*Epiphany* Videos to Propel Viral Campaigns
“No information is more valuable than experiencing an epiphany” – Epipheo Studios
Have you ever watched an online video that immediately compelled you to find the share tool? Thus born the viral video, a visual experience shared by millions within days.
Last month an entrepreneur, internet marketer and videographer, with a bond formed by shared childhood summers on Whidbey Island, Wash., banned together to introduce a new noun to the global network of shared online multimedia: epipheo (formed from the words “epiphany” and “video”).
Epipheo Studios (ES) launched a beta website epipheo.com to aggregate such works that are not only viral, but “turn a light on” and transform the way people think and live.
“It’s likely that a day will come when creating an epipheo for a new campaign will be as common as writing a press release,” said Jeremy Pryor, ES cofounder.
Pryor dropped out of graduate school in 2001 and put down $1000 to start his first ecommerce business TolkienTown (“store for the Lord of the Rings and other collectibles”), which reached more than $3 million in sales by 2003. In 2004 Pryor cofounded Marketplace Earth, search engine marketing for online retail.
Epipheo.com is Pryor’s first hack at social media strategy, although the epipheo aggregation system is far from complete.
Right now only YouTube videos populate epipheo.com by user submission (this prevents worthy Vimeo clips, such as Hanson Hosein’s Rising from Ruins: Tax Subsidy Animation, from submission) and they currently maintain the Youtube rating, although translated from traditional gold stars to lit light bulbs—a bit confusing.
Programmers are working on an epipheo rating solution and overall system that encourages participation.
“Ideally it will be a site that grows by itself,” said ES cofounder Jon Collins, “People can post what they think are epipheos, flag videos that are not, and rank their favorites.”
Collins made his first video in 2006 for skatechurch, an indoor skate park for youth sponsored by Portland’s Central Bible Church. Since then he’s started Retrograde Media and produces story-driven videos full-time, working for mostly non profit clients.
Epipheo.com itself is not about making money, but instead a strategy to drive traffic to Epipheo Studios, a small video production company that is poised to create epiphanies on video with a proportional rate ticket.
Sure, video recording and editing tools are cheap and available to amateur artists who are capable of producing professional quality stuff. Instead of competing with such dangerously numerous creatives, ES is open to outsource for amateur videographers.
Whether using After Effects or Common Craft-style cutouts, ES is all about achieving the epiphany in video storytelling.
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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6 Comments, Comment or Ping
Ben
wow, great article.
Jun 10th, 2009
Sidnee
Nicole,
I checked out the epipheo website and the video you posted this afternoon. The tone and intent of the site seems to be pretty much the opposite of the site I wrote about yesterday: “and the most influential person is…” 4chan, which says nothing about illuminating life’s underbelly in its mission statement, manages to be about that anyway. Epipheo, by expressing its aim to “turn a light on” and transform the way people think and live” will hopefully rise to something much better. It seems to be the goal of many good ‘public service’ sites, to do good within a “strategy to drive traffic to the studio” which aims to make a profit.
I viewed the twitter video on epipheo and found it pretty funny, even though it shows twitter as a tool for airheads and the friendless–not at all like we use it in class–except when we’re asking someone to pass the snacks!
Jon Collins – a relative?
Jun 10th, 2009
Lynne
I’m not really sure what exactly they provide. I like all the videos (the Twitter video is pretty funny), but do they create video content in the Epitho Studios and also provide a space where you post youtube videos? Are they another video content aggregator like youtube? I like their promo video, it explains the evolution of advertising, but then…what? What am I suppose to do, what do they do. Am I missing something?
Jun 11th, 2009
Nicole Pairlee
@lynne, it’s one of those “let’s go launch a start-up” before we have a finalized plan…
1. They provide a site for users to aggregate epipheos
2. They produce epipheos
@sidnee, Jon is my oldest brother
Jun 22nd, 2009
Michelle1976
Videos are naturally viral in that people will automatically tell others about the video if they are good. That’s why videos should be extremely helpful or funny, if you want them to go viral. You should also have good distribution making sure to include them on even less known sites such as Adwido.
Jun 30th, 2009
mepriestley
I hadn’t heard about epipheo until I read it in your article. Thank you for posting about it. It’s full of great videos. I really hope it catches on as you suggest in your post. Right now it doesn’t seem like they get new content very often. I read your article when you posted and have checked epipheo off and on for new videos, but there aren’t very many. My favorite are the marketing and fast-fact type videos like Did You Know?
Jul 1st, 2009
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