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Kerv Interactive
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
During our extended relationship with KERV, we designed several products as part of their wide portfolio of advertising tools. KERV's main offering uses AI to capture metadata from video content and generate next-generation advertisements. Their platform connects product catalogs to video content and serves viewers highly relevant ads. To make their platform work, they use several tools across many stakeholders, including their internal team, their customers (production studios, such as Universal, Warner Bros., Disney, etc.), and the end users who view the content and ads and potentially make purchases. We helped to create their company-wide design language, as well as to design some of their flagship products.
During our extended relationship with KERV, we designed several products as part of their wide portfolio of advertising tools. KERV's main offering uses AI to capture metadata from video content and generate next-generation advertisements. Their platform connects product catalogs to video content and serves viewers highly relevant ads. To make their platform work, they use several tools across many stakeholders, including their internal team, their customers (production studios, such as Universal, Warner Bros., Disney, etc.), and the end users who view the content and ads and potentially make purchases. We helped to create their company-wide design language, as well as to design some of their flagship products.
During our extended relationship with KERV, we designed several products as part of their wide portfolio of advertising tools. KERV's main offering uses AI to capture metadata from video content and generate next-generation advertisements. Their platform connects product catalogs to video content and serves viewers highly relevant ads. To make their platform work, they use several tools across many stakeholders, including their internal team, their customers (production studios, such as Universal, Warner Bros., Disney, etc.), and the end users who view the content and ads and potentially make purchases. We helped to create their company-wide design language, as well as to design some of their flagship products.
The Challenge
The Challenge
The Challenge
The Challenge
When we began work with KERV, they already had a successful business producing highly effective advertisements that drove strong conversion rates. However, creating these ads involved a heavily manual, time-consuming workflow that impacted both the internal team and their customers. Although some tools were in place, they lacked key capabilities, often forcing users to adapt them for tasks beyond their intended purpose. The primary challenge was to streamline this complex process and deliver a more efficient, powerful solution.
Research & Analysis
Research & Analysis
Research & Analysis
Research & Analysis
To better understand the problems at hand, we began by conducting discovery research. There were no clear requirements already in place, so we extracted this information through team conversations, reading available documents, and analyzing the existing tools.
We spoke to members of every team involved in the operations chain to conduct thorough user interviews. This included people responsible for setting up creatives and ad campaigns. At times, we were also able to engage with KERV’s customers and get first-hand knowledge about their pain points and aspirations.
Our interviews helped us construct as-is user journeys, which showcased the current experience, along with its inefficiencies and opportunities. These artifacts were instrumental in getting alignment and guiding the requirements for our effort.
SHOPPER
The shopper consumes video content and shops online. She gets annoyed by advertisements that interrupt her content, and doesn’t want to be shown irrelevant ads.
SHOPPER
The shopper consumes video content and shops online. She gets annoyed by advertisements that interrupt her content, and doesn’t want to be shown irrelevant ads.
SHOPPER
The shopper consumes video content and shops online. She gets annoyed by advertisements that interrupt her content, and doesn’t want to be shown irrelevant ads.
SHOPPER
The shopper consumes video content and shops online. She gets annoyed by advertisements that interrupt her content, and doesn’t want to be shown irrelevant ads.
SHOPPER
The shopper consumes video content and shops online. She gets annoyed by advertisements that interrupt her content, and doesn’t want to be shown irrelevant ads.
CAMPAIGN DESIGNER
Creates campaigns and their different elements, such as the creative, schedule, and target audiences. Technical user that is savvy with specialized software for creating and planning campaigns. Internal KERV employee.
CAMPAIGN DESIGNER
Creates campaigns and their different elements, such as the creative, schedule, and target audiences. Technical user that is savvy with specialized software for creating and planning campaigns. Internal KERV employee.
CAMPAIGN DESIGNER
Creates campaigns and their different elements, such as the creative, schedule, and target audiences. Technical user that is savvy with specialized software for creating and planning campaigns. Internal KERV employee.
