Trailer Park and Art Machine merge
Trailer Park and Art Machine, two of the entertainment industry's leading creative marketing firms, today announced that they have merged to form the largest single-source provider of diverse entertainment marketing services in Hollywood. In 2007, Trailer Park and Art Machine together received six awards at The Key Art Awards, the annual event to honor movie advertising including theater standees, posters, promos, and trailers; in addition, the two firms combined for eight awards at the 2007 Golden Trailer Awards.
The merger combines Trailer Park's expertise in such areas as movie trailers, advertising, and publicity with Art Machine's strength in print design. The resulting firm will offer a fully integrated solution to assist entertainment clients in marketing diverse content, ranging from films and television series to DVD releases and video games. In addition, the Trailer Park/Art Machine merger will protect against piracy by keeping all aspects of a marketing campaign secure with a single service provider.
Among the clients of Trailer Park and Art Machine are such major motion picture studios and entertainment companies as 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, ABC, A&E, Activision, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Disney, New Line Cinema, Paramount, and Sony Computer Entertainment.
"We're creating the broadest, deepest platform of creative marketing services for the entertainment industry," explained Joel Johnston, chief operating officer of Trailer Park. "Together, the capabilities of our two firms will allow us to deliver start-to-finish, award-winning marketing services for our clients not only in print, theaters, and on television, but also via new distribution platforms including online, cell phones, and PDAs and other wireless devices."
The combination with Trailer Park will create a formidable organization with more than 300 creative professionals whose reach and experience is unmatched in the industry. Trailer Park has produced marketing campaigns for more than 2,000 films since its founding in 1992 and expects to participate in 80 percent of all releases from major studios during 2007.
Art Machine will retain its name, but will be known going forward as "Art Machine, a Trailer Park Company." Sue Mason, head of Trailer Park Print, will join Art Machine's four senior executives - Patrick Dillon, Neville Burtis, John McMahon, and Jeremy Kaplan - as the management team for the group. All of Trailer Park's print-focused staff will join Art Machine. Art Machine's staff will relocate to Trailer Park's Hollywood Boulevard offices by the end of the year.
"Teaming with a firm as highly regarded as Trailer Park will make for a powerful combination," noted Neville Burtis, co-head of creative at Art Machine. "We believe our clients view our firm as the leading print specialist in entertainment marketing. It was important for clients and our staff that we partner with a firm that has a similar reputation in its areas of focus and that those services bring potential value to our relationships with our clients."
The combined entity will continue to be backed by Lake Capital, a private equity firm that invests in growing services companies, which acquired Trailer Park in 2005.
