BBH ZAG LAUNCHES PLAYGROUND SESSIONS.

Contact: Megan Madaris 212-226-7496

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) and their brand invention business ZAG today announced the launch of Playground Sessions – a multi-million dollar initiative that changes the way people learn to play musical instruments. Playground Sessions is groundbreaking, downloadable learning software that revolutionizes the traditional piano lesson by incorporating gaming, pop music and social networking elements..

“Playground Sessions is essentially Rosetta Stone meets Guitar Hero,” said Chris Vance, Managing Director of ZAG US, a brand invention company that’s a fully owned subsidiary of BBH, an award-winning global creative company. “Starting with piano/keyboard, the downloadable software alters the fundamentals of a traditional piano lesson by merging learning and gaming.”

ZAG’s model of creating intellectual property and products within the creative machine that will make it a success, is a radical change for agencies and has far-reaching implications. “This is an exciting time for BBH and ZAG,” said BBH NY CEO Greg Andersen. “Playground Sessions has been a carefully thought out product innovation targeting a void in the music landscape.”

Musicians, teachers and gaming experts were brought together to formulate the ‘Play to Learn Methodology,’ allowing anyone to learn the fundamentals of piano playing through popular top 40 songs such as ‘Halo,’ ‘Hey Soul Sister,’ ‘I’ll be there,’ and ‘Apologize,’ and elements of gaming like scoring, badges, progress visualization and the ability to share with and challenge friends.

BBH/ZAG partnered with YouTube piano sensation David Sides (158mm views) and Rain, a leading digital creative software agency, to bring Playground Sessions to life. Sides created one-of-a-kind musical arrangements and leads users through video tutorials covering music theory, in addition to a variety of songs targeting different ability levels including rookie, intermediate and advanced. The lessons encompass four areas of music learning including keyboard pattern recognition, staff notation literacy, rhythmic competency and playing by ear.

“I am thrilled to be part of Playground Sessions and share my love of piano playing with the rest of the world,” Sides said. “I want to inspire a new generation and those who gave up lessons when they were kids.”

Bringing extensive expertise in customized software development and in online digital sheet music, Utah-based Rain built the downloadable software application. Unlike other music gaming sold on store shelves, Rain President and CEO Andrew Howlett said he was attracted to the partnership with BBH/ZAG because Playground Sessions is a Web tool that is easily updated and upgraded.

“I was interested in the opportunity to partner our world class custom software skills with world class creative talent found at BBH. Add in a unique group like ZAG with hands on experience actually bringing products to market and you've got something special,” Howlett said. “With the use of this technology platform, we've been able to create an engaging product using social and gaming methodology making practicing the piano more fun and getting people to play the songs they want to learn faster. There's just not any other product out there like Playground Sessions.”

Playground Sessions is available today www.playgroundsessions.com for $149.99. The price includes a BootCamp training program and three free songs. Additional songs can be purchased from a downloaded music library for $6.00.

Consumers will also need to purchase a keyboard that has a USB or midi connection to connect to a computer in order to get the gaming and social elements such as real time feedback and progress visualization.

Playground Sessions offers great value for people who own acoustic pianos. The software uses video tutorials to walk through the BootCamp and Song Lessons so even if you're keyboard is not connected to a computer you are still getting everything you need to learn to play.

About ZAG

In 2006, one of the world’s most famous advertising agencies, BBH, set up its own brand invention business, ZAG, to harness the Agency’s idea generating power to create brands and intellectual property that BBH could own. The ZAG model includes brand creation from scratch but also partnerships and equity or royalty deals with existing brands. To find out more visit www.zaginvention.com.

About BBH New York

BBH is an independent, full-service creativecompany with clients that include Axe, British Airways, Google, Johnnie Walker, NYC & Company, Sprite, Bailey’s, Vaseline, Westin Hotels & Resorts and World Gold Council. BBH NY has been named 4A’s U.S. Mid-Sized Agency of the Year four years running. Further information is available at our website, www.bartleboglehegarty.com.

About RAIN

Rain is an internationally recognized and awarded digital creative software agency dedicated to providing clients with solutions that allow their customers to connect with them wherever they are, web, desktop or mobile. Clients include HP, Google, Ancestry.com, Sony Music, Universal Music, Hess, Corona, Adobe and Skullcandy. To find out more about Rain, visit www.mediarain.com.

