by Brock Horning | April 2024
Creatives have known for years that the future of video is adaptive and interactive. And that future has finally arrived.
Here is why the time has come to show your clients what adaptive video can do – structured to answer the questions we hear from creative agencies every week at Stornaway HQ. Scroll on to keep reading or choose where you want to start …
🗣 “Why should I be introducing my clients to interactive video now?”
Video viewers’ expectations are changing. Traditional linear videos and episodes that expect a passive viewer just don’t cut it any longer. People are beginning to expect continuous, personalised experiences that they can immerse themselves in. They want to sit forward, be a part of the experience and make it more relevant to them.
Until now, making interactive experiences was a time-consuming, daunting affair. It was expensive, challenging and required a team of developers to make even the most basic of branching narratives. Way outside the skillset of professional creatives, video creators and creative agencies. We’re happy to say: that is all in the past!
The days of expensive, one-off interactive campaigns are over – today, adaptive video is:
👉 Affordable – producing interactive video is a fraction of the cost it once was. Without the need to code a single line yourself, video producers and experience designers can go from concept to delivery themselves. In fact, you can get started without it costing a penny with our free trial.
⏱ Quick to produce – with Stornaway’s drag-and-drop interface and instant playtesting, it has never been quicker to produce interactive, adaptive videos. We understand that clients are expecting shorter and shorter turnaround times. Creative agencies can produce regular interactive video content with ease and speed.
📱Deliverable on multiple platforms – wherever you are looking to host your interactive experience, whether that’s embedded on a website or delivered to a VR headset, it can be done.
And most importantly, it’s 🚀 high impact. Interactive video generated higher engagement and higher click through rates than traditional linear videos. It personalises and enhances the viewer’s experience, whether that is for e-commerce or e-learning.
🗣 “Sounds great in principle, have you got any examples?”
Plenty. The scope for adaptive video is huge. Adaptive video has the potential to increase engagement in virtually every digital experience. However, we’ve picked out five varied use cases to demonstrate adaptive video’s range.
Stories for change
These are adaptive videos that are designed to spark a change, especially to challenge an opinion or engage viewers in the subtleties of a serious topic. Adaptive video puts the viewer in someone else’s shoes, whether that’s an immigrant fleeing a war-torn country or someone about to get into their car after a few beers. By asking the viewer to make decisions and discover the consequences for themselves, you can portray powerful messages to persuade and convince.
Success story: Wrong Side of the Road by We Are Tilt for Diageo
Creative agency We Are Tilt was tasked by beverage giant Diageo to challenge the social acceptance of drink-driving. Tilt’s global project used interactive conversations to highlight the potential consequences of this dangerous decision. Viewers could have ‘direct’ conversation with people who had experienced the negative consequences of drink-driving, choosing questions to ask and receiving honest responses.
The results blew everyone away. The key success metric for the project was attitudinal change, which the Tilt team duly measured. 90% of viewers reported that understood it better, they were more concerned by it and they were more aware of the consequences. In other words, 90% of viewers showed an attitudinal change towards drink-driving.
Product demos
Running prospects through the features of your product is a crucial part of the sales process. It can also get dry very quickly. Producing generic product demo videos just won’t provide the personalised approach that many customers now expect. Adaptive video puts the control into the viewer’s hands. Prospects can delve straight into key relevant features and get straight to the information they need. Add in some storytelling prowess and you can role-play your product then and there!
Success story: Product demo by CyberTheory for industrial cybersecurity client
How do you capture the audience’s attention with a product demo at a tradeshow conference? Marketing agency CyberTheory proposed an in-booth experience with an interactive demo for their cybersecurity client. To demonstrate common cybersecurity threats and solutions, the gamified demo allowed players to put themselves in the action by becoming ‘attackers’ or ‘defenders.’ One ‘attacker’ could choose a common attack type within a specific industry and defenders had to select the best way to respond.
It was a massive success – the project got the attention of the trade show audience and then some. The client received more than the desired level of follow-up questions and additional information requests. In most playing scenarios, the audience seating was full and standing room had to be provided.
E-commerce
Customers are increasingly expecting personalised journeys with companies and brands. They want experiences tailored to their interests and preferences. While many companies rely on behavioural data and past transactions to personalise customer journeys, it may just pay to ask your customer directly. This is where adaptive video comes in. It has the unparalleled ability to guide customers through an e-commerce experience gathering preference data as it goes.
