Won 2 ADDYs - Best of Category!

While everyone else on the planet was watching the overly long and indulgent Oscars, Animax Entertainment was indulging in an Odyssey of our own at the LA North ADDY ceremony held at Odyssey restaurant in Granada Hills. While we missed seeing The Hurt Locker upset over Avatar, we did walk away from the ADDYs ceremony with two awards for Slotcar, the branded entertainment webisode series we produced for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's - Best of Category and a Special Judge's Award. We now move from the local level to the district level of the American Advertising Federation competition. Keeping fingers crossed.

My Mini Peeps are Coming

The new My Mini Peeps virtual world for kids is in the works. Stay tuned for the launch of the 3D world but for now you can read this article on the company creating it, Masher Media, and its founder, Sherry Gunther. Animax Entertainment worked with Masher on the upcoming site. We also have one of those things in the foreground of the photo.

Animax Wins an ADDY Award

Animax Entertainment just won a 2010 ADDY Award for our work on Slotcar, the branded entertainment series we produced for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's.

The ADDY® Awards run by the American Advertising Federation are the creative industry’s largest competition, attracting over 60,000 entries every year in local ADDY competitions. The mission of the ADDY is to recognize and reward creative excellence in the art of advertising, graphic design, web design, and in the elements of advertising, illustration and photography.

Little Pim New & Noteworthy

Very nice! Little Pim's Word Bag, the iPhone app Animax developed for Little Pim made Apple's New & Noteworthy listings. The preschool targeted multilingual app for kids is quickly rising in the rankings - in less than a month it's now in the Top 25 apps in the Education category. Go Panda Go!

Little Pim Sees Shadow

Yes, it's Groundhog's Day today and the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which means six weeks more of winter. Little Pim also had a little debut when Wired's Geek Dad shadowed Pim in a nice app review of Little Pim's Word Bag (Okay, we stretched the Punxsutawney-Pim correlation a little).

Toon Town Postponed

Animation Magazine postponed Toon Town 2.0 due to logistics issues. We'll let you know when it get rescheduled. As far as we know, the Film Finance Summit is still on. We're also headed to Kidscreen Summit, NY Toy Fair and the Engage Expo, so contact us if you're available to meet with Animax Entertainment.

Ten Years of Mike & Mike

Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg have been on ESPN Radio for 10 years now and as part of the celebration they are replaying a bunch of their best clips. One of their top moments was the Emmy win for the animated series Off-Mikes that Animax Entertainment produced. Here's the clip from the show where Mike & Mike generously pat Animax on the back. Thanks guys and congrats on the anniversary!

Top Social Media Rules

Inc. Magazine just highlighted Animax in an article about Social Media employee policies. In general our policy is pretty liberal in that we'd much rather focus on being part of the conversation than on controlling the kinds of things employees or connected folks say in particular. Our policy organically developed as we started to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media for marketing for Animax, FunNugget.com, as well as on client projects. One caveat: since we've produced a lot of kids focused work there are definite differences in approach to conversations in order to ensure security and safety.

Let's Engage at Toy Fair

This February NY Toy Fair and the Engage Expo are teaming up to run a conference about the next generation of play. Animax's Michael Bellavia is moderating a panel called Adding A Powerful Online Presence To An Existing Offline Brand with executives from Scholastic, Mattel and Hidden City Games.

For anybody attending #EngageExpo in NYC http://bit.ly/M6VoM, here is a discount code "SPEAKERVIP" for $200 off.

Little Pim iPhone App Launches

One of Animax Entertainment's first iPhone apps launched: Little Pim's Word Bag. Aimed at toddlers, this pacifier app aka pass-back app will get kids tapping on your iPhone or iTouch to a different language. Kids tap through different cartoon flash card images presented by Little Pim the panda in both Spanish and French.

The app was developed by Animax for Little Pim and is based on their award winning DVD series that was recently profiled by Wired's Geek Dad blog.

Animation 2.0

Animax's Michael Bellavia is speaking at Animation Magazine's upcoming event: Toon Town 2.0. The January 26, 2010 event has a cross section of companies in the LA animation industry leveraging new media platforms for the creation and distribution of their animated programming -- from shorts to games to ecards and even old-timey stuff like TV.

Thomas Gets Underwire Support

Wired Magazine Underwire Blog has a feature on Dave Thomas, his return to Second City for the 50th Anniversary and an update on all his goings-on including a bit on Animax Entertainment. Read the blog post here.

