Brisbane-based production company Hoodlum has joined forces with Sundog Pictures (UK) and Tim Kring’s Imperative Enterprises (US) to launch a brand engagement division.
The new UK-based business, which will be headed by Sundog’s Nick Ryle, plans to craft stories that fit with a brand’s culture, working with digital specialists, media owners, script writers and celebrities.
Hoodlum has won global recognition for its transmedia projects, such as Dharma Wants You (part of the Lost series) and Operation Intel (part of the The Bourne Legacy), which have drawn deep engagement with audiences across multiple platforms. Their latest multiplatform series The Strange Calls was picked up by US network ABC for a pilot. Sundog Pictures is best known for its Channel 4 documentary Turtle Boy: A Bodyshock Special, about a six year-old boy with a birthmark which covered 40 per cent of his body. Tim Kring is best known as the writer behind TV series Heroes and Touch.
Sundog managing director Johnny Webb said the new partnership would combine world-class storytelling and social amplification for brands with real stories to tell.
“We don’t believe branded content is currently doing justice to the advertising and television worlds," he said in a statement announcing the partnership. "We want to upgrade the way brands tell stories by using audience insight to create strong content that people not only choose to actively engage with, but are inspired to share.”