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Bright and Shiny Future Predicted for Digital!
Q: What's wrong with this picture?
A: The people are having a conversation - not wearing their AR-glasses or texting |
Contrary to what you might have read in a month's-old moldy magazine, Digital is not dead!
Digital will always dominate - it's the channel of the future here today!. Digital breaks through and connects with consumers more directly – and more intimately than any Print tactic can. I enjoy Digital assignments for the nearly limitless creative possibilities – and for the testing opportunities that a digital tactic offers. But sometimes an In-Store Display can influence the shopper more than the digital coupon that brought them there in the first place. Still, Digital rules. d i g i t a l >
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website development
In January of 2000, I started working at Modem Media - a agency that pioneered "Digital Marketing". I was hired to work on Banner Ads and emails as needed - but my major focus was on a total, ground-up redesign of the Philips Global Website.
My approach to digital - then as now - is to treat a "Digital" assignment like any other tactic. Seek synergy/alignment across all channels and employ as many channels as practically possible, use every medium to it's best advantage.
- To start, a strong, insightful brief is the foundation for creative executions that connect
- The user experience is paramount
- Make it easy for customers to find what they seek
- The primary goal is strengthening customer relationships - the long-term Consumer-Brand-Bond is more important than a sale.
- Get Zen about it - "Be One With the Consumer," Give them what they hadn't realized they wanted
- Anticipate User needs and deliver beyond their expectations
My approach to digital - then as now - is to treat a "Digital" assignment like any other tactic. Seek synergy/alignment across all channels and employ as many channels as practically possible, use every medium to it's best advantage.
- To start, a strong, insightful brief is the foundation for creative executions that connect
- The user experience is paramount
- Make it easy for customers to find what they seek
- The primary goal is strengthening customer relationships - the long-term Consumer-Brand-Bond is more important than a sale.
- Get Zen about it - "Be One With the Consumer," Give them what they hadn't realized they wanted
- Anticipate User needs and deliver beyond their expectations
The Royal Philips Project
This was a major undertaking - a total, ground-up makeover, redesign the global website for the Dutch electronics giant, Royal Philips. A huge and complex project that took a large team over a year to complete, from initial brief to the site going live.
As Senior Copywriter on the team, I developed the concept for the "Branding Pages" – using short stories to convey the various brand qualities and draw the reader in. Quick snapshots, they captured a moment of consumer interaction with the product. Written in the first person to make them feel more relatable, these stories expressed each of the Sub-Brands' qualities, and spoke to the specific target audience in an engaging manner.
The client specifically requested a page-level that was purely Branding focused - with zero informational content, just emotional. Each Sub-Brand had a specific target markets, and these pages had to convey the distinct brand personalities in ways that would be relevant to each of the consumer audiences. We needed to weave this seamlessly into the customer experience. These micro-stories were fun to write, less dry than product details.
As Senior Copywriter on the team, I developed the concept for the "Branding Pages" – using short stories to convey the various brand qualities and draw the reader in. Quick snapshots, they captured a moment of consumer interaction with the product. Written in the first person to make them feel more relatable, these stories expressed each of the Sub-Brands' qualities, and spoke to the specific target audience in an engaging manner.
The client specifically requested a page-level that was purely Branding focused - with zero informational content, just emotional. Each Sub-Brand had a specific target markets, and these pages had to convey the distinct brand personalities in ways that would be relevant to each of the consumer audiences. We needed to weave this seamlessly into the customer experience. These micro-stories were fun to write, less dry than product details.
Initially, I helped develop the website structure. I was the major contributor to the copydeck, writing most of the Branding stories for the website - as well as the content for most of the rest of the site. I developed the category names, wrote many of the product detail pages, and the FAQ both for the site and for the products. In addition, I helped develop the website structure and was responsible for maintaining the Master Copydeck throughout the project. After the project went live, I wrote the Style Guide that the other countries used to customize the site for their regions.
The layout had to be flexible to accommodate different product availability in different countries. The UX was developed in tandem with the content. With so many products and such a vast range of them, some levels were intended to help consumers orient themselves within the website. Our overriding goal was it had to be simple for consumers to find what they were looking for, in as few clicks as possible.
The layout had to be flexible to accommodate different product availability in different countries. The UX was developed in tandem with the content. With so many products and such a vast range of them, some levels were intended to help consumers orient themselves within the website. Our overriding goal was it had to be simple for consumers to find what they were looking for, in as few clicks as possible.