Watch AMEX on Animax

Animax Entertainment is profiled in the new AMEX Open Forum Small Business Rules video series. It features our team, some of our work -- in particular Bob & Doug and Popzilla -- and our approach to staying in the game.

Watch the video and tweet us about it.

Annie Award Nomination

Animax is proud to announce some great news. This morning, the Annie Award nominations were announced and Rob Fendler was among the nominees. He was nominated in the "Directing in a Television Production" Achievement Category for his work on Popzilla, the animated sketch comedy show Animax developed and produced for MTV.

Ashton Kutchers Twitter Killer - Watch more Funny Videos

The Annie Awards are the animation industry's highest honor and are voted on by the membership of The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. The Awards are held February 6, 2010 and previously were hosted by Dave Thomas.

Congratulations, Rob!

Now We're #2!!!

Animax Entertainment has been running the numbers lately. First we #402 on the Inc. 500 list. Then we were #3 on the list of fastest growing private companies in LA. And now we just found out we are #2 on the list of fastest growing private companies in the San Fernando Valley.

Thanks again to our clients, employees, vendors, partners, contractors and friends and family - the last few years were very good to us. Here's to hoping the end of 2009 and 2010 is even half as kind and generous.

LA Business Journal article

The Los Angeles Business Journal ran a profile article on Animax Entertainment in association with our being added to a top 3 spot on the list of the fastest growing companies in Los Angeles.

We're #3 out of Top 100

Last night the Los Angeles Business Journal ran an event showcase the Top 100 fastest growing companies in Los Angeles for 2005-2008. Animax Entertainment placed #3 on the list.

It's been a nice awards stream for Animax:

• LABJ: Ranked #3 in all of Los Angeles
• Inc. 500: Ranked #402
• Platinum MarCom Award

And there's more to come. Next week we find out from the San Fernando Valley Business Journal what our exact rank is on their Top 50 list and in another couple weeks we find out if we win the category as a Finalist in the DPAC Awards.

Animax Among Fastest in LA

First Animax was added to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in America. Then we found out we were among the 50 fastest growing companies in the San Fernando Valley. Now we hear we were added to Los Angeles Business Journal's list of the 100 fastest growing companies in all of Los Angeles, again measuring our growth between 2005-2008. Catch us if you can.

Make Your Video Go Viral

CBS Interactive's SmartPlanet.com features an interview with Animax's Tucker Aaron that gives the Top 5 tips to making sure a video has the best chance possible of hitting it big. Solid advice.

Hardee's & Carl's Jr. Tweeted Us

Wow - the burger powers that be over at Carl's Jr. and Hardee's just tweeted us a nice note of congratulations on our MarCom Platinum Award for the series we produced for them called Slotcar. Thanks, guys, much appreciated.

Congrats to @animaxent for their MarCom Award for the Slotcar series produced for @Hardees and @CarlsJr. Good job! http://ow.ly/15Ya1r

The series got over 2 million views on FunnyorDie alone and is still ranked in the top 100 of their most watched series ever.

One Billion Dollars

The virtual goods market is a one billion dollar market and is growing quickly. You see them in social networks, virtual worlds, online games, mobile apps, etc. We're leveraging them for clients and prepping Fun Nugget to take advantage of them as well. Animax Entertainment's Tucker Aaron was quoted in AOL's Money and Finance blog WalletPop about the growth of virtual goods. This week the Virtual Goods Summit is going on in San Francisco. We weren't able to make it to that conference because we're busy participating in Unite, the Unity 3D Developers conference also going on in San Francisco. Let us know if you'd like to meet up.

LA Times Profiles Dave Thomas

The Los Angeles Times Sunday edition included a fun profile of Dave Thomas. Dave talked about comedy, Ashton Kutcher, celebrities, Popzilla, SCTV and Animax.

Astro Boy Screening

The Producer's Guild of America New Media Council launches the first screening in it's new Saturday Morning Cartoon Series. The screening features Astro Boy and there will be an interview with the producers of the film conducted by Animax's Michael Bellavia. Bring the kids if you're a member.

