From Spectator to Subscriber: Driving Out-of-Market Sales

Always on the lookout for new sales drivers, DirecTV wanted to improve its annual NFL Sunday Ticket giveaway platform, Ultimate Displaced Fan (UDF). The satellite TV provider caters to existing and prospective out-of-market subscribers through its exclusive NFL Football Package, which provides a plethora of enhanced football content in a device-agnostic framework.  Genuine’s challenge was to boost sales for the NFL Football Package via the reinvented UDF platform.

How We Helped

The Ultimate Displaced Fan platform is a highly modular, PHP-based custom CMS that allows out-of-market NFL fans to sign up as contestants for the NFL Sunday Ticket contest. For the 2010 and 2011 iterations of UDF, we wanted to bring new life to the site’s look by making the platform more exciting for NFL fans. UDF’s administrative interface enables DirecTV and its PR affiliates to moderate and evaluate entries without leaving the site, while an array of voting features and Facebook integration tools on the front end enable contestants to rate entries based on quality and other criteria. From a systems perspective, we ensured that the UDF platform was built in such a way that DirecTV can reuse the CMS for campaigns from year to year by simply styling the front end.

Above and beyond UDF’s lead capture functionality, the platform is littered with analytics markers that enable Genuine’s Digital Media team to monitor performance and inform the strategy for future social media campaigns, such as DirecTV’s Quarterback Challenge and Snowballs of Flurry Facebook games.

UX Overhaul and Mastering Conversion Rates

Consumer packaged goods superpower RB Foods needed to restructure French’s Food Service, the umbrella website for its condiment brands. In addition to clearly delineating the benefits of each brand’s product line to restaurant operators while keeping navigation between brands simple, RB Foods sought to dynamically cross-promote its products and improve overall conversion rate.

How We Helped

Genuine started the French’s Food Service makeover by unifying the three brands’ separate websites under a single visual design that preserved the defining characteristics of each product line. We wanted to communicate the family friendly atmosphere of French’s Foods, the cheeky personality of Frank’s Red Hot, and the Western appeal of Cattlemen’s while keeping the user anchored in French’s Food Service’s overarching interface.

In the “Culinary Center,” we transformed the output of multiple existing recipe databases to suit the French’s Food Service restaurant operator audience, which included indicating values for bulk quantities and increased serving sizes, as well as adding the ability to filter by brand, menu type or type of protein. We made sure the product sample request forms were always one click away. In addition to information about front of house solutions and mixology, the new Merchandising and Rebates sections of the website allow operators to find multi-brand offers. Finally, we created a sales rep finder that enables restaurant operators to locate contact information local to their area.

The Power of Science-Driven Care in Digital Formats

Children’s Hospital Boston wanted to showcase its science-driven care in a way that was more welcoming to parents and prospective employees. But this simple trajectory for the redesign meant a serious undertaking for Genuine Interactive. Children’s Hospital is not just one of the world’s leading pediatric hospitals, it’s one of the world’s leading research institutions producing inventions, drugs, instruments, and research that extend outside of the world of pediatrics, and so Genuine needed to capture the full scope of the hospital’s efforts in digital form.

How We Helped

Rather than focusing on building an online brand around the institution itself, Genuine turned its focus on the people within the organization who make it special.  We created a home page that features world-changing Children’s Hospital Boston inventors as well as their inventions in an XML-powered Flash carousel.  Our goal was to think about the site more as the cover of Time rather than the front page of your average website.

We also created the TIDO Invention Database to help Children’s Hospital keep its inventors and researchers fresh in the minds of venture capitalists.  The database opens a continuous line of communication between Children’s TIDO office and potential partners. This custom-developed application is designed to let partners easily search for inventions and researchers through a number of criteria. The active filtering allows the partner to change criteria and change results in real time.

Flash-Based Interactivity Boosts Micro-Donations
in Drupal-Powered CMS

Plimoth Plantation had an array of objectives when it came to the redesign of their museum’s website, chief among them to motivate micro-donations from younger donors, provide an educational resource for students and teachers, and enable visitors to plan their visit to the museum. To that end, Genuine’s strategy was to build a new appeal and interactivity into the micro-donation process.

