Thursday, May 24th, 2018

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM – Immersive Hollywood: VR – AR - MR

Session I: Haas Conference Center, Room 172-173, Live Webcast

VR/AR as a Branding/Advertising Strategy: The Immersive Experience as Image Maker - Movies/TV/Brand

David Birnbaum, Design Director, Immersion Corporation

Ricardo Diaz, Executive Director of Digital, Omelet

Joey Jones, VP, Executive Creative Director, a.network, Ayzenberg Group

Guy Bedov, Business Development, ByondXR

Michael Rucker, Chief Operating Officer, OmniVirt

Gregg Katano, Partner / VP of U.S. Operations, HOLOGATE and VP of Business Development / General Manger, PHASE TWO

Allen White, Immersive Reality Designer, Team One

Cynthia Lieberman, Marketing and Media Strategist, LieberComm, Moderator

Joey Jones, VP, Executive Creative Director, a.network, Ayzenberg: Joey Jones is VP, Executive Creative Director of a.new reality, an independent mix  reality, motion, and computer graphics studio within the a.network collective of communication arts agencies. At a.new reality, Joey leads a team of computer animators, designers, programmers, and creatives to execute a wide range of animated content in broadcast commercials, games cinematics, and AR/MR content. Clients include many of the most recognizable brands in entertainment, gaming and film.  His work varies from narrative  character-based commercials and hyper-real product visualizations to charming “toy-mation” short films.  Joey is  a graduate of The Ohio State University and Art Center College of Design, and currently resides in Southern California.

Guy Bendov is Business Development, ByondXR, a developer and publisher of cutting edge games. Since 2010 Sidekick has been creating games for and with leading publishers and tech leaders such as Disney and Rovio as well as Intel, LeapMotion, and Google. Guy is an interactive entertainment serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. Prior to Sidekick, Guy founded Double Fusion, a leader in the in-game advertising space, Cellular Magic and Click! Online, a casual games studio. In addition, Guy serves as the Chairman of GameIS, the Israeli games association.

Michael Rucker is the Co-Founder and COO of OmniVirt, a Virtual Reality and 360° Video advertising and distribution platform. Prior to OmniVirt, Michael spent 7 years at YouTube holding a variety of different responsibilities during that time. Michael led YouTube's content strategy across its 5 main verticals: Entertainment, Music, Sports, News, & Education. Before that he was the Product Manager for YouTube's Original Programming and Multi-Channel Network initiative. Joining YouTube in 2007, Michael helped drive YouTube's growth from its early days. From launching YouTube's first monetization products to leading consumer marketing for the site across Asia-Pacific, Michael has touched both the consumer and business side of the digital video business. Michael received his Bachelor's degree from Yale University and his Master's degree from Stanford University.

Ricardo Diaz, Executive Director of Digital, Omelet: Ricardo manages all things digital for Omelet. He comes from a Computer Science background and has over 20 years of digital marketing experience. Prior to Omelet, Ricardo worked at TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles and Zambezi where he helped create award-winning campaigns for clients including Grammys, Gatorade, Pepsi, Nissan, Sony, VISA, and Adidas, all while helping to create and evolve the digital discipline within the agency. His career is punctuated by firsts: from developing the first iAd for the Nissan Leaf, through to the first SXSW award winning agency-developed platform for TBWA Worldwide, to 2016 Cannes Lion winner for world’s first gestural e-commerce platform for Stance.

David Birnbaum, Design Director at Immersion Corporation, leads a team responsible for developing the tactile aesthetics of emerging technologies. Most recently he’s been focused on bringing the sense of touch to mobile video and ads. Driven by a desire to tell stories with the sense of touch and to bring emotion and realism to digital experiences, David has been creating haptic experiences for over 10 years, in which time he’s been named as an inventor on over 70 patents in the fields of user experience, wearables, gaming, medical devices, mobile communication, and rich interactive media. He holds a B.S. in Music Industry from USC and a M.A. in Music Technology from McGill University.

Gregg Katano, Partner / VP of U.S. Operations, HOLOGATE and VP of Business Development / General Manger, PHASE TWO: Gregg Katano is a media entrepreneur, solutions architect, and educator with over 20 years of experience in the areas of production, visual effects, stereoscopic 3D, and virtual reality. Currently, he is Partner and Vice-President of U.S. Operations of Hologate, the leading distributor of multi-user immersive media platforms for locationbased entertainment and enterprise; and Vice-President of Business Development and General Manager of Phase Two, a curated co-working and event space for entrepreneurs, frontier tech, media & entertainment. He is also partner of the Virtual Reality Arcade and the VR Festival, VR Ambassador of the Extreme Tech Challenge, and in the area of education, Gregg is a member of the advisory council of the Cal State University Entertainment Alliance, a collaboration between the 23 universities within the CSU system and entertainment industry leaders that helps to prepare students to serve the entertainment business. He regularly speaks to students at various universities including Pepperdine and UCLA, and he is also a former senior instructor in digital media at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles. Previously, he was Chief Business Strategist of the very first and leading Google-Certified producer of Google Cardboard, along with being one of the early producers of stereoscopic 3D, producing the very first 3D TV episode in high-definition along with being the lead producer on X-Games 3D: The Movie and Red Bull Media House’s first 3D production, ‘Rampage 3D’. Gregg has become one of the leading evangelists in the VR community, speaking at over 30 virtual reality and technology conferences both domestically and internationally since 2016. He has been a member of the Producer’s Guild of America since 2010.

Allen White, Immersive Reality Designer, Team One: As an Immersive Reality Designer at Team One, Allen is a multidisciplinary designer who helps global brands tell powerful stories in new mediums. He is a key member of the Immersive Realities and Fabrication team at Team One, as well as Tiltshift, Publicis Groupe’s new VR/immersive reality consultancy and production studio, based in Los Angeles, CA.

Cynthia Lieberman, Marketing and Media Strategist, LieberComm: Cynthia Lieberman is recognized as a leader in creative brand marketing, publicity and digital media strategies. Having worked for most Hollywood studios throughout her career, Lieberman's long list of prestigious clients includes major entertainment entities, Fortune 500 companies, AR/VR businesses, academia and non-profits. Her expansive work history is fortified by a graduate degree in the pioneering field of Media Psychology and Social Change, which focuses on the study of human behavior and how it is affected by the media. Lieberman teaches domestic and global courses on Social Media Marketing and Entertainment PR for UCLA, has received numerous industry awards for her creative talents and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).