Saturday Mornings 2.0
The NMC Saturday Morning Cartoon series is devoted to showcasing entertainment the entire PGA family can come together to enjoy in a fun, family-friendly, social experience. PGA members are invited to bring along kids of all ages to this screening series that will highlight new film, TV and other digital media produced by members of the PGA. Working with producers and studios of the content screened in the series, the NMC hopes to be able to make the mornings interactive, giving the audience a behind-the-scenes look at how the stories came to life, who was involved and how the word is getting out about the production – with the occasional visit from a caped crusader. By fostering this sense of discovery and enabling a true PGA community spirit, the Saturday Morning Cartoon series’ aim is that little kids and big kids at heart are entertained and see how producers enabled that experience.

The Man Show

Animax Entertainment's Dave Thomas is featured in Adam Carolla's latest podcast from JackFM here in Los Angeles. The subjects ranged from Godspell to Palm Springs to falling asleep on Letterman (which could be risky nowadays) to an update on Popzilla.

Digital Hollywood & Media Convergence

Animax Entertainment's Michael Bellavia will be speaking at two conferences next week about the nexus of digital and entertainment.

On Tuesday he will be speaking in New York at The Economist's Media Convergence Forum. The conference theme is "The Moment of Truth: Consumers, Technology and Commerce" and the specific panel we are participating on is How the kids are doing it: Trendsetting. We'll be covering trends in media and technology specifically with respect to kids and youth and in particular Animax's work with kids brands and toy companies.

On Thursday he will be on a Digital Hollywood panel in Los Angeles entitled Strategizing the Campaign: Selling Movies, TV and Video on the Web, Social Media, Mobile and TV. We'll be talking about our experience with Popzilla and some of the work we've done for our entertainment clients.

If you're on either coast, ping us to meet up.

Game On!

Kidscreen Magazine was in the sporting mood and included Animax Entertainment's Tim Jones in an article about how entertainment is leveraging interest in professional sports to reach tween and teen boys. The article talks about our work on Slotcar - a bit edgy for the younger end of the spectrum - and some of the other sports entertainment content we have in the works.

Peak of the Valley

Animax Entertainment was profiled by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. The article gives a brief history on the company, covers Popzilla and talks about some of the other projects we're working on. It's also nice to have some kind words in there from our favorite client: Starlight Children's Foundation. Read the full article here.

Examiner on Animax

Examiner.com had a total love fest with Animax Entertainment and covered us, Popzilla and FunNugget. Read the article here.

Since we're in the media space, it's interesting to note that Examiner.com is basically at the forefront of a new breed of citizen journalism. Now that newspapers have veered towards irrelevance and information becomes free (despite Rupert Murdoch's intentions) there will likely be a new landscape of examiner.com's launching in the next few years.

Hopefully they'll all cover Animax.

Kids Saving Energy

The Advertising Council and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today launched a series of new public service advertisements (PSAs) designed to educate tweens ages 8-10 about the importance of energy efficiency. Animax Entertainment created the site and game driving the experience. Read the press release here.

Duck Clown Fern

EMBED-Ashton Kutcher Twitter Killer - Watch more free videos

One of the Popzilla clips has gotten picked up in a big way on techy Mashable. It features Ashton Kutcher's new Twitter killer called Duck Clown Fern.

Popzilla Press Avalanche

In addition to a ton of very positive Twitter comments about our new MTV TV show called Popzilla, there has been an enormous amount of press about the show. Here's a sampling:

• Reuters

• Fox News
• Crave Online
• LA Times Listings
• AOL Television
• MultiChannel News
• AOL Online
• Washington Post
• London Free Press
• ABC News
• Yahoo! News
• CanWest
• CNBC.com
• MSNBC.com
• Yahoo! Canada
• ABS CBN News
• Public Broadcasting
• MSN
• TV Guide
• Variety
• Examiner
• Fox Business
• Washington Business Journal
• Monsters & Critics
• TV By the Number
• Real Television
• Tree Hugger
• PopTower
• Anderson Vision
• IMDB
• The Money Times
• Entertainment News
• Media News International
• Red Orbit
• Newstin.com
• Stockhouse
• Celebrifi
• ZIBB
• Wopular
• ShowHype
• OMG!
• DayLife
• DirkEiler
• Paul Korda
• Melodika
• Live Journal
• AHN

Animation and Advertising

As part of Advertising Week in New York City, Animax Entertainment's Michael Bellavia will be participating on a panel entitled Animation and Advertising. The panel will explore the current and future state of animation, storytelling and visual effects on Madison Avenue. Ask a provocative question Wednesday, September 23 at the Paley Center for Media.

