Mitra Creative is excited to announce our new Digital Video Production practice. The practice is led by filmmakers Joe Cantor and James Sapione–both of them highly-accomplished cinematographers/videographers, editors and sound recordists.

With this new discipline, Mitra Creative can provide corporations with superb quality intro. videos, video case studies, presentations, learning tools and more, and entertainment and media organizations and others with the very best of entertainment. These productions can be developed end-to-end, leveraging the new creative team, as well as Mitra Creative’s existing, award-winning talent pool which has, for the past four years, driven our communications, interactive design and development, and branding practices.

Please contact me (Karl Joseph Ufert, Mitra Creative’s President) at karlufert@mitracreative.com for more information, for a general quote or to discuss a specific project.

Election 2008 in the United States is momentus for many reasons. For those of us in the field of interactive marketing, this election has been revolutionary. Because of the times in which we live but also the remarkable strategy of the Obama-Biden ‘08 Campaign, the employment of multimedia — including email, viral video, other digital communications and all of the current (and near-future) social and information sharing principles (as well as technologies) of Web 2.0/3.0 — and of the building of a powerful brand, were decisive factors in the decision of the American electorate. So much so that Senator Barack Obama has been recognized by Advertising Age as “Marketer of the Year”.

Mitra Creative extends our congratulations to Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden on their historic November 4 win. We also want to add a nod to Obama-Biden ‘08 Campaign Manager, David Plouffe, on his brilliant work.

Today’s Contentinople announced that the video/multimedia platform, CONVIVA, received a $20M B Round funding. See the article by Contentinople writer, Ryan Lawler.

According to the article, Conviva received the funding to “target broadcasters and sports leagues that want to broadcast live video on the Internet” with “a brand new and built from the ground up” platform for live web video delivery. This is important news for digital distribution. It demonstrates significant movement in the henceforth slow-to-market aim to make the Internet the central vehicle for complex media access.

Another negotiation between media giants — this time, between Hollywood and a web goliath — will further chip away at the current digital content delivery dividing lines.

According to an article published in today’s “New York Times”, by Media reporter, Brooks Barnes, “Google is experimenting with a new method of distributing original material on the Web, and some Hollywood film financiers are betting millions that the company will succeed.” Episodes of Seth McFarlane’s popular FOX Broadcasting animated series “Family Guy“ will be made available exclusively for online viewing.

Google’s expected distribution method extends beyond exclusivity, to innovation. The NYT article goes on to say that Google’s “AdSense advertising system” — dynamic video banners — will bring Family Guy episodes “to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane’s target audience” as well as on YouTube.

Google’s move is a wise one. Not only does will it utilize the web in new ways to reach new audiences, it will create a revolution in codifying advertising ROI.

I discussed with a wise colleague a couple of years ago what the then pre-Google YouTube would eventually become. He articulated plainly what was already in my mind, “television.” It is now here.