The Power of the IBC Innovation Awards

To get an idea of the value of the IBC Innovation Awards, IBC talked to Geoff Mills, director of global sales and operations at Spanish developer of post production tools SGO.

SGO's leading product is Mistika, a very high performance post production system. Mistika has twice been involved with projects which made the final shortlist for the Content Creation award. On both occasions the entries were submitted by SGO and prepared by SGO s communications agent Carole Cox at RadiancePR.

The first was in 2011, when London post house Onsight was a finalist for a remarkable 3D television programme, Flying Monsters, Geoff recalled. On that occasion we did not win, but the judges were so impressed with the whole programme that they created a special award which went to producers Atlantic Productions as well as Onsight.

Miguel Angel Doncel, the founder and CEO of SGO, was on stage to share in the applause, he said. The value we as a relatively small company got from being associated with that award was huge. The IBC Awards demonstrated that Mistika was something very special, a uniquely powerful post production platform. We can say that all we like, but when that is recognised in the most respected awards ceremony in the industry then we know the message is getting through!

The message was certainly heard, because SGO's second appearance at the IBC Awards was in 2013, as part of the biggest movie of the year Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy.

Thanks in part to our first appearance at the IBC Awards, the power of Mistika was rapidly gaining recognition, said Geoff. Mistika is not just about great quality, but about organising big, complex workflows so that all the material is tracked through a single hub.

Park Road Post in Wellington, New Zealand, knew that they had a herculean task on their hands with the first of the three Hobbit films, he explained. Based on the growing reputation of Mistika, not least through award-winning projects like Flying Monsters, they came to SGO to take a serious look at what we could offer.

They quickly made the decision to centre all the post of this massively complicated, high frame rate 3D movie on Mistika.

Facing tough competition including the BBC's coverage of the Olympic torch relay and an exciting helmet camera for cricket developed by Fox Sports in Australia, the award went to the post production pipeline on The Hobbit.

You can tell how the IBC Awards are really valued in the industry because two of the Park Road Post team, Phil Oatley and Tony Pratt, flew from Wellington to Amsterdam to receive the trophy in person, taking time away from the very pressing task of finishing the second Hobbit film, Geoff stated.

I was very proud to be on stage with Miguel to see our customers receive the award, presented by Prince Fahad al Saud.

It is clear that both Geoff and Carole see huge value in participating in the IBC Awards, even though the trophies themselves go to the end users. From a marketing standpoint it is very significant, Carole said. First and this is really important it shows SGO's customers that we really value what they are doing with the technology. We all have a real pride in what they are achieving."

Second, the prestigious IBC Innovation Award brings recognition for my client SGO and its amazing product Mistika at the most significant international convention in our industry, she added. The investment in time to prepare a strong entry is very much worth it because success gets SGO s name to the top of the conversation whenever post production is discussed and that holds huge marketing value.

LINK:	http://www.ibc.org/hot-news/the-power-of-the-ibc-innovation-awards...
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