All Doha Tribecca Film Festival 2010 Events
Going Viral: Guerilla Marketing in a Digital World
Event Description
This multimedia panel analyzes this year's most creative guerilla and viral marketing tactics of big budget studio, documentary and independent films. By examining three specific films - the horror hit "Paranormal Activity," Banksy's satirical documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and Ali F. Mostafa's feature, "City of Life" - we'll discover how these non-traditional campaigns are changing the landscape of film promotion. We explore how the world's first Arabic web drama "Shankaboot" is experimenting non-conventional angle of promotion on and offline crossing the borders of Lebanon. We ask: which efforts generated the most buzz? Which resulted in box-office gold? Or, even better, which accomplished a bit of both? With social networking (think BBM's, Twitter and Facebook) now gripping the region, we discuss how the industry can circumvent those diminishing P & A budgets and consider new approaches to marketing its films. Audiences are invited to contribute to this conversation, so please join us. This event is open to the public and Arabic interpretation headsets will be available. Tickets can be purchased at any box office location.
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Ayman Itani
ModeratorDigital Strategy Consultant, ThinkMedia Labs
Itani is a digital strategy consultant who helps Middle Eastern businesses in building their digital media ecosystems. He lectures at different universities while also teaching a course on "Media, Culture, and Technology" at Lebanese American University which aims at enabling communication arts students to adapt to industry shifts incubated by the Internet. Ayman also regularly speaks about convergence of communication, media, user interaction design, Internet architecture, and the social web.
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Petra Abousleiman
Production Designer
Abousleiman is a Lebanese-American production designer who has worked on several feature and short films in Lebanon, Europe, and New York. She recently worked on “Shankaboot,” the world's first Arabic web series, for which she contributed to its guerilla marketing efforts on the streets of Beirut. A designer obsessed with space, markets, street art and vintage goods, she also collaborates with contemporary performance artists to bring live art into everyday, unconventional spaces.
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Nicholas Heller
Business Development Head, EMEA Google
Responsible for new business development across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Google, Heller focuses on new product incubation and exploratory efforts in technology, meta-data licensing, strategic partnerships, special projects, and alternative distribution. Prior to Google, he worked for MTV Networks UK & Ireland. Earlier this year, the publication Global Telecoms Business selected him as one of the “Top-40-Under-40” to watch in the industry. In 2002, he founded Degrees Of Separation, a company linking blue chip organizations throughout North America with specialized software development firms. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Cambridge.
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Ali F. Mostafa
Director / Executive Producer, AFMFILMS
Coming from a British-UAE family background, Mostafa grew up in Dubai. Upon completion of his higher education, he worked on set and interior design, and in 2003 he enrolled at the London Film School to obtain an Masters of Arts degree in film. After setting up the production company AFM Films, he worked on short films and TV commercials for more than seven years. His short graduation film, “Under the Sun,” was shown and nominated for awards in various international film festivals. It won Best Emirates Film 2006 in the annual Emirates Film Competition held in Abu Dhabi. Mostafa’s work also gained him recognition as Best Emirati Filmmaker by the Dubai International Film Festival in 2007. His greatest achievement to date has been his feature film directing debut, “City of Life.”
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Paul Ramirez
Vice President, Eventful
As vice president of operations at Eventful, Inc., Ramirez leads teams that market and sell social media and viral marketing campaigns to the motion picture companies, including Paramount, MGM, Universal and others. These campaigns have been applied to ticket and software sales for advanced screenings, sneak previews, opening weekends, and home entertainment releases. Prior to his work at Eventful, Ramirez was senior vice president of marketing and allience strategy at Client Shop, where he positioned the San Diego company for acquisition by Internet Brands, an Idealab company. He holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the University of California, and was a research fellow at the Claremont Graduate School IAC.
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Marc Schiller
CEO & Founder, Electric Artists
As founder and CEO of Electric Artists, Schiller is accomplished in marketing, brand strategy, and public relations. He founded Electric Artists in 1997 to create a digital marketing agency for brands and entertainment companies, so these clients could tap into ways in which people communicate using new technologies. Recent clients include American Express, General Electric, Starwood Hotels, Food Network, The History Channel, USA Network, Microsoft, Netflix, The Los Angeles Lakers and a host of other companies. He also consults on marketing strategy for individual films including Banksy’s “Exit Through The Gift Shop” and Edward Burns’ upcoming “Nice Guy Johnny.”