Interpublic just unveiled plans to launch a new agency specializing in "transmedia" storytelling, or advertising and content that develops a narrative simultaneously across multiple media platforms.
The Los Angeles-based shop, which has been named Amusement Park Entertainment, will be headed by renowned Madison Avenue creative director Jimmy Smith, who most recently was group creative director on
the Gatorade account at Omnicom's TBWA/CHIAT/DAY unit. "Creative ideas can live in another form of media or inspire a new business line that's even more profitable than the original brand. Games,
books, TV shows, movies and mobile entertainment – all of them have come out of ads, unintentionally," Smith said in a statement announcing the new shop, which will be a joint venture of his and
Interpublic's. Smith is chairman, CEO and chief creative officer.