How We Helped

Genuine selected Drupal as the CMS of choice for Plimoth’s new website. We wanted to immerse visitors in full-screen, panoramic photos and videos that would reflect the immersive experience that the museum’s theater of the past offered.

The Flash-based interactive donations page focused on illustrating ways visitors could help, from helping students “time travel to the 1600s” to keeping the “Mayflower II sailing into history.” Overall, the website’s clean new look and our slimmed-down IA allowed for a breadth of content that made it easier for visitors to find the information they needed quickly and without losing depth. By carrying over the site’s design into the museum’s Magento-powered shopping cart, we made eCommerce a seamless experience for visitors.

WordPress  & Flash Set a Corporate Notion into Motion

InZone Brands wanted Genuine to create a visual representation of the company’s motto: “Meet us at the intersection of healthy and fun” for its three kid-friendly consumer product lines: BellyWashers, TummyTicklers, and TummyTickler Tots. With a splash of color and a set of powerful Flash animations, Genuine painted the picture for moms and kids alike.

How We Helped

InZone had a number of value propositions it needed to make clear to its consumers: that its products were designed to be exciting for kids, to make life easier for moms, and to provide a healthful alternative to high fructose corn syrup drinks with many artificial additives.

All of the brand’s websites were built on top of WordPress, making it easy for InZone to update content after the sites were launched. The opening Flash animation prominently featured InZone’s products in a fun animation that emphasized the products’ key features. To open a dialogue with the brand’s target audience—moms—we created video testimonials from real consumers, called attention to the products’ nutrition facts, and set up a photo gallery for moms to submit photos of their kids to the brand. In the “For Kids” section, InZone included coloring sheets and an archive of all its product toppers.

Drupal and Flash at the Crossroads of the Web/Video Convergence

In redesigning the MFA website, Genuine wanted to capture the sheer size of the museum and its extensive collections in the user experience. The MFA wanted their new website to reflect the very personal, awe-inspiring experience visitors of the museum share when interacting with its collections. We did this through powerful photography, engaging full-screen video, and a clean, navigable user interface that encouraged exploration.

How We Helped

The museum experience is an interactive experience, so user interaction was a big part of the redesign. On top of implementing a comprehensive search that enables visitors to access all the museum’s artwork online, we carefully categorized all the museum’s collections to make it easy for visitors to find artwork. We also empowered visitors to tag individual pieces, store collections in their My MFA Account, and share artwork with the social web.

Engineering Video Environments on Open Source Foundations

Indoor air-quality monitoring company Aircuity sought an agency who could translate the technical language in their product messaging into an unforgettable experience that visually demonstrated what their technology was all about. Genuine had a few tall-order ideas in mind.

How We Helped

Instead of laying out the effect of Aircuity’s technologies on infrastructure in two dimensions (as you’d expect from a two-dimensional website), we thought it’d make more sense to build Aircuity’s virtual infrastructure in three dimensions just like the real thing.

To that end, we deployed an interactive, 3D virtual city full of video testimonials that explained the benefits of Aircuity’s technology through a completely audiovisual experience. Add to this that all of the website’s content is fully customizable by Aircuity in WordPress, an easy-to-use content-management system for non-technical users.

Building a Digital Community Through Rebranding

LYSOL® wanted a new user experience that would reach beyond its product line and soften its harsh, germ-destroying messaging. Genuine’s rebranding effort would also need to interface with LYSOL’s® other marketing agencies in order to ensure the cohesiveness of its campaign. In our rebranding effort, we created a community of health-conscious moms to make it easier for consumers to connect with the brand.

How We Helped

In the redesign, Genuine used softer whites and blues and a flowing ribbon element in the header to make the site appear more welcoming. We incorporated lots of visual feedback in the site’s search functionality, a geographical cold and flu tracker so consumers could stay ahead of the cold and flu season, and a wealth of health, cleaning, and disinfecting tips in the site’s Healthy Families section.

