Creating powerful stories for audiences of the digital age. VERTOV is a creative agency that specializes in digital storytelling & visual PR - standout films, websites and interactive multimedia that connect today’s audiences with brands and businesses. On this website, we showcase inspiring digital stories: join us for the ride! You can email us

Draw a Stickman

Not everyone can draw like Picasso, but everyone can draw a stickman. In the app called Stickman, that is all you need to be able to do. The story consists of a stickman that must battle a dragon to get a present and save two friends stuck on a tree without waking up a raging tiger. The story keeps you guessing what will happen next, yet at the same time involved in the process.

What makes the story beautiful is the fact that it is only successful in an electronic format. A stickman that is drawn by the reader-player and moves on its own would never work in print for obvious reasons. While the web format gives the sense that the user is creating a life and making a difference in the trajectory of the story. Unlike reading a novel, which tends to be a passive activity, Draw a Stickman gives the readers agency and a deeper sense of involvement.

Findery: Make Places Come Alive Findery helps people document places they care about, share those memories and discover new places through others’ stories. This is not the geo-tagging of Facebook and Instagram, but a new angle on place-based social media with a clear emphasis on storytelling. Users can create “sets” of notes centered around the same topic or theme, like childhood memories or historical landmarks. Notes in sets can include links to each other, creating chronologies, or they can be placed on the map at random. Users can tag one another in posts and can set notes to be discoverable by anyone, discoverable by specific others or private. The website currently has a small — but active — user community where members can recognize each other by their profile pictures on the map. You can scan for notes left by @donald, Findery team member Donald Tetto, by seeking the image of a man in a giraffe mask. Findery’s intimate community is further developed by the use of tags. “Helpmefindery” is a new tag, inspired by the success of one poster’s call for help in identifying the setting of an old photo of his grandfather — within a half hour of his posting, another user had determined the spot to be since-demolished Bernstein’s Fish Grotto in San Francisco. The team promotes tags for “findery challenges,” invitations for users to post notes about their first kisses, farthest travel destinations or brushes with the law. For those more interested in exploring others’ notes than posting their own, the Findery team spotlights compelling sets and users — such as @The Sock Project’s documentation of donating socks to the homeless and @Missed’s descriptions of lost opportunities with attractive strangers.

Findery: Make Places Come Alive

Findery helps people document places they care about, share those memories and discover new places through others’ stories. This is not the geo-tagging of Facebook and Instagram, but a new angle on place-based social media with a clear emphasis on storytelling.

Users can create “sets” of notes centered around the same topic or theme, like childhood memories or historical landmarks. Notes in sets can include links to each other, creating chronologies, or they can be placed on the map at random. Users can tag one another in posts and can set notes to be discoverable by anyone, discoverable by specific others or private.

The website currently has a small — but active — user community where members can recognize each other by their profile pictures on the map. You can scan for notes left by @donald, Findery team member Donald Tetto, by seeking the image of a man in a giraffe mask.

Findery’s intimate community is further developed by the use of tags. “Helpmefindery” is a new tag, inspired by the success of one poster’s call for help in identifying the setting of an old photo of his grandfather — within a half hour of his posting, another user had determined the spot to be since-demolished Bernstein’s Fish Grotto in San Francisco. The team promotes tags for “findery challenges,” invitations for users to post notes about their first kisses, farthest travel destinations or brushes with the law.

For those more interested in exploring others’ notes than posting their own, the Findery team spotlights compelling sets and users — such as @The Sock Project’s documentation of donating socks to the homeless and @Missed’s descriptions of lost opportunities with attractive strangers.

Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign! Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS. With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar. The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here. Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign! Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS. With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar. The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here. Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign! Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS. With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar. The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here. Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign! Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS. With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar. The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here. Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign! Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS. With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar. The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here. Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign! Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS. With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar. The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here. Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign! Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS. With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar. The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here.

    Nominated for a 2013 SABRE Award for Oxfam Novib campaign!

