ZOO Digital Group

ZOO Digital Group Plc is a provider of creative media services and software for the film industry. The business works with major film studios to deliver creative media for printed materials and audio-visual content. Its market-leading proprietary software offers media companies considerable cost savings and reduces time to market.

ZOO employs over 100 staff in its office locations in the UK and US. The Company is headquartered in Sheffield, UK, where it operates its software product development facility. ZOO’s commercial centre and production facility are based in Los Angeles, California, from which it operates teams engaged in providing creative and production services for clients primarily in the entertainment industry. The Los Angeles location places ZOO close to the major Hollywood studios, a number of which are significant customers.

History

ZOO Digital Group was founded by in 2001 through a merger of two UK businesses – Kazoo3D plc and ZOO Media Corporation Ltd. – with an initial focus on the development of entertainment software across a variety of platforms including the internet and set-top boxes. Its work in the field of media transformation began in 2003 as a result of an exploratory project to identify more efficient processes for assembling interactive video content on DVD and other platforms.

The company pioneered the development of rich interactive media for inclusion on DVD-Video discs, opening up a range of new applications of this format in the areas of casual gaming, entertainment, marketing and education. Through the use of its proprietary software, ZOO has been either directly or indirectly responsible for a wide range of consumer products created on behalf of international media companies including Universal Pictures, EMI, Mattel, Hasbro and Warner Bros. Over a number of years, ZOO engaged with toy companies, DVD game publishers and Hollywood Studios to produce award-winning DVD games for all ages. ZOO’s approach combined the creative and technical elements when producing a game in order to ensure the highest quality, best value and most compelling experience.

ZOO’s innovative DVD software provided inroads into major video publishers including a number of Hollywood studios with which ZOO began working in 2005 on a number of new initiatives. ZOO’s strength lies in analysing current practices, methods and workflows for media transformation and identifying alternative approaches where software automation and centralization of processes can bring significant benefits. This has been brought to bear on a number of activities that take place during the complex process of creating media products for international release.

In 2006 ZOO created software to automate the regionalization of video title content into multiple languages. This software is now being used by organizations within Hollywood to reduce the costs and time-to-market of international marketing campaigns where it provides ZOO with a recurring revenue stream.

In 2007 the company’s media transformation suite was broadened to support the preparation of the digital data incorporated on DVD-Video discs to ensure compliance with exacting technical specifications and demanding customer requirements. This software is now used by leading Hollywood studios to create video titles for worldwide release, reducing the time taken by as much as 90%, and generating recurring revenues for ZOO. Studios benefit from reduced costs, shorter time to market, greater reliability and ease of production. In some cases administrators employed by the studios are now performing production functions that hitherto were outsourced to skilled and experienced technical experts.

In August 2007 ZOO acquired the business assets of Scope Seven Inc, a DVD services specialist based in El Segundo, California. This enabled ZOO to broaden its offering to include creative and production services aligned with its proprietary software, providing an attractive mix of software and service. The group has since been fully integrated and now operates as the implementation services arm of ZOO Digital. Scope Seven served the entertainment sector from the inception of the DVD format, with clients including Warner Home Video, 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal, HBO and the BBC, amongst many others.

ZOO’s media transformation capabilities were extended still further in 2008 with the development of software systems to support the automated adaptation of print media into different languages, formats and sizes. This capability is applicable to any company engaged in international marketing campaigns and enables the time and cost associated with production of adapted elements to be reduced by up to 50%. These systems are now in use by and on behalf of major Hollywood studios to create product packaging, posters, point of purchase and other print artwork across multiple languages, and provide recurring revenue to ZOO.

In 2009 ZOO’s product suite was extended further with its first on-demand solution – the Translation Management System (TMS). This system is used to manage and co-ordinate international marketing campaigns, including the translation of text into over 60 languages, and is fully integrated with ZOO’s desktop software tools. The TMS is licensed on a “Software as a service” basis, generating recurring revenues.

Over several years of working closely with leading film studios ZOO has benefited from the experience of dealing first hand with the complex product development and marketing programmes that are typical in the entertainment industry. These insights have allowed the company to identify opportunities for new software systems that automate and centralise workflows and processes, enabling ZOO to create attractive propositions for its customers that are priced to provide time and cost savings while generating recurring revenues for ZOO.

Products and services overview

ZOO’s proprietary media transformation software suite is a modular system that delivers significant efficiencies in a number of areas including:

Media Adaptation – post-processing of graphical designs created in industry-standard applications (including Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and AfterEffects) to automatically substitute and reformat using alternative text and other graphical elements.

Templated Authoring – automated authoring of video-based content for industry standard formats based on template definitions to ensure strict adherence to studio guidelines and conventions.

Interactive Authoring – automated production of multiple design elements and programming necessary to support the delivery of interactive content on a variety of platforms including DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Translation Management – workflow system to support the identification of translation requirements and the management of the translation and approval processes.

Through its Los Angeles based facility and also in conjunction with international business partners, ZOO provides a range of complementary services that includes:

DVD compression and authoring – the preparation of digital assets and the combining of multiple elements to meet the technical specifications of the DVD format for standard definition video. Automation is used to support templated production so that video titles that comply with studio designs and requirements can be created easily and efficiently.

Blu-ray compression and authoring – similar to the above but based upon the Blu-ray Disc format for high definition video.

DVD menu regionalization – the creation of multiple language variants of original designs used within the development of DVD titles. ZOO’s automation software enables the regionalization process to be highly automated.

Blu-ray menu regionalization – similar to the above but based upon the Blu-ray Disc format, which is significantly more complex.

Pre-media production – preparation of materials for print or internet use through transformation of existing designs. This embraces both regionalization for multiple languages and local conventions (for example, in relation to logos and legal notices), and also adaptation of one document profile to another (for example, from US letter to A4 layout).

Design services – a range of services relating to the design of digital media, most usually interactive entertainment content for DVD, Blu-ray Disc and set-top boxes. ZOO’s automation software simplifies the creation of the design elements and programming necessary to deliver interactive content.

Consulting – analysis of client workflows and processes to evaluate opportunities to improve efficiencies through the use of automation and other software-assisted approaches.

Post-production – a range of services to repurpose content and create new derivative versions, such as Electronic Press Kits, using automation where appropriate.

See also

• Home Entertainment Suppliers
• List of companies in Sheffield

External links

• ZOO Digital Group official website