by Jen Bergen | Nov 26, 2014 | Company News
It’s been an action-packed year here at Rapt Media. Some of our Rapt Media 2014 highlights include:
- Client Projects: We had great client projects from the likes of Philips, Martini Racing, Deloitte, inContact, and Cinemax, to name a few.
- Awards: Our work was nominated for both a Mashies and a Webby award. Rapt Media was also dubbed a “Cool Vendor” by Gartner, and a “Trendsetting Product” by EContent Mag.
- Internal Awesomeness: We raised $3.1 million in funding (booyah!), and also launched our own interactive cooking experience featuring our VP of engineering.
- Product Features and Integrations: We launched our Interactive Storyboarder, we enabled integrations with marketing automation systems like Eloqua and Marketo, and we released our Site Pairing technology, which creates a link between your video and the website around it.
It seems like just yesterday that we were writing our year-in-review blog post and listing all the things for which we were thankful. Tis the season once again. Some of the Rapt Media “Raptors” took a few minutes to reflect on the past year. Below, we share some of our highlights from 2014.
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by Jen Bergen | Nov 20, 2014 | Company News, How-Tos and Tips
Having a hard time thinking about, planning, and executing an interactive video project? Hey, we hear you – making the leap from traditional linear video to interactive video requires a new way of thinking. In addition, creating an interactive video experience also tends to require sign-off from key stakeholders. The easiest way to get that initial approval hearkens back to the age-old writing technique of “show, don’t tell.”
Imagine trying to pitch an interactive video by showing a linear experience. Telling your stakeholders that it’ll do X, Y, and Z when it’s interactive just doesn’t pack the same punch as showing a working, interactive prototype. So how can you pitch and test your interactive video concept?
To make the initial process of building and getting approval of your interactive video easier, we created the Rapt Media Interactive Storyboarder. With it, you can take a concept and turn it into a working prototype within minutes, increasing your chances of selling your idea while also streamlining the entire production process.
Check out the interactive video below to learn more about Rapt Media’s Interactive Storyboarder.
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by Jen Bergen | Nov 3, 2014 | How-Tos and Tips, Mobile and HTML5
News flash. Americans love online video. In fact, the U.S. watched (or started to watch) 38.2 billion videos in Q2 2014 alone – an increase of 43 percent over last year (Adobe’s “U.S. Digital Video Benchmark Report”). And while the number of online video views is on the rise, so is the number of drop-offs. According to Adobe, only about 50 percent of videos watched on desktops are viewed 75 percent of the way through, and that number plummets to 17 percent for mobile devices.
“Started to watch” versus “watched to completion” are two very different things – and a huge part of why most video marketers are still suffering from the same age-old problems: poor engagement and low conversion.
However, a subset of savvy brands and agencies are taking action and using interactive video to create content that solves those pain points. Unlike its linear cousin with deflated completion rates, interactive video sees completion rates of 90 percent and above. And that’s just one of its advantages.
Online video is the single most powerful tool companies have to communicate with customers, so don’t let your online videos fall victim to steep drop-off rates and poor ROI.
Here are 4 reasons why you should start producing interactive video and incorporate it into your online video strategy now.
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by Jen Bergen | Oct 31, 2014 | Company News
It’s October 31st, which means only one thing: it’s Halloween! We work hard at Rapt Media, but we also like to take the time out of our busy work days to have some fun. Today, at our Boulder office, we held our first annual Rapt Media Costume Contest. We had a fabulous turnout. Costumes ranged from deranged nurse to police officer to flapper to larper to Katniss Everdeen.
We loved all of the costumes, but the winner of the contest, by unanimous vote, went to…
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by Jen Bergen | Oct 30, 2014 | Company News, In the Media
Turning a startup from an idea to a success isn’t easy, and we couldn’t have done it without the help of Techstars. Rapt Media, a Techstars 2011 alum, joins 500 other startups that’ve gone through the accelerator program. Eighty percent of Techstars companies are still active, and Techstars is telling the stories of these startups in its new “Where Are They Now?” series, which highlights the post-program adventures of some of these companies.
Rapt Media is thrilled to be one of the first in this series, along with our Boulder-based friends at RoundPegg and Occipital. Check out the video below to hear how Rapt Media went from two founders and an engineer working in our CEO’s parent’s basement to where we are now: 15 employees and growing (hint: we’re hiring!).
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