SEATTLE, Oct. 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Say It Visually announces public availability of the new Vid.One video-making platform for marketing content. Cloud-based Vid.One delivers polished, finished business videos in seconds, complete with HD video downloads, animated GIFs, and embed codes for dozens of web, CRM and email systems.
« Headlines about the explosion in video content usually gloss over the cost and hassles of creating the content, » states Dr. Matthew Dunn, Chief Explainer for Say It Visually. « Casual smartphone video may suit personal communication, but for business and branding, it’s not always the best choice. Vid.One upends that; better-looking content, faster than selfie videos, ready to share in seconds complete with hosting, embed codes, animated GIFs and more. »
Customers choose from hundreds of templates, covering many styles and subjects. Each template is soundtracked, properly licensed and cleared for commercial use. Customers simply write copy and add graphics, logos or photos.
Any device – smartphone, tablet or desktop – can be used for video creation; Vid.One is accessible to any modern HTML5-friendly web browser. The client is intentionally streamlined and simple, and video files and embed codes are provided immediately.
« Pro video tools like Final Cut or Adobe Premiere can do much more, but at the cost of a steep learning curve and long production times. Vid.One can create and deliver a video in about the time it takes those tools to boot up, » said Dr. Dunn. « Studios and desktops tools also leave the technical challenges of actually using video content online to the business. We handle those final steps instead, providing multiple resolutions, GIF files, hosting and embed codes for all the major website, CRM and email platforms instantly. »
Vid.One does not require subscriptions or recurring payment for videos. To celebrate launch of the platform, dozens of templates have been made available free. Paid templates average under $10, but this one-time payment provides perpetual license – « Pay once, play forever, » quips Dunn. The system is online at https://Vid.One.
Private-label versions of the platform for email, CRM and other content platforms will be available shortly, along with bulk-video options for agencies and corporations. Video-makers are invited to discuss licensing their creative work for long-term revenue opportunities.
Contact: Matthew Dunn Chief Explainer, Vid.One 11 Star View Bellingham, WA 98229 Email +1 (888) 618-9088
Lighthouse Media Solutions has been named the official video marketing partner of the 2016 Marine Dealer Conference Expo, Dec. 5-8 in Orlando.
Lighthouse Media Solutions has been producing professional, high-quality marketing video for MDCE since 2013. Headquartered in Hyannis, Mass., the digital multimedia company specializes in strategic branding, custom marketing and content marketing services.
“What impresses us most about our work with Lighthouse Media Solutions is their passion for the boating business,” said Liz Walz, vice president of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, which co-produces MDCE alongside Boating Industry magazine. “Whether they’re capturing the impact of the MDCE on participants or executing a customized marketing plan for one of our members, their goal is to not only deliver great results for their client, but also to build a stronger marine industry.”
Services offered by Lighthouse Media Solutions include web development, video production, publishing and content marketing. Lighthouse also owns and publishes magazines such as South Shore Living, Southern New England Home, New England Boating and New England Fishing, and produces New England Boating TV, a comprehensive television show on the New England Sports Network.
“By serving as the official video marketing partner of MDCE, we have the opportunity to contribute to the growth and professional development of the marine dealer community,” said Mike Alleva, vice president of Global Accounts Client Branding for Lighthouse. “That’s why this work is so rewarding for me and my team.”
MDCE is the premier educational conference designed exclusively for marine retailers. In 2015, MDCE attracted a total of 1,147 marine industry professionals, one of its largest audiences to date. Building on that momentum, early retail registrations for the 2016 conference have already set a new record, putting MDCE 2016 on track to see its highest attendance to date.
There’s been plenty of buzz building around the power and reach of video marketing, and video marketing tech specialist Vidyard has launched a new offering that makes it easier than ever for organizations to start publishing and tracking performance for their own video messages.
ViewedIt is a new free tool from Vidyard that gives marketers the ability to create, send and track video directly from their web browser.
“We’re making it easy for anyone to communicate with the power of video,” Vidyard CEO and co-founder Michael Litt said in a statement. “We are tearing down the barriers that have kept people from using video and making it simple to create, share and track video playback without the need for expensive software or video editing experience.”
