Tom Himpe, David Bausola (Ag8) and Luke Scott (Free Scott) talk about Purefold during a webcast last summer.

A branded entertainment franchise inspired by Ridley Scott's sci-fi film Blade Runner has been shelved due to lack of funds and advertiser interest.

Dubbed Purefold, the web series was developed by London-based creative studio Ag8 in partnership with London-based prodco Baby Cow and Free Scott, the long-format division of Ridley and Tony Scott's commercial company RSA Films.

Ag8, which unveiled Purefold last summer, pitched the series to brands as five-to-10-minute-long episodes loosely-based on the themes from Blade Runner, with interlocking characters and storylines tailored to specific brand messages.

Much like Ag8 and Baby Cow's "Where Are The Joneses?" campaign for automaker Ford, the series would used social media, such as the FriendFeed ‘life-streaming' service, to solicit feedback and start conversations around what the world would look like in 2019. The public could also remix and build on the content through a Creative Commons license.

Brands such as US-based wireless carrier Verizon, British Gas and Brazilian energy supplier Petrobas were on board with the project but it was not enough to start production.

Ag8 co-founder Tom Himpe says the project died because the proposition proved too complex for brands that allocate only small amounts of advertising budgets to digital ventures. He likened the production scope of Purefold to "conducting several BBC Series at the same time."

"The main reason, at the end of the day, is it doesn't fit the processes and the models of how advertising and media money is allocated," he says. "There are so many aspects to it that make it hard to handle in an industry which is basically a sausage factory.

"The way the advertising industry is designed is to churn out huge volume," he continues. "It's not necessarily about complexity, it's about simplicity and something like Purefold doesn't have a pre-defined box in terms of budget allocation; it doesn't fit in research."

Purefold's overarching storyline was created by Baby Cow, with episodes produced and directed by RSA Films based on continuing feedback from viewers. Brands could buy into parallel storylines and characters designed to spin-off into separate series.

Managing multiple, and in some cases, competing brands was also a challenge. One advertiser pulled out because of the involvement of a competitor.

"Category exclusivity is still very much something that most brands are seeking out," says Himpe. "That limits the way in which you can get multiple brands together in one environment - even though every brand had its own proposition, its own storyline and its own strands within the overall story."

Advertisers were also given the opportunity to incorporate future products and services into the sci-fi narrative. For example, British Gas hoped to incorporate Smart Meters due to hit the market in 2012 and Verizon would have touted emerging 3D printing technology.

Though Himpe declined to cite the specific budget needed to move Purefold out of the scripting phase and into production, he likened the initial amount to "a big commercial ad budget."

"The bigger figure comes in order to sustain the Purefold model," he says. "The whole idea was to have content published on a frequent basis and to do that you need money to keep pouring in."

Himpe and his business partner David Bausola, a former Channel 4 new media executive, have since decided to fold Ag8 and part ways. Himpe is now head of communications planning in the London office of ad agency Anomaly.

www.ag8.com

www.rsafilms.com

www.babycow.co.uk