The intended persona for the website was new and expectant health-conscious moms, so we had LYSOL® partner with well-credentialed health professionals to provide a forum-based community where visitors could ask cold and flu-related questions and receive real answers. LYSOL® also started its “Mission for Health” initiative, a philanthropic front which promotes healthy habits in schools, provides child-rearing advice for new moms, and works with Save the Children to create safe havens for children in disaster situations.

Simplicity in an Open Source Showcase: Enter Drupal

Massachusetts-based Tribe® Hummus needed a new look and new messaging to get across the value of its all natural hummus product. Genuine timed the launch of the site (which we built in popular open source platform Drupal) to follow up the release of their newest product, the Tribe Origins™ organic line, and chief among the goals in the redesign was to represent the product’s wholesome authenticity.

How We Helped

To establish a strong foundation for the brand’s digital presence, first Genuine needed to anchor the company’s social media properties in the website and build a community around its recipes.

We told the story of Tribe in vibrant summer colors, high quality product photography, and animations of the fresh ingredients that go into Tribe’s hummus. Tribe also wanted to showcase the passion of its senior management, who have extensive backgrounds in food prep and distribution. To this end, Genuine created an attractive Ask the Tribe Q&A that featured the staff’s stories.

Employee Recognition Captured in Immersive 3D

Tharpe Robbins’ unique position as the company for “managed recognition”—a business-to-business service that establishes programs for employee recognition—required a very unique creative approach, and Genuine was up to the challenge. We started with a single idea—that one act of appreciation can lead to a chain of positive results—and took off running.

How We Helped

TharpeRobbins didn’t want to be another boring B2B bloated with stock photos. Instead, they wanted a vibrant web presence with an uplifting image that matched the positive attitude with which they approached driving employee performance in their client’s businesses.

To that end, Genuine developed a Flash-powered 3D animation that opened with butterflies lifting their messaging into the skies. This butterfly effect became a powerful image behind the site’s messaging, which was reinforced by video of employee interviews and clean copy.

Improved Sales Through iPhone App Development

Frank’s® RedHot® wanted to drive product sales during its key seasons and saw an opportunity to provide utility to its fans. Frank’s® also needed to build its consumer database to enhance its reach to more specific niches within its market while providing a fun, interactive way to interact with the brand via mobile devices.

How We Helped

Genuine decided to build an iPhone app that would allow users to tag wing restaurants and bars that use Frank’s® RedHot®.Fans could invite friends from the app for wings, browse reviews about the locations, and use various filters to search. We also focused on providing sharable hot sauce recipes (18 wing recipes and 32 classic recipes) for key tailgating and sports seasons through the app.

Zend Framework and Social Media Integrations
Help Frank’s® Own Tailgaiting

King of hot sauces Frank’s® RedHot® was due for a complete re-envisioning of its web presence, and the company’s reputation as a beloved national supplier preceded it. Genuine’s task was to transform the brand’s aging web property into a shiny new hub for its social media efforts, mobile content, and engagement with its loyal fans. We created a new site from the ground up on top of the Zend framework, with integrations from Twitter, Facebook, and a custom database containing a wealth of RedHot® recipes.

How We Helped

Genuine’s lively new look captured the feeling of the brand’s “I put that sh*t on everything campaign” in front-and-center Flash video, which featured as its mascot the spunky (albeit fictional) septuagenarian “Ethel Herbert.” At the center of the redesign, we created an extensive database of Frank’s® RedHot® recipes from the brand’s celebrated product line that visitors can share with friends and family.

To open a more focused conversation with RedHot® fans, we engineered Twitter contests onsite and delivered an editorial calendar of Facebook conversations to drive leads. We also created a tailgaiting section devoted to usage tips for seasonal sports, and then tied that focus into our mobile efforts through a powerful Wing Finder App that enables visitors to locate wing restaurants across the country.

Stem Cell Research Brought to Life through Engaging Stories

The Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital Boston had a mission unlike any institution in the world: Educate the public about the nature of stem cells while encouraging donations from visitors to fund research. Genuine sat down with Children’s stakeholders to design a content strategy that would corral the hospital’s library of data into web-ready chunks of content.

