Advertising agency, J Walter Thompson, has inked an agreement with Comedy Central to develop its FLEX 'N' ZEPHYR animated shorts for ComedyCentral.com, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The shorts series were an agency experiment to help brand clients better target given demos. JWT's 15-month-old arm, the Nursery, produces the animated shorts, which are geared toward young males.
"We're experimenting with audience creation through different forms of storytelling that are designed to gather the greatest number of people either as viewers or as participants," said Ty Montague, JWT New York co-president/cco. "We really believe it is core to our business in the future to demonstrate an ability to not just create branded content, but to create audiences. We believe audience creation is one of the core competencies of a modern marketing organization, so we believe it's something we need to get very good at here."
The shorts follow two metrosexual MIAMI VICE-like cops. If the webisodes are hits, JWT and Comedy Central, who are 50/50 partners on the property, will expand the franchise to cell phones, iTunes and Comedy Central's late-night series, WEB SHOWS. In addition, the partners may integrate their clients into the series when appropriate.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
