Michael Ovitz Invests in Santa Monica Start-up GoodRx

Michael Ovitz was quoted in this L.A. Times article today by David Lazarus regarding Santa Monica-based GoodRx, a start-up that provides comparison shopping for the best price of prescription drugs at local drugstores.  

"GoodRx, based in a modest office building shared with other tech and media companies, has already attracted some big-name investors, including former Disney President Michael Ovitz and a handful of heavyweight venture-capital funds."

Ovitz attributes his investment in the company to a belief in its founders, former Facebook employees Scott Marlette, Doug Hirsch, and Trevor Bezdek.  "Ovitz and other early investors say they trust the company's leaders to make the venture pay off."

"A lot of our start-up investments are essentially bets on the founders," Ovitz said. "These are very smart guys with an impressive track record with a great idea."

Lazarus agrees the site offers a simple and consumer-friendly service:

"After kicking GoodRx's tires, I can say that it works pretty well. You enter your ZIP Code and the drug you're seeking, and the site quickly comes up with a list of nearby pharmacies and the prices they're selling the med for — all free of charge."

Given the straightforward utility of GoodRx, Lazarus poses a reasonable question:  why haven't similar consumer-friendly resources been offered by the insurance industry:

"Why haven't health insurers come up with their own price-comparison service? It's in their interest to provide customers with the most affordable options, and they certainly have access to the most comprehensive data about medical pricing."

"Why wouldn't an Anthem Blue Cross or a Blue Shield want to make customers better healthcare consumers by allowing them to browse for treatments and meds in the same way a savvy consumer will check out the Kelley Blue Book or Google Shopping before buying a car or TV?"

To read David Lazarus' entire L.A. Times article, 'Making it easy to comparison shop for prescription drugs', click here.

To visit GoodRx, click here.

Styled to a T - Kerry Condon

Michael Ovitz is briefly mentioned in this NY Times Magazine article about 29 year old Irish actor Kerry Condon, star of the HBO series “Luck”. Condon, who plays an ambitious jockey going head-to-head with the boys in the often sordid world of horse racing, wrote Ovitz a letter requesting an agent at the early age of 10:

"At 10 years old, Condon sent Michael Ovitz, the co-founder of CAA, a handwritten note saying she was in need of an agent. But her desire was never for fame or money, exactly. “I’m not interested in the mad race,” she says of Hollywood. 'I just like working with good people.'"

If you haven't yet seen "Luck", be sure to check it out Sundays at 9p.m. on HBO.

 Click here to read the entire article, Styled to a T - Kerry Condon.

All Eyes On Ovitz - Kimberly Ovitz Fashion Feature in The Daily

The Daily has a great feature on fashion designer Kimberly Ovitz, daughter of Michael Ovitz, that touches upon both the challenges and opportunities presented by a well-known family name, excerpted below:

Impressively self-possessed for a 28-year-old in the throes of only her fifth season at New York Fashion Week, the daughter of ex-super agent and former Walt Disney Co. president Michael Ovitz has consistently debunked the spoiled-little-rich-girl conceit. Instead, she inspires comparison to her unstuffy designs — airy knits and easy sweaters that have been embraced by retailers, fashion editors and celebrity stylists since her launch four years ago.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” her father said at yesterday’s show, awash in velvet, fringe and the aforementioned faux fur. “She’s done amazing.”

Ovitz’s confidence in her brand is evident almost a year after transplanting her company from her hometown of Los Angeles and her dad’s Santa Monica, Calif., office space to modest TriBeCa digs in Manhattan. She has quadrupled her staff and shifted production from China to New York City’s Garment District in a bid to support the local economy.

She gets advice on growing her company from her father, Michael, an early investor and loving “business mentor,” but despite what one might assume, she isn’t bankrolled in solid gold.

“We are dealing with a budget,” she said while dishing on the model-casting process. “It’s like, no, you can’t pay $2,500 for a model for 10 minutes.”

J.Crew’s president and creative director Jenna Lyons, who mentored 15-year-old Ovitz when she interned at J.Crew, said Ovitz “hasn’t been handed millions of dollars” to launch her business.

“She’s had to work for it and go and stick it out and she’s had some tough times and she stayed with it,” Lyons gushed. “To watch her learn and grow, I don’t think I realized how much I adored her. I get really teary.”

“The bottom line is everyone’s always going to be curious or have preconceived notions,” Ovitz said of her family name. “It’s afforded me great opportunity. I feel very fortunate about it, but at the end of the day, my work has to make a statement and back it up and be legitimately good.”

Click here to read the entire article, All Eyes On Ovitz in The Daily.

