Production News South Africa

Cooking up a brand experience

In 2008, after 26 years of producing some of the best-loved adverts on local and international TV screens, Peter Gird teamed up with creative entrepreneur, Jason Xenopoulos, an award-winning screenwriter and film director to launch the next generation production company, 2.0 Media. Now in October 2009, they have announced the next step - adding South African filmmaker, chef and television personality Justin Bonello to launch the branded entertainment company, Cooked 2.0.
The Cooked 2.0 team: Jason Xenopoulos (2.0 Media) (left), Justin Bonello (Cooked In Africa), and Peter Gird (2.0 Media).
The Cooked 2.0 team: Jason Xenopoulos (2.0 Media) (left), Justin Bonello (Cooked In Africa), and Peter Gird (2.0 Media).

This focused, branded content production company that combines the advertising experience of 2.0 and the production and documentary-making experience of Bonello's Cooked In Africa Films, will branch out into the world of commercials, producing original advertiser-funded content with high production values.

Says Bonello, “We're in the business of original production and have always prided ourselves on our ability to transform fresh ideas into thought-provoking entertainment for TV. Our migration from tape-based recording into digital high-definition allows us to produce high-quality projects extremely cost effectively and deliver finished products within limited time constraints.”

A plan to raise the bar

“With the integration of digital into mainstream advertising, the company is able to produce branded entertainment content for both TV and new media platforms. Historically the standards applied to video and web content in new media has been low, but we intend to change that by raising the production values of the video content while offering a competitively priced service,” comments Gird.

“Advertisers are increasingly looking for innovative ways for customers to interact with their brands more often,” adds Xenopoulos. “Hence, we're seeing the classic TV advert make way for branded content, which includes advertiser-funded TV shows and rich media content for web, mobile and other new media platforms. With our advertising experience and Justin's HD and programming experience, we're able to offer clients the opportunity to produce high-quality digital content that can be applied across the media spectrum and deliver real value to the advertiser.”

Let's do Biz