Dublin company shops for app opportunities

VIP Productions, the Dublin production company that makes Operation Transformation and Daniel and Majella’s B&B Road Trip, is really embracing the convergence of TV and digital.

Philip Kampf of VIP tells me that the company is developing a number of new apps to complement its TV shows. Kampf has enjoyed considerable success in the TV business and is co-creator of the Lyrics Board, one of Ireland’s most successful and lucrative TV show exports.

VIP has just launched a new quiz filmed on the high street for RTE2 called Search. Over the past few months the company had also been developing a new shopping app called Reduced.

“We were developing both independently and when RTE saw a pilot of the quiz show they said they would take a series if we could get a sponsor for the show,” said Kampf.

As the quiz is filmed on shopping streets, Kampf decided that the app, which tells people what items within walking distance have just been reduced, would be a good sponsor for the show.

Kampf ’s first foray into the digital world was Twinstrangers.com, which helps people find their doppelgangers.

“It began in March 2015 and it keeps growing. We have more than 1.5 million people on the site and we film stories of those meeting up who look similar.”

“What started out as an idea for TV has become a niche social network with people from all over the globe getting involved.”

He is also developing an app for another show, Super Star Ding Dong, which has taken off in Brazil.

A game show featuring celebrity impersonators, it is already big in China.