CAMPAIGN DESIGNER
Creates campaigns and their different elements, such as the creative, schedule, and target audiences. Technical user that is savvy with specialized software for creating and planning campaigns. Internal KERV employee.
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Coordinates ad placements, campaigns, and promotions, selecting specific content elements to highlight. Employed by a media production studio.
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Coordinates ad placements, campaigns, and promotions, selecting specific content elements to highlight. Employed by a media production studio.
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Coordinates ad placements, campaigns, and promotions, selecting specific content elements to highlight. Employed by a media production studio.
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Coordinates ad placements, campaigns, and promotions, selecting specific content elements to highlight. Employed by a media production studio.
Strategy
Strategy
Strategy
Strategy
With the research complete, we were ready to work with the KERV team to construct a design strategy. The objectives were to simplify the operations and streamline the product pipeline. Since the existing tools felt disconnected and had no clear place, we had to make significant changes. Our efforts included the following:
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Since there were various users for the different aspects of the process, we had to think about the big picture and ensure that our product strategy worked coherently across users.
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Since there were various users for the different aspects of the process, we had to think about the big picture and ensure that our product strategy worked coherently across users.
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Since there were various users for the different aspects of the process, we had to think about the big picture and ensure that our product strategy worked coherently across users.
HOLISTIC APPROACH
Since there were various users for the different aspects of the process, we had to think about the big picture and ensure that our product strategy worked coherently across users.
Automating Manual Tasks
We designed new features and tools that would automate tasks done manually by team members and customers. This was a large multi-product effort, which required us to look at every step of the journey and methodically introduce updates.
Automating Manual Tasks
We designed new features and tools that would automate tasks done manually by team members and customers. This was a large multi-product effort, which required us to look at every step of the journey and methodically introduce updates.
Automating Manual Tasks
We designed new features and tools that would automate tasks done manually by team members and customers. This was a large multi-product effort, which required us to look at every step of the journey and methodically introduce updates.
Automating Manual Tasks
We designed new features and tools that would automate tasks done manually by team members and customers. This was a large multi-product effort, which required us to look at every step of the journey and methodically introduce updates.
Improving Consistency
One of our strategic philosophies was to improve the consistency across our processes and design patterns. This helped reduce learning time for new team members, as well as reduce operational overhead.
Improving Consistency
One of our strategic philosophies was to improve the consistency across our processes and design patterns. This helped reduce learning time for new team members, as well as reduce operational overhead.
Improving Consistency
One of our strategic philosophies was to improve the consistency across our processes and design patterns. This helped reduce learning time for new team members, as well as reduce operational overhead.
Improving Consistency
One of our strategic philosophies was to improve the consistency across our processes and design patterns. This helped reduce learning time for new team members, as well as reduce operational overhead.
Strategic Initiatives Investment
We aligned on the company's strategic plan for revenue growth and ensured that the new platform would double-down on the current investments. This included adding new products as well as expanding the functionality of the AI engine.
Strategic Initiatives Investment
We aligned on the company's strategic plan for revenue growth and ensured that the new platform would double-down on the current investments. This included adding new products as well as expanding the functionality of the AI engine.
Strategic Initiatives Investment
We aligned on the company's strategic plan for revenue growth and ensured that the new platform would double-down on the current investments. This included adding new products as well as expanding the functionality of the AI engine.
Strategic Initiatives Investment
We aligned on the company's strategic plan for revenue growth and ensured that the new platform would double-down on the current investments. This included adding new products as well as expanding the functionality of the AI engine.
Reducing Dependencies
As part of our discovery process, we identified dependencies on 3rd party tools and services that were increasing our costs and limiting our flexibility. We cut down on those by automating steps and building in-house tools that worked better for our use cases.
Reducing Dependencies
As part of our discovery process, we identified dependencies on 3rd party tools and services that were increasing our costs and limiting our flexibility. We cut down on those by automating steps and building in-house tools that worked better for our use cases.
Reducing Dependencies
As part of our discovery process, we identified dependencies on 3rd party tools and services that were increasing our costs and limiting our flexibility. We cut down on those by automating steps and building in-house tools that worked better for our use cases.
