On April 1, our client, JPS Health Network, launched a new intranet which will serve as the primary internal communications vehicle for its 4,700 employees. The before and after pictures shown above illustrate the vast improvement in their intranet.

The intranet now features an easy to navigate, clean and organized design that allows employees to effortlessly access important information or documents.

Our team at Schaefer designed the site and oversaw its development, which was done by the JPS Health Technology Solutions department. The key to completing this undertaking was management of the project on-site at JPS and using a very hands-on approach with the all the departments involved. With this transformation, JPS will be better able to communicate and serve its employees.

-Kim

No, we aren’t talking about the latest political debates - those are boring.  We’re talking about insurance - old-fashioned commercial, medical, life yadda-yadda.  Higginbotham Insurance, founded in 1948 is an institution in Fort Worth.  And, over the years, they’ve grown to be one of the largest independent insurance brokerages in the country.  They aren’t flashy, they aren’t hard-sell, rather they are a reliable, trusted advisor for many. They needed a web-based facelift combined with some pretty nifty technical magic thrown in.

We refined their messaging and presented it in a timeless design, that both updated their image while streamlining the navigation of a several hundred page site.

With multiple locations that operate under separate brand flags, we had to create a universal CMS that worked across 7 different URLS, while providing limited local content management capabilities to the field offices.  

The result is a clean site that proves that work for a conservative company - doesn’t have to be boring.

Meeting Professionals International (MPI) is in the business of supporting professional event and meeting planners through education.  As part of this mission, MPI makes it a point to bring best in class practices to their membership in a timely and engaging manner.

When global company SAP executed their groundbreaking SapphireNOW event in 2010, MPI immediately recognized the impact on the meeting and event industry. SAP’s SapphireNOW was one of the first companies to effectively bring together interactive, broadcast, social, virtual and traditional onsite participation under the umbrella of their annual customer event. From an event planning perspective it was a complex and flawlessly executed set of initiatives that reaped incredible results for SAP.

The event approach was revolutionary and MPI was anxious to share the details with their members. However doing so in a traditional case study format was simply not reflective of the innovation that the SAP SapphireNOW event was all about.

Looking for a more creative solution to present the information, MPI partnered with Schaefer to develop the organization’s first interactive case study. The site integrates content, images, video and audio in a synthesized manner. Users have the option to experience SAP’s event planning and execution chronologically or discover what is most salient to their business by using the “Quick Hits” navigation and pop-ups in each section.

MPI launched the site at their annual WEC (World Education Congress) event in July to rave reviews! Great team at MPI, great project for Schaefer!

http://www.mpiweb.org/sap2010/

-Sara

Viral marketing is a phenomenon in which a brand’s message is spread and replicated through a variety of means and essentially takes on a life of its own. Consumers spread brand awareness making them feel directly connected to the message.

A great example of viral marketing was the promotion for the release of The Dark Knight. Starting with a website, www.whysoserious.com, the campaign gave fans numerous clues on the site. The clues eventually lead to more websites, and then an email address where fans could email the Joker himself.

One website, www.rorysdeathkiss.com, asked fans to take pictures of themselves in Halloween costumes in front of landmarks. Once the website reached a certain number of hits, all participants received copies of The Gotham Daily Times. Although a great movie, the viral campaign had to have a hand in garnering public interest: The Dark Knight grossed more than 500 million.

Viral marketing can’t be forced; it must be organic, self-replicating and cannot seem manufactured. Viral campaigns must have the ability to spread and not push products on consumers.

A major danger with viral marketing is that the “stunt” may distract from the overall purpose to bring awareness to the product or service. People may remember the viral video or website, but ignore of the brand behind it.

Another one example of a successful viral campaign, and my personal favorite, is Old Spice

—Corey Landers, Intern

Situation Overview

ATC Logistics & Electronics is one of the premier providers of third-party logistics and supply chain services. The company specializes in forward logistics, reverse logistics, asset recovery, in addition to other equipment and components. Their customers consist of operations and supply chain executives in mid-to-large sized companies in the electronics industry.

The issue concerning ATCLE was the lack of new leads for the company. Without new clients, the company cannot continue to grow, so there needed to be a new pipeline for viable leads to be generated.

Solution

BSAPR developed a series of seven interactive lead generation campaigns that created a continuous stream of new leads for ATCLE. Each campaign was designed to introduce a new subject aimed at specific target audiences in the industry. Each piece of content was promoted by BSAPR through a variety of mediums that all linked to a campaign specific landing page for people to download the content. ATCLE was notified as to who was downloading the content, thereby creating a list of potential clients for the company.

BSAPR was responsible for strategic planning activities such as topic development and media planning. The agency also collaborated with subject matter experts within ATCLE to ghostwrite all of the content in the campaigns, as well as working on the public relations and creative aspects for the campaign.

Results

Over the course of the campaign, the number of total leads grew from just under 50 to a staggering 522 new leads, ensuring the continual growth of the company. The campaign also placed ATCLE as an industry thought-leader, with the campaign content being used at sales presentations, speaking engagements, and other educational events.

—Sara Hull

Today some members of BSAPR attended the AAF-FW luncheon featuring Christi McNeill, Emerging Media Strategy Specialist at Southwest Airlines.

First of all, kudos to Christi – great presentation, great presenter, great organization, great handle on the social media world!

While Christie covered many important points, one especially struck me:

“Tweet as often as you eat.”

You don’t eat 30+ times a day—I don’t think the HHS would recommend it – so, don’t tweet that often either.  If you tweet/eat three to five times a day your tweets/food are bound to be more valuable/nutritional.

Your followers are looking for value – information they care about and will actually use.

On another note: Sara, our awesome VP, was inducted to the board of AAF-FW today. Smartest decision they’ve ever made.

Cheers to my first blog post, well second if you count the Santa hat.
~Kristin

decodering:

Setting a Google Map as the Background of your Web Site

So the other day I was Googling ways to “set a Google map as the background of your site” with little luck at all on finding a good solution. So I decided to create one using CSS properties and utilizing the z-index/absolute positioning of elements.

To get an idea of what I did, visit: http://wadehammes.com/dewey-beach/

I shared this on my personal blog, but I thought this was so interesting I thought I would share this little nugget of goodness with you folks as well. I’ve seen some site designs that have implemented interactive maps on their about pages, but this implementation seems like something that would be accessible to front-end-developers without too much headache.

This could be advantageous for business to consumer companies wanting to share franchise locations, or show off their location in the region in a fun way. The applications could turn into some very aesthetic web design.

-Alex

BSAPR is proud to work with the American Cancer Society in Fort Worth. Last year, the agency worked with ACS to produce promotional and collateral materials for its major annual fundraiser, the Cowtown Ball. 

 Beginning in January, we developed the design concept to support the ball’s 2010 theme, “The Wild, Wild West Show.” BSAPR created invitations for the  launch party, the Benz, Bourbon & Bubbly party and the actual Cowtown Ball. We also created a finance packet to support the organization with securing underwriters.

Additionally, BSAPR created a fun, interactive video to follow-up on the printed invitation. 

The best part? Knowing we played a small part in helping the 2010 Cowtown Ball raise nearly $500,000. Giddyup!

To see more of our work for the American Cancer Society, click “Read More”

 - Kim

robynchell:

You’re a Comic Sans Criminal… but we’re here to help you.

(courtesy of Matt Dempsey)

A fun little web slide show with standout typography & design. Really educates youngsters on the danger of comic sans use. Very dangerous habit kids.

-Alex