Phoenix-based Flypaper makes digital signage easy

From restaurant menus to shopping center maps, the presence of digital signs continues to grow, and a Phoenix-based digital signage software company is at the forefront.
Flypaper Studios, Inc. spun out of Interactive Alchemy, an organization established by local entrepreneur Don Pierson in 2003 to create web-based marketing and training content for Fortune 1000 clients.
Pierson launched Interactive Alchemy after his approximately 13-year-old interactive training software company, Learning Edge, was acquired in 2001.
Pierson continued to watch the eLearning industry and saw an opportunity for a software product that would allow people to create high quality interactive content quickly and economically without having to learn Flash. He hoped to bring interactive content creation to a broader group of people.
He set out to launch the Flash content management platform in 2006, received $3 million from private investors and $6.5 million from venture capitalists in 2007 and sold Interactive Alchemy to The GMarie Group in 2008.
But in 2009, Pierson noticed the emergence of the digital signage industry as well as a need for a product that would allow people to produce such high quality content at a reasonable cost and keep it up to date.
“So we took a turn with Flypaper to add the capabilities necessary for digital signage,” he said.
Flypaper reached a royalty agreement with eLearning company Trivantis the following year, a partnership that allowed Flypaper to focus on the new digital signage product while Trivantis sold the eLearning product. Realizing the potential of the digital signage industry, Trivantis officially acquired Flypaper in 2011, making it a subsidiary of its company.

Products

With the digital signage software, users can choose from hundreds of templates and customize them, or they can build their projects from scratch using the drag-and-drop interface.
Flypaper currently offers three versions of its software and is preparing to launch a fourth:

• Flypaper – Original digital signage content management system
• Flypaper Pro – Adds cloud-based features such as collaboration and a repository for storing and sharing content
• Flypaper Express – An entry level Microsoft PowerPoint plugin that allows users to create high quality animated content for presentations
• Flypaper Online – COMING SOON – A web-based SaaS version of Flypaper

What’s Next

Pierson said he expects Flypaper to continue to flourish in the rapidly growing digital signage industry, but that the company also plans to tap into interesting new areas.
Flypaper is working with Intel to integrate the digital signage software with AIM Suite, an anonymous video analytics technology. A digital sign equipped with the technology would be able to determine the demographics of its viewers and provide targeted information to them.
Flypaper is also integrating Microsoft Kinect with its software so that viewers will be able to interact with digital signs simply by gesturing in front of them.

More about Flypaper

Founded: 2006
# of employees: Not disclosed, privately held
Revenues: Not disclosed
Founder: Don Pierson
Website: www.Flypaper.com
Twitter: @FlypaperStudio
Blog: Flypaper Blog
Phone #: (602) 801-2208
Headquarters: 2999 N 44th St. # 200 • Phoenix, AZ • USA