• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 27, 2005

One year after stepping down as creative director of Universal McCann, Alan Schulman is working for one of its sister operations, Magna Global Entertainment, albeit as a supplier. Schulman, now chief creative officer of digital media content developer Brand New World, has gone into business with Magna to develop and produce short- and long-form branded entertainment content for new and emerging digital media platforms, including video-on-demand (VOD), broadband, wireless and in-store retail networks.

The deal, which was unveiled this week during the National Association of Television Programming Executives conference in Las Vegas, is noteworthy for two reasons: 1) It reunites Schulman with Interpublic's media agencies (Magna negotiates deals and develops content for all of Interpublic's shops, including Universal McCann); and 2) It signals that Magna plans to be more than just a traditional television powerhouse.

The companies said the deal was struck because clients have asked Magna to develop long-form content for emerging platforms, especially ad-supported VOD, TiVo and streaming media content via broadband Internet.

The deal also encompasses the development of shorter-form, interstitial content for the broadband video services of MSN Video, Yahoo! Launch and AOL Broadband.

Magna Global Chairman-CEO Bill Cella described the deal as a "natural extension" of what the Interpublic shop has been doing via conventional television, but in many ways the deal speaks to the increasing convergence and integration between terrestrial, cable and satellite TV and other new forms of video distribution.

Details of specific projects were not disclosed, but Schulman said they would range from short-form commercials to "10-minute long-form video, or creating contextually relevant" 10-second and 15-second interstitials for broadband streaming platforms.