Webdoc relaunches as Urturn with an API to let you create viral memes and share them across the Web

Webdoc, the multimedia expression platform that has proved particularly popular with record labels running fan engagement marketing campaigns, has today relaunched with a more refined product under the name Urturn.

The new offering has been unveiled at Midem in Cannes, France, where the Swiss startup won the sponsor’s choice prize in the Midemlab competition last year. Whereas previously, users could create completely open collages consisting of images, videos, text and audio, Urturn develops on this idea in a way that should make it appeal to a wider audience.

While the completely open collage approach is still available, it is just one of a number of ‘expression’ templates that can be far more focused. One, for example, allows users to recreate David Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ cover, while another lets them create a customized Kendrick Lamar album cover, complete with an audio clip.

Once a user has created something with one of the expression templates, it can be shared and embedded across the Web. Everywhere it’s shared, it has a ‘Your Turn’ button that takes anyone who clicks it back to the Urturn website to create their own version. It’s a simple concept that has proved popular in test campaigns that the startup has run with acts like One Direction.

If you want to get really creative and have the skills, new expressions can be created using HTML, CSS and Javascript via an API, which is currently in private beta. This will be particularly useful for brands looking to create viral marketing campaigns but interestingly, Urturn isn’t charging for this capability. Instead, co-founder Stelio Tzonis says that monetization will come via another, as-yet unannounced, feature.

Urturn says that it has already signed up record labels Interscope Records, Polydor, Columbia and RCA to run campaigns via the service for artists such as OneRepublic, Mindless Behavior, 50 Cent, Ellie Goulding, The Saturdays, Alicia Keys, and Pink.

➤ Urturn