In mid-March we had a major decision to make – should we host our PLAY 2020 physical event at the Encore Boston Harbor resort, scheduled for May 18? It would be our 12th annual event celebrating video innovation, and it was unclear if we should cancel or reschedule. A few high tech companies were cancelling or moving their early spring events, but what was May going to look like? As CMO, I ultimately had to make the call. Despite intense interest and strong registration for the PLAY 2020 event, I couldn’t imagine putting customers, prospects, sponsors, and employees at risk for an event. There must be another way.
As the pandemic reality settled in, we quickly realized video is vital, now more than ever. We were fielding calls from our customers and people from across the industry about how video could help companies and people connect in new ways. In this moment, we recognized that PLAY was needed, now more than ever. We looked internally at what video capabilities we had to reach audiences at scale – and realized that Brightcove Beacon™, our new Saas based OTT platform to reach people on apps, web, and smart TVs, was the answer.
So, we decided to launch PLAY TV, a new streaming service dedicated to the topic of video – how to use it, how to be successful, and how to achieve results. This required our marketing team to think differently – this wasn’t a typical virtual event– it was a new streaming service. What would the audience expect from a streaming service about video? How can we design a compelling content experience? What does content production look like in a virtual world? What topics are most relevant, right now? What are the new measures of success? And, how can we accomplish this as a virtual team in less than 60 days?
As we designed the new PLAY TV experience, we knew our audience at our physical PLAY conference expects thought leadership, technical know-how, and most importantly peer-to-peer video practitioner exchanges. So, we designed PLAY TV as a place where you can hear from people managing change, using video, and looking at new ways to achieve success in our evolving world. This information is brought forward in a live and on-demand video format with a high quality user experience across web, mobile devices, and TVs.
And, PLAY TV will live beyond just a one time event, and be a resource to anyone working to develop a video strategy within their organization. Content will be updated on an on-going basis to help anyone in the video industry be successful.
The past 60 days have been a whirlwind of creativity, resulting in the launch of PLAY TV today. And it demonstrates how people and companies can truly evolve, innovate, adapt, and execute quickly in times of great change. I’m deeply grateful to the Brightcove team including our talented engineers who built this incredible new service, our creative marketers who developed and delivered a brand new content strategy, and most importantly our customers and partners who helped make this possible. You are my heroes. I’m so proud to stand with you as we launch PLAY TV. And, I look forward to the innovation that will continue in our journey ahead.
For those who are serious about video, I welcome you to enjoy PLAY TV, and appreciate your feedback.
With gratitude,
Sara Larsen
CMO Brightcove
