Wednesday, April 29th, 2015

Virtual - Augmented Reality Workshop

6:15 PM - 7:30 PM, Marina Vista Room

Virtual & Augmented Reality Evening Summit: Part II

Mobile VR: Gateway to Mass Market

Steve Ahlberg, Vice President of Revenue Solutions and Product Management, Gannett Digital

Aaron Luber, Head of Partnerships, Google Cardboard

Valerie Carlson, Executive Creative Director, Sapient Nitro, Los Angeles

Ben Tricklebank, Interactive Director, Tool

Andy Cochrane, ‎‎Interactive and New Media Director, Special Projects Lead, Mirada Studios, Mirada Studios

Andrew Trickett, Co­Founder, Merge VR

Marty Perlmutter, technologist, Patent Holder, Early VR/3D Technology Leader, Moderator

VR films “Converse In Your Chucks”, “Grand Turismo First Love,” a TV spot and interactive documentary, “Mini Cooper: Final Test Drives,” a set of five 60 second spots, “Clouds Over Cuba,” an interactive documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, “Google: Art, Copy & Code,” a dynamic, personalized film trailer, “Light Echoes,” a multimedia art piece created in collaboration with data visualization specialist Aaron Koblin, and “JAM with  Chrome,” a web experience that allows friends to play live music together through the Chrome browser. “Clouds Over Cuba” was the most awarded digital project in the U.S. for 2013, taking home an Emmy, a One Show Gold, a D&AD Yellow Pencil, 11 Cannes Lions, 2 Gold ADC Awards, and a Gold Clio. In 2009 and 2010, Ben was the first and only back-to-back recipient of the coveted FWA Site of the Year Award. He helped create Google and Arcade Fire’s HTML5 interactive experience, “The Wilderness Downtown,” which won both the Gold and Grand Prix Lions at Cannes. The year before, he led the creation of “We Choose the Moon” for the JFK Presidential Library and The Martin Agency, which was recognized with two Webby Awards and a Gold Cyber Lion. Other memorable projects include award winning interactive experiences for Perrier, Mitsubishi, Umbro, Allstate, and Doritos, just to name a few. Ben has been a judge for the One Show and most recently did a President’s Lecture at D&AD.  Since joining Tool as a Director in 2012, Ben has continued to explore new projects with a clear focus on blending innovative technology with smart and visually driven storytelling.

Valerie Carlson, Executive Creative Director & Global Innovation Lead SapientNitro: As Executive Creative Director and Global Innovation Lead at SapientNitro, Valerie oversees teams across multiple disciplines, verticals and offices. She approaches problems from a platform-neutral standpoint and works from the perspective that digital networks that allow for true human connectivity, group problem solving and new digital economies are the key to moving us away from digital isolation towards global digital connectivity.  Valerie’s passion for human insights and digital tinkering began in the early 2000’s when she lead an interdisciplinary team, designing and developing Postopia.com for Post Cereals. That platform became a ground-breaking test bed for multi-player games and consumer loyalty. It cut across multiple demographics and influenced a number of loyalty programs and game experiences that we currently see in market today.  Valerie believes that understanding human nature and uncovering unmet needs are critical to driving innovative solutions that create meaningful brand experiences. She is very passionate about open source development, prototyping and iterative design and is currently focused on the evolution of virtual and mixed reality. She has spoken on numerous industry panels about the power of diversity and is an active member with the One Club, AAA and the AAF. She has served on juries at prestigious competitions such as the Art Directors Club, the Cresta Awards and D&AD. Prior to getting into digital marketing, Valerie taught design for many years, with a focus on experience and design thinking that was unique to college campuses at the time.

Aaron Luber, Head of Partnerships, Google Cardboard: Aaron leads partnerships and content strategy for Google Cardboard. The most impressive surprise about Cardboard's early success is in the incredible brand engagement and eagerness for companies from all over the world to work with the platform. Previously, Aaron was on the YouTube New Business Development team and helped launch 360-degree video for unique storytelling.

Andrew Cochrane is a filmmaker currently working at Mirada Studios.  As a Digital Director and Technical Supervisor, Andrew offers a unique blend of creativity and technical savvy. He is also a leader in Mirada's exciting digital/interactive group, which focuses on combining the company’s passion for storytelling with new forms of immersion and interaction. Andrew is very involved in the growing virtual reality space, making content for the Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and GearVr platforms. He is experimenting with new techniques for storytelling using these new technologies, and recently completed the first VR app to seamlessly integrate CGI, live-action, and real-time rendering into a single experience for Google. His credits include directing numerous commercials for clients such as VIZIO, Target, LG, and Disney. He also was a director and creative technical supervisor on the iPad App "Cornelia Funke's MirrorWorld" which won a Cannes Silver Lion for "Best Visual Design/Aesthetic." Additionally, he served as a technical lead for many exciting interactive projects that used techniques such as projection mapping,  dataviz and the world 's first WebGL interactive music video (Ro.me). Concurrently, he has worked on numerous independent projects. In 2002, he formed The AV Club Productions, which is a production company and  multimedia collaborative for filmmakers that focuses on live experiences and new media projects. The AV Club was featured as one of the first 100 YouTube partners, and were early innovators in the online video space.

Andrew Trickett, Co­Founder, Merge VR: Andrew Trickett is the co­founder of Merge VR, a startup focused on making mobile virtual reality and immersive entertainment accessible to everyone. In charge of strategic planning, Andrew oversees business development, contract negotiations, and investor relations to bring the Merge system to market. He has a strong history of operating, evaluating and advising tech startups, and working with investor groups. Previous to Merge VR, Andrew co­founded and managed all revenue generation activities at startup Virtual Alert, which enjoyed a successful exit when purchased by a strategic buyer. Andrew was also a partner at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman). His experience includes strategic alliance and business development at Trilogy Software. He is a member of the selection committee of the South Texas RCIC, which reviews regional applicants for the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Andrew holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BBA from the University of Texas.

Marty Perlmutter, a 43 year veteran producer of emerging media, has worked in partnership with the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust for the past year, creating ads to reduce demand for ivory in China. Perlmutter is president of the Multisensory Interactive Learning Institute (MILI) which has pioneered nonverbal techniques for learning. MILI's methods are used in the ads created with footage supplied by the Sheldrick Trust. Perlmutter helped organize the San Francisco March for Elephants and assisted in organizing marches in New York, Toronto, Munich and Los Angeles. The 16 ads created to date are distributed on social media sites in the People's Republic of China. Marty is now starting production of high impact spots intended for mobile phones in China and broadcast in the US. Perlmutter was the featured speaker at the Oakland Zoo's Celebration of Elephants, organizer of the Tiburon gathering that sparked the current Bay Area elephant conservation movement and is a frequent presenter on elephant conservation in Bay Area venues. He hopes to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative's forthcoming wildlife demand reduction program.