As Sean Sullivan in the Washington Post post put it: “Resurrect Tupac for a live performance? Been there. Help elect a prime minister in the world’s second most populous country? Done that. Next stop? Washington..” Hologram USA, owned by Greek billionaire Alki David, has announced the opening of a beltway office to bring the highest quality holographic projection technology to American political campaigning, the Federal government, and the defense industry.
The buzzy technology seems to be on everyone’s lips these days–but only one version of it has been credited with uncannily realistic holograms. The Musion Eyeliner technology invented by Uwe Maass for which Hologram USA owns the exclusive North American license was used in the famous Shakur resurrection at Coachella in 2012, appearances by the Black Eyed Peas, M.I.A., Al Gore, and Prince Charles around the world, and in fashion shows for Michael Kors and Burberry.
It was also used in Modi’s epic campaign in India in which he delivered dozens of simultaneous live hologram town halls across the nation to crowds of thousands. In the New York Times, Maureen Dowd recently wrote a passionate plea for upgrades to American political campaigning, saying, “Where is he White House’s Holodeck?”
Jeff Taylor, an experienced D.C. insider and managing partner of government relations firm USGRI.com, says, “The Holodeck is here.” He will head up Hologram USA’s efforts in Washington.
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As Alex Brown wrote in the National Journal, “Of course, a hologram can’t press the flesh or kiss a baby. But what it lacks in retail campaign skills, it can nearly equal with its manyfold multiplication of candidates’ appearances. And watching a hologram won’t just be like like seeing a remote candidate on a screen.” He goes on to quote David who says, the technology will “create an image that is projected in such a way that is absolutely indistinguishable from a real person or object.”
The Washington Post envisions the technology increasing interaction between voters and presidential candidates, who simply can’t appear physically in every city, even in crucial swing states.
“Let’s take New Hampshire and Clinton,” explained Taylor. “She could appear remotely via hologram in areas her schedule prevents her from traveling to, if she runs for president, fielding questions in a kind of virtual town hall meeting. You would actually have an interactive, three-dimensional image and a monitor in front of her when the lady at a coffee klatch says, ‘What are your views on energy?'”
“With the 2016 political season slowly starting, which political candidate does not want to reach the largest audience to convey a strong political message?” David says.
Many have speculated about its use at the party conventions–which have engaged in a kind of arms race for special effects and special guests. What could top Clint Eastwood’s empty chair? An appearance by Ronald Reagan delivering his “Tear down that wall” speech? John F. Kennedy recounting his experiences in World War II as his boat PT109 sank?
Taylor sees many other uses for the technology: a Presidntial visit to an elementary school classroom to help get the message out about a program without the cost of security; military briefings from hot zones for Pentagon bigwigs; the demonstration of military hardware without the risks of live fire; testimony from a dissident scholar who is unable to leave Iran.
Hologram USA is working in many other fields to put this technology to work, and says it has major entertainment projects around the world that will be announced soon–many involving the kind of “resurrections” of dead pop stars that brought holograms into the publics’ mind in the first place.
To find out more about Hologram USA’s efforts in D.C., call 202-316-3222
Hologram USA’s site is here.
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Washington, DC — Alki David, CEO of Hologram USA, the best-in-industry three-dimensional image technology, announced today that he has partnered with USGRI.com to bring holographic technology to U.S. government departments and agencies, industry associations, and the U.S. political system.
The images that Hologram USA’s patented technology produces are the most life-like, singularly impactful versions of what are popularly known as holograms. Projected images can interact with live performers, demonstrate variations on inanimate objects, and even allow a speaker to appear live from a remote location.
USGRI.com will introduce David’s company and his technology to government officials and program offices, political candidates, consultants, campaigns and organizations, and industry association executives. In short, it will appeal to all leaders in Washington looking to take the next step in communicating in the most vital way to the broadest audience.
The Beverly Hills based company has partnered with the inventor of the technology, Uwe Maass, and the U.K. based company Musion, owned by Giovanni Palma, and is the only legal licensee of the patent used to create recent high profile hologram projections using the images of Michael Jackson and Tupac Shakur. David has hired the most skilled VFX artists and technicians to ensure all productions are state of the art. USGRI.com is a government relations firm for companies that want to establish a more professional and interactive relationship with the U.S. federal government.
Hologram USA’s services represent the latest frontier in political campaigns—and the new Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is Exhibit A. Throughout his campaign this Spring, Hologram USA’s technology was used to produce dozens of simultaneous appearances by Modi across the country. His speeches reached crowds of 10,000 – 30,000 who participated in virtual town halls. Many news sources from, the Times of India to the Wall Street Journal, cited this technological advantage for helping his win.
Hologram USA’s government applications will be useful across the whole spectrum of the U.S. federal government; from the Department of Defense to the Department of Education and beyond. For the Pentagon, real-time interactive images of soldiers or terrain could give the U.S. a strategic benefit, and military hardware will be presented and demonstrated in 3D, making complicated technologies easy to grasp. In the other executive departments and agencies, where a conference call, internet chat, or grainy video used to have to suffice to communicate or strategize, now an interactive three-dimensional real time image can make interactions more productive and substantive.
In the run-up to the 2016 presidential campaigns, Hologram USA technology will be employed by presidential candidates, surrogates for candidates, political parties, political conventions, and third party political and grassroots organizations. It also opens up an entirely new way for industry associations to conduct their annual meetings, conventions, conferences, even smaller more focused industry gatherings.
“When Hologram USA launched, we always expected a dovetail with the U.S. federal government. We set our sights first on entertainment and fashion because those were the industries we knew best, but it wasn’t difficult to imagine the applications associated with aspects of our government; The White House, defense, homeland security, education, to name a few. And with the 2016 political season slowly starting, which political candidate does not want to reach the largest audience to convey a strong political message?” Alki David, Hologram USA CEO said. “USGRI.com launches our first initiative into official Washington – government, business, and politics.”
“It’s the Star Trek ‘holodeck’ finally coming to Washington,” remarked Jeff Taylor, managing partner, USGRI.com. “We’ve become accustomed to relying on 90 second two-dimensional video or 30 second political ad telling us what we need to know, what we need to buy, and who we need to vote for. In short, how we need to conduct our lives. Now there is a three-dimensional image, state of the art technology available to allow us to learn more from government, industry, and political leaders.”
Alki David is an entrepreneur and shipping magnate of Greek origins, with offices in Beverly Hills and London. In addition to Hologram USA, his companies include the world’s largest Internet television provider FilmOn Networks, with 40 million users a month, the innovative social television site BattleCam.com, and several broadcast television stations in the U.S. and the U.K.. FilmOn is the most watched IPTV company today, having just purchased the largest privately held film library, entered into a co-production deal with Relativity Media, and in a historic move, begun broadcasting the U.S. government’s Voice of America television programming over the internet world wide. Hologram USA’s website: http://www.hologramusa.com/
Jeff Taylor is the managing partner of USGRI.com, a Washington, DC-based government relations firm for companies that want to establish a more professional and interactive relationship with the U.S. federal government. He served in a senior capacity on Capitol Hill, managed and consulted on numerous political campaigns for public office, advised members of Congress on matters involving policy and political affairs, and served in the Administration of President George H. W. Bush.
Hologram USA, Beverly Hills – Corporate Headquarters: 877-733-1830
Hologram USA, Washington, DC: 202-316-3222
