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The video consists of a narrator speaking about the language-learning company, Rosetta Stone, along with sharing an interactive speech of its president, supported by background music.
Speaker: Matt Hulett
Narrator: "You're probably familiar with Rosetta Stone, the company that teaches people how to speak foreign languages. It's one of the most recognized brands in the United States and while their philosophy and method of teaching foreign languages has always been excellent, their product was dated. Long after the rest of the world moved on to the internet, Rosetta Stone was still sending their lessons to customers on CDs. It was time for a change. They needed a leader who could bring them into the twenty-first century."
As the narrator speaks the content in audio 1, the logo of the Rosetta Stone popped up in front. Music is playing in the background. The visual transitions into a screen full of randomly placed speech bubbles consisting of terms: NACHT, OKEJ, GRAZIE, NEIN, and HOLA. The visual again transitions into a frame showing the sketch of a sphere, consisting of multiple triangles with connected vertices. The text animation stating "IMMERSION" is displayed over the sketch and the sphere transitions into the filament of an animated bulb. The visual again transitions into a frame consisting of eight icons, arranged in two rows, each consisting of four icons. At the bottom of each icon, the context of the icon is written. The icons in the first row are given from left to right as follows: a box, a green apple, a red apple, and a jar and glass filled with juice, with their respective contexts, a box, a green apple, a red apple, and juice. The icons in the second row are given from left to right as follows: an illustration of a person drinking water, a man, a girl, and an illustration of a person eating with a fork, with their respective contexts, to drink, the man, a girl, and to eats. The visual again transitions into a frame consisting of a logo whose context is formed by taking a few contexts from the previous frame and shows the man eating a red apple.
The visual transitions into a frame showing a folder titled "LANGUAGE LEARNING SOFTWARE", releasing a CD of Rosetta Stone. At the top-left of the screen, a numeral two is shown encircled. The CD passes toward an animated laptop, lagging behind the folder displayed on the previous screen. The visual transitions into a frame showcasing an animation of a collection of folders titled TOTALe. A bar code is shown at the bottom of the folder that writes, SPANISH (LATIN AMERICA) LEVEL one. On the top-left of the screen, a numeral five is shown encircled. The size of the animation showcasing the collection of folders is diminished from the center of the screen to get placed at the bottom-right part of the frame, preceded by a folder icon, which is further preceded by two CDs. The animation then shows the two CDs collected and put into the folder, which is further put into the collection folder. The visual then transitions and showcases a mobile screen consisting of several contents showing the images of a peer, an apple, two pencils, and a wallet with the greeting "Hola!" shown at the top left. The visual again transitions to show the text animation popping up several texts like, Bike, Boy, Dog, Immersed, one two three, and Block, each shown in different font sizes and styles. A mobile screen appears in the next frame showing an application of the Rosetta Stone.
Narrator: "Enter Matt Hulett, as President of Language at Rosetta Stone. Matt is the leader of the enterprise and consumer products divisions. It's his responsibility to create a vision and to motivate employees to not only embrace that vision but to achieve it with their skills and dedication. It's also part of a leader's job to make change if the company requires it."
Speaker: "It's very difficult for some companies to change their business model from an existing business model. So, Rosetta Stone got [really], really good at selling a thousand dollars CDs. Over time, software became less expensive and the form factor in which people were enjoying language learning moved from CDs to things like your smartphone. So, when I came in, I saw a company with multiple strategies not particularly doing them relatively well in any one area."
The video screen transitions to show the photograph of Matt Hulett whose introduction is given by the narrator in audio 3 with the background music in continuation. In the conference room, five participants, including Matt Hulett, engage in a lively discussion around a table. Additionally, a girl is virtually present via a television screen, actively participating in the conversation. One of the frames captures Matt Hulett actively engaged in the discussion. The visual transitions to a photograph of another vibrant discussion room, where seven members, including Matt Hulett, are deeply engrossed in a conversation. The visual fluidly transitions into a series of fast-paced frames, showcasing two girls placing colorful sticky notes on a wall-mounted board, creating an energetic and dynamic display. Once more, the visual transitions to Matt Hulett, who narrates details about his transformative journey to enhance the experience at Rosetta Stone, as previously mentioned in audio 2. While Hulett speaks, the screen seamlessly shifts to a captivating photograph showcasing the collection of CDs manufactured by Rosetta Stone. Subsequently, the screen seamlessly transitions to a video, offering a glimpse into a waiting room of an airport, with a focal point on a boy comfortably seated on a couch, engrossed in his phone. The boy interacts with the phone, and a tick mark appears on the photo playing in the left part of the screen, and four options are presented on the right part of the screen. The visual swiftly transitions into a captivating sequence of frames, capturing a person skilfully sketching different steps onto the outlines of various mobile phones depicted on a single sheet. Next, the scene shifts to a floor scattered with printed sheets and sticky notes, where three individuals collaborate to organize and arrange the designs. Finally, the focus returns to Hulett, who is continuing with his narration as previously mentioned in audio 2.
