Virtual Architecture
The DMN's Cheryl Hall (last cited in this post) profiles yet another fascinating niche business--this one the video division of a local architecture firm.
Bob Morris, managing principal of Corgan Associates Inc., will tell you that business opportunities crop up in unexpected places.
Two years ago, he gave a small band of architects free rein to expand the firm's computerized media capabilities and drum up outside work.
They'd become proficient at animated 3-D videos of buildings "blossoming" from the ground up and virtual walking tours of interior spaces. And they could create digitized images of cars, gardens, furniture and buildings that were indistinguishable from actual photographs.
Mr. Morris figured other architectural firms might want to outsource their video production.
He was right.
But he had no idea that there was a lucrative market beyond that. He proudly admits his staff had more vision than he did.
This year, Corgan Media Lab, as the 12-person unit is called, will bring in just under $1 million in outside revenue. The bulk of that will be generated by game, feature film and in-store broadcast work.
"These young mavericks had the desire and passion to push an emerging technology into tools that we and other businesses can use," says the 52-year-old Mr. Morris. "They've turned a marketing and R&D cost into a profit center."
His team re-created European historic landmarks as backgrounds for a recently released video game and is offering its digital lighting expertise in an upcoming animated movie.
Images of Old English cottages and homey fireplace-lit interiors fill a corkboard wall of a workroom. These "oil paintings" are for an undisclosed software product being released for Christmas.
The division, reports Hall, not only adds to the firm's profits but helps attract and retain talent. It's a great example of leveraging existing capabilities to expand business potential.