Animax in Home Media

Home Media Magazine asked Animax's Michael Bellavia six questions about the future of digital distribution, streamed content and home entertainment. Get the answers to the future here.

More Popzilla Coverage

In addition to CHF, the latest Popzilla video about Radiohead has gotten picked up by a bunch of other sites including: Joystiq, The Daily What, and GoNintendo.

Cold Hard Popzilla

Cold Hard Flash did Animax a solid and covered Popzilla's latest episode. You've heard of Rockband Beatles, well now get ready for the best video game ever: Rockband Radiohead.

Doug at Fan Expo Canada

Animax Entertainment's Dave Thomas is a Featured Guest at this weekend's Fan Expo Canada in Toronto, the largest combined gaming, horror, comic, science fiction and anime event in the country. Dave is headed there to support Global TV's Bob & Doug animated show. Hunt Dave down for an autograph.

Animax's Family Ties

Yes, a shameless reference. Animax Entertainment's Tim Jones talks about Branded Entertainment in a new article by Gennefer Snowfield in Tubefilter.

One of the other folks interviewed was none other than Justine Bateman. Best known as Mallory Keaton on "Family Ties," Bateman is now a founder of production company FM78.

New in Social Gaming

Wow. Forbes went a little deeper on Animax than it did in its article from last week. This week, Sramana Mitra who writes for Forbes covers us on her blog, highlighting our thoughts and work in the a deeper dive on social gaming, viral video, virtual worlds, and MMOs. Check out the new article.

Virtual Goods Market Size

Forbes, in its Intelligent Tech section, has an article by Sramana Mitra covering the rapidly growing virtual goods market. Animax gets a nice call out in the article, but we're a little perplexed about why Mitra finds the trend to be a disturbing one. It's like we commented:

"Not sure why you find the rising virtual economy a disturbing trend. A virtual good is really no different than a physical good -- it's just comprised of pixels instead of plastic. These new forms of goods can be anything from an emblem of status to an emotional expression -- basically they aren't too different from real world baubles and trinkets ... Animax Entertainment http://animaxent.com helps our clients take advantage of some of the opportunities around virtual goods and virtual worlds to unlock new revenue streams."

But you guys already knew that, so we're basically preaching to the choir.

Inc. Slide Show on Animax

Animax Entertainment is featured in a slide show on Inc. Magazine's site. This is as a result of Animax being added to the 2009 Inc. 500 list.

3 Tips for Viral Success

Animax's Tucker Aaron wrote an article for iMedia Connection about how you can ensure your content goes viral. He highlights the ways you can help make sure your campaign gets maximum exposure and becomes a viral success.

Inc. Magazine on Animax

Right on the heels of Animax being recognized as a member of the 2009 Inc. 500, Inc. Magazine profiled us in an article that launched today as well. It's all about how online businesses have thrived in the changing economy. Read it here.

Animax is 402 on Inc. 500!

Huge news for Animax Entertainment! The Inc. 500 list came out today and Animax is number 402. This honor ranks right up there with our Emmy Award. The Inc. 500 is an annual ranking of the fastest growing companies in America. We truly see it as recognition of the collective effort of so many people. Getting on the list is absolutely 100% due to the efforts of all the folks we've worked with over the years at Animax. We give a tremendous amount of thanks to Animax Entertainment's past, present and, hopefully, future clients, employees, partners, friends and family for helping us to achieve this honor. THANKS!

5 Ways Story Drives Ad Campaigns

iMediaConnection features an article from Corey Torrence entitled "5 Ways to Inject Storytelling Into Your (Ad) Campaign." The article highlights how the traditional means of advertising aren't nearly as impactful as story-driven, branded entertainment ones.

SCTV Reunion!

This December 2009, Second City is going to be celebrating it's 50th Anniversary. As part of the slate of shows, panels, and activities, there is going to be a reunion of the cast of SCTV. Animax Entertainment's Dave Thomas will be live on stage along with appearances by Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, and Martin Short.

It's going to be a total comedy geekfest with the other celebs partaking in the festivities like Jim Belushi, Jeff Garlin, Alan Arkin, Dan Castellaneta, Tim Meadows, Jack McBrayer, Tim Kazurinsky, Richard Kind, Fred Willard, Dick Schaal, Scott Adsit, David Rasche, David Steinberg, Robert Klein and many others. Invitations have also been sent to other powerful Second City alumni, including Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Rachel Dratch, Steve Carell, Mike Myers, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd.

