Never before have entertainment audiences been so engaged with the movies and TV shows they love. Likewise, never before have audiences been able to engage with those shows across so many devices and platforms. Viewers can drive to the multiplex, but they can also connect to the big screen in the living room via broadcast, cable, Netflix, Hulu, Xbox, YouTube, Amazon and more. These viewers are also moving targets—according to Nielsen the rise of the iPad and other tablets have reduced desktop and laptop use by more than 30%.

Infinite opportunity leads to infinite fragmentation. The internet is the connective tissue that binds these fragments together. With 82% of Americans online, 84% of those folks on broadband and 23% of all cell phone users accessing the internet from their handhelds, the Internet is the information source of first resort for all entertainment audiences, from impassioned Gleeks singing into their iPhone karaoke app to couples arguing about whether to see “Green Lantern,” “The Trip” or “A Little Help”.

To kick off today’s exciting iMedia Entertainment Summit, our CCO, Brad Barens will will explore the changing face of entertainment audiences in 2011and walk us through the latest media usage trends.

People are consuming video like never before – on television, online and mobile. What does this mean for today’s marketer? Disney/ABC Television Group's industry-leading Digital Media team has been at the forefront of innovation in the online video space. This experience has provided valuable insights into consumer behavior across different digital platforms, including the tablet. In this session, Karin Timpone will share key insights into how marketers can utilize new platforms to engage audiences and extend brand awareness, as well as provide thoughts from recent initiatives, including: “Grey’s Anatomy” second screen sync app and the Oscar Backstage Pass live event experience.

It has become clear that video consumption habits increasingly cross different media, from TV and the internet to mobile. What affect does simultaneously advertising on these platforms have on online behavior? How can buyers measure the impact of ads across different media on purchase behavior and tune-in?

To address the need for new measurement of how consumers use multiple media, comScore has establishing a 25,000 member opt-in, cross-platform consumer research panel. This addresses the need to provide single-source, multi-screen information to the media industry to better understand how these screens are incorporated into their media usage experience.

This entertainment case study investigates techniques to measure the impact of TV and internet advertising on online behavioral response. Specifically, the study evaluates the effect of cross-media advertising on website visitation and search behaviors. Does the combination of TV and internet advertising yield higher visitation and time engaged than on a single media? Join us to find out how you can prove that your multi-platform campaign performs for your brand!

iMedia is proud to conclude this year's Entertainment Marketing Summit with an Agency Shoot-Out in which three interactive shops each pitch for 15 minutes to win a piece of fictional business.

The Fictional Story: A major Hollywood studio is relaunching the classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” an action-fantasy-adventure (NOT a musical) blockbuster, to be directed by Tim Burton or Guillermo Del Toro or Alfonso Cuarón. More modern than classical, the film will have the broadest demographic and psychographic appeal: we are aiming for a PG rating. A visually imaginative fantasy, this project is inspired by the recent re-imagining of “Alice in Wonderland.”

This property will be opened in a key season (summer or Christmas) and will have priority status. Plans are for theme park and retail extensions, and a second film in the franchise is in development (of which, Co-producer Todd McFarlane says, "You've still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she's much closer to the Ripley character from Alien than a helpless singing girl.")

The Challenge: In a time when moviegoers have more options than ever before and when windows between theatrical and home video releases keep getting shorter, how can the studio entice people pack up the family and come to the theater to see a movie that they know will be available online later this year?

The RFP: In the request for proposal sent to the our competing agencies, we asked them to pitch how the studio can use interactive media in order to drive awareness of and excitement about the re-release, as well as sell tickets.

With goals that include an articulation of overarching creative positioning, interactive platform strategies, custom viral extensions, and proposed media partnerships, the agencies have a two tier budget of $50k and $125k – to show what we could do with a constrained budget vs. with the “gloves off.”

What Will Happen: Earlier today, the agencies met with iMedia for a coin toss to see who will present first. After each pitch, our panel of judges will ask questions. After the pitches, and when questions are over, the judges will select a winner.

The Judges: We are pleased and privileged to have movie buyers from major studios on our panel of judges – if these men and women cannot choose a winner among the pitches, then nobody can!

Launched in 2005, the Visionary Marketer Award recognizes an executive who has powerfully and effectively expanded campaigns from the traditional to include interactive and immersive strategies that service movies or television while also advancing the role of interactive within all marketing. Previous award recipients were New Line and Stradella Road’s Gordon Paddison in 2005, Disney-ABC TV’s Albert Cheng in 2006, Paramount Picture’s Amy Powell in 2007, Showtime’s Robert Hayes in 2008, Sony’s Dwight Caines in 2009 and Fox’s Laurel Bernard in 2010.

