John Leguizamo's Media Marketing Startup is Expanding with New Full-Scale Production Studios
NGL Media, a multicultural marketing solutions company that is aimed at Latino audiences, is expanding its operations to include a full-scale production facility.
The New York-based marketing company was co-founded in 2011 by David Chitel, its current CEO, along with comedian and actor John Leguizamo ("John Wick", "Ice Age", "The Pest") to provide advertisers with multimedia avenues to connect with the broad Latino audience. As such, it provides a wide variety of cross-platform video content for marketers in both English and Spanish, through partnerships with distributors and content creators.
Now the company is planning to move much of that production in-house, announcing (via Portada Online) the launch of NGL Studios, a full-scale content production division of the company.
NGL Studios will have production facilities across New York, L.A., and Miami, but with plans to go "wherever the story takes them," as the company's mantra states. The studio subsidiary company will give NGL Media the ability to create any type of video content needed to target brands for Latino audiences, while controlling every step of the production chain.
"Over the past few years, we've produced all types of content, from branded entertainment to documentaries and even music video inegrations," said Ben DeJesus, NGL Studios' new President. "Solidifying production under NGL Studios as a standalone division is a natural evolution of our business."
So is John Leguizamo's involvement in productions at NGL Studios, which the company said would happen, but on a project-to-project basis. "Today's production services landscape really lends itself to what we're doing with NGL Studios, as advertisers, agencies and media companies alike are looking for partners who can seamlessly create great content with top talent that resonates across platforms," said NGL Media CEO David Chitel.
NGL Studios won't be the typical video production facility, since it creates brand-related content for any shape or size of media, be it an original series, music video, or a TV show.
And while the company plans to create a consumer side eventually after its launch of the in-house production subsidiary, partner brands' visibility currently remains the top priority for NGL Media. The production facility is working with brands like Ford Fusion, Amtrak, Lexus, Dodge, Jack Daniel's, Claritin, and the California Milk Board.
"We do plan on launching a consumer-facing entity, but for now our work is very brand-centric," Chitel told Portada. Strategically, this gives partner brands more flexibility at the moment, while providing the tools to connect with Latino audiences.
"We also serve as the conduit to identify and contract talent from celebrities to influencers, all while providing the dual ability of both producing and distributing content through our proprietary video platform," said Chitel. "Lastly, because we're not a forward-facing media entity with usage restrictions, our advertiser partners can utilize the content we produce anywhere and everywhere they choose across all platforms."
That jives with NGL Studios' core principals to serve Latino audiences "from digital to broadcast, mobile to social, Hispanic to millennial..." because Latinos are a tech savvy audience "who like their video everywhere."