Over the summer, a small team of Engauge employees pulled off an extraordinary feat: in 6 weeks we produced a site for a major client, from scratch, that receives approximately 2.5 million page views per month. At the outset, we were in an uncomfortable position for any project team: we had a tight deadline, no functional requirements, no visual/creative program established, and not much of an idea how the new site should behave. There was only one way we could possibly produce a quality product in such a short amount of time: we would all start from zero and work in parallel, we would produce flexible assets and we would react to each other’s work as we progressed.
As Team Lead for the production effort, I felt obligated to identify a process that would allow team members from far-flung disciplines like graphic design, behavioral research, and programming to work in parallel without leading to chaos and disruption. We borrowed heavily from the Agile software development process and came up with a strategy that we’ve coined “Interdisciplinary Agile.”
The tenants of the Agile philosophy are succinctly described (in under 70 words) in the Agile Manifesto. The success of an Agile project hinges on the quality of communication between internal production team members and between the production team and the client.
The most fundamental piece of our strategy was the 15-minute daily “standup” meeting. Every day the client services team would get together with anyone who was currently producing assets for the website (i.e. wireframes, user survey results, creative comps, or code) and each person answered three questions:
What did you do yesterday?
What are you doing today?
What roadblocks are preventing you from accomplishing your task?
Often, standups would precipitate small, quick break-out meetings between team members to address more complex issues.
Another important focus of our strategy involved building our deliverables within two-week “sprints.” The idea is to define tasks in such a way that after two or three weeks, you’ve produced something you can demonstrate (and it doesn’t always have to be pretty). We produced functioning database access code (demonstrated via an incomplete first-draft user interface) in the first two-week sprint and finalized the user interface in the following two-week sprint. After the first four weeks, we had essentially completed the site; however, we provided another two week “client acceptance” period where we accommodated client requests for changes.
As a team, we benefited greatly from working concurrently; we managed ourselves effectively and took ownership of the work we had to do. Great ideas that came out of the flow of the project could be incorporated into the site in short-order and everyone had an opportunity to provide new insight to the project and help guide our progress towards the final goal.
My final task at Engauge was to look back on my 8-week summer internship and reflect through a blog (I know, big shocker, blogging is so rare for this company ). Though I learned A LOT this summer, I decided to create a top 5 list that describes my time spent interning in the Behavioral Research Department (aka, the BRD).
1. What are you doing on Facebook? I’m working! Always choose an internship where Facebook research is encouraged.
2. When the BRD wants to celebrate, they’re going to do it right. They decorated my cube with Clemson tiger prints! (Go Tigers!)
3. Social Networks and Virtual Worlds: stop trying to avoid them and just give in. (Read my blog if you need any justification )
4. If you learn how to use a video camera, you will be tasked with fun “Researcher on the Street” assignments. But don’t bring the camera to the Marta station or the Marta police will come after you. Trust me!
5. Interning in the BRD will give you multiple personalities.
On a slightly more serious note, after completing this internship, I am now even more thankful that I have a major in Psychology and a minor in Business Administration. I now know that I want to pursue a career in Behavioral Research. What company wouldn’t want a team of psychologists? We’ll pick the consumers’ brains, study their habits, and we can even analyze our own data!
I would like to thank everyone on the BR team. Y’all helped me learn so much more this summer than I could ever imagine learning in a class. Preparing documents + Creating surveys + conducting user experience testing = an amazing learning experience. Thanks for helping release my inner geek.
So a majority of agency execs are now predicting that online advertising could pass traditional advertising within the next five years. Now, I was at a traditional media agency for my entire career before coming to the interactive segment in early ‘07. My main reason for doing so followed the same sentiments that outlines the tone of the article - I felt that traditional wasn’t doing enough to prepare for the storm.
For years, traditional media has been looking at interactive the same way I look at dachshunds - feisty but with no realistic fear of being overpowered by one. So what happenes when a corporate media powerhouse actually does start to feel threatened? First they … hey, wait; you’re not even paying attention to me are you? You’re still thinking about whether or not you’ve ever seen a feisty dachshund, huh? Well I’m here to tell you that I’ve never met a dachshund that didn’t want to tear out my larynx, but was physically/comically limited in doing so … so trust me, they’re just waiting for their chance.
The Dachshund: Nature’s Waddling Assassin.
