Client

da Costa Talent Management

Period

04.2009 – 08.2009

Client Bio

The leading Canadian talent management agency for ‘triple-threat’ talent.

Objective

To further brand themselves via a successful launch online as the premiere triple threat talent agency in Toronto. To make it easier for industry clients to quickly peruse their many talented performers, to help save time and money with their representations and to better serve their agency client’s interests.

Noteworthy

Several years earlier Thirst had rebranded da Costa Talent and because of this we had a solid starting point for the web site. This talent agency has evolved into a mature agency and it needed to have a strong forum for its industry clients to peruse its agency clients (talent). When completed, notices of the launch were sent to every casting director in Canada, LA and NYC, every theatre and commercial production house in Canada and every industry contact that da Costa Talent had made in the past 10 years.

Feedback

I’ve received overwhelming praise on the website from both my clients and the industry just one day after launching. There is a clear consensus that the sites’ layout is simple to navigate and at the same time interesting and unique in comparison to other competing agencies. This is going to be a great tool to both showcase my clients and elevate our status in the industry. I could not of achieved this important milestone without your guidance and expertise.

Vendor

Thirst

Client

Cluster Call Planning (CCP)

Period

2002 – 2005

Client Bio

In 2002 Pfizer merged with Pharmacia to become the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.

Personal History

This story reads like a tale of David and Goliath. Thirst was asked to quote on this project but we were up against several large well-known companies but we knew why were asked to bid and we were glad we did. Because of internal restructuring, Pfizer needed help building this sales application from the ground up, they did not want to use any of their previous tools and thought that the right approach would be a fresh one. Thirst worked with various third-parties, large and small, to create this application that was basically a moving target because of the need for new functionality that crept into the scope on a weekly basis. This was an open source project based on the LAMP standard applications that worked within the confines of proprietary software. As a special point of interest the sales tool was an ‘AJAX’ application before AJAX was even defined or coined.

Objective

In response to the merger, Pfizer developed the CCP methodology to bring together its sales analytics and valuable first hand sales force knowledge. Pfizer turned to Thirst to transform this abstract methodology into a powerful sales targeting application for use by its 45,000 strong US sales force.

Noteworthy

An over 11% upsurge in sales directly resulted from this new application. CCP evolved from a rapid prototyping development process conducted over a 9 month period with four representative sales force teams. CCP was built using an open source toolset including Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL, PHP, AJAX and DHTML. CCP included a local data store that was automatically synchronized with targeting data from fellow teammates and Pfizer analytics. In 2005, Thirst’s CCP application was merged into Pfizer’s S3 flagship sales platform.

Vendor

Thirst

Client

EngageMe

Period

2006 – Present

Client Bio

Startup internet venture.

Personal History

This project was slowly evolved during countless brainstorming sessions on how to fix the inaccurate and problematic tracking of user surfing patterns that companies use now-a-days to dictate a user’s online interests. Most of you can probably recognize the issues everyone faces with examples of your own. For myself it was the fact that many companies were tracking my movements across the internet and defining me incorrectly on very narrow terms, and one day it culminated frustratingly on Amazon where I was served up an offer for yet another children’s book just because I bought one for my niece over one year earlier. For my business partner it was the fact that Google kept returning billions of results on such a wide array of topics because they feel that giving you everything is what you deserve but not necessarily what you really wanted.

Keyword advertising had just taken off and Google was not yet the beast it is today. Other search engines were trying to radically change the direction of what search meant and delivered but unfortunately the simple one page of ten results that Google put out in a couple of micro seconds seemed to gain popularity too fast for other companies to challenge. I would bet that now-a-days, since our connections are generally much faster, that what has seemingly become Google’s trademark results would be drastically better.

So how do you make them better? I would argue the answer is to know and understand the user’s interests better and to deliver information that is skewed towards those interests. But to do this you would have to ask the user about themselves and behave honestly and track them across the web. You would also have to make sure that you did not take in any ‘personally identifiable information’ as that isn’t a trustworthy action.

This is what EngageMe intends to be: open, honest and accurate.

Objective

To create a proof of concept for an interest profile toolset using open source tools (LAMP) based on an AJAX model. EngageMe enables a user-centric profile ownership model that leverages non-personally identifiable information (PII) for security reasons and fast adoption and interoperability with emerging open profile standards.

