New interactive video technology is being touted as the future of the internet by London-based web design agency Nucleus.
Its new video for new London luxury hotel Corinthia offered a glimpse of the future, according to Nucleus managing director Peter Matthews.
The video, entitled “London in 5 minutes”, can be viewed at www.corinthialondon.com/Location.
The video shows what there is to do and see within five minutes’ walk of the hotel, which is due to open next year in the centre of London close to landmark attractions including Trafalgar Square, Westminster and Covent Garden.
The video fuses Google Street View-style footage with the ability to point and click at ‘hot spot’ buildings and objects for more information, which then appears on the right hand side of the screen.
Users can filter the information by four categories: culture, attractions, entertainment, and shopping and restaurants.
Matthews said Nucleus had been developing the technology behind the video with San Francisco-based technology firm Clikthrough since early this year.
Nucleus has agreed an exclusive global deal with Clikthrough for customers who want to make use of the technology, currently being used for pop videos for the likes of Katy Perry, Pixie Lott, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas.
Matthews said: “We have long been convinced that the internet is going to become a video-based medium. The problem is getting enough quality content, and for brands not used to delivering in video to be prepared to invest in the medium.
“One of the things we have been interested in for some time is interactive video. We used to work with Cable & Wireless on interactive TV projects and we have kept this in mind and searched the world for solutions where we can build interactive videos where you can highlight hot-spotted content.”
Nucleus believes the technology will become increasingly important for suppliers in the travel sector such as luxury hotels in London if they are to compete for business as people turn to the internet to research before booking.
The Corinthia video not only offers rich content but will also help the hotel with its search engine optimisation as Google increasingly favours video content.
Matthews said having information linked to the video gave it additional content data that will help it with destination-based rather than brand search.
“We have just started to explore this technology,” Matthews said.