UK-based MirriAd, whose software technology overlays brands and their products in to movies and TV shows, is taking on £2.5 million ($3.8 million) in funding, mostly to spend on sales and marketing.
To date, MirriAd has raised £10 million. This latest raise follows an October 2008 funding of £2 million, a January 2009 £1.5 million take and an unspecified amount in September 2010, led by Oxford Capital Partners and STV, together with previous venture capital firms and individual backers.
Now that product placement rules have been liberalised in some countries, the opportunity for broadcasters and filmmakers to monetise their wares is greater. But there is also a back-catalogue of old material from before liberalisation that stands to gain from product placement. Even new productions can be commissioned with blank spots for unique product placements in different countries.
That’s where the software comes in. And MirriAd recently hired former Channel 4 sales head David Charlesworth to lead global sales and marketing, which is where the global marketing push comes in. Charlesworth will build a global sales team.
Here’s how MirriAd has pasted virtual products in to some shows and films…