7 Ways To Build A Brand From Scratch, Inspired By "Playground Sessions"

Playground Sessions is a new music learning system from BBH unit Zag. But its biggest lesson may be in how agencies are approaching new product development.

Used to be the best an agency could do is build a rep as a stellar service provider. But recently, they've become more entrepreneurial--building their own brands along with their client's fortunes.

Take agency BBH and its brand development unit Zag, launched in 2006. The company has developed a number of intellectual property projects, taking to market the Ila personal security alarm in the U.K. and Mrs. O, a book and site about the first lady’s style, out of New York.

Its latest effort, Playground Sessions, developed out of Zag New York, may be its most ambitious. The product represents a major investment from BBH in product development, and provides a very specific take on how to build a brand from scratch.

Playground Sessions is a new human/software combo approach to learning to play an instrument. Zag partnered with self-taught YouTube piano phenomenon David Sides and digital company Rain Interactive on the web-based learning system, which has been in private beta since June and which launches November 1 (sessions start with piano but a guitar-based track is planned).

Playground Sessions allows users to learn piano by playing popular tracks, with Sides acting as a step-by-step video guide. Students can follow along with Sides on specific tracks, then, in practice mode, they can play songs while getting automated feedback, with green and red indicators of correct and incorrect notes. Another game-inspired feature allows students to track progress, get scores and badges, and compete against other students. A Bootcamp module designed by NYU music teacher Alex Ness provides further video instruction organized by skill level and according to learning categories like playing by ear, notation, and rhythm. The program costs $149, including the Bootcamp training program and three free songs. Additional songs are available from the music library for $6.

Zag worked for two years with its two partners to bring the product to market. BBH and Zag own the largest equity stake; Sides and Rain Interactive are also stakeholders. Zag is in the process of raising $3 million in funding and Zag managing director Chris Vance says conversations with VCs have been encouraging.

The product was first developed through Zag’s “brand lag” process, where the company identifies areas where consumer activity is outpacing brand activity.

“We identified different territories of brand lag and one was around adult learning,” says Vance, who joined Zag in 2009. “The other was around digital music. YouTube is in many ways associated with music and it was clear that a lot of people were going to YouTube to learn how to play instruments.” The phenomenon of Guitar Hero was also a contributing factor shaping the idea for the new product. “We knew that with technology and scale there was the opportunity to converge gaming and learning,” says Vance. “Can we do Guitar Hero with a real musical instrument; can we do Rosetta Stone with instruments? The challenge was, can we reinvent how instruments are taught. We identified the brand lag, then it became a question of, can we build it?”

Zag hasn’t invented a category here--there are a number of music learning systems online, including Apple’s GarageBand, which offers learn to play lessons. But with Sides on board, Vance says Playground Sessions benefits from "an inspirational teacher that can connect with people emotionally" (and, given Sides’ 150 million+ YouTube views, a ready audience of music fans).

Playground Sessions also provides a ready case study in how to approach building a product and brand from scratch. While there are as many ways to approach IP development as there are product ideas, here are 7 rules for developing a new brand, according to Zag.

1. Approach brand development as a standalone business, not as an agency hobby

Zag is a wholly owned subsidiary of BBH and represents a significant investment from the agency. The unit has about 23 full-time staffers, roughly split between New York and London; BBH cofounder Nigel Bogle sits on the Zag board. But Vance emphasizes that Zag is a balance sheet business where returns are expected, not a lab for freewheeling experiments. “We are responsible for managing costs, creating brands and products that have real commercial potential,” says Vance. “It’s difficult to build a brand. They take time and investment. They (BBH) went into it with full knowledge, that as an agency they have tons to contribute but it does take execution and full-time dedication to make this work. They’ve invested consistently with eyes on the future.”

2. Bring on a hardcore brand builder who understands the value of creative

Vance started out as an accountant at Arthur Anderson and did a stint at Goldman Sachs before returning to business school and working brand-side for Gillette and later P&G after the two companies merged. For the Zag role, BBH was looking for someone “with an entrepreneurial spirit, someone who knew how to bring brands to market but believed in creative process,” says Vance. “When I heard about it, I couldn’t believe this opportunity existed; I saw the value that agencies brought to developing brands.”

