald's regional ad agency. After graduating, Will moved to Los Angeles and worked at traditional agencies, including Coen/Kalis and Sacks/Fuller, working on a number of accounts in gaming, consumer products and financial services. In 1996, he left traditional advertising to found the online advertising division of iAgency, one of the first online marketing organizations. Through trial and error, he helped build a system for testing and optimizing online ads that delivered superior results for clients such as Qualcomm, Cathay Pacific and DiTech Home Loans. In 2000, Will founded Liquid Advertising with several members of his team. Liquid successfully negotiated the dot com crash by staying small, profitable and debt-free, while keeping a core group of clients using the internet in a wise and prudent manner. Early Liquid clients included adidas, Fandango and Universal. In 2003, Liquid began working as the online agency of record for Vivendi Universal games which led to an introduction and work with Blizzard Entertainment. Liquid has worked with Blizzard for many years, helping to promote World of Warcraft from launch in November 2004 to the most recent online campaign for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Maura Sparks, President, KissAppGames: Maura Sparks has been a key member in several start-ups. She recently co-founded, KissAppGames, a casual game company for mobile and the web. In our first game, Glass Ceiling, our hero fights her way up the corporate ladder-literally. By battling fresh men, backstabbing co-workers, asinine accountants, crazy clients, and bad bosses. We anticipate building a franchise around our characters to expand the brand beyond games. At Broadband Mechanics, a white label social network company, she developed social networks and social media for corporate clients. She co-founded an interactive entertainment company, Pop Rocket, which she grew from first sketch to achieving worldwide recognition. As part of the core development team, she created graphics, video, and animation for their award-winning music video adventure game. She also managed the operations and worked closely with all departments to implement company vision and strategy. A veteran of the multimedia industry, she has been involved with producing and marketing pioneering software, such as: Swivel 3D, Modelshop, Spaceship Warlock, Total Distortion and PeopleAggregator. Brian McKelvey, CEO, Worlize: Brian McKelvey is the co-founder and CEO of Worlize, Inc. Brian has over a decade developing and deploying cutting-edge technology within the entertainment industry. McKelvey has led, designed and deployed gaming and web technologies for a multitude of leading companies including Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, TNT, GSN and Live Nation. McKelvey is currently based in Los Angeles, Ca. Paul Rothkopf, Director of Advertising Sales - Exent: As Director of Advertising Sales for Exent, Mr. Rothkopf is responsible for developing relationships with the advertisers and media firms that support Exent’s gaming properties. He works with Exent’s advertising partners to develop the strategy and tactics to effectively engage Exent’s customers. Prior to joining Exent, Mr. Rothkopf served as SpiralFrog.com’s Senior Vice President of Sales, where he was responsible for building the startup’s brand and developing the company’s sales strategy. Mr. Rothkopf was also one of the founders of TheSportingNews.com, where he spearheaded the execution of integrated campaigns for Gillette, Toyota, Visa and Ford. Mr. Rothkopf and his team eventually sold the business to Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures. Mr. Rothkopf began his career at Wenner Media where he held a variety of sales and sales management positions at both Rolling Stone and US Magazine. Bob Holmes, CEO, Sudden Industries: If you looked at Bob’s resume, you’d think he planned this all from the beginning: from art school to recording artist to record producer to running a production company that became a marketing company and then a digital agency. Sounds logical now, but you try living through it. Nevertheless, this path has ended up providing Bob with a lot of experience in creative technologies, from music videos (remember them?), to Enhanced CDs (how about them?), broadband and mobile phones. In each case, he has dedicated himself to creating the most engaging user experiences that have actually had impact on both audience and sales. He’s won a few awards along the way as well, but he’s more likely to tell you about his cowboy toy collection, which is a lot more fun anyway. He founded Sudden Industries over 15 years ago as an offshoot of his successful music and television production company. How he made the journey from a recording artist to record producer to starting one of the first digital agencies servicing the entertainment and media business is an interesting one, but too long and complicated to include here. Call him up and ask, it’s a good story and he loves to tell it. What we will say is that Sudden, located in New York City, has dedicated itself from the beginning to creating engaging user experiences across a number of digital platforms, including web and broadband (remember when they meant two different things?), ITV, IPTV, mobile and kiosks. We’ve more than satisfied a great roster of clients including Nickelodeon, Barnes & Noble, Poptropica, Penny/Dell, Gay.com, the American Legion, and Sparknotes by providing them with the breadth of services usually found at larger agencies, while delivering them with the personal attention of smaller boutique shops.