GM Owner's Website
My GMLink, was a site designed specifically around the user and intended for complete customer service and all owner-related interaction for people who own GM vehicles, This was another large project but the opposite approach from Philips - more "practical efficiency" than "touchy-feely." But also involving many collaborative co-workers and many pages and levels, with a lot of rich functionality. Despite it’s size and many features it still had to be easy to navigate and use. We also had to consider how a page was branded when the user was at an “upper GM level” as well as how the branding changed to reflect the various sub-brands as the user drilled down.
On this project I was involved in the strategy and planning of the site’s overall content and functionality as well as all of the copy. Here, the copy isn’t so much “creative” as “functional and informative”. Overall the project was very creative and I enjoyed working on it quite a bit.
Owners of GM vehicles register their cars and trucks on the site - and can customize their experience, choose a vehicle picture or upload their own and even give their vehicle a nickname (which research showed many people do).
Once registered, users can access their maintenance schedule and service history (and synchronize this information with their devices). They can also access warranties, contracts, FAQs, repair and maintenance tips, Mr. Goodwrench videos, dealer and service locators and more. They can also receive reminders for upcoming service when they visit the site, and by e-mail as well if they choose.
Owners of GM vehicles register their cars and trucks on the site - and can customize their experience, choose a vehicle picture or upload their own and even give their vehicle a nickname (which research showed many people do).
Once registered, users can access their maintenance schedule and service history (and synchronize this information with their devices). They can also access warranties, contracts, FAQs, repair and maintenance tips, Mr. Goodwrench videos, dealer and service locators and more. They can also receive reminders for upcoming service when they visit the site, and by e-mail as well if they choose.
microsites
BFGoodrich - A minisite for the BFGoodrich “Mud-Terrain T/A” sub-brand, a line of aggressive off-road tires.
This on-line brochure maintained synergy with existing print work but still allowed room for creativity.
This on-line brochure maintained synergy with existing print work but still allowed room for creativity.
web content
Gevalia
Gevalia
agile team
Citibank
Working for Sapient/Razorfish on a Mckinsey program, while embedded on Agile Team at Citicorp Headquarters in Long Island City. Tasked with Retail Checking, smooth out all wrinkles in acquisition funnel from "Open an Account" to actual funding. SapientRazorfish
Citibank
Working for Sapient/Razorfish on a Mckinsey program, while embedded on Agile Team at Citicorp Headquarters in Long Island City. Tasked with Retail Checking, smooth out all wrinkles in acquisition funnel from "Open an Account" to actual funding. SapientRazorfish
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Banner Ads for IBM Email Newsletter, Traveler's Insurance
email blog content
Havens of Manhattan was an informational website about residential architecture in NYC," and also a marketing effort designed to build business for a Realtor. I wrote reviews for buildings
56 Leonard
Even in a city already loaded with architecturally significant structures, 56 Leonard is destined to be a major standout. Conceived as "houses stacked in the sky," this daring and dramatic condo located at the corner of Church Street looks as though someone has piled numerous studies of Phillip Johnson’s “Glass Houses” willy-nilly to create a tall tower. Other buildings may play with this off-kilter look, but none do so to the height of 800 plus feet, or take it to such an extreme.
Even in a city already loaded with architecturally significant structures, 56 Leonard is destined to be a major standout. Conceived as "houses stacked in the sky," this daring and dramatic condo located at the corner of Church Street looks as though someone has piled numerous studies of Phillip Johnson’s “Glass Houses” willy-nilly to create a tall tower. Other buildings may play with this off-kilter look, but none do so to the height of 800 plus feet, or take it to such an extreme.
Designed by the inventive Swiss architects, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, this building is polarizing. Some object to the height in the neighborhood, others, to the design itself. However most seem to delight in this sublime confection. Perhaps inevitably, many articles about 56 Leonard make reference to Jenga. While not exactly unwarranted, that belies the seductive and dynamic end result. Every asymmetrical floor has a different profile with cantilevered overhangs, some extending as far as 20 feet.
Every unit also boasts its own private outdoor space - with at least one and sometimes as many as 3 decks jutting out over the cityscape.
The terraces are accessed via dramatic glass doors up to 12 feet high and feature travertine pavers, a frameless glass balustrade and custom handrails designed by H&dM. |
This is not a building for those who suffer from vertigo. The exterior is clad in various types of glass, some with reflective coating, some transparent, some opaque. The end result is a building that seems to be in constant motion and will change appearance as light plays across it over the course of the day.
