Curt Doty just joined Bemis Balkind, a pioneering entertainment marketing/branding boutique, after launching the Advanced Content Group for entertainment marketing agency Trailer Park. There, as president, where he focused on user experience, building and leading design and development teams that focused on creating Mobile and TV apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, Silverlight, Xbox and Google TV. By forming mobile and iTV units, Doty 
quickly expanded Trailer Park’s clientele into new markets, and mobilizing numerous brands.
Doty is also a leader in the nascent digital publishing industry, by developing immersive reading experiences for eReaders and tablets, including the introduction of video and animation to eBooks, and worked in the home entertainment division of Universal Pictures as well as for many Dreamworks and Focus Features titles.
MobilizedTV caught up with Doty as he takes on the position of Bemis Belkind GM and Executive Creative Director, Digital.
MobilizedTV: Tell us a bit about Bemis Belkind.
Curt Doty: The company has a huge entertainment and branding legacy, and a lot of my history dovetails nicely into what they’ve been doing for years. I came to them with a vision for the opportunity, which revolves around much of what I started and built at Trailer Park. We’ve built our own philosophy around the connected consumer and we’re very consumer focused. The consumer is in the driver’s seat. They want content anywhere on any device at any time.
The connected consumer has multiple connected devices and believes that it’s his or her right to have access to that content. You read that every day in the news with what’s going on with Netflix; they’re pushing the envelope much more quickly than the studios are. I have to admire them for their courage. They get kudos and criticism. They’re trying to match the need to the consumer with the capabilities of their company, and we’re trying to do the same thing in where we put our energies and efforts. The more we understand the consumer, the better our interfaces will be. And they’re done in a collaborative manner.
MTV: What kinds of clients will you be working with, with regard to the new digital division?
(L to R) Peter Bemis, Aubrey Balkind, Doty
Doty: Bemis Balkind has a strong legacy in the entertainment marketing and branding/strategy categories. It’s been around since 1968 so they’re the oldest agency doing entertainment market in the business today.The legacy also lies with building strategies and experiences for media companies and consumer brands over the years, with clients like Adobe, Merrill Lynch, Time Warner Cable, Comcast. An interesting connection I have with these guys is that practically at every disruptive technology change that happened in media over the last 30 years, they’ve been at the forefront in advising their clients how to move into the future. It’s just fascinating. I’ve had a parallel path of being a lone wolf and evangelizing where studios needed to go with distribution of content. I’ve run up against people who either loved what I was saying or were scared by what I was saying. They had similar experiences in trying to push innovation over the last three decades. It’s a spirit I’m akin to.
MTV: Where is the cutting edge?
Doty: The iPad as new channel for distributing content has reached the zenith of the awareness. Cable companies have taken note, as Time Warner, HBO, Comcast have come out with apps. They’re all searching for ways to connect to the consumer. The cable companies have a lot to worry about so they’re pushing this technology forward; they don’t want to be left out. The networks are developing their show apps or network apps to stream content or have enhanced content experiences.
Those are trends. And there have been some successes and failures in all those ventures. It is the Wild West. A lot of hype is out there and pressure for the networks to play catch-up. We see that as an opportunity because there are a lot of networks out there. There’s an evergreen evolution of networks and shows. The case for technology and business have been built. Now I look forward to the next phase which is the creative phase: how do you make that content interactive, evergreen and fresh? That’s what’s most exciting. We’re over that technology curve and we now can get truly into the creativity of enhanced storytelling and how that relates to TV shows, movies and books.
MTV: Does transmedia fit into your plans?
Doty: That’s a word that I haven’t exactly embraced. I’ve been cross-platform for way over a decade. So transmedia to me is a new moniker for people who deal with cross platform or multi-platform. Transmedia storytelling is about connecting the experiences of storytelling across devices. A transmedia producer has a grasp of all those technologies and can shepherd a story across these platforms and devices and give the consumer a value they’re demanding. It’s describing a really great producer and a really great storyteller. The obviousness is that we’re living in a multi-platform world.
About Bemis Balkind:
Bemis Balkind’s was born in New York in 1968 when Steve Frankfurt (President of Young and Rubicam) and Phil Gips (Yale designer) joined together to create the industry changing advertising campaign for the classic film “Rosemary’s Baby.” Since that time, Bemis Balkind has led many iconic campaigns of the last forty years. They did viral marketing 1968 by placing classified ads announcing “Pray for Rosemary’s Baby” and coined the iconic “In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream” for “Alien.” Other milestone campaigns included those for “Superman,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Forrest Gump,” and many more.
In 1972, Aubrey Balkind joined his partners and the agency began to add corporate, financial and technology clients to its growing entertainment base. An office was opened in LA in 1987, focusing on entertainment and in San Francisco in 1991 serving technology clients. In 1997, Aubrey received Ernst and Young’s “Industry Entrepreneur of the Year” award.
In 2002, as Frankfurt Balkind, the company’s center of gravity moved from New York to Los Angeles and under the leadership of former Grey Advertising International Creative Director Peter Bemis, (recipient of the Hollywood Lifetime Achievement Award) changed the name to Bemis Balkind.
Other recent motion picture campaigns include Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland 3D, Slumdog Millionaire, Black Swan, and Bad Teacher.