Narrator: "Matt has developed three steps that he follows when making a big change at a company. They are Heart and Math, Proving Out the Insight, and People."
Speaker: "When I think about businesses, I think about, "how do you enable heart and math?" The math piece, think of it as a business consultant coming in with a business plan and coming out with some kind of financial answer where you can win. That's all fine and good, but most people don't follow robots and so if you can build a mission, culture, and values that enable your employee base to be excited about what they are doing, then they can do amazing things, and I always like to think about dictating not what people do, but where we're going."
The visual shows a dynamic slide, presenting a mobile screen displaying the Rosetta Stone application. On the main screen, four book covers are prominently displayed from left to right. The warm greeting "HOLA!" is written at the top left, while an animation of a kingfisher captures our attention at the bottom left of the screen. The visual seamlessly transitions to a frame featuring a text animation that highlights the three pivotal steps leading to a significant transformation in a company mentioned by the narrator in audio 3. As Matt continues with his narration, the visual undergoes a captivating series of transformations. It showcases two individuals deeply engaged in a design discussion, utilizing a tablet and desktop screen. The scene then transitions to a gentleman gracefully walking across a walk bridge, followed by a frame featuring three gentlemen, two of whom exchange a warm handshake, presumably in an airport setting. The visual then shifts to two cheerful gentlemen from different linguistic backgrounds frequently taking selfies together before returning to Matt, who continues his narration. Subsequently, the frames reveal the turning pages of a book, offering a glimpse of chapter twelve point two "Dependency Parsing." Next, it portrays a girl immersed in reading and writing at a table filled with books, accompanied by texts visible in the background. The focus returns to Matt on the screen, and then it transitions to a screen testing a microphone. In the subsequent frame, it showcases a close-up shot of a sound mixer's hand professionally adjusting knobs, followed by a back view of two individuals engaged in a recording setup. Two zoomed-in frames showcase the amplitudes and frequencies of the sounds they manipulate. The visual returns to Matt, who seamlessly continues with his narration.
Narrator: "The second step in turning Rosetta Stone around was Proving Out the Insight."
Speaker: "What's your strategic advantage, what's different about your business versus anything else? So, when I looked at the business at Rosetta Stone, my hunch was, what it turned out to be is the brand. The brand has been around for over twenty-seven years, it's associated with high efficacy, a lot of customers around the world use it, that was really the unique truth and the unique competitive advantage that we really weren't taking advantage of, and so, when you find those things, then you figure out, ok, how do I provide amplification to it? And how do I actually strengthen it over time?"
The visual revisits the discussing room showcased in description 4, featuring seven individuals deeply engrossed in conversation, with Hulett among them. The camera shifts focus from one member to another, capturing their active involvement in the meeting. Afterward, the scene transitions back to an overview of the meeting room while Hulett's narration, accompanied by background music, continues in the background. As Hulett continues speaking, a sequence of frames rolls consecutively, unveiling compelling information about Rosetta Stone. The first frame displays the app store ratings and reviews offered to Rosetta Stone, showing an impressive rating of four point eight out of five from approximately seventy-nine thousand raters. The subsequent frame showcases a thumbnail featuring creatively styled text that reads, "The Proof is in the People" over Twenty-Five Years. The third frame presents a list of trusted organizations that have partnered with Rosetta Stone for twenty-five-plus years, highlighting iconic brands such as Fender, NASA, and Calvin Klein, accompanied by positive comments from Macworld, Tech Crunch, and CNN. As Hulett continues speaking in the background, a captivating text animation appears, presenting key phrases in an engaging sequence: "THE NEW, ROSETTA STONE" with its logo, "IS:" followed by the slide displaying "The Fastest Way to Get Talking in a New Language." The subsequent slide reintroduces the series of texts: "THE NEW, ROSETTA STONE" with its logo, complemented by a real-life picture of a girl and a text animation: "Real-Life, Native, Speaking, Tutors." The visual then returns to Hulett, who seamlessly continues with his narration.