Users can access the tool via the web at viewedit.com as well as through a Google Chrome extension. The ViewedIt tool offers one-click screen recording, social and email sharing capabilities, and provides users with notifications when their videos have been viewed.
The difference between this tool and more complicated desktop video production software is ease of use: ViewedIt leverages a simple screen recording setup. The Google Chrome extension enables single-click recording of either a full screen or a browser tab along with webcam and microphone.
In addition, a clickable thumbnail image is added to email messages with ViewedIt, improving email call-to-action as opposed to pasting a hyperlink to a video.
“Beyond helping businesses have authentic conversations with prospects, customers and employees, video provides valuable digital body language,” Litt said in a statement. “As soon as someone watches your video, you’re notified who it was, what they watched and how much they viewed so you can strike while the iron is hot with a relevant follow-up message.”
Nearly 85 percent of marketers have seen a positive ROI from their video marketing efforts, according to a new study by Firebrand Group.
That’s good news as more companies look to expand their video marketing efforts and the appetite for video, mobile video in particular, is increasing among internet users.
In terms of how marketers are using video, the vast majority (90 percent) are using it for brand awareness, while 56 percent are using it to drive conversions, 43 percent to support sales objectives, 42 percent for customer loyalty and 16 percent are using it for customer service efforts.
According to the survey, Facebook is the platform of choice for video marketers; it has the greatest return on investment for 80 percent of study participants. YouTube and Twitter were distant second and third choices with 10 and 5 percent, respectively.
“Video produces a much more pronounced emotional reaction from viewers, and can endear your company to the audience in a very profound way,” wrote the authors of the study.
Marketers are bullish on video and are preparing teams and budgets for video production. About 70 percent say they are “ready” or “somewhat ready” to make the budget investment in video production, while 62 percent say they are “ready” or “somewhat ready” in terms of manpower.
The data shows promoted video on social media is a part of video marketing strategies for 68 percent of marketers. However, only 32 percent are employing it on a daily or monthly basis; others are using it infrequently, every few months or on an annual basis.
Video is the Most Thoroughly Consumed Form of Content Marketing
A June 2016 HubSpot survey revealed video to be the most favored form of content by customers and prospects. As marketers continue to diversify their digital efforts, the data showed videos are the most thoroughly consumed form of content (55 percent), followed by social media posts (52 percent), news articles (49 percent) and research content (47 percent).
Nearly half (45 percent) of the respondents said they would like to see more social media content in the future. Videos took third place, with 43 percent of the vote.
BroadbandTV will help oversee premium YouTube channels aimed at the fast-growing Spanish-speaking TV market.
Univision Communications has recruited online video aggregator BroadbandTV to help manage its YouTube content and channels to better reach young Hispanic audiences in the U.S. and internationally.
The content management pact will see BroadbandTV use its proprietary technology to upload and monetize across YouTube a range of fan-generated content for Univision, which is led by CEO Randy Falco. BroadbandTV and Univision will not collaborate on content development and production.
Financial details weren’t disclosed.
The pact comes as Hispanics continue to be one of YouTube’s fastest-growing audiences. The online video aggregator will also help manage the Spanish-language TV network’s 16 premium YouTube channels to boost viewership for series like La Rosa de Guadalupe, Como Dice el Dicho and Primer Impacto that are more attractive to advertisers than fan-generated content.
The partnership with BroadbandTV comes as Univision looks beyond TV ratings to increased viewer engagement online for popular shows. « Univision’s YouTube video views have increased this year. Our goal is to grow these views as BroadbandTV helps us to strategically amplify content and build stronger engagement with our digital audience,” said Sameer Deen, senior vp digital at Univision.
Univision has also been looking to YouTube to beef up high-growth digital offerings for millennials as it continues to look for ways of serving that demographic.
Video marketing, like any creative content marketing pursuit, takes talent, hard work and dedication to create winning videos that will resonate with your audience. We are pulling back the curtain to give you a closer look at the world behind the camera with Brafton’s Director of Video Product, Jim Davis.
