Challenge
Sony wanted to create an online destination to showcase the unparalleled video quality that their Broadcast and Business Solution product lines deliver. Rather than develop a run of the mill video site that features only Sony-produced content, they wanted to open the site to a larger audience of video professionals and allow them to post content to the site as well. At the same time, Sony wanted to surface the products that were being used to shoot and produce this video content in a contextually-relevant way.

Solution
Cypress worked with Sony to first conceptualize and model the overall business goals and User Experience for the new portal - to be the online destination for professional videographers. To meet this objective, the portal needed to showcase content that would resonate with this audience – and was produced by this audience.

Working with Sony, Cypress designed the portal such that the video is the hero – the oversized video player on the home page allows Sony to dynamically alter featured content at any time, keeping the site content varied and fresh. To engage users with the video, the player allows ratings, comments and even the ability for users to submit questions directly to Sony. By implementing Gigya, we allow users to share, or embed, the video content across a multitude of third-party websites – greatly extending Sony’s reach.

An important focus of this initiative was the ability for end-users to submit videos to be reviewed by Sony and posted on the site. By fostering community-driven content, Sony is providing a platform upon which people using its products can showcase their work while at the same time associating themselves with the company who creates their gear.

Lastly, we built the portal to allow Sony to associate relevant products with the videos. This allows a product tie-in for every video on the portal – giving users immediate detail about the equipment that was used to create the video they’re watching. Users can also access additional information about each product via associated links and documentation. 

To support the development of this portal and the management of such a large volume of content, Cypress implemented thePlatform’s Media Publishing System (MPS) as the video content management system. This system acts as the repository for all of Sony’s video content, and provides a web-based interface by which Sony can manage all their portal’s video assets and associated meta-data.​​​​​