3. Harness the strengths of your agency host in identifying brand lags

Though Vance emphasizes the autonomy of Zag, there are significant benefits, after all, to being affiliated with a full-service creative agency. In an oversaturated marketplace there aren’t exactly tons of yawning consumer demand gaps, and finding them involves tapping into a good agency’s core strength--consumer insight. “We believe in the brand lag process; finding the unmet need,” says Vance. That process starts with heavy engagement with BBH to understand what’s happening in the market and the category. "Identifying brand lags starts with getting into deep consumer insights," says Vance. "And there’s no one better at that than great planners at agencies. Research departments on the client side are good but they don’t typically make the same connections that planning departments at agencies can.” Once opportunities are identified, Zag then layers on heavy commercial assessment. "We put months into evaluating what starts off as, okay there’s some excitement here; it's the commercial rigor to find out what types of product will work and what types of partnerships well have to pursue to bring a product to market,” says Vance.

4. Don’t do all the heavy lifting. Find partners who can contribute expertise and connections

Vance acknowledges Zag can’t do everything solo and says that all of the unit’s products involve some kind of joint venture. Utah-based digital agency Rain had visited BBH on a roadshow; the shop happened to have significant capabilities in customizable software solutions with a core competency in musical notation. Zag also identified Sides who brought a huge fan base and social media opportunities, beyond being the ideal aspirational teacher.

5. Get in for the long haul. Think of VC funding as merely step one

“We don’t win when we raise money; we win when we have a brand that people know and talk about,” says Vance. “Raising money is part of the process but if you want to go all the way you have to be truthful about what it takes in terms of allocation of resources.” Vance says it’s important to build a “culture of execution” and understand the entire brand building process.

6. View the investment in product development as an investment in your client relationships

Whether or not your agency creates the next ridiculously overvalued tech product, in an era of expanding creative opportunities, honing the skill sets involved in product development can allow agencies to enrich and expand relationships with current clients. “As an ex-client person, I can say that the more my agency partner is able to understand where I’m coming from or what’s important to me or why a brief is the way it is, the better,” says Vance. The skills that come out of an end-to-end brand building allow agencies to provide a bigger picture creative service for brands they work with; Vance says BBH clients see Zag as an innovation unit.

7. Eat your own dog food

If you catch Vance at a piano bar, you’ll be able to test his own passion for and belief in the product. He’s now a bona fide player; he learned to play via Daughtry’s “Home.”

Music lessons for the 21st century.

'Guitar Hero meets Rosetta Stone' is how BBH's brand invention division, ZAG, describes Playground Sessions, its latest innovation. It's a downloadable music learning software which aims to transform the traditional piano lesson and teach the fundamentals of music through gaming principals, popular music, digital interfaces, data design and social networking elements.

Playground Sessions was developed in partnership with software developer Rain as well as with Dr. Bruce Homer and Dr. Jan Plass, founding partners of the Consortium for Research and Evaluation of Advanced Technologies in Education (CREATE) at New York University. The keyboard lessons are taught by David Sides, a musician with 159 million YouTube views, who uses popular songs as the basis for the Playground Sessions tutorials. Users learn to play via top 40 songs such as Beyonce's Halo, and Hey Soul Sister by Train, and the lessons include elements of gaming like scoring, badges, progress visualization and the ability to share with and challenge friends.

Playground Sessions is available for download for $149.00 - you need a keyboard with a USB or midi connection to use it.

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Playground Sessions™ Software License Agreement

This Playground Sessions™ Software License Agreement (the Agreement) was last updated on October 12, 2011.

PLEASE READ THE AGREEMENT BELOW AND INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE BY CLICKING ON THE “I ACCEPT” BUTTON AT THE END OF THE AGREEMENT. BY CLICKING ON THIS BUTTON AND INSTALLING AND USING THE PLAYGROUND SESSIONS™ SOFTWARE YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT.

Playground Sessions™ is a software solution owned by Playground Sessions, Inc. (“PSI”) that allows end-users to download, play and use interactive video lessons for the piano as well as specific song lessons from the PSI online music library (the “Software”). When used in this Agreement, the term “Software” includes the initially downloaded solution and any updates thereto as provided by PSI, as well as all interactive video lessons (the “Videos”) and song lessons made available through our online music library (the “Song Lessons”).

Additional Terms and Privacy

The terms of this Agreement are in addition to the terms and conditions regarding use of the PSI web site, located at www.playgroundsessions.com, which also constitute a binding agreement between you and PSI. A copy of PSI’s current terms and conditions can be found here. You should also read our privacy policy, which can be found here to understand how PSI collects and uses information about you.

