“I’ve seen a lot of things; I’ve been through three sea changes in my business life,” says Mitchell Berman during a panel at Casual Connect USA. “It started with subscription paid TV, then went to video-on-demand and Over-The-Top services, and there’s another sea change sitting here in front of you.”
Mitchell Berman is the CEO and chief investment officer of Zen Digital Fund and a managing partner of Zen Media Entertainment Group, Inc. ZMEG focuses on identifying, mentoring, and funding new and innovative digital companies in entertainment, mobile games, mobile commerce, and social communication. Berman uses his 30 years of experience in the media industry and his global business network to mentor new businesses in Southern California; his purpose is to help them secure market distribution, build the audience for their products and services, and drive revenue.
An Inspirational Awakening
Berman feels that ZMEG has brought him a personal and inspirational awakening. He was recruited by the partners in 2013 to lead the company’s digital investment strategies. He had been in a two-year period of rebuilding his life after suffering the loss of his wife to cancer. He says, “ZMEG coaxed me back to business life and has given me a daily platform from which to share my three decades of business/startup and life experience, with exciting and dynamic new digital endeavors in my hometown of Los Angeles.”
A combination of many experiences, both good and bad, has led Berman to this point in time. He played a role in the launch of six radically different and innovative entertainment and technology-based businesses and startups, both in the US and internationally. These experiences gave him the foundation that now allows him to help entrepreneurs in Southern California realize their dreams. Giving back to others through mentoring these passionate and innovative entrepreneurs brings him satisfaction in his work today.
The Influencer Economy
Berman believes the power of the influencer economy is a critical emerging trend that will impact the work he does. In particular, as MCN influencers affect P2P marketing decisions and game downloads, while driving discoverability, on-going video engagement will be recognized as the new way to launch products in-market with greater economic efficiencies. ZMEG plans to respond by incorporating targeted global MCN influencers into innovative P2P marketing initiatives for the launch of new mobile products and services in the US and abroad.
The Discoverability Challenge
His particular focus is on mobile games, so he emphasizes, “Targeted MCN influencers incorporated into the deployment of mobile games, utilizing authentic-based messages, will dramatically increase the marketing efficiencies and discoverability of new mobile gaming products. ‘Building value with influence’ is going to be the new trend producing the biggest impact in the games industry.”
For his personal gaming, Berman’s platform of choice is “anything mobile.” Currently, he is playing Zombie Killer Squad because it has incorporated several influencers as characters in the game; it also is one of his personal investments.
As his children were growing up, he found it interesting to see how their gaming habits and choice of consoles developed. They graduated from Nintendo Gameboy to a Nintendo console for Mario Bros, then to Sony Playstation for NBA and Madden NFL, and finally to Xbox to watch Hulu and Netflix. But with his sons no longer living at home, the consoles are gone as well.
When Berman is finished work, he enjoys returning home to walk along the beach. His free time activities include attending UCLA football, Dodgers baseball, and Lakers basketball games with his sons and watching TURN, The Vikings, and House of Cards with his girlfriend.
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