AMC’s uber-successful zombie-apocalypse series, “The Walking Dead,” returns for the second half of its 4th season this Sunday night at 9/8c. If you’re a fan of the #1 show on TV, then you should know Rachel Leventhal, the WYSK behind The Walking Dead: Dead Yourself camera app that has helped transform 30 million real people (and their pets) into zombies… the “walkers” they so love to watch, but would hate to be eaten by.
Rachel is the founder of and one of the creative masterminds behind Kam.io, a digital publishing platform she’s been developing over the last two years for a constantly growing number of interactive camera apps that let people transform their photos from average to FREAKIN’ AWESOME with the help of imaginative filters, special effects, settings, and themes.
We’re talking the kind of instant, effortless, wow-factor photo magic that just screams for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, SMS, email, etc.
To date, her company’s biggest hit is The Walking Dead: Dead Yourself app. Using their Kam.io publishing system, Rachel and her team developed the app specifically for AMC, utilizing the assets of “The Walking Dead” to transform users into photo-realistic zombies or “walkers” as they are called on the show (a.k.a. “biters” if you were in the Governor’s camp).
She told WYSK, “Because it’s a mobile app, fans of the show use it everywhere: at home, at the office, on dates, at sports games, on the bus home from school, at their weddings, on their pets… over 30 million pictures have been created to date.” Her picture is one of those 30 million… that’s Rachel as herself and her zombie alter-ego in the lead image above.
While the end results of any of Kam.io’s super cool camera apps are all fun and games for us, the creative process the team goes through to create these hybrids of software and visual application is multifaceted. It starts with a vision of what kind of photo they want to help users produce. Then they expand that vision to include a variety of options that the app will provide during the users’ creative experience. A palette of options lets the user navigate through and make creative choices.
Of their process, Rachel says, “Empowering users to be creative is essential to the next generation of digital marketing and that the explosion of user posted photos across all digital platforms is the biggest canvas for that creative urge.”
We can’t think of a better way to get ready for “The Walking Dead” premiere this Sunday than to… Dead Yourself (they’ve added new zombie parts to the app for season 4).
Download The Walking Dead: Dead Yourself app for iOS here or Android here. It’s FREE!
Look… our co-founder Jen, who is a fan of the show, had Rachel zombie-fy her when they met last month at the Women Entrepreneurs (WE) Festival. So scary… in a really cool way!
