Video workflow management platform, Studio Bucket, launches
Studio Bucket, a video workflow management platform founded by former Fairfax editor and ACP Magazines publisher Michael Koslowski with the backing of Nine presenter Ross Greenwood has launched.
How an Australian startup’s new video platform helped fix Westpac’s workflow pain
When Westpac wanted to create a video using footage shot on mobile phones by contributors from around the world, the challenge was what to do next.
It found the solution via an Australian startup’s new video platform, and Australia’s 3rd biggest company then adopted the platform in beta for all its video production and workflow.
Via the platform, Westpac’s contributors directly and instantly uploaded their clips from their phones to the internal project, ready for the bank’s Creative Services team to grab them and get to work on the
edit.Now that platform is being officially launched as Studio Bucket, which its creators claim is the easiest video workflow platform for teams.
The Software as a Service (SaaS) video play is run by former Fairfax editor and ACP Magazines publisher Michael Koslowski with the backing of Ross Greenwood, Channel Nine’s Finance Editor and host of Macquarie Radio’s Money News. They enlisted Chris Sharkey, original co-founder of holiday accommodation site Stayz, and now co-founder and CTO of marketing automation platform AutoPilot, as an advisor and mentor.
The platform puts businesses at the controls of their own video command centre, with complete, transparent oversight of every step of a video’s journey.
Koslowski says that, when it comes to organisations producing ever increasing volumes of video, the challenge is getting the balance right between the tech, power and features required by video professionals and the ease of use needed for marketing and communications professionals, and their clients.
“Whether it’s professionals shooting footage with top end cameras or corporate office workers filming themselves on their phones, they can upload directly to their own Studio Bucket, ready to be edited by their internal team or allocated out to an accredited external video creative.”
“Studio Bucket manages all the key tasks of creating a video right through to publishing it, and then
stores it away. The aim is to give the professionals the grunt and key features they needed, but keep it
simple for non-technical users at all levels.“Westpac’s internal creative professionals work with everyone from their colleagues in Communications, Marketing and Corporate through to IT and HR, to produce high volumes of mostly internal video extremely efficiently and cost effectively.
“It has become a real publishing machine, as busy as a traditional media newsroom.”
Says Koslowski: “Typically, video teams are a combo of good internal and external video pros, but when
it comes to ‘where’s the stuff from that video we did back in May?’ chances are no-one knows. It’s either
on someone’s hard drive, or links in the cloud have expired, or whoever looked after it has moved on.
“Now they can produce everything on Studio Bucket and leave everything in there at the end – and
finding it is only a keyword search away.”Westpac has already produced hundreds of videos on the platform, along with Studio Bucket beta clients ranging from media and content agencies, to fund managers, automotive and not for profits.
Ross Greenwood says: “With the phenomenal growth of video, almost all medium and large businesses
are either producing volumes of video – or want to”.“But it’s sometimes just too hard to organise, and expensive. And if you ask anyone where the video
content is from the past, the most common answer would be ‘I don’t know’.“Studio Bucket solves those problems.”
Koslowski adds: “If you’ve spent the time and often money to make a video, you not only always want
easy and instant access to it, but also all the raw assets that went into making it – supporting footage,
music, graphics, logos, even the video editing project files.“Then when it’s time to reuse any of that content, either for re-editing because a company has re-
branded, content needs to be updated or key personnel have changed, it’s an easy re-edit rather than starting from scratch.”“It answers the often painful question of a marketing, comms or digital team of: “Where’s our video
stuff?”“Now they can say: ‘It’s in our Studio Bucket’.”
Studio Bucket was supported by Amazon Web Services as part of its Activate startup program, and is
also backed by the 24/7 tech team at Smedia.Studio Bucket is looking at partnerships and integrations as it scales.
From a Studio Bucket Media release