This year, iMedia is proud to recognize 20th Century Fox’s VP of International Digital Marketing, Bettina Sherick.

Her experience includes managing the launch of over 100 international digital marketing campaigns for film releases such as “Rio,” “Avatar,” “Ice Age 3,” “Wolverine, X-Men 3: The Last Stand,” “Night at the Museum,” “Marley & Me,” and “The Simpsons Movie,” the latter of which won the Webby Award and People's Voice Webby Award in the Movie and Film category.

Congratulations to Bettina Sherick, iMedia’s 2011 Visionary Marketer!

In October of last year ESPN hired Carol Kruse away from leading Coca-Cola's digital marketing efforts to run all marketing – digital and legacy – for the sports media giant.

In her new role as SVP of marketing at ESPN, Kruse is responsible for developing and managing all aspects of the brand including domestic television, broadband, digital, mobile, radio, and print media assets, as well as building upon the company’s award-winning creative that includes the iconic “This Is SportsCenter” campaign. Also, the position calls for a strategic marketing focus on ESPN’s social networking strategies.

In this keynote address, Kruse will share the actionable perspectives and insights she brings from CPG to entertainment marketing, and how digital can bolster traditional TV in ESPN's marketing.

So what happens when you look beyond the scope of entertainment for inspiration and innovation? Through case studies and a review of firsthand marketing results, Kruse will share how she and her team are utilizing key trends in social and digital media to connect with their target audiences through comprehensive and integrated communications strategies and create a steep change in multichannel marketing for the entertainment category.

In this presentation you will learn:

1. How ESPN is taking iconic TV campaigns into the digital world

2. How to move the needle and get your team to embrace deeper levels of social interaction

3. How the marketing team is partnering with the mobile and digital product teams on future programming and experiences.

During the second half of the keynote, Kruse will answer your questions in an interactive Q&A session. Join us as Kruse shares the elements of branding that translate from CPG to entertainment!

From the introduction of smartphones, to tablets, technological a lot has happened in the mobile space in the last 5 years. These technological advances have provided new ways for consumers to experience and interact with your brand. So what’s the next big thing for marketers in the entertainment space?

Some argue that augmented reality, or AR is the next big thing because no app download is required. required – there is no need for a marker like a QR code in order to drive an interactive, 3D, real time experience – removing a strong barrier to entry. Rather, any mobile devices with a camera can transform an online or offline experience to an AR experience. Consumers no longer need to be tethered to their computer, or phone, or to the limits of a billboard or storefront. AR reinvents the opportunities available to advertise and market to your audience: it can be used for discovery and utility.

In this session, Scott Wellwood of Total Immersion, a global leader in AR with such clients as 20th Century Fox and CNN, will review the evolution of AR as it pertains to mobile and digital marketing. Where it’s been in the past and where its future will be.

A case study on the History Channel’s “America The Story of Us” 360 degree campaign, including gaming, mobile, and more, with Nielsen study results that prove a drive to tune-in.

Ask a social media expert (you’ll find one; they’re around) and he’ll tell you that it’s axiomatic that brands must be part of the social conversation since that conversation is happening regardless of the brand’s presence: no ostriches allowed!

But is that true for entertainment marketing?

Social media, according to VivaKi’s Rishad Tobaccowala, is “broadcast word of mouth,” but what’s the best way to engage? And is it really all about Facebook and Twitter or should studios set out to create their own social platforms? How can we use the current tools at our disposal to our benefit and ultimately drive sales?

Join us for a lively panel discussion on the intersection of social media and entertainment.

We will explore topics like:

• is social media a tool, obstacle or partner for entertainment marketers?

• how should marketers deal with talent who have their own social media presences outside the context of the property you are marketing?

• are networks and aggregators "content companies" due to the dialog they can create around entertainment brands that are not their own?

• what’s the worst mistake you can make with social media and entertainment marketing?

20th Century Fox set out to be the first to deploy an NFC poster campaign in the U.K. with NFC-enabled smart posters distributed around central London to promote the latest X-Men film, X-Men First Class. The poster campaign featured an exclusive movie trailer and a link to the film's Facebook page. Consumers with NFC phones were able to connect by tapping their phone to the poster.

NFC technology is coming of age, and this was the first public marketing campaign launched in the U.K. This layer of interactivity is exciting because of its simplicity and the opportunity for scale: Poster sites can be instantly enabled; the low cost of NFC chips; and instant consumer fulfillment.

The potential application of this technology is immense. Join us as Dougal Strachan shares objectives, learnings, and next steps for this test campaign.