Starlight Runner Entertainment, the company known for producing groundbreaking transmedia campaigns and story world development for Spider-Man, Men in Black, Avatar, Halo, Pirates of the Caribbean, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Ultraman is teaming up with leading IP-focused and multiplatform entertainment company Elevate Pictures to form a new Transmedia marketing strategy and creative agency called ICEBERG THEORY. ICEBERG THEORY’s first campaign will be the June 3, 2021 global event ULTRAMAN CONNECTION LIVE, which will be highlighted by the exclusive international premiere of the action-packed miniseries, SEVENGER FIGHT.
SEVENGER FIGHT is an all-new mini series that has only been shown on the Tsuburaya Imagination streaming service in Japan. The series features the most popular giant and iconic robot from the celebrated Ultraman franchise. The project is premiering on the heels of Ultraman’s 55th Anniversary and represents a new era of entertainment in the Ultraman universe. The ICEBERG THEORY event will showcase six episodes of SEVENGER FIGHT, including a selection of three of the first 7 episodes and the final three episodes of the mini-series which will not be shown anywhere else in the world.
SEVENGER FIGHT has only been shown in Japan—leaving millions of fans of the sad-eyed Kaiju-fighting super robot desperate to catch a glimpse of the series. Not only will ICEBERG THEORY offer fans the ability to stream the several key episodes of SEVENGER FIGHT, but the event will also offer a Live From Tokyo interview with fan-favorite star Rima Matsuda (who pilots Sevenger), Takaya Aoyagi (who plays antihero Jugglus Juggler), and series director Kiyotaka Taguchi. Hosting the interview will be Sean Nichols, the popular American star of Ultraman Max.
Tickets for Ultraman Connection Live: Sevenger Fight are on sale now at this link: http://ultramanconnection.com/
ICEBERG THEORY will help companies and brands worldwide crystallize their core narratives, develop transmedia strategies, network audiences, execute virtual, multi-format and multiplatform productions. ICEBERG THEORY also builds out unique, immersive programming, experiences, and events for streaming and social media platforms, helping partners realize the true promise of these vital new production approaches.
“New and more compelling transmedia and interactive strategies have risen in the wake of production restrictions,” said Jeff Gomez, who will be acting as Chief Content Officer for ICEBERG THEORY. “An amazing treat for any genre fan, this approach combines our understanding of brand essence, virtual production, and participative storytelling. With SEVENGER FIGHT, we’re thrilled to bring this innovative model to Starlight Runner partners Tsuburaya Productions and The Licensing Group, and the rising international Ultraman brand.”
ICEBERG THEORY will also be led by Tiffany L. Gray as Chief Production Officer, Joe Niedecken as Chief Strategy Officer, and Jeremy Hughes as its CEO.
“What is exciting about this new company is how our activation capabilities combine with Starlight Runner’s storytelling. We have great experience producing across multiple platforms, including virtual production and can extend into multiple channels seamlessly. We’ve done live events, interactive, and on-demand. It can be entirely digital or an extension of physical, completely imaginative or something quite grounded.” said Jeremy Hughes, CEO for ICEBERG THEORY. “Most of all, we’ve been successfully learning how to build the right experience mix for the audiences that exceeds KPIs and create unique direct to consumer experiences that drive real-time sales.”
“ICEBERG THEORY can also generate brand strategies and creative advertising, music-driven productions, and charity events.” said Tiffany L. Gray, CPO. “We can align and execute everything we pitch at industry-leading quality and better. We now have proprietary methodologies that allow us to do all of this faster, better, and at less cost than industry leaders.”
Elevate is uniquely positioned for this expansion. The company currently sits at the intersection of film, advertising, and technology, working with numerous Fortune 500 brands and startups, while their entertainment properties span across digital, film, print, and gaming. Elevate has produced several live, live to tape, and partially pre-recorded, virtual events including The Justice Experience, a virtual edition of the Justice Awards, a live award show designed to honor tween girls doing amazing things in their community, “Pelotonia Legends LIVE!” with Pelotonia, a major charitable organization that raises hundreds of millions of dollars toward accelerating innovative cancer research, and a virtual listening party for Columbia Records artist Lil TJAY, giving fans a fully immersive, interactive experience combining CG and music video, featuring characters inspired by TJAY’s latest album.
Starlight Runner is recognized as a premiere producer in the fields of brand narrative, story world development, creative franchise design, and transmedia storytelling. The company specializes in the expansion of blockbuster entertainment properties such as Ultraman, premium brands, and socio-political messages into highly successful multiplatform communications and international campaigns. The ICEBERG THEORY joint venture with Elevate marks the first time Starlight Runner will enter the marketing space and embark on virtual production.
About Starlight Runner Entertainment
New York-based production company Starlight Runner Entertainment is one of the world’s leading producers of franchise storytelling and multiplatform narrative design. The studio works with executives, visionaries, and global leaders to maximize the effectiveness of brand narratives, develop vast fictional story worlds, and design highly successful transmedia franchises. Starlight Runner has teamed with top creators on such properties as Avatar (20th Century Fox), Pirates of the Caribbean (Disney, Halo (Microsoft Game Studios), and Spider-Man (Sony). The company has also produced hit comic books (Magic: The Gathering, Hasbro), video games (Turok, Nintendo) and animated series (Hot Wheels, Mattel), and provided creative consultation on global ad campaigns (Happiness Factory, Coca-Cola), virtual productions (Pelotonia), and immersive experiences (Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, Disney). Starlight Runner Entertainment’s award-winning services and technology are trusted by the world’s leading media & entertainment companies and executives and have generated millions of dollars in new business through the magic of transmedia storytelling.
About Elevate
Elevate Pictures is a Columbus, Ohio-based entertainment transmedia accelerator chasing simple ideas that can change the world. Sitting at the intersection of film, advertising, media, and technology, Elevate develops, builds, and invests resources towards ideas, stories, and brands with purpose. Elevate actively uses a transmedia approach it has dubbed, Liquid Storytelling, that it applies towards diverse problems while building multichannel and interconnected solutions. Our teams have built and scaled large scale properties across entertainment, digital networks and communities reaching well into the millions bringing together a mix of strategy, creative, and technology to create unique solutions typically resulting in new proprietary IP. Clients include a wide range of the top studios, music labels, Fortune 500 companies and blue-chip brands.
