2007-2009. Instead of just targeting the top tier of the audiophile market, the new site targeted affluent customers in general, who can afford these top-of-the-line audio/video products with a gorgeous, luxurious site that demonstrates the beauty, quality and heritage of their products that are still hand-crafted in upstate New York.  An photo upload feature enables users to show-off their McIntosh equipment on the site, while videos depict the tremendous impact of McIntosh on famous recording artists.  Videos of the factory, moreover,  show-off the craftsmanship and quality that goes into the manufacturing process.

2007-2009. Site redesign changed positioning of Boston Acoustics from just another of hundreds of speaker companies to one that appeals to incorporating BA products into the personal lifestyles of consumers. Users not only search by product category (e.g., book shelf speakers, in-wall speakers), but also by selecting the room where the speakers are to be placed, emphasizing the different lifestyle elements that match speakers with different environments.  Once the visitor indicated the room, they input some important charactertistics of the room (e.g., estimated size, materials that would reflect or absorb sound, design elements).  The site then provides the recommended products.  This effort to streamline the research-to-purchase experience doubled the site’s conversion rates.

Compared with Denon, which is more concerned about potential channel conflict, Boston Acoustics takes an aggressive approach to e-commerce on the site. This brand’s presence on Facebook  and Twitter, enable BA to engage more deeply with its fans, which fosters customer retention and long-term loyalty.  Fans, in turn, share their experiences with their friends, adding a viral component to accelerate customer acquistion at marketedly reduce costs per acquisition,  and an engagement level that facilitates frequent purchases and lifetime customer value.  As with Denon, our Facebook posts and Twitter tweets–as well as emails to our Owners Club members–notify these audiences about special offers, that not only provide their own revenue stream, but enable BA to move excess inventory.  Customer service costs were also reduced with social media.  Proactive customer service–including onsite FAQs auto-generated by our mutltchannel CRM system–as well as blog posts, Facebook posts and Twitter tweets, reduced overall customer service costs by 23%.

2007-2009 Instead of its previous product focus, an approach was taken that emphasized the artistic and consumer experience, including lifestyle imagery, profiles of popular DJs, celebrity DJ endorsements, and user reviews. The redesign appealed to the youthful “aspiring” DJ as well as professional DJs already playing in clubs, weddings and other venues with an exciting, uplifting experience.  Pulsating music throughout the site keeps visitors pumped-up and highly engaged.  The site captures the powerful emotions associated with DJs’ opportunties to control the mood of crowds attending their events.  It features lifestyle information about celebrity DJs, including their bios, videos,  audio mixes and their favorite Denon DJ products.  Additional information about best business practices helps DJs obtain more revenue and profits.  This information provides a reason for DJs to come back to the site for the latest information to improve their “game,” which encouraged more frequent visits, higher customer retention rates and long-term brand loyalty.  When viewing the site, don’t forget to either turn up or lower the volume on your computer, depending upon your appreciation (or lack thereof) of  current dance music!

2005-2007. The site redesign was part of a major re-branding initiative as the company migrated from providing relatively simple incentives (e.g., Gift Cards) for HR reward and recognition programs, to providing sophisticated applications for the Healthcare industry (providing incentives to drive down health care costs).  Rather than targeting HR managers, the Company needed to appeal to C-Level executives within Health Plans and large corporations.  This required a more corporate look and feel, richer content, and the ability to enter the site based upon who you are rather than the internal organization of the company.  The result is a site that is truly “customer-centric.”

2001-2004. Enabled the various Cendant websites to act as an ad network for targeting and re-targeting customers to encourage them to become customers of other Cendant consumer businesses, including hotels (e.g. Ramada, Super 8, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, to name a few), rental car companies (Avis and Budget), travel distribution companies (including Orbitz and Galileo), real estate brands (including Coldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA, Cendant Mobility) and financial services (including Cendant Mortgage,  Jackson Hewitt  and Trilegiant). leveraged behavioral targeting, including the use of cookies and CRM to serve personalized and re-targeted ads, emails and telemarketing scripts to increase cross-sell revenues from $20MM to $70MM within 3 months.  By leveraging these technologies, and testing alternative verbiage, I was able to increase the ROI of these marketing initiatives by 375%.

1998-2001. Served as VP, Interactive Marketing for this top Silicon alley interactive during the late 1990s and early 2000s before the market crashed in 2001.   I helped triple annual revenues by signing and providing solutions for such accounts as IBM, Coca Cola, John Deere, Fannie Mae, Claritin, Realtor.com, Pantone, Liberty Travel, Prudential, and the Home Shopping Network.

1988 – 1998.   Developed first online, e-commerce and email solutions, including the launch of PersonaLink Services, the first wireless, multimedia messaging service for users of first generation PDAs manufactured by Sony and Motorola, with software provided by our partner, General Magic. The products are approximately the size of the current  7″ Samsung Galaxy tablet, except much thicker and heavier.  Among many other features, PersonaLink offered e-commerce services for such brands as 1-800-FLOWERS, Tower Records and LexisNexis Information Services.   Of course, TCP/IP and the Internet soon emerged as the standards, supplanting all previous proprietary services,including PersonaLink.  Fortunately, we were able to migrate our consumers to AT&T Worldnet Internet Access Services and our business customers to AT&T’s Web Hosting and E-commerce services.   The PDAs were redesigned to be portable internet browsers, complete with hyperlinks. The video shows the power of the PersonaLink solution and how it was way ahead of its time.