Last week, when our friends at content marketing software company Kapost got nominated to complete an Ice Bucket Challenge (IBC), Kapost’s community and content manager Andrew J. Coate was instantly off brainstorming ways in which the company could present a creative response befitting of Kapost’s typical content creativity. Wanting to make Kapost’s IBC into an interactive experience where the user could select which Kaposters got soaked, Andrew turned to Rapt Media with the idea. Of course, there was a resounding “hell yeah!” from the Rapt Media team.

We love to see companies like Kapost thinking outside the box and coming up with innovative ways to use interactive video, and we were happy to help them create this video to help spread awareness and raise money for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Within two days of floating the idea, the Rapt Media and Kapost content team were done – the Kapost Ice Bucket Challenge was storyboarded, shot, edited, and we created the final interactive video.

The guys at Kapost did a fantastic job with this video – plus, it helps that the gentlemen participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge had strong personalities and were great on camera (and the tight shirt on CEO and co-founder Toby Murdock didn’t hurt either).

Check out Kapost’s IBC video above, and dig in further below to see how we worked with Kapost to make an interactive IBC video.

BEHIND THE SCENES

A look inside the interactive video planning process

Though creating an interactive video is not difficult, it does take a little more forethought than shooting a linear video since considering how each video will flow into the next, and what paths the branching narrative will take, is critical to the videos success. Here’s how we laid out the Kapost IBC video during our planning process.

The idea

The user begins the video and watches an intro clip; they then have the opportunity to follow one of six different paths. Within each video, the user can choose whether they want to go back and watch a different ice water dump, or go to the end of the video.

The shot list

We then came up with a rough shot list. Our shot list included…

1. The intro: see above.
2. The ice dumping: Each person gets iced. Once they’ve been drenched, they can say something like “Who do you want to see next?” or “Donate or pick another,” etc. At that point, there will be a Brady Bunch-like screen.
3. The transition: Each person does something funny for the Brady Bunch screen, like pointing to the other screens to get people to click on anyone but them. There will be extra squares that give the user the option to go to the concluding shot, tweet, or donate.
4. The closer: Andrew closes things out…thanks users for interacting, and then tell them to donate to ALSA.org at the link below, share it on Facebook and Twitter, or watch it again, etc.

The wrapper

We also wanted to make sure users could click at almost any time to learn more about Kapost and Rapt Media, as well as be able to go directly to the ALSA.org site to donate, or share on social networks. We decided a header and footer would do the trick, as seen in the below sketch. We added this at the end using custom CSS in the Rapt Media player.

Filming and editing

Andrew and Kapost’s in-house videographer, Jacob Collins, decided to use two cameras so they could get slow-motion reactions as each person was getting the water dumped on their heads. Andrew mapped all the shots out and realized they could essentially accomplish everything they needed in eight shots and film them in about an hour if all went well.

Spoiler: it did. Kapost edited the footage in less than five hours, and we were able to take that footage and edit it in our interactive video editor the following afternoon.

ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE TURNED VIRAL MARKETING LESSON

Not only did Kapost complete the Ice Bucket Challenge, but as a company that lives and breathes content marketing, it was able to turn the experience into a lesson about marketing and viral success. Our favorite takeaway:

“There certainly are some key elements that lead to viral success, and you can add them to your marketing campaigns or contests, but so much is still left up to chance and authenticity,” Andrew says in the blog post. “Plus you shouldn’t necessarily be focusing on getting the most participation, but rather the right participation.”

The “right participation” over the “most participation” is a key differentiator of interactive video versus linear video. At Rapt Media, the “right participation” is gained by engaging the user – transforming them from a passive, press-play-and-lean-back viewer to an active, lean-forward-and-engage user. We think Kapost’s interactive IBC video is the perfect example of that. Want to make your own interactive ice bucket challenge? Sign up for free and get started, or contact us to learn more. And don’t forget to donate to ALSA.org.