The Lumenere Group and BlinkAsia merge to form new agency

A new entertainment and media development agency, CATLYST/TV has been formed from the merger between two prominent content and media companies, The Lumenere Group and BlinkAsia.The Lumenere Group and BlinkAsia, now have a combined portfolio consisting of international and regional clients working on projects such as Asia’s Got Talent, SupermodelMe and TigerTwist with DJ Virman (Far East Movement).According to Shamila Gopalan, managing director of BlinkAsia the strategic merger is aimed at combining the core skills of both companies - in connecting content with brands through entertainment in more dynamic ways than traditional media advertising. She declined to comment on the cost of acquisition“The pace of change of the media industry has reached unprecedented levels and consumers can no longer be persuaded. Their attention must be earned by gifting them with entertainment, and CATLYST/TV is primed to help brands, agencies, creators, distributors and technology platform providers make deeper connections through branded storytelling,” said GopalanPost the merger Gopalan will now heads up the agency as CEO. Meanwhile, Kevin Ou will be taking on the role of chief development officer, Melissa Koh will be the chief client officer and Cheryl Ou will be named COO of the team.Gopalan in a statement to Marketing said that the agency’s key clients are content creators (TV, Film and Web), distribution platforms, MCN networks and brands.  The agency’s strong USP lies in its “accountability business model” whereby it takes minimum to zero fees upfront in exchange for revenue and equity share at the back end of any project, she added.“This truly showcases that we are development partners and we have ‘skin in the game’ as opposed to a fixed project fee or a retainer model. When our revenue is based around our client’s success, you know we’ll do whatever it takes to make them succeed,” she added.The agency currently works across the Asia Pacific region together with The Lumenere Group access to the US market. Its headquarters are currently in Singapore but the agency will look into expansion and partnerships after the first two or three years. The agency is also looking to expand its portfolio to include a Talent Development division (Artist and Representation division). In dealing with brands and clients, explained Gopalan, the agency finds a huge gap in the market for a certain type of content.Kevin Ou added that the entire broadcasting value chain is transitioning at lightning speed with several alternative platforms are emerging.“More than six in 10 digital consumers in Southeast Asia report watching TV content and movies via online sources such as video-on-demand, and YouTube is also increasingly acknowledged as a ‘TV channel’ or platform. This revolution is creating a rich mix of opportunities and challenges for content producers. By combining our resources, the new entity will be better positioned to meet the growing needs of our clients in an era of incredible transformation and disruption within the industry,” said Ou.