Noteworthy

An interest taxonomy was developed with over 700k+ interests. A bookmark analyzer allows users to create an initial profile that can then be shared across social networks. Advertisers using EngageMe can target users based on their interests rather than tracking.

Vendor

Thirst for EngageMe

Client

Morbid Outlook

Period

08.2001 – 11.2001

Client Bio

The premier Gothic lifestyle online magazine portal.

Personal History

There are markets everywhere. This project was for a friend who decided that she wanted a more polished look for her e-zine that was easier to maintain. As a side note, this magazine is still hand coded and would do much better if moved to a CMS.

Objective

To increase the number of viewers online, to enhance and support greater advertising revenue potential and to expand the base viewing audience.

Noteworthy

Thirst completely overhauled Morbid Outlook’s online experience. The new site has easy access to much more content. The levels of editorial are supported within a clear navigational structure and all pages are enhanced by leveraging the site’s personalities and artists. Only a month after the redesign, the hits doubled, the average length of visit increased over 60% and the number of pages viewed per visit more than doubled. Morbid Outlook now has an easily scaleable template framework to facilitate its strong site growth.

Vendor

Thirst

Client

Sakonnet

Period

07.2001 – 10.2001

Client Bio

Sakonnet Technology provides trading and risk management software and services to companies in the global energy markets.

Personal History

I met a wonderful and slightly kooky friend there by the name of Thurstan Bannister. He was great to work with and had more personal energy than me on my best day. I have to repeat myself here, ‘when your client is upbeat, your project is easier to accomplish and better as a result.’

Objective

To bolster the online presence of Sakonnet, to increase the interest in their software and services, and to enable potential clients to peruse a future buying decision based on the information within.

Noteworthy

Thirst extended the brand online. The new information and organization within the site was greatly enhanced, and shortly before its launch a Director of Product Strategy was hired to look after all marketing within the company. Thirst leveraged the employees and their commitment to their company to promote their friendly, cooperative and efficient customer service. This site is fully modular and scaleable, the template framework provided an easy way for a small company to facilitate realistic site growth and easy manageability.

Vendor

Thirst

Client

Rogers

Period

02.1998 – 07.1998

Client Bio

Canada’s largest media company; provides cable television, wireless communications, print, and radio to over 50 million customers.

Personal History

Coming home was fun, asking me to do this project was rhetorical. At this time Rogers had not made a concerted effort to go online as a singular brand. Efforts before this relied on the their various departments wants and expertise. IAB took it all online. And I mean we really took it online – the whole site (thousands of pages) was hand coded by myself and Jonathan Corum. A collective applause for CMS software please.
I have two favourite stories for this project. One: I met and made a very good (and highly talented) friend of mine, Jonathan Corum, and two: while on one of the top floors of the Scotia Bank tower one of my American co-workers peered outside the window and while looking at the CN Tower asked me if it was Toronto’s version of the ‘Space Needle’.

Objective

To re-brand, integrate and redefine Rogers’ future direction.

Noteworthy

Designed a coherent online graphic identity. Enhanced sales and customer service online, thus saving millions of dollars. Unified and strengthened Rogers’ online presence to solidify its position as Canada’s digital leader. Coordinated internal divisions and multiple vendors to keep original goals on target.

Vendor

Hired by IAB (Roger Black)

Client

IBM Intranet

Period

06.1998 – 10.1998

Client Bio

IBM is the world’s largest information technology company, as well as the world’s largest business and technology services provider and the world’s largest IT financier.

Personal History

I had a wonderful time working on this project with Maria Arbusto (who is now Director, Brand Experience at IBM). It is rare that the client with whom you work is of the exact same understanding, but when this happens it makes the project extremely enjoyable. I wish I would have worked on more projects with Maria.

Objective

To redesign areas of IBM’s w3 Corporate Intranet, transforming it into a tool that IBM employees would use on a daily basis.

Noteworthy

Extended the reach of the mobile employees at IBM. Encouraged a sense of community and strengthened the employees’ loyalty and commitment. Empowered IBM’s mobile professionals with an easily navigable tool that retrieves information in a timely manner from the Americas Sales and Distribution Site.