Now back to my point. What happens when a corporate media powerhouse starts to feel threatened? They go out, buy an interactive shop, install a puppet regime, and then think they can run it the same way as a traditional agency. Unfortunately, they’re going to find that without a proper plan to their single-stream approach of buying and placing media, they will be flooded by multiple streams of constantly-evolving ways to reach the consumer.
Yet they still give an eye roll and a pat on the head to cute little interactive. “Here you go Online Media, take this nickel down to Woolworth’s and buy yourself a big ol’ Charleston Chew so the big boys can talk about real work stuff for a while.” Heck, in my kool-aid drinking days I even tongue-in-cheekly referred to interactive media as a “pop craze” that was too unpolished to be a threat for years.
However, the future is now coming faster than anyone expected and it’s just a matter of time before interactive drives the media landscape. So maybe I’ll just hang my hat here for a while. Well, at least until the inevitable article in 2027 that reads, “New study predicts brainchip advertising to surpass online within decade.” That’s if the Dachshunds don’t rise against us first.
As many Engaugers are aware, here in the Behavioral Research Department we have been up to our ears in research work lately. Early mornings, late evenings, lots of coffee, approaching deadlines, and no end of billable hours in sight. All this Discovery has sort of forced our Behavioral Research Manager, Josh, to have to crack the whip to the BR ladies. In fact, the amount of research to be done had reached the point where the team had even discussed working over the holiday weekend (working on Monday?!?!).
Not surprisingly, this idea was met with despair and objection as we all watched our fantasies of beaches, road trips, and barbecues vanish. So today, when Josh announced to the BR Team that we had successfully completed all of the tasks, projects and assignments in time for our client deadlines, the Behavioral Research team let our hair down. Josh told us that we could have our extra day over the weekend, and instructed us not to even think about online behavioral research over the holiday. We have always appreciated and celebrated Josh’s methods for project allocation and his mad skills for facilitating task completion by deadlines, but today we girls got to celebrate a three-day weekend. Okay, so we did more than celebrate … it turns out that behavioral researchers know how to get down (Sayonara Josh!).
To check us out as we celebrate, click on the image below:
The Goizueta Business School of Emory University hosted a Spring 2008 Entrepreneurial Leadership Event on Wednesday night, April 23, 2008 that featured:
Jeff Hilimire, Co-Founder and President of Engauge Digital (formerly Spunlogic)
The event drew a large (100+) and diverse crowd of mostly students and entrepreneurs. When one panelist asked how many in the room were business owners, about half of the hands were raised. The dialogue was frank and provided insights into the reasoning and drive that helped each entrepreneur endure the challenges that business owners face.
The best way to disseminate the information that the seasoned entrepreneurs shared is to list out some of my favorite highlights from the panel (paraphrased by me). David Duncan did a great job of moderating, so most of the answers did not come from him.
What is your best entrepreneurial advice? Dee Davis: You have to lead by example and take the pulse of the business frequently. Mike Landman: It is easy to take on more risk when you are young because you have less to risk. Jeff Hilimire: You have to be “all in” to start a business. There is no pressure for you to give the business a 100% chance when it is only a hobby.
How do you recommend building a team? Dee Davis: You need a relatively flat structure when the company is young. Mike Landman: We use a lot of pre-hire testing and multiple interviews. Jeff Hilimire: Promoting from within is the best practice.
What is the best advice you have been given? Dee Davis: “Energy and persistence conquer all things” – Ben Franklin
“Get out of your comfort zone!” – Bob Parsons Mike Landman: “Fight through the brick walls that are everywhere.” - Randy Pausch (Carnegie Mellon Professor) Jeff Hilimire: “Lead by example” and “Passion, Intelligence, and Hard Work are the three most important traits of an entrepreneur.”
What is the one thing that you wish you knew when you started your business? Dee Davis: I am not the smartest guy in the room, so try to fill the room with smart guys. Mike Landman: Marketing and managing cash flow. Jeff Hilimire: How to hire the right person.
What is your best marketing advice? Dee Davis: Think in different ways from your competitors. Get out there and meet people. Mike Landman: Pick a small enough niche to become an expert in that space. Jeff Hilimire: Become a thought leader and host private events that show off this leadership.
How do you go about finding the best sales person for your team? Dee Davis: Incent your sales people REALLY well. Some may make more than the CEO. Mike Landman: Be your company’s best salesperson. Jeff Hilimire: Find someone with skills, but who you are also really comfortable with, as they will be representing you!