Reducing Dependencies
As part of our discovery process, we identified dependencies on 3rd party tools and services that were increasing our costs and limiting our flexibility. We cut down on those by automating steps and building in-house tools that worked better for our use cases.
Design
Design
Design
Design
We continued our design process by crafting a clean design language based on Google’s Material Design. This helped us unite the different pieces on the KERV strategy into one cohesive whole. With the language at hand, we designed the different tools that served our users along the journey. We worked tirelessly to make the new tools simple and intuitive, enabling them to reduce the time and friction it takes to complete tasks.
1. CHOOSE CONTENT
Advertising Manager
Ad managers use our new content search tool to curate media for a given ad campaign. The tool features advanced filters that let them quickly filter by a variety of categories such as sentiment or objects detected in the episodes. Then, they export the curated list and pass it on to campaign designers. Speed and performance were a great focus for this tool to allow for fast data processing and search.
1. CHOOSE CONTENT
Advertising Manager
Ad managers use our new content search tool to curate media for a given ad campaign. The tool features advanced filters that let them quickly filter by a variety of categories such as sentiment or objects detected in the episodes. Then, they export the curated list and pass it on to campaign designers. Speed and performance were a great focus for this tool to allow for fast data processing and search.
1. CHOOSE CONTENT
Advertising Manager
Ad managers use our new content search tool to curate media for a given ad campaign. The tool features advanced filters that let them quickly filter by a variety of categories such as sentiment or objects detected in the episodes. Then, they export the curated list and pass it on to campaign designers. Speed and performance were a great focus for this tool to allow for fast data processing and search.
1. CHOOSE CONTENT
Advertising Manager
Ad managers use our new content search tool to curate media for a given ad campaign. The tool features advanced filters that let them quickly filter by a variety of categories such as sentiment or objects detected in the episodes. Then, they export the curated list and pass it on to campaign designers. Speed and performance were a great focus for this tool to allow for fast data processing and search.
2. MAKE CAMPAIGN
Campaign Designer
With the initial requirements set, campaign designers start working on the various aspects of the campaign, using our campaign tools. Many different personas use the various sections of the app during this process, so the design must accommodate their unique needs. These internal tools combine multiple data sources and integrations in a seamless unified experience.
2. MAKE CAMPAIGN
Campaign Designer
With the initial requirements set, campaign designers start working on the various aspects of the campaign, using our campaign tools. Many different personas use the various sections of the app during this process, so the design must accommodate their unique needs. These internal tools combine multiple data sources and integrations in a seamless unified experience.
2. MAKE CAMPAIGN
Campaign Designer
With the initial requirements set, campaign designers start working on the various aspects of the campaign, using our campaign tools. Many different personas use the various sections of the app during this process, so the design must accommodate their unique needs. These internal tools combine multiple data sources and integrations in a seamless unified experience.
2. MAKE CAMPAIGN
Campaign Designer
With the initial requirements set, campaign designers start working on the various aspects of the campaign, using our campaign tools. Many different personas use the various sections of the app during this process, so the design must accommodate their unique needs. These internal tools combine multiple data sources and integrations in a seamless unified experience.
3. APPROVE STRATEGY
Advertising Manager
After the campaign has been created, it gets submitted for review. The ad manager uses our approval tools to review the campaigns and provide feedback. The tools feature live previews of the creatives, making it easy to quickly switch between granular object views and the end product.
3. APPROVE STRATEGY
Advertising Manager
After the campaign has been created, it gets submitted for review. The ad manager uses our approval tools to review the campaigns and provide feedback. The tools feature live previews of the creatives, making it easy to quickly switch between granular object views and the end product.
3. APPROVE STRATEGY
Advertising Manager
After the campaign has been created, it gets submitted for review. The ad manager uses our approval tools to review the campaigns and provide feedback. The tools feature live previews of the creatives, making it easy to quickly switch between granular object views and the end product.
