NYC-based Teleport App – the world's first app allowing people to easily send Ubers to others – recently debuted a new set of features aimed at business owners. When launched last year, Teleport App's consumer-facing product earned the top spot on Product Hunt, and since then, it has served users in over 70 countries. The venture is backed by Social Starts, Flatiron Investors, Netspective Communications CEO Shahid Shah, and LaunchTime partner Benjamin Sun.
News about the business-focused Teleport Dashboard was widely covered in high-tech and business-focused media outlets, helping Teleport App CEO and founder Bob Wu multiply the far-reaching buzz earned after launching. With the introduction of Dashboard and its expanded feature set, the excitement around Teleporting friends and family members has now spread to businesses. Between July 1 and today, the Teleport Dashboard has increased ride volume by more than 65 percent.
Today marks the launch of Teleport's first-ever commercial spot, which was conceived and produced with multi-talented director Brian Lipko and the leaders of NYC-based Valiant Pictures, where Lipko is represented among the production company's up-and-coming Vanguard roster. The new spot shows several lighthearted scenarios where businesses and individuals "Teleport" others to their locations using the app, which is one of the very first third-party developments built atop Uber's application programming interface.
"Teleport Dashboard lets any organization send multiple cars simultaneously through a simple web dashboard," Wu explained. "Since launching our business-focused offerings earlier this year, our clients now include public para transit, healthcare and nursing homes, hotels, car dealerships, and numerous other types of businesses."
Wu continued, "As we move toward our goal of providing over 200,000 rides by year's end, this new spot is a key facet in raising awareness and driving usage."
Valiant Pictures' executive producers Vincent Lin and Matthew D'Amato collaborated directly with Wu on the spot's concept. "To introduce and establish Teleport's functionality in the real world, we wanted to create something fun and exciting," Lin began. "Rather than visually representing people boarding a Prius, our idea was to demonstrate the app's use through the cinematic magic of teleportation and animation."
"Essentially," D'Amato added, "our goal was to convey the spontaneity and unexpectedness of being summoned by a friend just like the app would – and to use animation to demonstrate the app. We shared our initial concept with Brian Lipko, whose expertise spans live-action directing as well as design, animation, editing and visual effects, so we knew he'd be a great fit for the project."
Together with director of photography Andrew Finch, Lipko shot in various locations around Los Angeles, using a Black Magic URSA Mini 4K for principal photography, and – in the spirit of this project – put extra effort into ensuring the cast and crew had fun. "Our main goals were to communicate the convenience, ease of use and speed of using Teleport in comedic, light-hearted ways," he said. "Everyone involved is confident that awareness is going to drive the usage of Teleport to new levels, so each facet of bringing this story to life has been a blast."
Proving that awareness is driving usage, the production actually used Teleport Dashboard during the shoot to easily and efficiently move crewmembers around LA.
On the client-side, Wu is equally inspired and impressed with the production process, saying he is already looking forward to the next collaboration. "The process was creative and detailed, and also smooth and highly professional," he concluded. "Our vision of everything it could be came to life beautifully right before our eyes."
To learn more about Teleport, visit http://teleportapp.co. Additional credits include line producer Kyle Nolan of Meanwhile, which also handled editorial and post-production on the project. Complete project credits are available upon request.
About Valiant Pictures
Valiant Pictures (http://valiantpictures.com) is a New York-based independent production company specializing in branded content, commercials, and original entertainment. Established in 2010 by director Vincent Lin and executive producer Matthew D'Amato, the latest creative achievements from Valiant's award-winning filmmakers are captivating diverse audiences across all media platforms. Continually and courageously challenging conventional expectations, the best is yet to come.