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A head-turner even at ground level, this building features a large stainless steel sculpture created specifically for the building by the internationally renowned British artist Anish Kapoor. An amorphous “blob” polished to a reflective, mirror-like finish that is tucked under the corner of the building near the entrance. Though made of metal, the sculpture seems almost delicate - like a balloon that’s being squashed by the massive weight of the building it supports. It’s an arresting work of art available to anybody who cares to walk by. |
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The entrance is on Leonard, next to a lush vertical “garden wall.” Inside, the 1,600 square foot lobby is two stories high with polished black granite walls and reception desks and visitor seating designed by Herzog & de Meuron. There is a 24-hour doorman and concierge, a mail and package room plus a refrigerated storage room for grocery deliveries. 56 Leonard has been designed with five distinct sections with the ground-floor lobby first. The "townhouse" units that go from the second up to the eighth floor. Tower residences go from the 11th floor to the 47th and are accessed by private elevator. The penthouse units occupy the top 10 floors and have large terraces - as much as 1,700 square feet. |
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The ninth and tenth floors contain private amenity spaces for use by residents: a library lounge, an Indoor/outdoor theater, the “Tribeca Tot Room,” a catering kitchen and dining salon, a conference center, a fitness center and yoga studio, a treatment room, a steam room and sauna. And last but not least, a “Sky Estuary” with a hot tub, 75-foot infinity-edge lap pool, and a landscaped outdoor sundeck that cantilevers 20 feet out from the building.
You aren’t buying an apartment so much as a work of art. Each apartment has a unique floor plan with lots of open space and good flow. They range in size from 1,430 up to 6,380 square feet and have ceiling heights of 11 or 12 feet.
Interiors feature a restrained neutral palette with light oak & travertine floors, “champagne” colored window mullions, Thassos marble and polished metals. The custom designed floor-to-ceiling fireplace hearths are sculpted steel finished in high-gloss white enamel.
The kitchens are sleek and streamlined with all appliances fully integrated and hidden behind doors. Cabinets are “satin-etched” glass; countertops are white Corian with integrated sinks and KWC chrome faucets. There are also prep/dining islands (either “pill-shaped” or “piano-shaped”) with honed black granite tops and cabinets finished in high-gloss black lacquer.
Appliances are all top of the line; 36” or 42” cook tops, range hood, convections ovens, and dishwashers by Miele, refrigerators and wine coolers by Sub-Zero and Sharp microwaves. Some units also have Miele coffee systems. Bathrooms are equally luxurious and sophisticated with large soaking tubs either custom designed by H&dM or by Zuma, fixtures designed by H&dM and Duravit Stark, marble floors (with radiant heat) and marble mosaic walls.
The apartments have two to five bedrooms and prices range from between $3.5 million up to $33 million. This might sound rather dear, but when you consider the pedigree of the building, the quality of the materials and the fact that H&dM have custom designed nearly every aspect of the building down to the shower and lighting fixtures, it isn’t altogether out of line.
Interiors feature a restrained neutral palette with light oak & travertine floors, “champagne” colored window mullions, Thassos marble and polished metals. The custom designed floor-to-ceiling fireplace hearths are sculpted steel finished in high-gloss white enamel.
The kitchens are sleek and streamlined with all appliances fully integrated and hidden behind doors. Cabinets are “satin-etched” glass; countertops are white Corian with integrated sinks and KWC chrome faucets. There are also prep/dining islands (either “pill-shaped” or “piano-shaped”) with honed black granite tops and cabinets finished in high-gloss black lacquer.
Appliances are all top of the line; 36” or 42” cook tops, range hood, convections ovens, and dishwashers by Miele, refrigerators and wine coolers by Sub-Zero and Sharp microwaves. Some units also have Miele coffee systems. Bathrooms are equally luxurious and sophisticated with large soaking tubs either custom designed by H&dM or by Zuma, fixtures designed by H&dM and Duravit Stark, marble floors (with radiant heat) and marble mosaic walls.
The apartments have two to five bedrooms and prices range from between $3.5 million up to $33 million. This might sound rather dear, but when you consider the pedigree of the building, the quality of the materials and the fact that H&dM have custom designed nearly every aspect of the building down to the shower and lighting fixtures, it isn’t altogether out of line.