SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coincident, the San Francisco-based technology company that powers the video web, today announced the launch of Protect Our Defenders, an immersive, connected documentary series that showcases the highly emotional stories of women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted by military personnel while serving their country. Leveraging Coincident’s interactive video platform that offers unprecedented opportunities for viewer participation, Coincident Studio - announced last week as Coincident’s full service, advanced video design-and-development division - designed and built the destination to spread the Protect Our Defenders message and incite a call to action -- all inside a seamless video web experience.
“We are honored to have been selected to create the Protect Our Defenders experience online,” said Coincident founder and CEO, David Kaiser. “We’ve taken the highly engaging models proven successful with video projects such as the Glee Superfan experience and applied it to a much more serious issue. We believe this is truly a next-generation public affairs campaign.”
Protect Our Defenders works to ensure that survivors of rape and sexual assault in the military receive justice and appropriate medical support. The organization engages in grassroots action that presses Congress and the Department of Defense to remove the handling of sex crimes from the conventional chain of command so that assailants are held accountable for their actions. And today, Congresswoman Speier - the Honorary Chair of Protect Our Defenders - introduced new legislation to fundamentally change how sexual assault is handled in the military.
Conceived from the ground up to be a destination that encourages user engagement and interaction, the Protect Our Defenders web documentary allows citizens to watch personal stories of victims, access deeper information about the problem, share stories with friends and family and take direct action to stop the problem – without ever leaving the site. Viewers can choose their own path through the documentary, selecting either a story to follow or an answer to a specific question as a starting point.
Coincident worked with Protect Our Defenders and its President Nancy Parrish along with Chicago-based production company Interchange Productions in the development of this project. Coincident’s technology platform provably drives viewer engagement, resulting in more viewers watching more content, interacting more with social platforms and completing more transactions. Coincident is working to revolutionize public affairs campaigns in the same way it is transforming online entertainment experiences.
“With Protect Our Defenders, we aim to shed light on this important and under-exposed issue, bring attention to the injustice and generate real change for our men and women in uniform,” said Nancy Parrish, President of Protect Our Defenders. “Coincident’s unique video platform allows us to provide a forum where survivors can tell their stories while simultaneously enabling the public to take action as they watch and engage in the experience online. Our troops protect us and we must protect them.”
Protect Our Defenders launched its website with six survivor stories, and will continue to evolve and expand as more survivor stories are added. One of those survivors, Terri, was violently raped, tortured and left to die by a superior. Her attacker was never charged, prosecuted or reprimanded. She has launched a petition which can be signed on the Protect Our Defenders website that demands Congress to create a new method for reporting sexual assault in the military.
For additional information, please visit: www.protectourdefenders.com.
For more information on Coincident, please visit: www.coincident.tv.
About Coincident
Coincident powers the video web with technology that enables content creators and distributors to easily design, manage and measure interactive video experiences across all digital platforms. Nominated for an Emmy in 2010 for the Glee Superfan Experience, the company was founded by an accomplished team of software executives, engineers and content producers. Coincident is based in San Francisco with regional offices in Los Angeles and New York.
About Protect Our Defenders
Protect Our Defenders seeks to honor, support and give voice to the brave women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted while serving their country. And re-victimized by the military adjudication system – a system that often blames the victim and fails to prosecute the perpetrator. We engage in grassroots action that presses Congress and the Department of Defense to remove the handling of sex crime cases from the conventional chain of command because the current system of adjudicating sexual crimes in the military is totally broken.