The Ever-Closing Gap Between Hollywood and Technology

What is Moonshark and why should we take heed?

Because Moonshark is an incubated start-up outside of Silicon Valley.

And because Moonshark is backed by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Qualcomm, which means it will combine the powerhouse entertainment and creative resources from some of the biggest names in Hollywood with a leader in mobile innovation. The result - an ever-closing gap between Hollywood and technology, the synergy between entertainment, brand and content and the all - encompassing mobile ecosystem.

In the latest collaboration between Hollywood and Silicon, JLo helped create a new iPad  dance app called DancePad; where she is responsible for helping create some of the routines and music for the game.

Video: Moonshark Mobile

Moonshark is far from a thinly veiled attempt at slapping a star's name on a product to rake in tons of money, rather, it seemed to grow organically from talks between both companies on creating a company to produce apps and games. It's mission  is to "produce a catalog of mobile apps that tap into Hollywood's creative talent to produce compelling ideas, characters and narratives," Moonshark CEO Matt Kozlov comments. Other celebrity mobile projects include Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo and Youtibe sensation Philip DeFranco.

With entertainment being the primary content being consumed on mobile screens, and the rising popularity of gaming in ALL demographics, I think this is an incredibly smart move.  What are your thoughts?

Walmart Defines What a True Bricks-and-Mobile Strategy Is

Walmart does a lot of things that, well, defy common sense (I’m thinking about every single Walmart that I’ve been to ANYWHERE ALWAYS has only 3 lanes open). But when they do something right, man do they do it right.

Recently, Walmart announced their revamped iPhone and new iPad apps that will merge online and in-store shopping like never before. Using mobile to truly establish a relationship with the customer, the apps feature options such as home barcode scanning, enlists Siri to create lists, creates budgeting tools and integrates coupons (from Coupons.com) and Walmart inventory. Walmart stores service 140M customers a week, an undisclosed percentage of those customers are smartphone customers. Nonetheless, according to Walmart, the Walmart customer is adapting mobile technology on pace with the general population, so this move is a good look.

Walmart’s mobile strategy is set to prove a few strategic points to retailers and marketers - for retailers, mobile is a prime channel for relationship marketing. It’s one of the few spaces where you can customize an intimate environment and interact (one-on-one) with the the customer. For advertisers, this is another sign to move away from the stagnant thinking that mobile is only a vehicle for advertising messages- think about engagement.

You can read the story in its entirety at Ad Age.

What do you think?