3. APPROVE STRATEGY
Advertising Manager
After the campaign has been created, it gets submitted for review. The ad manager uses our approval tools to review the campaigns and provide feedback. The tools feature live previews of the creatives, making it easy to quickly switch between granular object views and the end product.
4. SHOP PERSONALIZED ITEMS
Shopper
The campaign gets delivered through various channels. One popular method is the pause screen, which is shown to people when they pause their TV show. Here they see a QR code that directs them to a personalized store and where they can directly shop products that appeared on the show.
4. SHOP PERSONALIZED ITEMS
Shopper
The campaign gets delivered through various channels. One popular method is the pause screen, which is shown to people when they pause their TV show. Here they see a QR code that directs them to a personalized store and where they can directly shop products that appeared on the show.
4. SHOP PERSONALIZED ITEMS
Shopper
The campaign gets delivered through various channels. One popular method is the pause screen, which is shown to people when they pause their TV show. Here they see a QR code that directs them to a personalized store and where they can directly shop products that appeared on the show.
4. SHOP PERSONALIZED ITEMS
Shopper
The campaign gets delivered through various channels. One popular method is the pause screen, which is shown to people when they pause their TV show. Here they see a QR code that directs them to a personalized store and where they can directly shop products that appeared on the show.
5. TRACK CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE
Advertising Manager
Campaign Designer
Each campaign is tracked using our reporting tools. These are used both by the internal KERV team, as well as their customers from the production studios. Analyzing the data is an essential part of how campaigns are measured and improved. Our design progressively reveals multiple layers of complexity, enabling analysis at both a high-level as we as at the tiniest details.
5. TRACK CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE
Advertising Manager
Campaign Designer
Each campaign is tracked using our reporting tools. These are used both by the internal KERV team, as well as their customers from the production studios. Analyzing the data is an essential part of how campaigns are measured and improved. Our design progressively reveals multiple layers of complexity, enabling analysis at both a high-level as we as at the tiniest details.
5. TRACK CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE
Advertising Manager
Campaign Designer
Each campaign is tracked using our reporting tools. These are used both by the internal KERV team, as well as their customers from the production studios. Analyzing the data is an essential part of how campaigns are measured and improved. Our design progressively reveals multiple layers of complexity, enabling analysis at both a high-level as we as at the tiniest details.
5. TRACK CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE
Advertising Manager
Campaign Designer
Each campaign is tracked using our reporting tools. These are used both by the internal KERV team, as well as their customers from the production studios. Analyzing the data is an essential part of how campaigns are measured and improved. Our design progressively reveals multiple layers of complexity, enabling analysis at both a high-level as we as at the tiniest details.
Validation
Validation
Validation
Validation
As part of our continued work, we frequently validated with users to ensure our design was providing value. Our target audience fell within 3 main groups, each requiring a distinct research approach:
Internal Team Members
We conducted concept validations and usability evaluation sessions with internal team members to verify that the new design worked across the board. Because different participants had unique roles, we had to conduct different sets of tests for each persona.
Internal Team Members
We conducted concept validations and usability evaluation sessions with internal team members to verify that the new design worked across the board. Because different participants had unique roles, we had to conduct different sets of tests for each persona.
Internal Team Members
We conducted concept validations and usability evaluation sessions with internal team members to verify that the new design worked across the board. Because different participants had unique roles, we had to conduct different sets of tests for each persona.
Internal Team Members
We conducted concept validations and usability evaluation sessions with internal team members to verify that the new design worked across the board. Because different participants had unique roles, we had to conduct different sets of tests for each persona.
Customers
We had more limited access to KERV’s customers. For this reason, our testing with them typically involved a presentation of our tools and services, followed by a focus-group style interview to receive feedback and requirements. Participants were often given time to later play with the tools on their own and share additional comments.
Customers
We had more limited access to KERV’s customers. For this reason, our testing with them typically involved a presentation of our tools and services, followed by a focus-group style interview to receive feedback and requirements. Participants were often given time to later play with the tools on their own and share additional comments.
