An App That Animates Your Words
Wordeo was an iOS and Android app that aimed to bring fun and personalisation into the video messaging space. Turn words into a unique video message in seconds. Choose different video clips, change the soundtrack or add your own video. Share with friends and followers.
The story
I entered a competition and beat 1,500+ entries from over 60 countries to secure £100k funding and turn my idea into a start-up. The original brief was set by Getty images, the problem: build awareness of the Getty stock video library amongst people working within the creative industries.
Key insight
Creative people love to create, so let’s build a tool that allows them to do just that in a fun and engaging way, while powering it with Getty video content. By focusing on a messaging platform it would have an in-built viral effect as people share the messages they create.
How it works
People type in a text message and hit the ‘Create’ button. Wordeo breaks the text into keywords and auto-generates a series of video clips from a tagged library of Getty stock video, complete with the words overlaid on top of the videos.
The personalisation stack
By creating a set of customer segments and finding real people who fit into them I was able to speak to potential users and find out what would be most important to them. I used a number of techniques including paper prototypes and card sorting to identify key needs and wants before any code was written. The ability to personalise messages in different ways came out top and became a key focus within the design.
While the presence of stock footage meant anyone could create a Wordeo easily, I quickly realised that the real opportunity for creativity was unlocked when we allowed people to upload their own videos.
Blank sheet paralysis
Through early user testing sessions it became obvious that giving people a blank canvas and asking them to ‘create something’ often led to them freezing up. A much better tactic is to show users some inspiration or give them a starting point to jump off from.
When opening Wordeo people were greeted with a selection of the most popular public videos which they could interact with and explore. We provided template Wordeo’s for universal messages such as ‘have a happy birthday’ or ‘I love you’ which people could easily customise and share.
The power of the soundtrack
Listening to our early users during the closed beta launch I was able to identity that we had a gap when it came to audio. Although people could choose from a list of stock tracks to add to their Wordeo, they really wanted to add music from their phones library. This threw up some tricky copyright discussions but we were able to overcome them by limiting the length of audio clip that could be added. The combination of customised soundtrack and user generated video really opened up the creativity on the platform.
Tapping into communities
One of the key growth strategies I implemented for Wordeo was tapping into existing communities. I worked closely with the Wordeo leadership team to identify online groups who we engaged with and set challenges and competitions to drive adoption.
Results
Wordeo raised £4,500,000 in funding, it was selected as both ‘Editors’ Choice’ and ‘Best New App’ on the App Store. Wordeo was used by some of the most followed and influential Tweeters on the planet, including Stephen Fry and The Hoff. At its peak Wordeo had 75,000 active daily users.
After 3 years Wordeo closed it’s doors and went to the big start-up graveyard in the sky. Seeing the entire lifecycle of a company from idea seed to liquidation was an incredibly valuable experience. I learnt so many lessons that have been useful in the years since. I also got to have lunch with with Steven Fry which is still one of my favourite name drops.