SAN FRANCISCO, CA - July 16, 2015 - Virool, the fastest-growing video distribution platform for marketers, today announced a panel of judges that will determine the winner of the Virool Race to Zero Gravity Contest. The list includes Founder and CEO of Atom Factory, Troy Carter; American Film Director and YouTube Star, Casey Niestat; Co-Founder of Vimeo and CollegeHumor, Ricky Van Veen; Platinum-Selling Hip Hop Artist, Chingy; President of Rubicon Project, Gregory R. Raifman; and Chairman at MyersBizNet, Jack Myers.
For the past ten months, hundreds of global marketing teams have submitted their amazing advertainment to Virool's Race to Zero Gravity Contest for brands like Schick, ZipCar, Intel and Turkish Airlines. When the contest closes on August 15th, finalists will be notified and the judges will score their videos across several categories including creativity, emotional impact and brand resonance. The winning video marketing team will be presented on the main stage at Advertising Week NYC on September 28, 2015.
Meet the Judges on the Virool Race to Zero Gravity
Virool enlisted six industry leaders to judge the contest and determine which team will experience weightlessness aboard Zero Gravity Corporation's aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, the same aircraft that NASA uses. The winning team will be joined by the judges when they launch to zero gravity and together they will float, flip, soar and even eat as if they are in outer space. The all-star line-up of judges include:
-Troy Carter, Founder & CEO, Atom Factory: Bringing 20 years of experience within music, tech and media, Troy Carter is the founder of entertainment company Atom Factory and tech outlet Smashd.co. In addition to being a self-accomplished talent manager for John Legend, Miguel and Meghan Trainor, Troy is an investor through his $50MM Cross Culture fund with 70+ holdings including Uber, Spotify, DropBox, and WarbyParker.
-Casey Niestat, American Film Director and YouTube Star: Casey is the writer, director, editor, and star of the series The Neistat Brothers on HBO and winner of the John Cassavetes Award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. His online short films have been viewed over 180,000,000 times in the last three years, including regular contributions to the New York Times critically acclaimed Op-Doc series.
-Ricky Van Veen, Co-Founder of CollegeHumor and Vimeo: Ricky Van Veen has helped grow CollegeHumor into the largest comedy property on the web and the most viewed comedy channel on YouTube. Ricky is currently at IAC, overseeing the TV, film, and digital efforts of CollegeHumor as well as other productions such as Chopped on the Food Network.
- Chingy, Platinum-Selling Hip Hop Artist: Howard Bailey, Jr., better known by his stage name, Chingy, is a multi-platinum selling artist/actor that has released four studio albums and several top singles from 2003 - 2014. Previously he worked with Capitol and Def Jam Records and recently started his own label title, FullDekk Music Group. He currently performs around the world and has two new singles on iTunes "Falling" and "Damn Girl".
-Gregory R. Raifman, President of Rubicon Project: Gregory is President and Member of the Board of Directors at Rubicon Project, a global advertising technology firm that is leading the automation of advertising. Having served as the Executive Chairman of video ad exchange and real-time bidding company LiveRail Inc. and CEO of Dragon Media Online, Gregory is an advertising industry and internet veteran.
-Jack Myers, Chairman and Media Ecologist at MyersBizNet: For more than 30-years, Jack Myers has been the go-to visionary in the media business. Jack is a cultural, economic and technology visionary, award-winning documentary film producer and author.
"Virool appreciates marketers who push beyond the limits," said Alex Debelov, CEO of Virool. "That is why we want to reward the best video marketing team with an out-of-this-world experience. We simply can't make this decision alone so we called up a few of our friends in the industry to help us determine the winning team. Not only will our expert panel of judges decide who will go on a Zero-G Experience®, they will be joining them in the sky!"
For more information or to enter your advertainment into the Race to Zero Gravity, visit www.virool.com/zerogravity
