Media Mix: Liverpool developer strikes BBC deal; Dinosaur promotes Manchester

A Liverpool development studio has signed a deal to work on interactive television for the BBC.

Citrus Suite, which is run by nine artists, designers and programmers from the Liverpool games scene, is developing content for Project Canvas, a new Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) platform.

IPTV is a way in which television and interactive content can be delivered using broadband instead of satellite or cable. Viewers should be able to receive the new service via set-top boxes from spring 2011.

The work involves creating a prototype which demonstrates how viewers can interact directly with one of the BBC’s existing TV shows.
 
Chris Morland, Development Director at Citrus Suite: “This is a golden opportunity to collaborate with the BBC and deliver a product using state-of-the-art technology – from a creative point of view this is where we want to be.”

::

CREATIVE agency Dinosaur is working with Cityco, Manchester’s city centre management company to promote the centre as a family friendly destination this summer.

The campaign, launched to coincide with the school holidays, will see the distribution of 350,000 A6-sized visitor maps, billboard posters and a building wrap.

It follows Dinosaur’s See What Manchester’s Made Of winter campaign to promote the city’s retail sector which the agency said had helped the city outperform the national average by 2.7% in like-for-like sales, during November and December.

Linsey Hales, art director at Manchester-based Dinosaur, said: “To stretch the campaign’s appeal to a family audience, and to show the depth of Manchester’s offering, we refreshed the campaign with a layered, homemade craft look. We injected the creative with the necessary energy to express what Manchester’s all about during summer.”