Jeff also gave a plug to yours truly, which was an unexpected bonus…
Everyone who attended the event was highly engaged, and they seemed very appreciative of the wisdom that the panel imparted.
(Panelists: S. Dee Davis, Mike Landman, and Jeff Hilimire)
Full Disclosure - I’m not sure if you’ll believe me, but I started this blog BEFORE Stan Rapp and Rick Milenthal each gave separate presentations on the future of the Collaborative Model, of Engauage, to us here at Engauge Digital (formerly Spunlogic).
I’m certainly not anything special. And certainly not as visionary as the leaders of this new Engauge agency model. In retrospect, what I think happened is that in the past three months that I have been here, I have observed how Spunlogic sets itself apart by its level of effective collaboration. AND, that is exactly why Stan, Rick and the other leaders of Engauge thought we were such a great fit to this new agency model. It was synchronicity!
Wiki, Basecamp, Video Conference, GoTo Meeting, Sosius, Joyent, etc. are tools that help us collaborate. But, can tools make collaboration successful in and of themselves? Absolutely not.
Effective collaboration is impossible without the existence of important human factors. Teams made of members, equal in their contribution, all offering a unique skill set and points of view, come together to form an effective and efficient organism. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, sometimes. Stan Rapp made a great point by saying that true collaboration occurs when “specialists voluntarily join together to provide amazing results.”
That’s the power of collaboration. While tools can facilitate the communication and organization of the team, there is no substitute for true passion, skill, and camaraderie.
One of the wonderful things about Wiki is that everyone can contribute. It provides equalization of information, democracy in action, freedom of speech. This is what everyone finds so liberating about these tools. But we all know what speech can be like if collaboration breaks down. Silence, probably the best option, or worse, hurtful, discriminating and demoralizing speech impacting the entire group. What the best tools can do is to aid in the access and ease of information and knowledge sharing. What we humans have to do is the hard part.
So what makes human collaboration effective?
+ Atmosphere of trust & respect
+ Creativity
+ Open, regular and organized communication
+ Understanding everyone’s roles & responsibilities
+ Highlighting everyone’s strengths
+ Have fun: laugh and play
+ Learning from each other
+ Everyone feels empowered to make decisions
+ Everyone is after a common goal
When does collaboration breakdown?
+ CYA: paranoia amongst team members
+ Process for the sake of process
+ No fun! It’s all work, work, work
+ Meeting for the sake of meeting
+ Silos of communication
+ Decisions can only be made top-down
+ Everyone has their own goals they are trying to achieve through the group
No tools can prevent or promote these things. This has to come from us. If we don’t protect these things then the door is wide open for breakdown to creep in.
So the next time you are meeting with a colleague, thinking about how to solve a problem, constructing a project plan, remember the power of effective collaboration and amazing results will ensue!
We recently returned from our annual company trip. This year, we took a trip to the Bahamas via Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas. This year’s theme was “What Happens on Spunlogic’s Cruise, Will End Up On YouTube.” While we’ll certainly make good on this theme, the video is in post-production. As soon as it’s available, there will definitely be another blog post.
In the meantime, we thought we’d post a couple of the favorite stories and pictures from the trip.
The first 5 comments on the blog (from non-Spunlogic employees who provide their email address) will win a Spunlogic Cruise t-shirt in the size of your choice (see design below near comment box)!
1. Amber Thomas - Thank You!
This year, Jamey Halpin took over Mike Richard’s legacy for dollar bets. For his initiation, we bet him to walk through the entire main dining room and thank all of the non-Spun tables for coming on Spunlogic’s cruise. He took this in stride, and jumped up to make good on the bet. Though he didn’t make it to all 300 tables, he did manage to reach all of the tables that surrounded the Spun area. Guests were amused, as he went from table to table, shaking hands with complete strangers and thanking them for their patronage. (Joe took a picture of one of the Non-Spun tables by accident too):
2. Jay Jhun - The Best Lobster and Conch Salad Ever
Above and beyond the great time my wife and I had dining and hanging out with the Account Managment team and fellow Spunnies, our best memory will be the sweetest, tastiest chunks of savory lobster tail that were battered and fried to perfection at a shack in the Arawak Cay Fish Fry – a neighborhood filled with mostly restaurants that serve fresh seafood, Bahamas style.