Speaking at Engage Expo

Animax Entertainment's Michael Bellavia is speaking at the upcoming Engage Expo in San Jose. The conference features speakers from the worlds of Virtual Goods, Social Media, Games and more. If you register by August 14th and use the special discount code SPEAKERVIP you will get in for a measly $395.

Variety on Animax & Popzilla

Lots of new news for Animax today.

Variety, the entertainment industry trade magazine, profiled Animax Entertainment and our upcoming TV show for MTV, Popzilla. The article highlights how animated shows like Popzilla and South Park are able to turn around episodes very quickly to keep them topical. On Popzilla we're using Flash animation and a proprietary all digital production pipeline in order to keep the animated sketch comedy show very topical. When a celebrity goes astray, Popzilla will be all over it in that week's episode.

Read the Variety article for the full scoop and become a Facebook friend of Popzilla.

Liv Launches

Spin Master, one of the top toy companies in the world, launched a new line of highly articulated fashion dolls called Liv and a virtual world to go along with the toys at www.livworld.com. The website unlocks access to daily diaries of each doll's life to anyone who's purchased a Liv doll. Girls will also be able to collect fashions in their virtual closet, watch webisodes, play games and more.

Animax Entertainment is seeing more and more toy companies connect plastic to pixels - basically linking physical toys to virtual worlds in order to offer a more robust play experience.

Planet Color Hits Nordstrom

Planet Color by Todd Parr will be debuting in Nordstroms around the country. In particular, Todd will be in the four Chicago area Nordstroms to introduce the Planet Color t-shirts and clothing. He’ll also read from his books, draw and autograph.

Animax Entertainment is in development on a virtual playground to support the brand.

Adweek Q&A with Animax

Adweek's Becky Ebenkamp sat down with Animax Entertainment's Dave Thomas for a bit of Q&A. The article covers all of our latest projects and then some.

CHF covers the Max

ColdHardFlash generated some digital press pixels about Animax, MTV & Popzilla and Bob & Doug today.

McKenzies at Fan Expo Canada

Animax Entertainment's Dave Thomas is one of the Featured Guests at the upcoming Fan Expo Canada in Toronto August 28-30, 2009, the largest combined gaming, horror, comic, science fiction and anime event in the country. Dave is headed there to support Global TV's Bob & Doug animated show.

Little Pim iPhone App

Animax Entertainment announced a new preschool targeted iPhone app that we have in development with the folks over at Little Pim. Created in 2006 by Julia Pimsleur Levine, Little Pim is an award-winning foreign language immersion series for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. And yes - that name probably sounds familiar -- Julia Pimseleur Levine's father, Dr. Paul Pimsleur, created one of the most popular and acclaimed audio teaching language methods for adults. The iPhone app Animax is developing will expand on the DVD series and take advantage of the mobile platform. Kids on cellphones? A "pacifier app"? The future is now.

The news was picked up by our friends at Kidscreen Cynopsis Kids and Home Media Magazine.

Bob & Doug in Huffington Post

Boub & Doug McKenzie got a mention in the Huffington Post.

Bob & Doug in Top 10 Again

Last Week, Crave Online said Bob & Doug was one of the top shows to watch. Now comes word that Bob & Doug is one of the top 10 shows watched, period! It made the Top 10 on Global TV and is in the Top 20 overall in the 18-34 demographic. That means the core audience for the show were practically just getting out of diapers when Bob & Doug McKenzie first debuted on SCTV nearly 30 years ago. Animax is happy to see the McKenzies connect with any generation of hosers.

Craving Bob & Doug

Crave Online named Bob & Doug one of the top shows to watch right now. Way to go McKenzie Brothers.

Exploring Planet Color

Virtual Worlds News went a little deeper on Planet Color, the virtual world that Animax is working on with SupperTime Entertainment and NY Times best-selling children's author Todd Parr. Read the article here.

Planet Color

Virtual World News and License Magazine picked up on a press release about the pending launch of Planet Color. Animax is developing an online playground for kids to interact with a new brand from NY Times bestselling children's author and illustrator, Todd Parr, and marketing partner SupperTime Entertainment. More info to come in the future.

YouTube News

Tim Jones, Animax COO, was quoted in a recent Mediaweek article about how YouTube is playing a role in the future of branded entertainment.

