Executive summary

Atitude Digital Media enables clients to reach new audiences on an international scale with Mediasite. Founded in 1988, Atitude Digital Media is a Brazilian service provider of corporate communication solutions and specializes in the production and distribution of live events. Struggling with high travel expenses and predicting changes in meeting technology, Atitude sought an interactive webcasting platform to connect clients with their target audiences. Using Mediasite by Sonic Foundry, Atitude produced more events with less time and effort, while helping clients engage prospects more deeply.

At a glance

• Rising travel expenses prompt search for a webcasting platform

• Improved production quality and interactivity result in increased program distribution with Mediasite

• Clients reach geographically dispersed audiences seeking critical continuing education

• Continuous ROI derived from simultaneous webcast audiences and international reach

Challenge

A leader for most of its 20 years in the market, Atitude Digital Media is a multimedia production company located in southern Brazil specializing in the transmission of meetings and other live events to thousands of users simultaneously via the Internet.

In 2002, Atitude predicted a decrease in customer demand for interactive keypads, which were used for audience polling and participation during live events. The company began searching for a replacement platform, and with broadband popularity growing in Brazil, it wanted online capabilities.

At the time, Atitude was recording six live events each week. There were three crews traveling throughout Brazil, and the company was experiencing a number of problems because of the extensive travel.

“After seeing the Mediasite webcasting platform at a tradeshow in the United States, we thought ‘this is what we need’,” said Helder Conde, Atitude technical director. “We did look at several other solutions, but Mediasite was always the benchmark for us.” The selection process took Atitude a couple of months.

“We felt like if we could afford it, we should go for Mediasite. We’ve never regretted it,” said Conde.

Solution

Broadband use was not widespread in Brazil when Atitude purchased Mediasite, yet it took clients less than one year to catch on to the platform’s revolutionary capabilities. Atitude began producing CME programs for pharmaceutical clients including Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Novartis, and with Mediasite, this work quickly escalated. “Today Atitude provides live Mediasite webcasts for the majority of the most important pharmaceutical companies in Brazil,” said Conde.

Because there is always new information in the pharmaceutical industry, such as a new drug that needs to be explained, Atitude’s pharmaceutical work makes up 99 percent of their focus. Atitude provides Mediasite services to pharmaceutical customers, helps them develop CME content and records and archives the presentation so the client can provide the information to their need-to-reach physicians.

Atitude employees immediately endorsed the turnkey webcasting solution. “We like that we can host ourselves and don’t have to pay per event or per user,” said Conde. “We also really liked the final result, what the viewer actually sees.”

Atitude found Mediasite increased not only program interactivity but also the quality and quantity of programming, including the actual distribution of content. “Instead of delivering content to a particular audience only a few times per year, Mediasite allows us to produce several independent events in cooperation with a greater number of people living in different locations – all over the internet,” said Conde. “This means our clients are not only able to reach more people but also to reach them at a frequency never possible before with a much larger variety of content. At the end of the day, clients are offering a better service for their doctors by supporting CME programs.”

Mediasite has eliminated time and stress for Atitude because it doesn’t require the immense post-production of their past work in 3-D multimedia. “With live webcasting, there is some stress during preparation and while the event is happening, but it requires little post-production. I like doing things right here and now,” said Conde.

Result

Atitude has recorded more than 700 webcasts with simultaneous attendance by an average of 200 viewers; on-demand access averages between 600 and 800 attendees. “We do hundreds of webcasts every year, so the return is great,” said Conde. “Mediasite pays for itself over and over.”

Atitude produces dozens of programs from its three São Paulo studios, which are complete with “bells and whistles” such as lighting, teleprompters and videoconferencing. The videoconferencing feature was helpful when, two days before a conference, a client realized an important presenter couldn’t attend because he didn’t have the necessary Visa to enter Brazil. Mediasite saved the day, as Atitude was able to produce a two-hour webcast with the presenter in Washington, D.C. “He joked that he’d never travel again after that,” said Conde.

Atitude’s user base includes 40,000 webcast participants. “The average viewer age is 46, which was a surprise to us. We expected younger users, and data show there are mature people all over Brazil interested in getting high-quality content on the web,” said Conde. Around 50 percent of Atitude’s webcast audience lives outside the major cities of Brazil. “The data proves that people were looking for this content before Mediasite, and it wasn’t getting to them,” said Conde. “Clients are interested in this data; they didn’t previously have a way to reach out to those customers.”

The pharmaceutical CME programs Atitude webcasts are technical, certified and supported by universities and medical societies worldwide.

Atitude has experienced an increase in international projects with a wider audience. One live Mediasite webcast integrated presenters from India, the United States and Brazil via videoconferencing and attracted audiences from all over the globe, including Tokyo and Los Angeles. “Saying that Mediasite reduces travel expenses simplifies what it actually does; it unites people, shortens distances and allows dissemination of content in a way that was never possible before. Better yet, during live webcasts, this content is built by the audience together with the presenter,” said Conde. “The final result is richer knowledge sharing and content that is an outcome of fruitful, live discussion, with opinions from several different people actually embedded.”

Conde notes Mediasite allows Atitude to perform their mission better and credits Sonic Foundry as a pioneer in their industry. “Sonic Foundry broke a lot of ground,” said Conde. “Mediasite is the most important solution we offer to clients, not just another tool.”

About Atitude Digital Media

Since 1988, Atitude Digital Media has provided communication solutions for leading companies in Brazil. Following the growth and trends of the internet, Atitude became a leader in the transmission of WebMeetings – live events webcasted via the internet, integrating video, audio and interactivity for thousands of users concurrently. Three studios located at Atitude headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil, allow for simultaneous production and delivery of three live events. Atitude is committed to serving the real needs of their clients and reducing the distance to their publics.