Vyde is a video-first conversational technology that empowers consumers to control their own ad experience with an immersive two-way conversation.
Born out of the frustration with the lack of innovation in advertising, It offers brands and agencies with a ‘permission-granted’ solution and real-time insights never seen before in video or display. Chaired by PHD founder David Pattison and founded just three years ago, the conversational technology business has already worked with leading brands including Nissan, Vodafone, PayPal and VW.
What do we need to know about Vyde?
Vyde is a pioneering conversational technology that empowers consumers to control their own ad experience with an immersive two-way conversation. Founded just three years ago, we’ve already worked with leading brands including Nissan, Vodafone, PayPal and VW. The business has seen revenues more than double year on year.
While advertisers are struggling to achieve cut-through in an increasingly crowded market, our platform engages audiences in a conversation, putting them in control of what they see. This turns passive views into real ‘_Active Attention’, generating real-time insights never seen before in video or display.
Crucially, our solution is privacy-first as we empower the consumer to personalise the ad content themselves, rather than using cookies or personal data. Our solution has been in particularly high demand since Google’s recent announcements on the phasing out of third-party cookies, with brands seeking further customer engagement and validation beyond primary metrics (such as a basic click-through rate).
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How did you come up with the idea for the company?
My co-founder & CTO Ben and I had been in the digital advertising industry for years, working with many well-known brands, and we were struck by the juxtaposition between the technological innovation around finding “the right user at the right time” and the lack of innovation in arguably the most important part – “the right message”. In reality, digital advertising has been stuck in an early noughties bubble, based on the dated ‘push’ principle, ie. interrupting someone’s internet search experience to get them to click.
I had a vision for a two-way conversation, where engaged consumers were empowered to ‘talk back’ to brands. The introduction of chatbot technology and success of social media messaging platforms created a new dynamic and Vyde was developed. This enabled brands to start their own conversations, mimicking the way consumers are now engaging with digital technology.
How has the company evolved over the past couple of years?
As a startup formed in 2019, we were still a very young company when the first lockdown hit. Like so many others, we needed to adapt fast and ensure we developed real resilience. It makes me even more proud that we weathered the storm and were profitable during one of the toughest business climates ever.
But we were always reluctant to have the distraction of fundraising too early on, and also potentially giving too much equity in the company. We’re now in a fortunate position to be selective about where we get funding, and are especially excited to have such respected industry leaders backing the company on the next phase of our journey.
Having David Pattison, founder of one of the world’s most famous media agencies, announced as our chair was a real coup. It highlights the credibility of our platform and team, and is a testament to everyone’s hard work
On a personal level, the most rewarding part of building this business has always been working with and learning from exceptionally talented people and it’s great to have our growing team together in our new office as that’s where our ideas and creativity really flow. We also recently rebranded as Vyde as we launched a new ‘video first’ proposition, which was a really exciting moment for us.
What can we hope to see from Vyde in the future?
We have very exciting plans for growth as we move into the next phase. On the back of our rebrand and video-first proposition, we’re expanding Vyde’s uses with new partnerships and also looking to grow our business in the USA. With the phasing out of the cookie and the traditional way of targeting consumers coming to an end, there’s going to be increased demand for our solution.
