Joss'd

As most Joss Whedon fans know, tomorrow is the premiere of Dollhouse. A lot of exciting news had cropped up this week over interactivity with the premiere (there’s an official ARG, a fan-site within the Fox site, and much more) and one of the most exciting pieces of interactivity is a contest with Nabbit to win autographed wardrobe worn by Eliza in the second episode of the show. We were able to talk with CEO and “Head Nabber” John Freund, about this very awesome interactive contest. Warning the contest question contains very mild spoilers.

1. For those not familiar with Nabbit – what is it?
John Freund: Nabbit is a service that lets you “bookmark” those things that interest you on radio, TV or print using your mobile phone.  We all can think of a time when we heard something on the radio or TV that we wanted to remember for later, only to forget about.  Nabbit lets you tag, or what we call “Nabb” that content and save it in your personal account at Nabbit.com.  When it is convenient for you, simply log into Nabbit.com and act on the content.  Download that song you heard on the radio or go to the website for the company who’s ad interested you.

Nabbit’s live event allows producers to create interactive experiences such as what we are doing for FOX.  Another example of this technology is when we do concerts.  Nabbit has allowed people attending a live performance to Nabb-it and download to their PC when they get home.

2. How did the contest idea come about?
John Freund: We wanted to show Nabbit’s ability to interact with live TV.  Since the shows were already produced, we needed to think of something we could do that didn’t involve any new production.  The contest seemed like the right idea since you will learn the answer by watching the show.  The channel will only be activated during the show times so viewers will need to tune in to win.

3. How can fans participate in this contest?
John Freund: The first must register for FREE at Nabbit.com.  We will automatically configure the DOLLHOUSE Channel on their phone for them.  Log on to http://m.nabbit.com with your mobile phone (or on a PC if you don’t have a phone with a data plan) and watch DOLLHOUSE on Friday night.  When the main character “ECHO” reveals the name of the hostage negotiator simple click on the DOLLHOUSE channel.  We will present a list of 4 possible answers.  Nabb the right one and you are entered into a drawing for some wardrobe worn and autographed by Eliza Dushku during the shows second episode.

4. Are you guys Whedon fans? If so, what shows and what concepts.
John Freund: I myself am not as familiar with some of Joss’ work.  However, my development team members are big fans.  I am told that they are big fans of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

5. Outside of the contest, how can people use Nabbit?
John Freund: Nabbit works best with radio today.  We monitor over 2,500 radio stations and know what they play within 30 seconds of it airing.  That means you can Nabb any song or ad you hear on the radio.  If you Nabb a song you can go to your Nabbit account and download it using your favorite music library like iTunes or Napster, check out song lyrics or artist concert dates or download ringtones.  If an advertiser is a Nabbit Ads partner, they will have special offers for our members that take advantage of Nabbit’s features.  If the advertiser is not a Nabbit Ads partner, Nabbit users will be able to Google their businesses.

Fox represents our first TV partner.  We expect the TV and print side of our business to grow very rapidly over the next few months.

6. Are you interested in doing more interactive components with TV shows?
John Freund: Absolutely!!  We envision a viewer watching a show that was filmed in an exotic place, Nabbing and getting information about the location and a link to buy tickets to get there would be very cool.  Maybe you are watching a hockey game and you Nabb a goal scored by your favorite player.  After the game you go to Nabbit.com and watch a video of the goal.  Maybe you are watching an episode of 24 when Jack looks into the camera and says “activate the mobile detonator now”.  You press a button on your phone and a bridge blows up.  Our minds are racing with ideas.  Most of which we can do today when we partner with a network.

7. What would be your ultimate goal for users’ experience with Nabbit?
John Freund: We see the day when having your mobile phone is almost a requirement when watching TV or listening to the radio.  We want to offer as many interactive experiences as we can.  We chose to do this with a mobile phone because we don’t believe that you should have to have yet another device to keep track of.  We want a single click of a button on your phone to get you any piece of information that you need regarding the broadcast you are watching or listening to.  Our goal is simplicity with a high reward for the person Nabbing.

I’ve got my account up with Nabbit and I’m very excited to see the interactiveness that Dollhouse is participating in. As Whedon fans we all know that Joss’ shows lend themselves well to being crossed into various technologies and applications and this contest seems to continue the trend. Special thanks to John for answering these questions and if you want to learn more or sign up for Nabbit’s contest please visit: http://www.nabbit.com/dollhouse/

You can also sign up for a text reminder (as if you could forget) by texting the word DOLLHOUSE to 878787 now. And they’ll send a reminder tomorrow to watch.