How We Helped

Genuine developed a content strategy to sieve out of a mountain of heavily technical articles a set of documents that would serve as an educational guide to laymen, concerning science of stem cells. Using WordPress as a CMS, we created a site that incorporates both emotional testimonials of stem cell patients in text and informative explanations of the nature of stem cell research by doctors in Flash-based video presentations. An XML-driven front page Flash carousel houses an engaging video introduction to the program.

In addition to the educational purpose of the website, the website was designed with strong “Give Today” calls-to-action to attract philanthropists to become benefactors of the project.

Bing Maps, WordPress 3, and Intuitive UX: Smart and Simple

Compass wanted to come across to renters as welcoming, easy-to-navigate, and friendly; as a small luxury apartment company with a good customer relationships, Compass already had the track record but lacked the web presence to showcase it. Genuine’s goal in redesigning the company’s website was to tease out Compass’ true nature through a digital makeover.

How We Helped

Genuine made Compass stand out from its competition in several key ways: We built the apartment search feature so that prospective tenants could find properties in only a few clicks, we chose autumnal colors for the visual design to suggest an inviting environment, and we incorporated a wealth of useful information at the property level that answered questions before they were asked.

Chief among these property-level features were extensive photo galleries for each property and Bing Maps-powered neighborhood amenities. We wanted users to feel at home just by visiting Compass’ properties, the information contained within which were each carefully tailored by the company to maximize utility for the end user.

YouTube & Drupal Combine to Generate Living Catalog of Music

The New England Conservatory wanted to generate buzz for the university’s brand by defying its image as a strictly conservative and traditional school of music. NEC’s target audience included current and prospective students, alumni, and NEC concert-goers who share an intimate relationship with the culture of the university.

How We Helped

To showcase student talent, Genuine created NEC# (“NEC Sharp”), a virtual orchestra that displayed a curated collection of YouTube clips featuring students playing their favorite musical instruments. The site was developed in open source CMS Drupal so that NEC administrators could easily manage user-generated content. Visitors are able to play the videos in the collection in any order, creating a unique experience for every visit.

Increased Revenue Thru Organic SEO and Search/Display Advertising

During its “The Skinny on Mustard” marketing campaign, FRENCH’S® opened a dialogue with its consumers that required a central hub on the Web to facilitate the conversation. FRENCH’S® teamed up with Genuine to commit a big chunk of its media budget to online search and display advertising over two years. Genuine’s challenge was to make the most out of the massive traffic directed to the dotcom. Everything we did in the social media sphere needed to support the brand’s #1 objective: Get consumers to buy more product.

How We Helped

Through market research, we learned that 85% of moms who came to the site—a market that made up the largest slice of FRENCH’S® audience—were looking for recipes.  So Genuine created a community around the new recipe database with real-time search filtering capabilities and an emphasis on social sharing.

To support the concept of the all-American “FRENCH’S® kitchen,” we filmed FRENCH’S® own chefs cooking recipes and encouraged visitors to participate in the FRENCH’S® Cook-Off Recipe Contest, which gave away $25,000 to the first-prize winner. We also sought to improve recipe dissemination by drastically improving search results on Google for recipe entries and non-FRENCH’S® related searches.  Because organic SEO was a main strategy that guided site development and content creation, we created an SEO optimization plan that involved optimizing each of FRENCH’S® 2,000+ recipes individually.

Immersive Video Experiences Through Flash-Based 3D Architecture

Creat Studios wanted to revamp their brand with a portfolio that showcased their creativity and passion for creating digitally immersive games. They also wanted to foster social networking and video-sharing to enhance the experience for clients and extend their reach to potential employees.

How We Helped

Genuine created a powerful 3D wheel of games through a combination of Flash wizardry and Papervision3D as the initial front page experience. Visitors could select titles from this 3D wall of games to dive directly into Creat’s portfolio.

Individual titles in the portfolio have sharable widescreen video and interrelated title recommendations, which encourages users to further explore the site. Genuine also devoted a good portion of the website’s infrastructure to detailed team profiles and an in-depth company overview, so as to attract prospective hires to consider working at Creat Studios.