Ownership and Restrictions on Use

PSI and its licensors shall retain all right title and interest in and to the Software, and all intellectual property rights therein, except for the copyright to the songs taught in the Song Lessons, which are owned by their respective copyright owners. The Software is protected by the copyright laws of the United States and other countries and by international treaty provisions, and contains trade secrets of PSI. Upon your payment of the fees described below, PSI grants you a limited, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable right and license to download, use and display the Software on up to two (2) machines (for a maximum of two (2) users), solely in accordance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Except as expressly stated herein, this Agreement does not grant you any intellectual property rights in the Software and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by PSI and its licensors.

You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise reduce the Software to human-perceivable form. You may not disable any functionality which limits the use of the Software. You may not modify, adapt, translate, copy, rent, sublicense, assign, loan, reseller or distribute the Software. You may not copy the Software onto a server which permits multiple machines to access the Software, nor may you allow third parties to access the Software via an internet-based hosted solution.

System Compatibility

The Software is intended to be used on most available computer configurations. While you are responsible for ensuring that you have your computer configured properly to use the Software, if you are having problems running the Software, please reach out to our support team at support@playgroundsessions.com

Fees and Payment

The license fee for the Software is $149, which includes the initial software solution download, access to all of the Videos, and up to three (3) Song Lessons of your choice from the PSI music library. Additional Song Lessons may be purchased from our music library located here for an additional fee. The current fee per Song Lesson is $6.00; however, PSI reserves the right to increase or decrease this fee at any time in its sole discretion. The fee for Song Lessons includes royalty payments to the copyright owners of the songs taught in the Song Lessons.

Payment of all fees shall be made online, either via direct credit card payment or via PayPal. If you pay via PayPal, charges will appear as “Playground Sessions” on your account.

Disclaimer, Indemnification and Limitation of Liability

EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED HEREIN, THE SOFTWARE AND ANY RELATED CONTENT ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED "AS-IS," AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, PSI DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THIS SOFTWARE, AND ANY SUCH CONTENT, INCLUDING THEIR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, THEIR QUALITY, THEIR SECURITY, THEIR MERCHANTABILITY, OR THEIR NONINFRINGEMENT. PSI DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SOFTWARE OR ANY RELATED CONTENT IS FREE FROM BUGS, VIRUSES, ERRORS, OR OTHER PROGRAM LIMITATIONS. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, PSI SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF PROFITS OR INVESTMENT, OR THE LIKE), WHETHER BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF PSI HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION AND/OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THE ENTIRE LIABILITY OF PSI FOR ANY REASON ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR THE SOFTWARE.

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless PSI for any and all damages, including reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees, arising out of or relating to any third party claim resulting from your breach of this Agreement or your use of the Software, including, without limitation, any claims that you have violated any applicable laws or regulations.

Export Control Laws

You agree that the Software will not be shipped, transferred or exported into any country or used in any manner prohibited by the United States Export Administration Act or any other export laws, restrictions or regulations (collectively the “Export Laws”). In addition, if the Software is identified as an export controlled item under the Export Laws, you represent and warrant that you are not a citizen of, or located within, an embargoed or otherwise restricted nation (including without limitation Iran, Syria, Sudan, Cuba and North Korea) and that you are not otherwise prohibited under the Export Laws from receiving the Software. All rights to use the Software are granted on condition that such rights are forfeited if you fail to comply with the terms of this agreement.

Termination.

Should you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this Agreement, PSI reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate the licenses granted to you herein, effective immediately. In the event of such a termination, you will not be entitled to a refund of any license fees or any fees paid for additional Song Lessons.

Miscellaneous

Entire Agreement. This Agreement, together with the PSI web site terms and conditions and privacy policy, contains the entire understanding and agreement of the parties with respect to the subject matter contained herein. This Agreement supersedes all prior oral or written understandings and agreements relating thereto except as expressly otherwise provided, and may not be altered, amended, modified or waived in whole or in part, except in writing, signed by duly authorized representatives of the parties.

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Governing Law. . This Agreement and all matters and issues collateral thereto shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any action or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement shall be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction, federal or state, located within the State of New York. The parties hereby irrevocably consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in, and agree to service of process issued or authorized by, any such court; provided, however, that nothing in this Agreement will prevent either party from seeking injunctive relief to enforce the terms of this Agreement in any competent venue or jurisdiction, and each party irrevocably submits to the jurisdiction and venue of any such court in any such action or proceeding.

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