Power Video

Finish the Story on Rootclip

We love this idea. One of our newer clients, Rootclip, has a great contest for aspiring filmmakers. The site created a short video clip to begin the story, then invited others to submit one-minute clips to round out the next five chapters. Voting is now taking place for Chapter 5, and you can still submit your clips for the sixth and final chapter.

The grand prize (for winning the final chapter) is an all-expense-paid trip to the Traverse City Film Festival in August. All those short films look great on the Fliqz player, by the way.

It Really Is the New TV

While we applaud the growing popularity of online video, there was always that nagging little problem of how to find the stuff you actually want to watch. NewTeeVee, one of our favorite sites for checking on the latest industry news, aims to solve that problem with NewTeeVee Station, a guide that features reviews of online videos. As NewTeeVee says in this blog post, “We eliminate the static and bring to you videos that are actually good—but also the stuff that’s so bad it has everyone talking.”

Old media types like to brag about their filtering systems. And it’s true that the lack of mediation in the online world makes it difficult to tell which videos are diamonds and which are merely shards of glass. There’s plenty of good stuff on YouTube, but when people describe the things you’ll find their examples usually involve things like exploding bunnies and truck-driving infants.

Having such a guide further legitimizes online video as a viable entertainment medium. It’s a daunting task, but we’re glad NewTeeVee is up to the challenge.

New Customers

Two of our newest customers are Edmunds CarSpace and LetsTalk.com. Check out some of the recent videos on CarSpace that highlight some of the cars featured during the Detroit Auto Show. LetsTalk, a site that sells cell phones and wireless plans, used Fliqz to show off the new technologies on display at the recent CTIA convention (examples here and here). (Full disclosure: I occasionally contribute product reviews to LetsTalk).

Both companies use video to engage site visitors by bringing products to life on the screen. We’re happy to have them on board.

New Web site

If you haven't already noticed, we've recently redesigned and relaunched our Web site. The new, brighter site is set up to educate potential customers on the uses and value of online video as well as facilitate online purchases of our services. That's right, you can purchase a Bronze or Silver package straight from the Web site without having to speak to a noisy sales rep (no offense team). Check out our easy to use eCommerce solution.

You may have also heard that Fliqz is growing at a break-neck pace with over 14,000 users to date (see press release). Some big brand names have chosen Fliqz to power their white-label video solutions as well as many SMEs (Small Medium Enterprise) in an effort to boost traffic, improve stickiness, and increase revenue. Here is a small sample list of some of our new customers:

• Major League Baseball
• VirtualTourist
• Monster, Inc. (Military.com, etc.)
• Edmunds (CarSpace)
• RootClip

Take a look around the new site; check out some custom players we've built for customers in the Player Gallery, view pricing guides, and browse our FAQ. Thank you for your continued support and stay tuned for some very cool new features and products coming in the near future.

Riding the Rails

The open-source framework Ruby on Rails has become a popular tool among Web site programmers. That’s why we’re now offering Fliqz4R, an open-source Rails wrapper for the Fliqz video platform developed in collaboration with educational technology company LearnHub. You can learn more about the new tool, including instructions, resources, and code examples, at LearnHub’s Fliqz community site.

My, How We’ve Grown

We try not to toot our own horn too much around here, but some things are worth celebrating. The fact that we’ve enjoyed robust growth—six quarters in a row—is one such thing. As is the signing of Inman News as our 7,500th customer.

Inman is the leading independent real estate and media news service. Real estate is one of our key vertical markets, so we’re particularly proud to provide white-label video services for InmanTV, where you can see a few examples of Inman’s branded Fliqz players.

Now it’s on to the business of serving the next 7,500 customers.

Fliqz In the News

Online Video Watch posted a nice piece about us last night, explaining what sets us apart from others in this space. And they’re right—expect more to come from us in the not-too-distant future.

J&J: It’s the Web, Baby

How’s this for a tipping point: Johnson & Johnson, not exactly known for being on the cutting edge of marketing, is promoting the popular Johnson’s Baby Lotion in a series of animated Web videos, largely eschewing the TV market (subscription required to read Wall Street Journal link). According to the article, J&J—one of the largest TV advertisers—went with the interactive approach “because it believes young parents scour the Web for baby-care advice.”

As the Journal notes, J&J is like most consumer-products companies in that it’s usually conservative in its marketing approach. But the company deserves credit not just for going where their customers are, but for taking an approach that differs greatly from its traditional ad strategy. Let’s hope that’s a sign of things to come for online video advertising.

Teacher Touts Fliqz

Sean Martinson, an educator and technology consultant, runs a blog called Technology for Teachers. He’s posted a quick video for his students using Fliqz. In his post, he makes a note about how much simpler it is to use Fliqz compared with other solutions.

Thanks, Sean. Let’s hope other teachers follow your lead. And keep up the important work you’re doing.

MLS Big Shot: We Have a Winner

We’ve mentioned Major League Soccer’s Big Shot contest before. Now, all the votes have been tabulated, and the winning video is this one of an eight-year-old wonder setting up a shot with his chest before scoring a goal. A smooth move if there ever was one. Check out the 19 other finalists here.

We’re proud that MLB Advanced Media chose our technology to power the video clips on the site. We’re all about the kids, after all.