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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by Jen Bergen | Oct 14, 2014 | Company News, How-Tos and Tips
We had a great time at this year’s Denver Startup Week attending some insightful panels and seeing our fearless leader, Rapt Media CEO and co-founder Erika Trautman, speak alongside a handful of some of our favorite startups at two separate events – both of which were packed with eager DSW attendees. In fact, one panel, “Sifting Through the BS: Advice that Really Matters When You’re in the Trenches of Building a Business,” had 650 registered attendees and only space for 150.
For those who were able to attend the panel, a lot of ground was covered. PivotDesk’s CEO and co-founder David Mandell, Simple Energy’s CEO and founder Yoav Lurie, and Rapt Media’s CEO and co-founder Erika Trautman did indeed sift through the BS, candidly sharing their take on many of the questionable pieces of advice startups get when building their business.
For those unable to make it to the panel, or for those who attended and just want a refresher, our friends at PivotDesk recorded the whole thing. The 1.5-hour-long panel was packed with loads of great advice, and we turned the footage into an interactive video, making it easy for you to literally sift through and select the topics you want to learn more about.
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by Jen Bergen | Oct 10, 2014 | Company News
Today, Mashable announced Rapt Media as a finalist in its annual Mashies awards program that showcases outstanding digital work in marketing, advertising and social. Philips’ Rapt Media-powered interactive video campaign, “Designed to Play – One guy, 5 styles, 625 possibilities” was chosen as a finalist in the Best Interactive Ad Execution category, which recognizes the best digital ad unit with an innovative interactive component.
We’re thrilled that Mashable has recognized the great work that Ogilvy & Mather Duesseldorf did for its Philips campaign. To introduce a new generation of young European men to the style possibilities afforded by the Philips Click & Style electric razor, Ogilvy & Mather Duesseldorf chose Rapt Media’s interactive video platform to immerse customers in an entertaining, playful, mobile interactive video brand experience that could easily be duplicated into multiple languages.
It was absolutely critical that the young, tech-savvy audience it was targeting could access the video on mobile devices without downloading an app. The team needed a scalable way to produce a premium brand-engagement video, and Rapt Media was the only technology platform that could deploy Ogilvy’s creative concept in a mobile browser without requiring the viewer to download a separate app. (more…)
by Jen Bergen | Oct 7, 2014 | Project Examples
We love when companies use our interactive video platform to create cool projects that explain big topics in an easy-to-understand and interesting way. Confused.com, UK’s leading price-comparison website, recently announced the launch of its new video project, “How Many Times Will You Die Today,” to promote life insurance. The campaign emphasizes the importance of life insurance by taking the viewer through a day-in-the-life, video-game-like experience that uncovers some of the potential, not-so-obvious ways a person can die in a day and how dangerous the average day can actually be.
“In order to highlight the importance of having an up-to-date life insurance policy, the videos enforce that nobody can ever know what’s going to happen to them on a daily basis, and how many brushes with death they may experience, be it choking on a piece of toast, or tripping over a pile of dirty laundry,” Confused.com said in a press release.
In the video, the viewer is tasked to make it safely through the end of the day by correctly choosing the safest options and finishing the game. Clicking the right answer takes the viewer on to the next video scenario, and choosing the wrong option results in the viewer having to return to the beginning of that sequence and hopefully choosing the correct (safest) option the second time. (more…)
by Jen Bergen | Sep 29, 2014 | Company News
The Rapt Media team is growing, and we’re pleased to announce that Jennifer Burak has joined us as vice president of marketing, where she will lead the marketing team and drive all brand, social, content marketing, SEO, and advertising initiatives.
With more than 10 years of experience in B2B sales and marketing, as well as film and video, Burak will work to build the Rapt Media brand and expand the reach of Rapt Media’s interactive video platform within the rapidly growing market of agencies, media companies, and brands. Burak will also create and drive overall strategies to simultaneously expand market awareness, educate the marketplace, and increase website conversions.
For the last two years, Burak served as vice president of Content Marketing and Marcom for Getty Images where she led and empowered marketers to produce high impact branded content that delivered the very best in visual engagement, storytelling, and customer utility. During this time, Burak established Getty Images’ content marketing platform, “In Focus,” to help tell the stories behind the company’s content, content creators, and technology. Burak joined Getty Images in 2000 to lead its film and video sales, marketing, and operations globally. (more…)
by Jen Bergen | Sep 26, 2014 | Company News
The Rapt Media team is growing! On the tail of our recent $3.1 million funding round, led by Boulder Ventures, we’re gearing up for some exciting developments, and we’re looking to add three new Raptors to the nest. We recently welcomed Joanne Konstantinakos as our VP of Sales in New York, as well as Jennifer Burak as our VP of Marketing, and we’re on the search for more great talent.
Simply put, Rapt Media is creating the standards for online interactive video. Now who wouldn’t want to work on one of the hottest products in video, with the best team around? Come join us and enjoy perks such as health and dental benefits, flexible work hours, and a high-energy but peaceful work environment. Plus, our Boulder office is right off the Pearl Street Mall.
The three positions for which we’re currently hiring are:
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by Jen Bergen | Sep 15, 2014 | Company News
Happy first day of Denver Startup Week! That’s right, the largest free entrepreneurial event in North America is once again upon us, and Rapt Media is thrilled to be participating in two of the conference’s panels. In addition to helping sift through some of the BS advice entrepreneurs get in their early startup days, Rapt Media CEO and co-founder Erika Trautman will also discuss how video can be used to engage and tell your story.
Erika will speak alongside a handful of Colorado’s best startup CEOs. For more details on both panels, check out the info below.
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by Jen Bergen | Sep 2, 2014 | How-Tos and Tips, Project Examples
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.
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by Jonathan Woodard | Aug 29, 2014 | How-Tos and Tips, Mobile and HTML5
In a recent story written by TechCrunch about Rapt Media’s latest funding announcement, one comment in particular caught our eye. The commenter was curious about what makes our product worth a total funding of $7.5 million when, in his mind, it’s something that a custom development shop can build for a lot less.
After three years in the interactive video business, this type of question still comes up from time to time – often when talking to a prospective customer who’s evaluating interactive video vendors versus building a custom one-off video experience in-house. In the era of YouTube, it’s understandable for consumers to look at online video and think it’s cheap, easy, and straightforward – and with the right tools, it can be.
But there’s more to online video than the end product the viewer sees and shares with their friends on Facebook. How the video works behind the scenes is a whole other story, and the reality of video delivery on the internet is anything but simple. If you want to build a top-notch interactive video experience, you first need to decide whether to build or buy the platform. Here are the five key pieces to take into account before making that decision…
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by Jen Bergen | Aug 27, 2014 | In the Media, Press
August was a busy month for Rapt Media, particularly because of our two big announcements. First, we shared the closing of our $3.1 million round in venture financing, led by Boulder Ventures; and second, we announced the exciting launch of our integration with marketing automation system Eloqua.
And we’re not the only ones excited about this news. We’ve received some great coverage from some big names in tech, such as TechCrunch, VentureBeat, VideoInk, Reuter’s PE Hub, and StreamDaily, as well as some great local publications, like the Daily Camera, Built in Colorado, Xconomy, and Denver Business Journal.
In addition to these fantastic media outlets writing about Rapt Media’s latest happenings, we were also mentioned in the Wall Street Journal in a story that speculates on what areas AOL’s Tim Armstrong might consider focusing on with the extra $300 million AOL is raising in a convertible bond offering. According to the WSJ’s Mike Shields, AOL should look into companies “focused on making Web video ads more attractive/interactive.” Read the full story here.
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