    Vertov together with sister agency Coebergh Communicatie & PR have been nominated for the Oxfam Novib ‘Pakt Uit’ campaign in the Benelux category of the 2013 EMEA SABRE AWARDS.

    With the campaign ‘Give a Goat as a Present’ for client Oxfam Novib, people were made aware of the possibility to give a present that really makes a difference. Aside from three online videos with singer Ben Saunders, writerKluun en socialite Marijke Helwegen, the campaign was also supported by a television commercial with Holland’s Next Top Models and television personality Irene van de Laar.

    The Sabre Awards will be given out May 30 in Barcelona. The videos of the campaign are available here.

    The impact of Smart Glasses on Digital Storytelling According to CEO of APX-labs Brian Hallard Smart Glasses severely impact the way we approach and practice digital storytelling. In a conversation with the Huffington Post’s Brian Smith,  Hallard is focused on bringing smart glasses to life, yet remains realistic about its entry into the digital scene.  “Glasses are a very personal device - they ‘intrude’ on your visual experience in an unparalleled way. This amplifies their impact, both good and bad. So, they raise the game for content providers, brands and those third parties looking to make a connection in some way with a person. Secondly, smart glasses enable a whole range of scenarios that were impossible before. They are real-time and in-context — creating unique moments for engagement that no other device can deliver. Content can be highly personalized as TV/movie content publishers and marketers are able to engage individuals through their glasses based upon preferences as they are viewing digital media (or even non-digital media that has a “hook” into the virtual world)”. For the whole conversation between Hallard & Smith, please click here. 

    The impact of Smart Glasses on Digital Storytelling

    According to CEO of APX-labs Brian Hallard Smart Glasses severely impact the way we approach and practice digital storytelling. In a conversation with the Huffington Post’s Brian Smith,  Hallard is focused on bringing smart glasses to life, yet remains realistic about its entry into the digital scene. 

    “Glasses are a very personal device - they ‘intrude’ on your visual experience in an unparalleled way. This amplifies their impact, both good and bad. So, they raise the game for content providers, brands and those third parties looking to make a connection in some way with a person.

    Secondly, smart glasses enable a whole range of scenarios that were impossible before. They are real-time and in-context — creating unique moments for engagement that no other device can deliver. Content can be highly personalized as TV/movie content publishers and marketers are able to engage individuals through their glasses based upon preferences as they are viewing digital media (or even non-digital media that has a “hook” into the virtual world)”.

    For the whole conversation between Hallard & Smith, please click here. 

    The SoLoMo Manifesto Social. Local. Mobile. These are the sweeping trends thriving in marketing today and for the foreseeable future. In terms of media consumption, they have come to dominate consumer attention. In terms of targeting and communication, they have opened dynamic new channels. In terms of data and measurement, they are nothing short of revolutionary. And in terms of technology, they are disrupting entire industries. While each is a powerful force unto itself, the focus of the SoLoMo Manifesto is on their nexus.  An interesting read that can be downloaded for free here.

    The SoLoMo Manifesto


    Social. Local. Mobile. These are the sweeping trends thriving in marketing today and for the foreseeable future. In terms of media consumption, they have come to dominate consumer attention. In terms of targeting and communication, they have opened dynamic new channels. In terms of data and measurement, they are nothing short of revolutionary. And in terms of technology, they are disrupting entire industries.

    While each is a powerful force unto itself, the focus of the SoLoMo Manifesto is on their nexus. 

    An interesting read that can be downloaded for free here.

    Star Trek: Literally into the darkness

    The studio behind the Star Trek Into Darkness took the title quite literal this time around when executing promotional activities for the upcoming film. They commissioned the flying of a giant, glowing Starfleet insignia in the London night sky. Compromised of 30 LED-illuminatied quadrotors, the 308-foot-tall sign rotated in place 118 feet above ground, before dimming its lights alongside those of Tower Bridge and Big Ben in recognition of the WWF’s Earth Hour conservation effort.