From humble beginnings, a video marketing rockstar rises
Jim joined Brafton in 2013 when our Video department was still gaining its sea legs – perfect for someone returning from a five-month sail around the North Atlantic. He came on board as a Video Production Associate, working on both videography and animation projects.
As the video marketing department began to grow and add new members, Jim took the helm of the Animation team. He even continued to manage his team remotely when he moved to Dallas, Texas, in 2015.
“Working remotely was challenging. I was able to better focus on my work, but there was a human interaction element missing (maybe because I was talking to my cat about clients and production schedules).”
Cut to July of this year, and we welcomed Jim back to the Boston office with open arms to step quite literally into his new role, where he still works with the Animation team, but now oversees Videography projects as well. Jim’s experience, expertise and keen design eye play an integral role in all of the videos we produce for our clients.
We managed to squeeze some time into his busy schedule to get his insights into video marketing and industry trends – and learn a bit more about the man behind the video.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Growing up, I wanted to be a deckhand/marine mechanic with the world’s largest tool collection. Now it’s just a hobby.
So, what drew you to animation?
In high school I was very into sculpture, which unfortunately doesn’t always pay the bills. Then I discovered 3-D modeling and the bevvy of jobs associated with it. While the two vocations are quite different, the spatial thinking element is still there with similar rewards. I went to Northeastern (go Huskies!) for economics, but my passion for multimedia propelled me into the art studios, where I found a group of inspiring, motivated artists and never looked back.
What are your favorite animation styles?
It’s easy to fall into a certain trend or style. Despite the fact that there are more motion graphics being created now than ever, a great deal of it all looks similar. Personally, I enjoy folk aesthetics – things are better when there is a little grunge. Anything futuristic looking is always fun too. J.J. Abrams is running the world right now, and I don’t think many people are complaining.
Where do you see the video industry heading in 2017?
With the decentralization of education (thanks internet), people all over the world can create content. This means video content will be more prevalent than ever before, but it also means it will be more mediocre than ever before. Facebook feeds are strewn with random videos, GIFs and adverts – people are inundated. Up until modern times, people rarely encountered bad animation/video (people wouldn’t pay to distribute), but as they encounter animation/video more often they will get better at recognizing mediocrity. So there will be more video overall, which means lots more mediocre video content. But, even creamier cream will rise to the top.
Which video marketing best practices do you find have become ineffective or are on their way out?
Video for video’s sake! Be gone! Better to have nothing than a bad video, just like those “under construction” pages on the internet. A new trend of short videos without audio are being proliferated, again reinforcing that no one ever wants to watch your eight-minute corporate overview (even if your nephew put it together). Also, whiteboard animations – after the UPS commercials of ’07, they were dead. Seriously, please let them die.
When would you recommend animation over live-action, or vice versa, for a client?
Animation is ideal for presenting abstract concepts, explaining how behind-the-scenes tech works and doing software demos. Really, anytime someone says “the Cloud” or “Internet of Things,” they should be calling my Bat Phone.
Live action is ideal for showing companies’ people and offices, and giving a human element which is often lost in the world of online/remote companies. Event coverage, demonstrations and presenter-driven product demos are all impossible in any other medium. Also, there isn’t anything cooler than a production facility or warehouse video with some tight editing.
How long does it actually take to animate a 15-second clip?
Some fifteen-second clips can take up to three full days to work on, and some animators can spend months on fifteen seconds for an especially complex sequence.
What’s it like to spend hours creating something that’s only a few seconds long?
It’s like making lasagna – it’s an unbelievable amount of work for a short window of noodly glory.
Viewers gobble up video content as quickly as it can be created.
What are some of the common challenges that arise when developing a new video?
Avoiding cliches or fads is one of the most difficult challenges for new videos, and explaining abstract ideas to stakeholders who may not be visual thinkers can be tricky without a video to show them.
What should a client keep in mind before kicking off a video marketing project?
