Howard Webster, who has created "The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore," hopes that it will help to launch a move toward direct contact with and product placement with content creators and advertisers. In other words, he's using his project to promote a sponsorship model.
The movie itself, created specifically for Internet distribution, stars Colin Salmon, who has appeared in James Bond and "Resident Evil" movies.
When the project is finished, it will be a combination of Salmon acting, CGI and stock footage, according to Clickz. Also included will be material from the online graphic novel that users will be able to use to create their own graphic novels or make personal statements.
But leaving the online novel aside, Webster hopes that this will be a new paradigm to lead the way for content creators to experiment with sponsorships directly with advertisers.
Webster bypassed media agencies and wrote directly to company leaders who he believed would be a fit with his film.
"The way I cut deal is by going straight to global brand directors, and I never cut a deal with a media agency. They don't understand the digital space at all," Webster said. "My sense of the online community is that there is a real sense of antagonism to the big people, the massive advertising agencies, and media agencies that are just watching what's happening online and copying it and taking it to their clients and branding it up and persuading them this is something they should be doing."
After sending hundreds of letters, Webster ended up being sponsored by Triumph Motorcycles. The company logo is seen on the various marketing efforts and in the movie itself. In the movie the character played by Salmon wears the clothing of the company, and of course rides a Triumph motorcycle.
For Webster it wasn't hard to figure out what types of companies to approach. He was creating a James Bond type of film, and so wrote to the types of businesses whose products would fit into that scenario. As he said, "it's not rocket science."
Webster wants to show content creators that there is a powerful alternative to the usual way of contacting agencies to get advertising backing.
An interesting thing to note about sponsorships, is at this time transportation related companies have entered into the arena more than others, as a number have had their products placed in comics.
While that's important to understand, it could be related to the demographic associated with this type of content, which is young males. We'll probably see much more interest in sponsorships as content related to other demographics begins to emerge.
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