Michael Ovitz at Kimberly Ovitz Fall 2012 Collection Debut

Michael Ovitz attended daughter Kimberly Ovitz's 2012 Fall collection debut at NY Fashion Week along with a myriad of other celebrities.  According to the New York Post, "Kimberly Ovitz's front row was dotted with people from her past; J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyons, wearing a fur coat with at least three animal's tails dangling from the back (Ovitz interned for her way back when), and Ivanka Trump (a friend from back when Ovitz was designing for Imitation of Christ.)"


Ivanka Trump, who recently wore a Kimberly Ovitz dress to the premier of Madonna's new film, W.E., is pictured here at left with Michael Ovitz.  Trump is described by the NY Daily News as "wearing a navy top, skinny black slacks, and patent-gasp!-flats, she was looking more businesswoman than ever.  Which is no surprise when she told us she came from work."  


The Kimberly Ovitz collection, reviewed by the L.A. Times as "a huge leap forward for Ovitz, with lots of incredible details, and a complete range of offerings," draws inspiration from the Japanese film Kagemusha, by Karasawa.  Strong, dark, female warrior themes are captured in every aspect of the line, from the yarn-fringed hoodie to the striking samurai eyebrows.

Read more about the Kimberly Ovitz Fall 2012 collection in the L.A. Times, NY Post, and NY Daily News.


We'll feature more about the collection in an upcoming post; to view each of the pieces, check out this article in fashionista:  http://fashionista.com/2012/02/kimberly-ovitz-fall-2012-inspired-by-warriors/

Super Bowl, Coca-Cola Polar Bears and More

Michael Ovitz's toast to the N.Y. Giant's last week during his dinner at Lavo with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell proved to be a prescient gesture as the Giants went on to win Super Bowl Trophy number two, proving the pundits wrong and denying the Patriots' dynastic ambitions.  Ovitz, a long-time sports fan, attended the game as mentioned in this Boston Globe article, Stars Out In Indy for the Super Bowl.

Though the game itself was close, the hype and post-game chatter seemed to be more about the Madonna half-time show and the various Super Bowl commercials, costing advertisers a modest average of $3.5 million per 30 seconds.

Among those were a new set of Coca-Cola polar bear commercials, most prominent of which was 'The Catch'.  (Watch it here).

What few may realize is the integral role Michael Ovitz and CAA played in the origin of these iconic Coca-Cola polar bear commercials.  In September 1991 Ovitz "rocked the advertising world by signing Coca-Cola".  At the time it was unheard of for a talent agency to represent a client's advertising interests, thus the deal had long-term implications not only for the former Coca-Cola agency McCann-Erickson, but for advertising agencies in general: the realm of advertising was forever expanded to include other business entities beyond the pale of the traditional agency.  To retain their contracts, they had to innovate and compete with fresh and new ideas; resting on the laurels of conventional advertising was no longer an option.  For this reason Ovitz is considered a highly influential figure in advertising history; read more about it here in this Ad Age Advertising history.

The product of CAA's relationship with Coca-Cola was a very successful commercial featuring the now-iconic animated polar bears and the catchy 'Always' jingle.  At the time, the computer animation (created by animation company Rhythm & Hues) represented the very cutting edge of digital technology.  It is to Coca-Cola's credit they have maintained the original character of the bears in their most recent slew of Super Bowl commercials.  The longevity of the campaign certainly says a great deal about the lasting appeal of these adorable and enigmatic creatures, Ursus maritimus.

Though Ovitz can take credit for a highly transformative moment in advertising history, the association of polar bears with Coca-Cola dates back much further.  According to Coca-Cola, the first polar bear "appeared in France in 1922, and for the next 70 years, polar bears appeared sporadically in print advertising".  The company has a page detailing the creation of the original commercials; you can read it in its entirety here.

Designer Kimberly Ovitz Is Inspired by Warriors

Michael Ovitz's daughter, fashion designer Kimberly Ovitz, is showing her latest collection at N.Y. Fashion Week at The Pace Gallery, February 9 at 1 p.m.  She had this fun Q&A with Blouin ArtInfo, Designer Kimberly Ovitz is Inspired by Warriors, describing her collection as a "dichotomy of design... mirrored by the juxtaposition of fabric textures; lush, soft wool jerseys, velvet, and hammered metal satin is set against dark lux wool suiting.  Faux fur and vivid wolf-fur prints further recall the wild, animalistic characteristics emblematic of the warrior. The color palette embodies the mood with deep tones of onyx, arbor, pine, mud, sangre, and skin."


Read the entire ArtInfo article here.