Clients need to decide if they want to be part of our production process, or if they want us to drive. You have to understand how large of a project any type of video is. The easiest way for you to have a say in the final product or concepts when working with a content marketing partner is to be a part of the creative process from the beginning.
Can you tell us about a project that you absolutely loved working on?
We did a project for a client loosely modeled after the Adult Swim show “Tom Goes to the Mayor.” The project was a beautiful mix of photographs, jerky motion, absurdist humor and comedic timing. It’s very different from anything we’ve done, present or past – and I think it turned out great. The reason for success? We had a client who trusted us to bring their vision to life.
Interested in learning more about what Jim and the rest of Brafton’s video marketing team can do for your business? We’d love to discuss the possibilities with you. Contact us today.
Content marketing is like economics: it’s all about supply and demand.
In B2B, the demand for content is steady, while supply is exploding. With more blog posts, infographics and SlideShares created every minute, supply is far exceeding demand. In this sea of content, it’s hard for your content to get noticed.
Except if you’re in B2B and doing live video.
The Promise of Live Video for B2B Brands
While B2C brands are broadcasting live video via Snapchat, Instagram, Periscope and Facebook Live, B2B brands have been slower on the uptake. Jason Miller, global content marketing leader at LinkedIn, sees only the largest B2B brands — IBM, GE, Adobe, etc. — using live video.
According to Miller, “that’s because they have huge audiences already in place and the expertise in adapting their strategies to new platforms and emerging technologies.”
The way Vincenzo Landino sees it, the limited supply of live video from B2B brands poses an opportunity. Landino, the co-founder and creative director of video marketing firm Aftermarq, helps produce live video for B2B brands, including a number of software companies.
According to Landino, “The space is moving so quickly that early adopters in B2B are being rewarded heavily. If it takes five years for a B2B brand to jump on this bandwagon, it will be far too late.”
It’s easier than ever to get started with live video. In the past, you’d need a camera crew, a satellite feed and a streaming provider. Today, you can broadcast live video from an app on your smartphone. And live video creates a closer connection to your audience compared to infographics and e-books.
Lori Wright is Chief Marketing Officer at BlueJeans Network, a cloud-based video service. According to Wright, “We’re going to see B2B use live video on a massive scale moving forward to connect and interact because it’s easy, inexpensive and personal.”
Let’s highlight key questions B2B brands must answer before using live video.
Are You Prepared to Surrender Some Control?
During its Dreamforce conference, Salesforce utilized Snapchat and Facebook Live to broadcast live video from the show floor. They invited attendees to contribute “snaps” of their conference experience and used Facebook Live to livestream a number of sessions.
Before proceeding, Salesforce must have considered the risk versus reward. If something were to go wrong at the event, thousands of in-person attendees might see it. But with a live stream, an embarrassing moment can be seen by the entire world.
On the other hand, B2B brands can reap the rewards of having live video streamed from their events. Influencers and brand advocates attend, and live video gives them the opportunity to promote and amplify the event to their followers.
So those rewards come with the price of surrendering some control.
According to Landino, “B2B brands have to understand that they need to relinquish the power they had over traditional marketing outlets and allow their best advocates (e.g. employees and customers) to generate content. Rather than broadcast, they need to listen, engage and empower.”
Do We Have Documented Business Objectives?
With any new medium, B2B brands often jump in without first determining business objectives.
For Brian Fanzo, CEO at iSocialFanz, B2B brands focus too much on a particular social network or app. Because certain apps place limitations on what businesses can measure or achieve, selecting an app first can dampen the potential upside. Start by documenting the business objectives, then use those objectives to determine the right solution.
“For all the brands I work with, we start by defining a goal and what success will look like. Then, we research to understand where the audience is and which app or apps would be best to leverage in our strategy.”
In addition to documenting business objectives, B2B brands ought to consider the viewing experience. Do they wish to livestream an event’s keynote presentation, or would they prefer to give “behind the scenes” access to presenters when they step off the stage?
According to Wright, “To prepare, companies need to plan; they need to determine what they want the experience to be, define its primary goal, and proceed from there in terms of content, tone and format.”
