• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, October 17, 2012

The Shadow Gang, a Los Angeles-based entertainment studio, will unveil Galahad today at the StoryWorld Conference + Expo in Hollywood. Galahad is a proprietary multi-platform distribution engine designed to allow brands to tell their whole story from one platform.

Alex LeMay, The Shadow Gang’s CEO and co-founder, spoke with MAD: LA about Galahad. He calls it “an online tool for broadcasters and content owners, as well as game studios and big brands, to create original content, build communities around the content, and monetize the content.”

LeMay tells MAD: LA that any content creator or brand can completely customize their experience through Galahad. LeMay says that a brand can come in with a message, but instead of using four different solutions, they’ll have their own personalized social network, a content building station, and an e-commerce solution all in one place. LeMay says that The Shadow Gang puts narrative at the center of everything they do; that everything a brand does in Galahad will be connected to their central message. Galahad will allow brands to share their whole story any way they want with one platform. 

In addition to all of the customizable features, LeMay says that Galahad comes with an analytics tool that brands will love. He says the analytics tool will be able to answer question such as, “How did they enter the site? Which content did they come in on? Did they finish that piece of content? How long did they stay in that portion of the ‘world?’ Where did they go from there? And more.”

Additionally, when a company uses Galahad, all of the data collected will be their own. “When you use Facebook, they own the data. They own the audience, not you. It’s a great place to send your message but a horrible place to get data,” said LeMay.

Galahad also comes with a rewards system that creates a virtual currency. Brands can choose to divvy up the currency however they wish, but everything someone does on Galahad will earn them points.

“All of the points are redeemable for in-world rewards, such a badges or upgrades. You could just go ahead and sell points, too,” said LeMay. He also says there is nothing stopping brands from working with a sponsor and bundling the virtual currency to give people real-world rewards.

Portions of Galahad will be available starting today for testing. An “immersive video builder and player,” shown below, will be the first piece of Galahad to be publicly available.

Check out the immersive video builder and player that The Shadow Gang will be showing at the StoryWorld Conference today:

Companies will be able to use the entire platform in April, which gives them plenty of time to strategize around it, says LeMay.

LeMay says he thinks Galahad will end up being the “Apple card.” He said, “This will be the next generation of multi-platform distribution engine. I think we are going to change the way media is created, distributed, and monetized. I think we are out to do something important here. There are some believers in this.”