Technicolor’s new creative collaborative aims to secure bigger piece of adland’s pie
Movies have long been brought to us ‘in glorious Technicolor’. Now the visual effects pioneer and media property is officially entering adland with a new creative branch born of its production services division. The new Technicolor Creative Studios is a global network that seeks to further the transformation of the entertainment and experiential segments of the marketing industry. Its efforts will primarily center on film, gaming, episodic, experiential and advertising projects.
Technicolor’s new creative collective aims to bring film, episodic, interactive and experiential projects to new heights
The formation of the new network
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Technicolor Creative Studios is a creative network encompassing visual effects and production company The Mill, visual effects studio MPC, animation studio Mikros Animation and episodic and film studio Mr X.
Under the new deal, each studio will retain its own branding and market positioning but will have access to the full suite of capabilities across the network to collaborate on new projects. Operations will integrate across the suite and the group will house multidisciplinary talent across a network of global offices.
The division will be headed by a new leadership team. It will be helmed by Technicolor Creative Studios president Christian Roberton and includes president of customer experience and advertising David Patton, as well as key players in each of the respective studios.
“Our collective aim is to develop unforgettable brand experiences for every media platform,” Patton tells The Drum. Patton will head up the brand experience division of Technicolor Creative Studios, which aims to apply new technologies to create immersive and interactive marketing experiences, alongside traditional linear content production efforts.
“This move comes at a pivotal time for the advertising and marketing industry, where we see great opportunity to expand on our existing capabilities to meet growing market and audience demand, based on the adoption of new technologies,” Patton says. “In addition, core visual effects capabilities, creative strategy, production and experiential marketing will be core to the work we deliver.”
Why it matters to marketers
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Technicolor already has a significant portion of its business derived from advertising. During Q1 2021 alone, Technicolor launched more than 1,000 commercials, including approximately 20 Super Bowl spots. Among the most memorable of Technicolor’s recent projects are Mercedes S-Class and Alicia Keys’s ‘Pieces’, Dell’s ‘Youniverse’, Audi’s ‘Future Is An Attitude’ and Samsung’s ‘Awesome Is For Everyone 2’. Technicolor recently scored three Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards and six British Arrows, making it a top choice for many studios, producers and marketers.
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In particular, target clientele of Technicolor Creative Studios includes organizations within the entertainment, fashion, automotive and other major sectors seeking large-budget production services. The group’s collective resources and skills could give marketers new opportunities to create mind-blowing creative and reach target audiences in fresh, new ways.
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The new network’s slogan is ‘beyond imagination’, signifying an objective to take content production to the next level. Technicolor Creative Studios aims to deliver against this lofty proposition with three core offerings: innovation; talent and technology; and scale and infrastructure.
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Its innovation offering promises clients access to cutting-edge virtual production, spanning episodic initiatives, linear television, live interactive exhibits, AR/VR experiences and gaming.
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The talent and technology offering gives clients access to more than 2,000 designers, directors, artists and technicians around the globe.
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With workflows integrated across studios and tech stacks, Technicolor Creative Studios aims to deliver faster and better work – breaking down the silos across which marketers and creators may be accustomed to working, per the company.
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“What differentiates us from other production partners and collectives is our command of creative technology, and investment in talent that we believe can pioneer the new wave of brand experiences and entertainment, from virtual production and real-time rendering to VR and AR,” says Patton.
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“With a strong legacy in the entertainment and advertising industries, we will build and evolve Technicolor Creative Studios to be a future-facing and innovative creative technology company ready to lead a new era of creativity in content and experience production.”