We’ve all been there. Waiting to binge watch fun videos on YouTube, we’ve zoned out while enduring a painful 15-second commercial and clicked the “skip ad” button as soon as it appeared.

What does this say about today’s digital consumers? It means a lot of people love to watch online videos that are interesting or relevant but they will shut off videos they dislike or have no interest in – which means most corporate advertisements on the web.

Eyeing the rise of online video and relevant consumption needs, one former video producer and entrepreneur in Europe set out to transform the way that companies produce and position their online video campaigns with a new corporate video production platform -- Mosaicoon.


“For me, it’s crazy for a company to keep on creating promotional content that people don’t like and want to skip, which currently makes up around 90 percent of the videos that brands make,” Mosaicoon founder and CEO Ugo Parodi Giusino said in an interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul.

“Our mission is to help create good content that is relevant for users, which can be sponsored by companies or brands,” he said.

Founded in 2010 and based in Palermo, Italy, Mosaicoon runs an online video marketplace platform that lets companies browse, purchase and build on pre-made professional videos created by artists, musicians, and creators worldwide. The company opened its Seoul office in June 2016.

Creators worldwide will propose video projects of diverse forms and lengths -- ranging from a simple how-to video to high-quality nature documentaries and stand-up comedy sessions -- to Mosaicoon. Some 2,600 creators are currently active on the platform.

Mosaicoon then tags these videos with keywords associated with the video’s content. With the help of artificial intelligence, the platform examines these tags to pick out relevant videos that match the values or themes a company wants to emphasize through a project.

After making a selection, the company can sponsor the content -- whether it is simply embedding a company logo into the video, inserting an interactive link that brings the user to a particular website or product placement.

“This is different from branded content or promotional content, which users dislike,” Giusino said. “Companies want to move in an approach that is more user oriented, so they have to give users content that is relevant to them.”

In addition, Mosaicoon operates on a pay-per-view system for video projects created through the platform, allowing companies to easily test out various videos on the web and determine which storytelling strategies work.

“You don’t have to pay a fixed price for the video. You pay only if the content performs,” the Mosaicoon CEO explained. “Much of the risk is eliminated. A company can purchase various content, see which performs in the best way, and concentrate investment in that kind of content.”

For creators, the system provides an appealing incentive to produce good, effective videos, as they could rake in high profits if their content gets picked up by big-budget clients, he added.

So far, Mosaicoon has carried out projects with around 250 big-name clients including Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Lufthansa, Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz, as well as the European offices of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

Looking ahead, Giusino believes global video consumption will continue to quickly grow, and in turn boost demand for services offered by video production platforms like Mosaicoon.

“Video is the new language of online. Users are looking at videos everywhere,” Giusino said. “Our goal is to give companies all the content they need to become publishers -- to produce content and communicate as their own media to their audience.” 

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)