Lest you think that OgilvyEntertainment is only in the business of developing branded content, along comes The Cannolis, an advertising-free, animated series on the web that OgilvyEntertainment is backing.
Last year, the Ogilvy & Mather unit took a small stake in the adult cartoon, which revolves around an Italian-American family that runs a bakery in the Little Italy section of New York. And now, as The Cannolis prepares to launch its second season, OgilvyEntertainment is replacing unknown voice talent with celebrities.
In as the new Dominic, patriarch of the Cannoli family, is Vincent Pastore, best known for his turn as “Big Pussy” on The Sopranos. (He also was the voice of Luca in Disney’s Shark Tale.) At the same time, Ramona Rizzo of VH1’s Mob Wives has joined as the voice of Theresa, Dominic’s wife.
The series also is seeking name voices for Grandma Nora and two of the four Cannoli kids. For the other kids, new cast members like Pastore will judge an open casting call at an Atlantic City hotel next month, said Doug Scott, president of OgilvyEntertainment.
Beyond casting, producers are re-working the animation for the series, whose episodes last three to four minutes, and “talking to a major distributor for broadband and consideration for broadcast,” Scott said. A line of branded merchandise also is in the works.
In short, OgilvyEntertainment is building the Cannolis brand even while establishing its credentials as a pure production player. The Cannolis is the first of about a half-dozen, non-brand-related projects that the unit has rolled out, according to Scott.
The seven-year old operation has come a long way from producing webisodes and short films for the likes of Hellmann’s and IBM.
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