Fox Advertising and Toonstar, a Los Angeles-based animation studio that is embracing the use of artificial intelligence in its production line, have unveiled a strategic partnership “designed to create new opportunities for marketers to connect with audiences through digital-first animation, creator-led storytelling, and culturally responsive content.”
The two companies will showcase their new collaboration, which will combine Fox’s “advertising sales expertise and distribution capabilities with Toonstar’s proprietary production engine, Ink & Pixel, which produces fast, high-quality animation at scale,” at the Cannes Lions Festival in France next week.
“Toonstar’s SPOT audience intelligence technology adds an additional advantage by integrating real-time audience data directly into the creative process,” the partners said.
For brands, the partnership aims to create opportunities to engage with creator communities through animation by pairing them with creators; For independent creators, the goal is to provide “a faster path to market, expanded advertising and distribution support and a more robust pipeline for developing the next generation of successful IPs,” Fox and Tonstar said. In other words, for Toonstar’s growing slate of shows, access to the Fox ad machine should help creators improve their monetization opportunities.
The collaboration is also understood to provide a potential path for select projects created under the partnership to benefit from Fox distribution.
“Toonstar’s animation production engine and digital distribution technology will enable brands to respond to audiences and trends in a way never before possible,” said Katrina Kukaj, executive vice president of ad sales at Fox. “This gives our advertising partners something truly new – content that moves at the speed of culture, with the creative quality audiences have come to expect from Fox.”
John Attanasio, CEO and Co-Founder of Toonstar highlighted: “We are excited to partner with a company that understands the power of storytelling and the evolving needs of brands. We see a renaissance in animation on the horizon, and together we can help creators build the next generation of global franchises while creating meaningful ways for advertisers to engage in those communities.”
Founded by Attanasio and Luisa Huang, Disney and Warner Bros. veterans, Toonstar has made its mark in creator-led animation and plans to launch a slate of new digital-first animated series, including Nigel Ng fried.
Toonstar is repped by WME and Hansen Jacobson and backed by media and technology investors Founders Fund, Greycroft, Snap and GFR.
