AvatarLabs and A&E won a GOLD 2010 Summit Creative Award in the Social Media category for the PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE, a Facebook Connect-powered original video experience.

A&E was looking for an innovative way to promote the fourth season of its successful show, Paranormal State that leveraged the show’s large Facebook fan base. AvatarLabs wanted to push the Facebook Connect experience beyond what had been done before. Working closely with A&E, we developed a concept and storyline that extended the show's content and format, and placed the viewer in the middle of the action. A true full-service marketing agency, AvatarLabs’ content production team scripted, storyboarded, shot and produced a short film on location.  In post, the footage was composed into a slick video experience that mirrored the look of the show, with quick cuts, special effects, 400 custom voice over names, and an intense soundtrack.

During the two-minute video, the viewer is “walked” through various rooms of the home with the Paranormal State team where the disturbance has been reported.  They spot their photos on the mantle, see their name and interests on a wall, hear a voice call out their name, and witness other eerie connections to the home.  After the height of the experience, the viewer is literally dragged out of the house, and the tagline for the new series appears, “Believe Yet?”

The experience was enjoyed by 65,000+ of users who spent ~3 minutes with the experience. The piece received universally favorable reviews from Facebook fans, generating a 4.4 out of 5 star rating from satisfied visitors, as well as hundreds of comments from fans including: "OMG!", "How did they do that?”, “That was fricking awesome!”, “I loved it… I wasn’t expecting that at all!”, “This was great, adrenalin rush!!!”. “This was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”

The experience lives on, waiting to haunt the next viewer. Check it out here.

AvatarLabs received four nominations for The Hollywood Reporter's 39th annual Key Art Awards.  A big thank you to the judges for taking the time to view and vote, and a bigger thank you to our incredible clients at Sony, Paramount, Warner Brothers HE, and Fox HE for the opportunity to partner with them on these campaigns.  Finally, kudos to the AvatarLabs team for their talent - and hard work!




Theatrical New Media -- Special Recognition -- Most Buzzworthy
Zombieland: Zombify Yourself, created by AvatarLabs and Sony Pictures
Theatrical New Media -- Best Online Banner Advertising
Star Trek: Online Banner Campaign, created by AvatarLabs and Paramount Pictures
Home Entertainment New Media -- Best Online Banner Advertising
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Online Banner Campaign, created by AvatarLabs and Fox Home Entertainment
Watchmen: Online Banner Campaign, created by AvatarLabs and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

For more, including a full list of nominations, read the article at hollywoodreporter.com here.  The winners will be announced at the show at the Vibiana downtown Friday, June 11.  Hope to see you there!

Research group Gartner expects the mobile advertising market to expand by 78 percent to $1.6 billion in 2010. The iAd mobile advertising platform was announced as part of iPhone 4.0 just a few days after the release of the iPad. Apple's new platform eschews Flash for HTML 5. This Tech Crunch post from Brightcove founder Jeremy Allaire sheds light on the past and future of Flash, HTML5, video, and rich media on the web and mobile platforms. AvatarLabs is ready to bring more fun and engaging experiences to the growing legions of Apple mobile device users.

Expectations were exceeded and stores sold out as 450,000 iPads were sold during its first week in the marketplace.  As of April 9, users downloaded 600,000 digital books and 3.5 million applications for the device.   There are 3,500 native  apps available for the iPad with hundreds more coming online daily.  A large number of iPhone apps also run on the iPad, many of which will be updated to take advantage of the higher resolution screen.  AvatarLabs is ready to help our clients take advantage of this new device that promises to enhance the ability of consumers and movie fans to connect with brands in unprecedented ways.  We have mulitple iPad apps in the pipeline already and look forward to the exciting challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.  Feel free to stop by our office if you'd like to play with one of these new toys!

AvatarLabs has several iPad apps in development, and we're excited to bring this amazing new opportunity to our clients.  In addition to developing apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, we are concepting and developing new apps that take advantage of the iPad's unique, larger format.  The iPad also promises to be a powerful platform for mobile rich media advertising, as it can accommodate a Brightcove video player and "iFlash" ad units.  The iAd mobile platform being unveiled on April 7 will be huge news, and AvatarLabs will be keeping close watch on all developments.  We are dedicated to helping our clients profit from all things iPad.  Stay tuned!

Have you ever wondered what sort of concoction you would get if you put a hamburger, broccoli, ice cream and bananas into a blender? Sony Home Entertainment reached out to AvatarLabs for help with promoting the DVD release of the animated boxoffice hit Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.  We worked together to create the fun and sticky Cloudy Shake app that appeals to kids of all ages.  In addition to blending food items and tilting the phone to "drink" the concoction, fans will enjoy navigating the interactive map and discovering clips from the film.  Fun and educational food facts from the "Health Police" are featured as well. Get the app for you iPhone or iPod Touch here, and own the DVD starting January 5!

Susan Lambert shares insights gleaned from AvatarLabs' experience with the development process and the iTunes App Store over the last year.  Read her article at Gamasutra.com. Additional insight on the iPhone approval process can be found in this story from Business Week that features in interview with SVP of Apple Phil Schiller.