Over the past several years, Simian has revolutionized the way creative companies run their businesses by blazing a trail of cutting-edge innovation that has redefined industry standards. Its robust media management platform is currently employed by scores of production companies, advertising agencies, music houses and visual effect providers, amongst others. Simian‘s single portal solution for multi-media management, cataloging, distribution and presentations ranging from sales reels to pitch decks and business presentations plus website management, includes cutting edge features such as an analytics package previously available only to Fortune 500 companies. In short, the Simian platform is helping companies work smarter in ways that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.
Simian introduced its platform in 2008 as a way to help creative companies manage and present their growing libraries of video and other media files. Its creators combined their expertise in software development, web design, branding, graphic design and content management, with in-depth research into the business practices and needs of potential users.
“We spent a lot of time meeting and talking with production companies about the features they needed most,” recalls Simian co-founder Jay Brooks. “And we continue to listen to our clients. We actively seek their feedback and also try to understand what they need before they know they need it and extrapolate on that.”
One of the early and most notable innovations of the Simian platform was a radically new approach to the way companies build, manage and distribute sales reels. Previously, if a production company was bidding on an advertising project, each director’s reel would need to be sent individually, which meant having to sift through numerous emails. Simian streamlined the process by enabling multiple reels to be packaged together and sent in a single, branded presentation.
“Say you’re bidding on a Kellogg’s commercial and you have three directors whom you feel are qualified,” explains Simian co-founder Brian Atton. “Simian allows you to package all three reels into a single, branded presentation so that the agency producer can jump seamlessly from one reel to the next. This streamlined approach really helps speed the sales process.”
Even more impressive is Simian‘s Reel Analytics in Real Time feature, which allows users to track the status of sales reels and other media. Users can tell if and when a particular recipient has opened an email, if it was forwarded it to colleagues, which spots the recipient(s) viewed, how much was viewed and how many times.
This allows companies to fine-tune their sales pitch. “If the client can pinpoint at a glance which spots the recipient is interested in, they know exactly how to follow up,” he says. Atton adds that Simian is planning to take this one step further with the introduction of a “heat maps” feature that will enable users to see which scenes in a given video are garnering the most interest. “It’s pretty clear that one scene is of interest verses another if they’ve watched it several times.”
In 2010, in another industry first, Simian developed a feature that allows users to quickly create custom-branded microsites. Microsites can be used for everything from sales presentations to project management. Virtually any type of content can be added to a site from show reels, casting videos and review media to contact sheets and storyboards, all with sophisticated commenting,
