real.com and Realnetworks

"In a constantly changing and vibrant multimedia environment like Real.com, we are always looking for enthusiastic and energetic self-starters to come up with creative ideas for promoting our products. Eric has proven himself time and time again, and we will be very sorry to see him leave. We wish Eric the very best of luck... and hope to see him fulfil his dream of reading those studio autocues on-camera in the near future!"

Lisa Keddie - Managing Editor, Video Services, RealNetworks

RealNetworks is best known for the creation of RealAudio, RealVideo, and the media player, RealPlayer. It's also known for its subscription-based services like Rhapsody and RealArcade. Real.com is the company's broadband entertainment portal, visited by several million users a month.

Until mid 2007, I was Assistant Editor. The role required working within the marketing team and with other departments in assisting with the promotion of video content and making important decisions about what content was suitable for the 'Real' audience.

Similar to previous jobs working in journalism, opportunities often presented itself where I could interview celebrities and movie stars to promote their work and films. The accessibility of the internet made Real an obvious choice for distributors looking to publicise their products.

For example, I was invited by 20th Century Fox to interview 'Azamat Bagatov' - supporting actor in the film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Watch below.

redesign

 

UK RealGuides redesigned on Real.com after the re launch

 

The websites were due for a redesign when I joined in 2006. A team in Hamburg, Germany, collected ideas and suggestions from myself and the rest of the editorial team of how we could improve the user experience and increase traffic. The new design is above, the old one is below. The live address is http://uk.real.com/video/.

marketing

I was also responsible for promoting video content through In Player Messages (IPMs) on a daily basis. These messages would appear instantly on desktops of RealPlayer users, linking them directly to the latest video streams. This was a useful tool to directly promote material to Real's audience.

 

Typical 'IPM' promoting the latest video content

 

Another popular method of promotion was monthly newsletters, which I created and edited for the UK & EU audience. The newsletter showcased popular movie clips and trailers out that week, as well as numerous entertainment material - including music videos, radio stations, virals and TV footage.

 

Monthly newsletter - click and follow the links (if they're still live!)