Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Digital Hollywood New York City, November 17-18, 2011 McGraw-Hill Building, 49th Street and 6th Ave., New York City Thursday, November 17th 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM Workshop I Advertising NEXT: Social Networks, TV & Video, Broadband, Mobile and Games Jeff Ratner, SVP Group Integrated Planning Director, Zenith Media Mark Pollard, Director of Planning Innovation, Saatchi & Saatchi New York Serge Del Grosso, Director of Media for North America, SapientNitro Jon Vlassopulos, CEO, Skyrockit Phill Simon, Partner, Creative Director, Mondo Studios Thomas Tafuto, CEO, Interactive Outliers (i/o inc.), Moderator Mark Pollard, Director of Planning Innovation, Saatchi & Saatchi New York. Mark has been making online content and communities his entire adult life, passing through the worlds of user experience, information architecture, digital production and copy writing on his way to becoming a brand planner. Most recently, Mark was the Planning Director of McCann Sydney where he led planning for clients such as Mastercard, Kleenex and Pfizer. Previously, he worked at Leo Burnett, Tribal DDB and Ogilvy. He is also a creative spirit. At 20 he founded the first full color hip hop magazine in the Southern Hemisphere, called Stealth. It was distributed by Tower Records worldwide; even the New York City Library subscribed. He’s also an award winner - in 2008, Mark won Gold at the Australia APG Creative Planning Awards for his McDonald’s Burger strategy. In 2009 he was listed as one of Sydney’s Top 100 Creative Catalysts and in the AdNews Top 40 under 40. In between doing all this he has also found time to crowd-source a book to raise money for a men's mental health cause ('The Perfect Gift for a Man'), edited a book about music producers’ studios (‘Behind the Beat’), hosted a radio show for 5 years and written for over 60 magazines around the world including Vice, Knowledge and Ministry. At Saatchi & Saatchi New York, he is leading planning innovation across all GMI brands as well as leading digital strategy efforts for all Saatchi NY clients. You can find him (and his thinking) at http://www.markpollard.net on the web, @markpollard on Twitter, and mark.pollard@saatchiny.com on email. Serge Del Grosso is Director of Media, North America, at SapientNitro. He leads the management and evolution of SapientNitro's media practice across all digital, traditional and emerging media channels. Serge joined the company in October 2009. Serge is a recognized and accomplished media professional with the unique experience of having worked across client, agency and media sales disciplines. Prior to joining SapientNitro, Serge was EVP, Managing Director on the Sears account at MPG. Serge's other prior roles included Director, Media at Sony Electronics. He won Sony's in-house 2005 Marketing Innovation Award for his pioneering work on creating innovative cross-platform partnerships. He was Director of Media for Organic, an interactive services agency. He directed marketing/sales research teams at both CBS and FOX broadcasting. Serge began his career at Young & Rubicam Advertising, where he held various positions in media planning. Serge is a graduate of New York University where he received a BA in Economics. He currently resides in Ardsley, NY with his wife Theresa and their two children, Serge Jr. and Justine. He has been active in local government and served as Trustee of the Village of Ardsley in 2004. Phill Simon, Partner, Creative Director, Mondo Studios: Phill Simon has over 17 years of professional experience in the interactive entertainment field. In his current role as creative director of Mondo Studios, he is in charge of overseeing all creative aspects of development and production. Previously, Phill was the executive producer for Mondo Media’s production group from 2001 through 2004, where he managed the animation and producer’s group that created cutting-edge digital animation projects for some of the most successful games of the last few years, including: Electronic Arts’ James Bond: Everything or Nothing, The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, Command and Conquer: Generals, Maxis’ The Sims 2 and Microsoft’s Age of Empires as well as numerous 2D animated projects for Yahoo, TiVO, LeapFrog, VH-1, Direct TV and Cisco Systems. Before joining Mondo Phill founded Jinx Studios, a digital production company. As president and creative director he oversaw development of the PC game Space Bunnies Must Die, as well as projects for NBC, Excite, Playboy, Nike, Nickelodeon and Warner Brothers. He also produced and directed Virtual Jay, a series of animated segments that aired on The Tonight Show. Phill has an extensive background in the multimedia industry and in recent years has consulted for companies such as Nickelodeon, Mattel, Time Warner, Macromedia and Apple Computer, on their strategic initiatives in the area of interactive entertainment. Jeff Ratner, Senior Vice President, Group Integrated Planning Director, Zenith Media: Jeff Ratner leads digital planning at Zenith Media as Senior Vice President, Group Integrated Planning Director, heading integrated teams on many of the agency's key accounts including JP Morgan Chase, General Mills, Reckitt Benckiser, Sonic, and Georgia Pacific. Jeff's experience literally ranges from A to X - Advil to Xerox, with a career spanning both the client and agency side. Starting out at Young and Rubicam as a spot television buyer, Jeff quickly moved through the media ranks and in 1994 co-founded one of the first full-service Interactive Media and Creative production divisions within a large agency. Prior to joining Zenith, Jeff led the digital strategy team at GroupM's Mindshare and Maxus agencies where he engaged directly on accounts such as Bristol Myers-Squibb, Sprint, BP, Merrill Lynch, HSBC, Summit Entertainment, LG, and Unilever. Jeff is a graduate of Syracuse University and currently resides in Livingston, N.J. with his wife Kim and 22-month-old daughter Bella. Thomas Tafuto, CEO, Interactive Outliers (i/o inc.): Mr. Tafuto has been a pioneer in the interactive space for over twenty two years and has collaborated with some of the world's most recognized brands including Apple, BP, IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Sony. Prior to joining DIGITAS earlier this year, Mr. Tafuto was the Executive Creative Director of Tribal DDB Worldwide and was the creative lead on Nokia, (RED), Pepsi, American Airlines, Exxon Mobil, AT&T, Starbucks, Ingersoll Rand and Dyson. Thomas directed Tribal DDB's effort that garnered Ad Age's Global Agency Network of the Year in 2008 - the first time a digital agency has been honored with that award. He was also the executive creative lead on several of Tribal's worldwide new business pitches the past year. Thomas began his career by founding Applied Imagination, Inc., one of the first interactive design firms and developed several of the industry's first interactive rich media applications and CD-ROMs from 1987 to 1989. His award-winning work included: software programs for Apple Computer, titles for ABC News InterActive; electronic courseware for the Harvard Business School; and Culture(R) A Multimedia Guide to Western Civilization. Thomas has also partnered with many of the world's top advertising agencies and includes working side-by-side with Jay Chiat to secure the well lauded MTV campaign, as well as stints with Ogilvy and Grey. Prior to joining Tribal DDB, Thomas was Director of Interactive at Jager DiPaola Kemp Design and worked with brands including XBOX 360, MTV, Burton Snowboards, Converse, Nike, Levis, Giant Bicycles, and Virgin Mobile. Thomas has spoken about interactive communications and design at numerous industry events each of the last 20 years. He has been quoted and interviewed by the New York Times, appeared on PBS, and taught interactive communications at institutions such as Columbia University, The Modern Museum of Art, Harvard Business School, and the Parsons New School. He is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and producer and creates the sonic elements for much of the work he directs.