Narrator: "Matt and the team at Rosetta Stone had to update the product to fit today's consumers, who are accustomed to doing everything online or on their phone."
Speaker: "It was like the game of Clue. We had all these facts and we were trying to figure out how to uncover those facts and come up with a plan and so a couple of facts were interesting. One is, we had this phenomenal brand, ninety-seven percent awareness in the United States. However, fact one, none of those people knew we had a digital product. Fact two is, we had this great digital product, but it wasn't really set up to be a digital business yet. So, on the brand piece, we started hiring different team members that had brand experience, and started to test into the brand, and thing about how to position the product for a broader base of customers, which was something that we weren't doing. On the product side, we actually started investing in digital native technology that made that smartphone experience [really] really fun and unique to the phone. For example, we have a product feature called "Seek and Speak" that uses the phone to collect different images along your learning journey so it personalizes the conversation."
The visual takes us on an immersive journey, starting with Hulett engaged in a meeting room, followed by focused shots of three members. Transitioning seamlessly, we witness a girl sitting on a garden bench, chatting on her tablet with another girl using earphones, all while the narrator speaks in the background alongside soothing music. As Hulett speaks, the visual shows a woman working at her workstation, then a man with headphones engaged in conversation, and another man deep in discussion. The visual then transitions to a snapshot highlighting the features of the language learning course, followed by showcasing Rosetta Stone's website with subscription plans in a row representing a three-month subscription plan of eleven point nine nine dollars per month, a six-month subscription plan of ten point nine nine dollars per month, twelve-month subscription plan of nine point nine nine dollars per month, and the best value subscription plan of twenty-four month with a cost of six point nine nine dollars per month. The visual transitions to a snapshot of learning tools' details. All this while Hulett's narration persists, accompanied by the same background music.
The visual returns to Hulett, and as he continues his speech, the visual presents an interactive website display with Sign in, Chat options, and menu choices such as Languages and pricing, for businesses, schools, support, and blogs, along with a cart and search icon. Slides depicting Mobility online or off, and audio companion with seek and speak functionality complement the narration. Further, four mobile phones appear, showcasing diverse content, including Challenge overview, Object recognition, Object capture, and Conversion.
The visual transitions to a scene of a small girl delighting in flower and leaf showers beneath a tree in the garden. A focused bottom view captures her joy holding a leaf and a text animation reads "Leaf". We then witness the wide view of the same garden in the next slide with a text animation spelling "Tree".
Narrator: "Matt's third turnaround step is People. Rather than bringing in his own people right away, Matt prefers to spend five or six months talking with current employees and listening to their ideas. I think what businesses get wrong first is they, especially when you are trying to turn around a business, they assume that everyone that was in the business prior to their arrival wasn't thinking about things correctly, and I typically find that's not true. I just like to listen. I like to listen to what people are doing, I like to listen about their motivations and some of their ideas. For example, I just mentioned the Seek and Speak feature. That feature didn't come from some executive, it didn't come from myself, it actually came from one of our developers."
As the narrator speaks about the third step, the visual shows a series of engaging scenes witnessing Matt deeply engaged in a productive discussion with an employee, who is diligently using a laptop, all accompanied by the background music. The screen smoothly transitions back to Matt as he commences his narration, maintaining the same captivating background music.
The visual then takes back to the conference room depicted in description 4, where five individuals, including Matt, are seated. A virtual presence of a girl appears on a screen placed on the wall. The camera focuses on one of the members in a frame, and seamlessly shifts to Matt in the subsequent frame, all while his voice and the background music continue in harmony. The visual returns to the frame to showcase Matt who seamlessly continues with his narration.
Narrator: "By implementing and believing in his three steps for making change, Matt Hulett has taken Rosetta Stone from the twentieth century to the twenty-first century, and with a growth in revenue since he started."
Speaker: "So, I think we're moving from a world where leadership was about growth at all costs, and focused on the bottom line, to a much more blended approach of leadership is taking account not only of the fiscal bottom line, but also the social impact, and employees, and I think that's a healthier place where we're trending towards. We're not all the way there yet, but very different than thirty years ago."
While the narrator speaks, the visual displays an interactive view of Matt in a workstation accompanied by a few employees, supported by the continuing background music. Alongside this scene, a captivating text animation highlights the key phrases in this order: "Heart and Math," "Proving out the insight," and "People." The moment Matt begins speaking, the visual transitions to focus solely on him, accompanied by a piece of engaging background music, to end the video on a positive note.
Copyright information for each image in the video: Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
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Described transcript ©2023 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.
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