Today, TELUS and Calgary-based Worldplay Communications announced a
partnership that will innovate local community content and give
Canadian businesses and consumers a new platform to connect
virtually. Consumers will have the ability to stream live events
online and through the Optik TV platform, including community
events, cultural or faith-based services and local sporting events,
while businesses can evolve the delivery of virtual conferences,
connect through secure video solutions, and create branded content
pages where they can engage with their partners and customers.
“Our priority is to deliver the best possible experience across
the full scope of our customers’ digital lives as Canadians
increasingly turn to digital tools to work, learn, and stay
connected to their loved ones and communities throughout the
Covid-19 pandemic,” said Zainul Mawji, TELUS President of Home
Solutions. “As part of our global leadership in social capitalism,
we work closely with thousands of charities and grassroots
organizations nation-wide and this new platform presents an
exciting opportunity for them to create content and connect
meaningfully with their communities. With the backbone of TELUS’
world-leading PureFibre and wireless networks, the opportunities
Worldplay offers to create and share content in an accessible way
are truly endless.”
Worldplay Communications is a global software-as-a-service
(SaaS) company and leader in video management and distribution that
provides innovative video technologies for businesses and
organizations to teach, entertain and share. Worldplay’s Vidflex™
is a customizable, easy-to-use video platform that provides
customers with a digital toolset to host, manage, control,
distribute, live stream, catalog and monetize their videos – how
they want, when they want, and to whom they want.
“What excites us about partnering with TELUS is their tenacious
focus on serving their customers, ensuring they are able to stay
connected to what matters most to them,” said Terry Mochar,
Worldplay CEO. “TELUS has great vision for what the market will
need today – and tomorrow. Their drive to innovate creates the
logical purpose for partnership, leveraging our Vidflex™ technology
to help organizations and people thrive in a digital economy.”
In 2020, TELUS and Worldplay piloted the platform by hosting 200
municipalities across British Columbia at the first ever CivX
Virtual Conference. Today, communities and organizations are using
the platform to engage community members, host virtual camps for
young Canadians, and for spiritual and faith based connection.
TELUS and Worldplay have partnered to provide the Vidflex™
technology to four Indigenous communities in British Columbia,
including Haisla Nation, Huu-ay-aht First Nations, Williams Lake
First Nation, and Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc. Haisla Nation has used
the platform for broadcasting of key Haislakla language
revitalization workshops. The protection and revitalization of
Haislakala is a key initiative in the community, as there are only
85 remaining fluent speakers. Through Vidflex™, Haisla was able to
share and distribute video content through a controlled
storytelling experience, and to host language learning sessions
virtually, which proved to be a successful method for engaging
community members during the pandemic. Huu-ay-aht First Nations has
also found success with the platform through live-streaming an all
candidates meeting in advance of the nation’s election. Community
members demonstrated their civic participation with 95% of members
joining the virtual meeting.
“So far we have found that working with TELUS and Worldplay has
offered us more ways to engage with our citizens in a meaningful
and interactive way,” said John Jack, Huu-ay-aht First Nations
Councillor. “It has expanded our ability to control the content we
are offering and how it is presented, and set us up with the
equipment we needed to do this properly and professionally while
building capacity within our Nation.”
“As a Nation we are certainly missing out on the valuable
face-to-face connection that we enjoy in normal times,” said Chief
Councillor Crystal Smith. “The video platform provided through
TELUS and Worldplay does give us a step towards that bit of
normalcy, and lets us present information to our Haisla members in
a way that we know resonates. We are using it to share our
successes in our culture programs, to keep us united and safe
during this pandemic, and we will continue to look at more ways to
use this technology for the benefit of our members.” Additionally,
a Four Nation working group began in December 2020, and the
communities meet to discuss storytelling, content creation, and
video production. The platform enables the hosting of virtual
council meetings, and sharing of critical information about the
Covid-19 pandemic to their communities membership. Since August
2020, the four communities have created 19 live-streamed events and
101 videos with 1,615 participants.
Using Worldplay’s Vidflex™technology, Calgary’s TELUS Spark and
Edmonton’s TELUS World of Science are now offering educational and
entertaining programs including their virtual summer camps, which
kept young Canadians engaged throughout 2020’s summer break, and
will be used again during Spring Break and the summer period in
2021. The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival also
leveraged the platform in 2020 to host the festival virtually.
"Thanks to the generous support of TELUS, we’ve been using the
Vidflex platform since early spring and we love it,” said Megan
Dart, Communications Specialist for the Edmonton Fringe Theatre.
“It’s been such an incredible asset as we transition our creative
efforts to engage with a broader digital audience. We’re really
excited to see how we can grow our skills and expand our offerings
on the platform."
Alberta’s Cochrane Alliance Church is using the platform to
connect with their community virtually throughout the Covid-19
pandemic by broadcasting virtual services and prayer meetings
online. Today, congregants can stream the service online and in the
near future, Optik TV customers will have the option to tune into a
specific channel and watch the service from their television. By
going virtual the church has helped curb the spread of Covid-19
while connecting with people beyond the Cochrane community, growing
their congregation.
“What intrigued us about the Vidflex platform was the capacity
it gave us to build our own video library which would keep people
on our website, instead of directing them elsewhere,” said Jason
Koleba, former Lead Pastor, Cochrane Alliance Church. “This meant
our own TV channel which would be uniquely tied to our own brand
where people could watch archived sermons."For businesses, the
opportunities to produce tailored content for their partners and
customers are endless, such as virtual conferences, video training
and onboarding, and secure, private communication channels for live
and recorded video town hall meetings, internal company updates,
investor communications, board meetings, and AGMs.
About TELUSTELUS
(TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a dynamic, world-leading communications and
information technology company with $15 billion in annual revenue
and 15.4 million customer connections spanning wireless, data, IP,
voice, television, entertainment, video and security. At TELUS, we
leverage our world-leading technology’s potential to enable
remarkable human outcomes. Our long-standing commitment to putting
customers first fuels every aspect of our business, making us a
distinct leader in customer service excellence and loyalty. TELUS
Health is Canada’s largest healthcare IT provider, and TELUS
International delivers the most innovative business process
solutions to some of the world’s most established brands.
Driven by our passionate social
purpose to connect all Canadians for good, our deeply meaningful
and enduring philosophy to give where we live has inspired our team
members and retirees to contribute $736 million and 1.4 million
days of service since 2000. This unprecedented generosity and
unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS the most giving company
in the world.
For more information about TELUS,
please visit telus.com, follow us @TELUSNews on Twitter and
@Darren_Entwistle on Instagram.
About
WorldplayWorldplay (Canada) Inc. is a disruptive global
software-as-a-service (SaaS) company and leader in video management
that provides customers with innovative video technologies to
teach, entertain and share. Worldplay’s technologies are used
around the world by organizations building digital communities in
critical sectors such as health care, education, business, faith,
sports and entertainment. Worldplay’s technologies are developed
through a human-centered design approach, innovating to meet the
needs of organizations and consumers both today and into the
future.
For media inquiries, please contact:Lena
ChenTELUS Public Relationslena.chen@telus.com
Brett McConkey,Chief Commercial OfficerWorldplay (Canada)
Inc.bmcconkey@vidflex.com403-705-0818
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