Customers
We had more limited access to KERV’s customers. For this reason, our testing with them typically involved a presentation of our tools and services, followed by a focus-group style interview to receive feedback and requirements. Participants were often given time to later play with the tools on their own and share additional comments.
Customers
We had more limited access to KERV’s customers. For this reason, our testing with them typically involved a presentation of our tools and services, followed by a focus-group style interview to receive feedback and requirements. Participants were often given time to later play with the tools on their own and share additional comments.
End Users
For the people consuming the end product (context-rich advertisements), we picked a live A/B-style testing approach. Our different modules were deployed to thousands of people, and the results were quantitatively measured. This included tracking typical advertisement metrics, such as conversion and engagement rates.
End Users
For the people consuming the end product (context-rich advertisements), we picked a live A/B-style testing approach. Our different modules were deployed to thousands of people, and the results were quantitatively measured. This included tracking typical advertisement metrics, such as conversion and engagement rates.
End Users
For the people consuming the end product (context-rich advertisements), we picked a live A/B-style testing approach. Our different modules were deployed to thousands of people, and the results were quantitatively measured. This included tracking typical advertisement metrics, such as conversion and engagement rates.
End Users
For the people consuming the end product (context-rich advertisements), we picked a live A/B-style testing approach. Our different modules were deployed to thousands of people, and the results were quantitatively measured. This included tracking typical advertisement metrics, such as conversion and engagement rates.
Our validation sessions were critical in refining our products and making them more effective. Beyond the tests themselves, establishing the research pipeline was a valuable asset to the team and its future growth.
Outcome
Outcome
Outcome
Outcome
Through my collaboration with KERV, we successfully redesigned their visual language, transformed their entire product portfolio, and played a pivotal role in shaping their product strategy. Our initial engagement evolved into a multi-year partnership, allowing us to deliver sustained value and make a significant impact on their platform. It was incredibly rewarding to work alongside the KERV team and help them achieve meaningful growth. Here are some of the kind words I received from the team:
"Loved working with Raden when he worked with us at KERV. Raden is easy to work with and does a great job iterating through UX options. He conducted useful user sessions and came back with documented pain points and opportunities. We worked on different time zones, and I had no trouble getting in touch as expected during our scheduled times.
He is experienced working with (sometimes difficult) stakeholders, and handles frustrating situations exceptionally. I would absolutely work with Raden again in the future, and think he's a great addition to any UX Design project."
"Loved working with Raden when he worked with us at KERV. Raden is easy to work with and does a great job iterating through UX options. He conducted useful user sessions and came back with documented pain points and opportunities. We worked on different time zones, and I had no trouble getting in touch as expected during our scheduled times.
He is experienced working with (sometimes difficult) stakeholders, and handles frustrating situations exceptionally. I would absolutely work with Raden again in the future, and think he's a great addition to any UX Design project."
"Loved working with Raden when he worked with us at KERV. Raden is easy to work with and does a great job iterating through UX options. He conducted useful user sessions and came back with documented pain points and opportunities. We worked on different time zones, and I had no trouble getting in touch as expected during our scheduled times.
He is experienced working with (sometimes difficult) stakeholders, and handles frustrating situations exceptionally. I would absolutely work with Raden again in the future, and think he's a great addition to any UX Design project."
"Loved working with Raden when he worked with us at KERV. Raden is easy to work with and does a great job iterating through UX options. He conducted useful user sessions and came back with documented pain points and opportunities. We worked on different time zones, and I had no trouble getting in touch as expected during our scheduled times.
He is experienced working with (sometimes difficult) stakeholders, and handles frustrating situations exceptionally. I would absolutely work with Raden again in the future, and think he's a great addition to any UX Design project."
Susan Butler, Director of Product, KERV Interactive
Let's Build Something Remarkable
Let's Build Something Remarkable
Let's Build Something Remarkable
Let's Build Something Remarkable
Copyright © 2025 Raden Tonev. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2025 Raden Tonev. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2025 Raden Tonev. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2025 Raden Tonev. All Rights Reserved.