Our host was a boisterous and friendly Bahamian named Eddie. For $50, we had healthy portions of lobster, red snapper, conch fritters, conch salad, beer and beverage. Plus entertainment provided by locals talking about Barak Obama and a brew-ha-ha about the local authorities towing away cars (if we understood things right) just because they felt like it.
This Bahamas junket has become my annual 3-night date with my wife where we get to sleep in, do no dishes, answer to no children, and do no laundry – all because Jeff wants to thank us for the work we do.
Memo to Jeff: No, no…Thank you.
Fellow Spunnies
If you’d like to share one of your favorite stories from the cruise, or a photo album on Facebook/Flickr/KodakGallery/Shutterfly/etc - please do so! I know we have lots of pictures to share!
Want a Spunlogic Cruise Shirt?
Again, the first five people to comment (and provide an email address - we won’t spam you) will win a t-shirt with this year’s cruise design:
About two weeks ago I made the leap from the universe of online marketing, content syndication, and lead generation to the interactive space, which in time, I’m sure will prove to have been the right move. It’s actually very similar to my first home purchase a few months ago and the feelings I had immediately after settling in to a new house - some questions about whether you’ve made the right decision, tons of time spent perusing the area to understand exactly where you now live, and a perpetual struggle to refer to it all as “home”.
With any new job comes an essential first step – getting acclimated to the market landscape, the culture and character of the new company, along with the necessary processes and workflow requirements. What’s been great about it all is that I’ve actually had some time to read! I can’t remember the last time I didn’t feel the pressures of constant projects, deadlines, meetings, e-mails, and contracts. Believe me – before you roll your eyes at this article as if I can somehow see you – I know that everything above is on its way to my plate; however, I can’t help but enjoy the time that I have now. So much so, that I’ve run across some great articles in the 8+ days I’ve been here, including a good read from AdvertisingAge by Mat Zucker titled, “Setting the Bar for Digital Creative: A Guide for Marketers.” Before reading further, take a quick look at the article and the eight questions every marketer should be talking with their agency about.
Zucker, has chosen to step out of his agency shoes for a brief moment and into those of the online marketer, who is responsible for getting the most out of their work with advertising and digital agencies. He offers eight discussion points that marketers should be having with their agency. Some of these appear to be common sense, but I think that’s part of his goal – to create the “new common sense” for the marketer in the marketer/agency interaction. And if we’re referring to this as a good bare minimum for marketers to adhere to, I think we can make certain assumptions about what the agency version of such a list would look like. So, two weeks onto the job, I offer my first Spunlogic blog post - what I feel is a good agency interpretation of each of the eight principles. Essentially, my take on what I aspire to bring to the table in my interaction with the marketers I will be working with. So let’s dive right in…
1.) Marketer – “Ask the agency what the idea is” Agency – Don’t assume that the marketer knows what the idea is
Certain “feelers” should go out to get a gauge for what the client’s perception of the big picture is.
2.) Marketer – “Tell us how you need to see ideas” Agency – Ask how the ideas need to be presented
Standard methods for communicating concepts to the stakeholders should be in place; however, it is important to evaluate whether more detailed illustrations are needed. Not educating your marketer on how ideas can be presented could prove to stunt the growth of your partnership and revenue opportunities.
3.) Marketer – “Be clear about your priorities” Agency – Make sure you have an understanding of the priorities
Remain curious and channel that curiosity into penetrating questions that clarify what is most important to your marketing contact in addition to the pecking order of these priorities.
4.) Marketer – “Help us get inside the material” Agency – Dig deep inside the material
Prove that you really do want to understand more about your customer’s products/services, target market, and brand guidelines. Marketers, in return, should be more willing to help you get “inside the material.”
5.) Marketer – “Believe in brand expression” Agency – Develop an infrastructure for user testing and behavioral research
Let me bridge the gap between what seem to be somewhat disparate concepts. Brand expression, or as Zucker defines it, “how a brand behaves,” must tie in with brand integrity – giving your customers the experiences they expected. And how do we know what the customer expects? Bingo – user experience testing and behavioral research.
6.) Marketer - “Don’t assume advertising equals brand” Agency – Customers need serious hand-holding through any brand evolution
If what Zucker says is true – that “it’s the advertising agency whose legacy includes brand planning,” but that advertising doesn’t equal brand – then marketers will be leaning more heavily on digital agencies to drive the brand(s). Any decision by the marketer to step into uncharted water should spark the agency to respond with significant guidance.
