wireWAX Video Tagging Gets The Backing of Start-up Heavyweight

June 8, 2011 - London, UK: wireWAX, the motion-tracking taggable video tool has today bought Spencer Hyman, ex COO Last.fm and CEO of ArtFinder, on to be a strategic advisor, investor and board member.

wireWAX, which exited public beta in April, has grown significantly in recent months with pioneering clients EMI, ITV and Hearst Digital using the tool to create distinctive and valuable interactive experiences.

The largest commercial broadcaster in the UK, ITV, recently marked a turning point, in this so-far niche technological space, using wireWAX to create a mainstream music video for the BAFTA winning ITV2 series, The Only Way Is Essex (link: http://bit.ly/dKh8U1 ). The video achieved record levels of engagement, with the average viewer spending nearly double the duration of the video clicking, playing and watching all the interactive content.

The technology allows anyone to add intelligent, motion-tracking hotspots (or 'tags') to people and objects in video. Once clicked, these tags can display video-in-video, images, maps, competitions, buy-now, links, SMS senders, and much, much more.

Spencer Hyman, who was recently credited in Wired's top 100 of digital power-brokers, has a strong presence in technology and the start-up space not only with his success at Last.fm and the fledgling ArtFinder, plus as an advisor to leading industry names like LinkedIn and YoyoGames. He matches this profile of technology experience with extraordinary business development achievements at both Amazon as Retail Director for Europe and as Marketing Director for Hasbro, Japan.

Steve Callanan, CEO of wireWAX welcomed Spencer to the team, saying, "Spencer is an invaluable asset to the growing team here at wireWAX. He's been an avid ambassador of our technology since the early days and his skills and expertise will continue to accelerate wireWAX at this exciting time".

Spencer Hyman, talking of the future of digital video suggested, "Take the power of video and combine it with interactivity and it's obvious that we're going to see a passive lean back experience of watching stuff become dynamic and engaging. Add the emergence of touch and then it gets exciting - and that's where wireWAX fits - it gives creatives of all levels of sophistication and maturity a platform to seize these two tidal waves".

Quick Facts

wireWAX's client-side motion-tracking, on which the tool is based, is unique.

wireWAX is platform independent; Adobe Flash (primary) and HTML5 for Apple devices (secondary).

wireWAX can work independently, or plug-in to YouTube, Brightcove and VMIX. Further platforms are coming soon.

wireWAX can be used as an e-commerce tool; niche retailer Oki-ni released a shoppable video (link: http://bit.ly/kx3v2c ) with wireWAX which scored a 58% CTR (click-through rate, industry average 2-5%) and a following 1% conversion on an average product value of $254, far and above this value's typical conversion.

wireWAX is white-listed for Facebook walls and can be shared virally across social media and blogs taking all the interactivity with it.

wireWAX video can be shared using a simple iframe embed code.

wireWAX is subscription based, with a freemium model for low-end usage and trialing.

Spencer was again credited in The Wired 100, 2011 - a who's who of digital power-brokers.

Spencer was Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Last.fm from early 2006, co-ordinating international business, ecommerce and advertising. Last.fm was sold to CBS in 2007 for $270M.

Spencer is an independent Advisor/Board Member of companies, including LinkedIn, Mendeley, YoyoGames, EPOS, Citywire and Flixmedia.

For more information, please contact Dan Garraway - +44 (0) 207 407 2007 or dan@wirewax.com.