Once business goals and visitor experience are defined, it’s important to rehearse. For Facebook Live, Wright recommends using the “Only Me” audience selector to do a test run. According to Facebook’s Help Center, “This option allows you to post stuff to your Timeline that is visible only to you.”
“Take a practice run or two. Just because you want to keep it friendly and casual doesn’t mean you should go totally off the cuff in front of potentially millions of people,” added Wright.
How Do We Measure Success?
B2B marketers are masters of attribution: for every program, they can quote impressions, clicks, leads, opportunities and sales. While live video can have a “feel good” element (e.g. “We had 1,000 viewers online today!”), the same rigor should be applied as with other programs. The metrics should tie back to documented business objectives.
While Fanzo prefers to select an app based on his clients’ business objectives, sometimes the app decision has already been made. So what happens if he’s using an app that limits his ability to measure success? He’ll find creative ways to bridge from one app to another.
“As an example, I’ve used Snapchat to get people excited about an upcoming product release, then let them know they need to take a screenshot on Snapchat and share it to Twitter with a specific hashtag to win a prize,“ said Fanzo.
From there, Fanzo creates a paid social media campaign to target those who shared on Twitter. He’ll promote a piece of gated content to them. When they register to download the content, they become a lead for his client.
Do Other Activities Drive Higher Impact?
Time is a zero sum game: the time you spend on one campaign is time you cannot spend on another. For B2B marketers, where they spend their time is as important as where they spend their dollars. They must analyze opportunity cost: when deciding on live video, which other projects will be deferred?
Conversion rate optimization and search engine optimization won’t land you on the cover of AdvertisingAge, but may result in a higher impact to your business. So carefully weigh the impact of live video against other priorities.
According to LinkedIn’s Miller, “If you have mastered everything in your B2B marketing arsenal and your audience is specifically asking for it, then maybe it’s time to experiment. But don’t do it because it’s the sexy new thing to do. Do it when you are sure it will add value to your overall digital marketing strategy. If this day never comes, so be it.”
The Time is Right for Live Video Experimentation
Steady demand combined with low supply make this a good time for B2B marketers to experiment with live video. With very little up front cost, you can try it and decide whether to continue.
You might discover a new way to connect with customers, or you may determine that live video is not for you. In either case, make sure you answer some key questions before you begin.
Photo products Online Software Provider, Printbox, is switching to HTML5
Monday, October 17, 2016
Press release from the issuing company
KRAKOW, POLAND, Photo Products Online Software Provider, Printbox, has announced today the release of a much anticipated complete HTML5 package for personalized products. From now on, every online editor is built in HTML5 technology. This is a significant milestone for the company and for every partner companies all over the world in the personalized photo product business. HTML5 online creators are available from now on for products such as photo albums, photo books, photo calendars, canvas, prints, greeting cards and gadgets.
Printbox has been carefully evaluating HTML5 development for years. They have been waiting for Javascript technology to become mature and stable. This way the new rewritten version of the platform will be based on a strong and stable foundation. Finally, around 2 years ago, all of that became possible. Using the latest frameworks and approaches to HTML5 allows Printbox to deliver superb editors while still being agile in development and capable of adding new features with ease and in exceptional time.
Micha? Czaicki, the Printbox CEO, comments: « Following our close collaboration with our customers worldwide, and the business demand, the new Printbox HTML5 online editors provide maximum product flexibility. We are introducing the most innovative solution to allow personalizing every step in the user journey. This way our customers can define their unique approach to selling every particular personalized product.”
Printbox provides a seamless and superior user experience across all devices and screens. The robust software solution for the creation and sale of online photobook and photo gift products contains over a dozen of new features and enhancements. These new features are developed in HTML5 to drive sales and increase conversion and profitability for digital printers, photo finishers and professional photo labs.
Photo Smart Crop
Printbox editor recognizes people and objects of interest automatically and places objects in the center of the design. Some people have it, but this is not the norm. We do this also with autofill, which makes the design process much faster, and saves end user’s time.