Making Money in Digital

Animax CEO Corey Torrence is going to be speaking at the upcoming The Mobile & Broadband Forum in Boston. He's on a panel entitled: Music, Video, and Games—Making Money (Finally?) in Digital and Mobile. The event is invite only, so inquire about attending here.

SLOTCAR in SHOOT

SLOTCAR, Animax Unplugged's branded entertainment series for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, was covered by SHOOT magazine.

Top of the Valley

The San Fernando Valley Business Journal released the nominees for the Valley’s best Human Resources professionals and Animax's very own Lawrence Monaco is on the list. Congratulations! The winners will be announced on March 19, 2009.

Animax is Immortal

Episode 3 of SLOTCAR achieved immortal status on Funny or Die. First Animax wins an Emmy and now we are Highlander! What more could you ask for?

Animax Retains Media Link

Animax Entertainment retained Media Link Partners as a business development consultant to accelerate opportunities in branded entertainment. Media Link is a strategic advisory firm whose clients include Microsoft, AT&T, Unilever, Home Depot, Colgate-Palmolive, The Walt Disney Company, Viacom, Comcast, Fremantle and Sony. Michael Kassan, Media Link's founder and managing principal, and former President/Chief Operating Officer and Vice-Chairman of Initiative Media Worldwide, will be the lead on the engagement.

Read the press release.

Cartoon Script Winners

Animax announced the winners of its Canucks Cartoon Script Contest at KidScreen Summit today. Congratulations go out to:

• First place: Ryan Cordes and Gerald Thompson for "Journey Quest,"
• Second place: Atul N. Rao and Greg van Riel for "Bem and Buzzy in 'Dawn of the Dynamic Deviants,'" and
• Third place: Hollis Ludlow-Carroll's "D.V. Productions."
  

Read the press release.

Watch SLOTCAR !!!

Get your engines started! Hardee’s® has signed on as the premier sponsor of the original Animax Unplugged video series, SLOTCAR which can be seen at http://www.slotcar2009.com. The no-holds-barred, explosive webisodes, produced by Animax Unplugged, launches online this week and parodies one of America’s largest and favorite sports – stock car auto racing. Watch the teaser now!

Animax has a proven track record having won the first-ever Broadband Emmy for ESPN’s “Off-Mikes.” SLOTCAR will be directed by Richard D’Alessio (Unplugged TV), who has three Cannes Lions and has worked alongside Barry Levinson and Jerry Seinfeld on the pioneering series, “Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman.” D'Alessio was also the creative force behind “Knob Hockey,” a similar branded entertainment series spoofing the NHL.

The first full webisode featuring a Hardee’s slotcar will launch Sat., Feb. 7th on http://www.Slotcar2009.com and http://www.hardees.com. Carl’s Jr., is also a series sponsor and will be featured in future webisodes on http://www.carlsjr.com.

Read the full press release.

Animax at KidScreen Summit

Animax Entertainment is headed to the KidScreen Summit next week and there is a lot going on:

• We're meeting with broadcasters and co-production partners about original properties we have in development.
  
• Michael Bellavia is speaking on the "Keeping it Real in the Virtual World Space" panel about kids and virtual worlds.
• We're announcing the winners of the First Ever Animax Cannucks Cartoon Script Contest.
  

Animax Health Launches

Animax Entertainment announces the launch of a new division dedicated to the wellness market: Animax Health. Animax Health will provide innovative technology coupled with engaging front-end design to change the way healthcare providers, educators, pharmaceutical firms and non-profits connect and communicate with their patients. The division will provide strategic solutions to help improve language accessibility and cultural competence across diverse communities of care.

We are also participating in a panel at the Health IT TEPR+ 2009 conference entitled "The New Wave: Participatory Wellness and prevention for Patients and Providers."

Read the Animax Health press release here.

NY Toy Fair Mixer

If you're going to NY Toy Fair then it's your lucky day. You're invited to a mixer for everyone interested in Online Toys & Gaming. Come mingle with folks interested in virtual worlds, online games, interactive toys and games, video games, elearning, computer software, USB and web connected toys, etc.

When: Monday, February 16th (President's Day)
Time: 6:30 - ?
Where: Coopers Tavern @ New Yorker Hotel
481 8th Avenue & 34th Street | New York, NY 10001 | 212.244.0719
What: Cash bar with 10% off food and drinks if you say the secret word

RSVP to mbellavia[@ ] animaxent.com. See you then.