7.) Marketer – “Fund production” Agency – Make it easier for marketers to go to bat for you
If the average digital budget is significantly less than the average TV budget then it will take some evangelism amongst the marketing community to influence future digital spend. And in order for this to happen the digital agency must make it easy for marketers to go to bat for us. With TV having led the way for over 40 years now it is much easier for marketers to go with a method that is “tried and true.” It’s up to us to share why digital is more proven – through clear metrics and a consistent story.
8.) Marketer – “Beef up internal infrastructure” Agency – Remind your client of the capabilities you have
As organizations are challenged to beef up their marketing and legal departments in order to keep up with new responsibilities spawned by the rise of the interactive age, it is important that agencies stay close to their customers in order to identify areas where resources may be stretched. Then, just remind them of what you can do to help.
When it’s the business of the agency that’s ultimately at stake we can’t afford to fall back on the assumption that our clients will be behaving the way they “should be.” WE must be responsible for making the most of every interaction by meeting the marketer where they are in order to satisfy the customer and grow the relationship.
So, at least for me this will serve as a good “common sense” guide and essentially a “bare minimum” of where my conversations with marketers should be going. I’m excited about the opportunity that is in front of me – to work for what seems to be a fun, energetic, growing company - and I look forward to putting these principles into practice!
After spending almost eight years with KnowledgeStorm, which was acquired by TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT) in November 2007 for $58 million, I finally decided to make the leap into the interactive agency world.
Spunlogic president and CEO, Jeff Hilimire had been talking to me for years about how his organization was growing and would need someone to lead his business development and marketing teams. Despite the emergence of Spunlogic as one of the premier interactive agencies in the Southeast and quite possibly the nation (doubling in size and revenue and making the Inc. 5000 list in 2007), it was clear that they could use my help responding to massive list of inquires from companies that want to work with Spunlogic, and frankly I was excited for a new challenge.
In the tradition of the clichéd practice of a “Top 10 List”, I would like to share with the reasons that I chose to join the team at Spunlogic:
Incredibly talented, brilliant, and creative people
Phenomenal clients from some of the top brands in the world
Prospective clients pursuing Spunlogic to do work
World class behavioral research and user experience design
Excellent balance between marketing and development
Cutting edge projects that “push the envelope”
Team environment with service focused colleagues
Reputation as a classy organization that produces only top quality work
Unparalleled flexibility to meet clients’ needs
Fun atmosphere
It is important to love what you do (if you do not, then I strongly advise you to make a change NOW). I am very confident that I made a great decision to join the team at Spunlogic. I look forward to sharing our successes with you over the coming years!
Being a part of Junior Achievement has been a great way for our entire agency to get involved in the community. It also means that we get to do stuff like job shadowing and fundraising. Just a couple of weeks ago we did another round of job shadowing, this time with a terrific group of 8th graders (it always amazes me how much these kids know about technology and the internet).
(The job shadowing group)
It’s also fundraising time and the team is doing some really fun stuff to drum up excitement and money. They did traditional fundraising activities, like a bake sale and raffles. But, because we don’t take ourselves too seriously, the team tossed in some fundraisers that have been a lot of fun around the office, like a Ping-Pong Tournament and Poker night.
(The bake sale. I hear Shannon’s banana bread is famous now.)
(The poker tournament)
Then, there is the Pie-the-Executive/Manager contest. The fundraising will be capped off with a Pie-ing of the executives, including myself at our Holiday Party in December. However, the first round of pie-ings happened today with our managers. How this worked was: employees bidded against each other to pie each person, the highest bid earning the right to pie.
Pictures won’t do this justice, check out the videos:
Arthur Pies Donovan:
Claire Pies Travis:
Jamie Pies Donovan (apparently he was popular):
If you’re intersted in donating to Junior Achivement, visit our donation page.
At Spunlogic, we have a lot of great experience and unique ideas to share. From work with clients to new approaches and trends, in this award winning blog you'll find Spunlogic experts sharing their opinions and ideas on all aspects of interactive marketing.
). Though I learned A LOT this summer, I decided to create a top 5 list that describes my time spent interning in the Behavioral Research Department (aka, the BRD).
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