Success story: Find Your Flavour by Rebels Playground for Manaka Coffee
Manaka Coffee wanted to give their customers a digital experience reminiscent of a personal guide to the coffee tasting rooms. Rebel Playground, assisted by Manaka Coffee expert Phumlani, created an interactive conversation that guides viewers through the roastery’s range of coffee flavour profiles. By asking for personal tastes and opinions, the viewer is delivered a tailored coffee recommendation based on their preferences.
Learning and Training
Rather than dry, fact-based training videos, adaptive video has proven to increase engagement and information recall. By throwing learners into real life scenarios, letting them choose actions and discovering consequences for themselves, learning designers are helping employees feel more confident in the workplace. These interactive experiences are engaging, effective and reusable, giving each learner the agency to tailor their learning journey based on their prior knowledge.
Success story: Masquerade by Living Security for various clients
Cybersecurity can be a pretty dry topic. So when Living Security wanted to deliver a cybersecurity training session, they approached it a little differently. Creating a who-dunnit mystery, viewers had to work out who stole the party host’s Netflix password by interrogating different party guests. Each avenue of questioning demonstrated and explored a different cybersecurity threat.
It was a wild success and widely celebrated among clients. The interactive experience was effective at sparking conversation between learners and that active discussion and engagement enhanced information recall later on. The team also reused the experience countless times for both group training and one-to-one session for various clients.
🗣 “What’s the best way to show my clients what adaptive video can do?”
While it has been around for a while, convincing clients to take a chance on adaptive video can be a challenge. Here are a few tips and tricks to show clients how adaptive video can enhance experiences and solve some of their biggest challenges.
Show real world examples
Often, the best place to start is with real world success stories. Not only do these give tangible examples of positive outcomes, but it also makes it easy for clients to visualise how adaptive video would improve their own processes. Bonus points if one of your client’s competitors is already using interactive video – no company wants to feel left behind.
Feel free to use any of the success stories above or get in touch and we can share real examples closer to your industry.
Keep it simple
If this is something brand new to your client, you’ll want to introduce it in simple terms. It can be easy to jump straight into the intricacies and advanced opportunities for data collection and personalised journeys but this can be overwhelming.
Start with easy-to-understand use cases and take it from there.
Compare current processes with potential processes
Take your client’s current process – whether that is a customer journey for e-commerce or a learning experience for employee training – and contrast with what it could be. Highlighting the added value and benefit that adaptive video can bring.
Get straight in and build something bespoke
If you have the time and resources, building a short sample or trailer that will demonstrate the impact of interactivity will have ongoing benefits. It will show that you’re putting your money where your mouth is – demonstrating a product that is affordable and quick to produce. Even if you don’t have a specific client in mind, building a trailer for your niche, industry or area of expertise may be invaluable promotional material.
We’ve heard from more than one creative agency that was commissioned after a general demonstration of adaptive video’s potential.
See Bright Blue Media’s example here – an interactive video telling you to use interactive video:
🧙♂️ You bring the storytelling prowess, we’ll take care of the tech
Stornaway.io takes care of the technical aspects of interactive, adaptive video so that you can focus on bringing the story to life. Here are five key advantages for choosing Stornaway as your interactive video platform:
Advanced features with no coding required
Stornaway is quick to pick up and play. With an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface, immediate playback capabilities and a variety of starter templates, adaptive videos are quick and easy to produce. Of course, there are plenty of advanced features, such as game logic, 360 video and Mixed Reality options to get stuck into as well. The best news? No coding is required at any time.
Excellent value for money with affordable price plans
With plans starting from $41.50 a month, when we say affordable we really mean it. Stornaway delivers innovation and advanced technology that demonstrates exceptional value for money. Check out our handy interactive video platform comparison sheet to see how we compare to other company offerings.
Share to the world with easy distribution options
Need to host on your website? Export as an app? Deliver to a VR headset? No problem! Stornaway projects are hosted on our own powerful player. This makes it easy to embed on websites and quickly publish to mobile apps, desktop apps, TV platforms, and consoles via the no-code Unity plugin.
Save time with seamless creative workflows
No other interactive video platform integrates with Premiere Pro, Photoshop and other Adobe Creative Cloud apps. Open a Stornaway panel within select Adobe apps or use Adobe Express within Stornaway.io, either way – a friction-free experience awaits.
World-class support whenever you need it
We’ll never leave you out on a limb. We are very proud of our customer support team who are always on hand to resolve issues and recommend new options. After all, winning a client pitch for an adaptive video project isn’t just a win for you, it’s a win for us too.