Torrence Tapped as CEO

Today Animax announced that its board of directors named Corey V. Torrence to serve as the company's Chief Executive Officer. The digital advertising exec set to open new markets for our growing digital creative agency.

Torrence came to Animax from Prodigious Worldwide, a Digitas/Publicis Company, dedicated to digital production and innovation. During his tenure as President, Torrence assisted in the acquisition and integration of three digital production agencies and established over ten partnerships with premier technology firms in both products and services globally.

Read the full press release here.

Virtual Worlds Forecast 2009

Animax participated in the Virtual Worlds Management Industry Forecast 2009 issued by Show Initiative. The survey collects responses from over 60 industry execs, analysts, observers and thought leaders on what the coming year holds for the virtual worlds industry. An interesting read especially for those interested in youth, entertainment and toy driven virtual worlds.

Animax in the News

Animax's animated holiday card featuring Bob & Doug McKenzie singing the "12 Days of Christmas" got nice write ups in Animation Magazine and Cold Hard Flash.

World of Hosers

Hhmm... Seems like MediaCaster Magazine may have jumped to conclusions about the Animax partnership with RocketOn. They connect a few dots about Animax and the upcoming "Bob & Doug" animated TV show featuring the McKenzie Brothers made famous by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis when in the article they posit: "Bob & Doug sipping a virtual brewski in a great white Web world?"

Or maybe they saw this placeholder site... World of Hosers - the first ever virtual world focused on the favorite pasttime of Bob & Doug McKenzie.

Animax & RocketOn

Animax announced at the Virtual Worlds Expo that we've partnered with RocketOn to produce and develop parallel virtual worlds. Read the coverage in Animation Magazine and Kidscreen.

Animax Wins Four Creativity Awards

Animax won four awards in the 38th Annual Creativity Awards, including two Platinum level awards. The wins included client work for the Ad Council and SocialVibe as well as wins for self-promotional material. Congrats team!

Virtual Worlds News & Other Press

Animax's announcement of the launch of KID KONCEPTS has been picked up by a few different news outlets.

• Virtual World News
• Worlds in Motion
  

KID KONCEPTS

Leading up to next week's Virtual Worlds Expo in Los Angeles that we are sponsoring, Animax announced the launch of its new KID KONCEPTS initiative. Read the press release.

KID KONCEPTS leverages Animax's expertise in entertainment and virtual world development, in order to simplify the complexity most brands face with getting into virtual worlds. This includes creative scoping, positioning, core functionality, site differentiation, business model development and financial modeling. Animax helps clients determine the business case, investment and launch plans for entertainment, toy, confection, publishing and other kid-focused brands interested in developing a presence in virtual worlds.

KID KONCEPTS was founded on the success of Animax's work in building kids virtual worlds from the ground up, developing components for existing worlds, and ongoing world maintenance. Currently, Animax has multiple KID KONCEPTS clients with virtual worlds scheduled to launch Q2 & Q3 of 2009.

Virtual Worlds Expo Sponsor

Animax is a sponsoring the upcoming Virtual Worlds Expo here in sunny Los Angeles. We'll have a table in the expo area - booth 117 so feel free to drop by.

Keep Oceans Clean Again

Animax helped out the Ad Council again on the Keep Oceans Clean website. This time around we added an ecard maker to help further generate viral buzz and interest through social networking, more animation, and more links to the new PSAs featuring Disney's The Little Mermaid.

Read the full press release from the Ad Council.

Seattle Casual Connect

Animax is a Bronze Sponsor of the upcoming Casual Connect Seattle 2008 event. So if you are looking for a development house to work with to produce casual games, virtual worlds or MMOs, look no further than Animax. Please contact us to set up a meeting.

Official Animax & McKenzie Brothers Release

Animax Entertainment issued a spanking new press release on the upcoming Bob & Doug McKenzie animated series and the recent announcement about Fox joining on board the TV pilot. Check out the trailer.

Bob & Doug & Fox

The Hollywood Reporter got it kinda right. Yes, a pilot of Bob & Doug McKenzie is being produced. Canada's Global TV was the first to come to the table ordering up 15 episodes (not 13). Now, Fox Broadcasting is on board with the pilot and a possible series commitment as well. Animax Entertainment developed the Flash animated show Bob & Doug - it's a property that we've been working on for awhile and to finally see it taking shape in such a big way is truly rewarding.