Super responsiveness and ultra-high performance
There are no pauses in the design process, all operations are happening almost instantly. Editor opening from the product list, page switching, zooming, preview, component adding and dragging -all that works smoothly even on older PC-s and mobile devices.
Image handling
Printbox editor allows the user to work on thumbnails of original large size pictures. And those thumbnails are created without the loss in quality and any pixelization, which is a common problem in other editors. Also, the whole process contains dozens of optimizations, to assure maximum performance on every device with minimal memory consumption.
Pixel-perfect texts
To ensure that all texts are exactly the same on every device, Printbox renders texts in the ultra-high performance application on the server. And also, in another unique feature, the user can write in-place (wysiwyg editor), without forcing him to type in any additional pop-up that overlaps and hides his design. User feel like they are in a standard desktop application.
Flexible calendar component
There is the possibility to add multiple calendars with differently displayed months in a single project. For example, you can have a big calendar or two small calendars showing the previous and next month. Another possibility exists for adding name days and many other configuration options. All of that having calendar as an elastic component, not as clipart graphics, which would cause huge maintenance problems.
Unique admin theme designer
Printbox minimize the effort needed to create and maintain all company product designs and themes. Designs can be automatically adjusted to various product formats and sizes. There are smart components resizing control mechanisms to assure a great look without the need to create designs for each size. Defining various photobook designs with different cover options was never easier.
And many more features improved
Many more options have been re-designed to make the user journey even more pleasant. If you want to know more, please, contact our team at info@getprintbox.com.
Czaicki says: “In the past we have created an editor with a superb user experience, which got amazing reviews, and achieved spectacular conversion rates for our customers. Now we have done it again – even better and fully in HTML5.”
Book an online presentation of the system.
Czaicki says: “What’s most important – our customers can be sure that we are providing the technology of the future, and every update is smooth. We are turning to the new technology, without any downtimes or outages from our customers’ side. Our goal was to build a perfectly functioning photo product creator in a stable technology first. Now, when our customers are delighted with the operation of the editor, and we have answers to all of our questions and doubts on how the editor should work, we can re-write the code in the new HTML5 technology in a new, but solid way.
We can already see the utility of our different HTML5 editors. And now, for the first time, photo books, albums and calendars are joining the group of new tech products in the world, so our customers can sell a whole range of products on different devices.”
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will hold a session this month with industry experts to examine concerns on unsolicited online video ads that download automatically without consumers’ knowledge, pushing data costs.
The Trai seminar, being organised in Hyderabad on October 24, is expected to offer insight into whether such downloads need to be regulated, officials said. “These unsolicited ads on some sites and social media platforms which download automatically without user knowledge, lead to data consumption.
The question is should there be rules and regulations around them, given the non-transparent way in which data usage is happening,” said an official.
Officials said the issue is not about content regulation as Trai is not checking the content of these online ads.
“It is about non-transparent way in which data usage is happening. At about 20-30 paise per MB, data is expensive. So the issue needs to be examined,” said the official.
This won’t just be a retread of Trump’s days on The Apprentice, either. The WSJ says that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner reached out to investment banker Aryeh Bourkoff in recent months to discuss building an entirely new business after the election. The idea involved an online subscription video channel that could be an eventual launchpad for a cable TV channel. It’s similar to what conservative pundit Glenn Beck did a few years back when he launched TheBlaze, first as an online channel that then moved to cable.
Additionally, Trump’s team was also said to have reached out to an unnamed streaming service (like Netflix or Hulu) in the past month about having Trump be part of its offerings.
But it sounds like we’ll be spared a Trump-run outlet, though, at least for now. Bourkoff apparently decided against investing in the project (though the Donald surely has enough cash to make it happen himself), and a Trump spokesperson says that he’s currently only focused on winning the election. Trump himself said that talk he was planning to launch his own media network was « ridiculous » last month.
Jim joined Brafton in 2013 when our Video department was still gaining its sea legs – perfect for someone returning from a five-month sail around the North Atlantic. He came on board as a Video Production Associate, working on both videography and animation projects. 
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