Vendor

Hired by IAB (Roger Black)

Client

Gateway

Period

05.1998 – 02.1999

Client Bio

Fortune 500 company; one of the top tier computer manufacturers founded in 1985. Gateway is a technology and direct-marketing company that uses its call centers, Web site and sales force to build direct customer relationships. It has been transformed from a leading PC company into a full-service technology provider, that now includes a line of Gateway-branded products such as thin TVs, digital cameras, camcorders and systems and networking products.

Personal History

Gateway was another very large client for IAB and as the Creative Director I would spend a great deal of time with them, whether in New York or San Diego. I can remember many sleepless nights at their headquarters in San Diego working with their Creative Director until three or four in the morning brainstorming about new projects and technologies to help improve Gateway’s position amongst the top computer brands. (I remember this well because late at night the coyotes would howl for hours at a time.) For many of these projects I would take a team of five or so people with me from New York to help with the workload, sometimes working side-by-side with a massive team from Accenture.

It is because of this I learned to deal with third parties (Accenture in this case) that were not as nimble as I needed them to be. This was good practise because as it turned out there were plenty of other big consulting firms to manage in my future.

Objective

Development of back end infrastructure and consumer communication efforts to reach more people efficiently. The largest project, ‘One and Done’ was created to provide an efficient and cost-effective method for handling both their consumer and business sales.

Noteworthy

Online promotions; client-side business portals; kiosks; branded mini-sites for various product lines; technical support mini-site; presentation demo to showcase Gateway’s position as a direct marketing company; 1999’s ‘Who Are You’ online campaign; telesales internal site; computer configurator database and interface; and several ‘Jump Pages’.

The ‘One and Done’ project allowed Gateway to take orders via Gateway telesales, Gateway Country employees or directly by the customer via the web. One and Done also provided telesales and web ordering experiences that enhanced Gateway’s relationship with the customer. The order process included the following: personalized site experience, managed customer information, product marketing, a product shop, placement of orders, review of orders, order management (telesales only) and reporting (internal only).

Vendor

Hired by IAB (Roger Black)

Client

Univision

Period

05.1999 – 07.2000

Client Bio

The largest and most influential Hispanic television media company in the United States.

Personal History

This was a biggie. Univision was a very important client and spent a lot of money to put itself online. Univision hired IBM for its back end, teamed with IAB for its front end design and editorial leadership and the Gryphon Group for acting as the interim CTO and as an ambassador for technology decisions. Univision also partnered with a major hispanic sales organization to power its store front for their shopping channel. There were many players all trying to work together to deliver a great experience for Univision’s dedicated viewers. Although I can remember this being a struggle at times, the final product was very good and really delivered a distinctive, very hispanic brand online. I also formed a great friendship from this venture with my future business partner Michael Nicklas.It is unfortunate that Univision did not keep this design. Their present design is nondescript and lacks a visual identity that resonates with their brand.

Objective

An online venture to extend the Univision brand to the web and initiate the convergence of television and the Internet.

Noteworthy

A branding umbrella approach was taken for Univision. The original television logo was extended to include the “.com” and the channels within were represented as sub-brands. To extend their content online, the Univision stars were leveraged to create a unique and targeted online family, an integrated e-commerce experience was created, a scaleable template framework was developed to facilitate realistic site growth and easy manageability and lastly a comprehensive staffing and workflow plan was provided. Univision rose to #1 within six months after this launch.

Vendor

Hired by IAB (Roger Black)

Client

IBM

Period

1999

Client Bio

IBM is the world’s largest information technology company, as well as the world’s largest business and technology services provider and the world’s largest IT financier.

Objective

Deploy an Intranet application for IBM’s 100,000-plus technologists. Thirst designed and developed a dynamically published website which integrated IBM’s proprietary Profile Server, the IBM company directory server, Blue Pages, and data served from Lotus Domino Notes.

Noteworthy

Deploy an Intranet application for IBM’s 100,000-plus technologists. Thirst designed and developed a dynamically published website which integrated IBM’s proprietary Profile Server, the IBM company directory server, Blue Pages, and data served from Lotus Domino Notes.
Noteworthy | Thirst developed a set of custom Java servlets which accept user queries, issued searches against relevant IBM systems and then created dynamic pages for IBM employee’s searching for technical resources within IBM.

Vendor

Thirst