New immersive experience division, helmed by managing director Josh Mandel, crafts creative experiences for businesses, brands, and game publishers; will focus initially on gaming, virtual concerts, and theme park ride experiences.
Leading visual entertainment services company DNEG announced the launch of a new division, DNEG IXP (Immersive Experiences), to be led by managing director Josh Mandel. Using the DNEG group’s global capabilities and talent, DNEG IXP promises to deliver premium content to businesses, brands, and game publishers looking to craft creative experiences across gaming, concerts, and other live events, theme parks, retail, product launches, and location-based experiences.
“As we expand and fortify DNEG’s services on a global scale, this new division allows us to diversify our offering to complement our Hollywood partnerships and projects,” said CEO Namit Malhotra. “Ambitious businesses can now leverage DNEG’s Academy Award-winning talent and creative capabilities in order to fully realize and maximize the ways in which they connect with their audiences, whether on-stage, in-game, at a theme park, as part of a location-based experience, or through state-of-the-art headsets.”
Mandel brings 20+ years of experience in media and entertainment to his new role, having held senior leadership roles, including CEO, president, CSO, and head of marketing, at companies such as The Mill, R/GA, and Wieden+Kennedy. He has collaborated with brands like Nike, Adidas, Samsung, EA, Google, Beats by Dre, Apple, and Activision.
“It has never been more challenging for a business to create a resonant, emotional relationship with its key customers,” said Mandel. “An ever-fragmenting media landscape makes it harder than ever for a business to reach its audience in meaningful ways. Businesses need a partner that can help them decide what to make and how to make it; a partner that can provide breakthrough creative ideas, the technologies to craft them, and the production to get them from concept to reality; this is where DNEG IXP comes in.”
“No one knows the ambitions, desires, and needs of a brand’s key audiences better than the brand itself,” continued Mandel. “Through DNEG IXP, brands can work directly with the entertainment industry’s most talented thinkers and makers to create immersive experiences across a range of media that resonate with and feed the passions of their most important audiences.”
DNEG IXP currently has several projects in production, with an initial focus on gaming, virtual concerts, and theme park ride experiences.
“At DNEG, our overarching mission is to provide our partners with creative liberation through a potent combination of cutting-edge digital tools, artistic collaboration, and financial acumen,” added Malhotra. “Josh has a wealth of experience working with some of the world’s biggest brands, building approaches around the vision of clients to support how they want to tell the story or shape the brand experience. DNEG IXP, under Josh’s leadership, brings to the fore yet another way in which DNEG is transforming the future of storytelling.”
Source: DNEG
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
