In a recent column for Mass High Tech, Denise DeMurcie writes about how internet TV is beginning to change how companies build relationships with customers through their websites.

A great example of this is what Transamerica Retirement Management has recently started doing with their SecurePath by Transamerica website.  A major feature of the website is a series of video programs that address issues and concerns for baby boomers in transition to the later stages of their life.  Here’s what they say about the series on the site:

Sometimes, the journey is just as interesting and exciting as the destination. That’s exactly what you’ll find reflected in clips from our Video Library — stories about Boomers and their experiences transitioning into retirement. We’ll bring you a different subject in the series each and every month. Last month, we explored issues related to staying healthy. This month, we examine different housing options. Please visit the library often and enjoy upcoming subjects on budgeting, travel, and more!

The content Transamerica started out with was repurposed from a public television series called “Boomers: Redefining Life After Fifty,” which was broadcast in 2006.  Transamerica selected more than thirty two- to three-minute segments from the TV series, licensed the content from the show producers, recorded custom introductions and closes, and put the series out one month at a time, inviting viewers to come back again and again to the SecurePath website to view new segments.  (The team at DigiNovations helped get Transamerica set up with their video on the web, and we manage their Brightcove web video channel on their behalf.)

Satisfied with that first experiment, the company has recently commissioned entirely new video content to put on the site, such as this interview segment on creativity in retirement years with Dr. Gene Cohen.

The idea of using fresh content to bring customers and prospects back again and again to a website is a familiar one.  The innovation here is using video content as the draw, and hosting it on a content management system that makes it easy to manage and present the clips in a high-quality format that’s viewable across a wide variety of computers and web browsers.

It’s an idea whose time has come, and Transamerica has broken out as a leader of this particular pack.