We’re three full weeks in to the mustache-growing extravaganza that is Movember! Tyler and Ari are still at it, cultivating fine looking facial hair growth in the name of raising awareness and funds for overlooked men’s health issues, particularly prostate cancer. They were a little timid at our week 1 update, eased into the facial hair at the 2 week mark, and now, as you can see, they’re straight up owning their ‘staches.
The Movember Men with their Mustaches & Swagger
Interested in making a contribution to this great cause?
We are proud to announce the launch of the Springfield Dolls microsite SF Style Club! Fibre-Craft Materials Corporation approached us to create an interactive program that will grow awareness and drive traffic to their Springfield Dolls line. Fibre-Craft is the parent company to crafts, games, and toys lines including Creative Hands, The Springfield Collection, Jr. Designer Series, and Rondo Room.
The Dressing Room in SF Style Club
SF Style Club is a space that encourages individualism, imagination, and creativity in young girls. Each site visit encourages deeper engagement by earning points to unlock content, merchandise, activities, and special features.
A key component on the site includes an interactive Dressing Room that enables users to dress their doll in over 160 clothing items from the Springfield Dolls Collection. The photographed items in the Dressing Room allow the girls to see their actual doll in clothing options before purchasing the items at a local retailer. Within the Dressing Room users are also able to share an image of their doll and the outfit they created with a loved one—which includes product SKU numbers so the recipient can locate items in-store, and soon, online!
Want to see what the site is all about before signing up? No problem! Just view the video we developed below for a quick overview of all the fun features and activities SF Style Club has to offer!
It’s great to have Dan and Kerry aboard to help us stay organized, keep our projects on task, and add another layer of awesome to the office. We salute them and enthusiastically welcome them to the envisionit media team.
Dan Levengood
Where are you from?
I was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, and raised in East Moline, Illinois.
What do you do at envisionit?
My official title is Program Director. I lead the project management and account management teams.
Tell us something you’ve enjoyed about working here so far.
I love the entrepreneurial spirit at EIM. The “can do” attitude starts at the top and drives creativity, strategy and production.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Portillo’s. Are there other places to eat?
Tell us a story in six words.
My dog’s name is Mr. Deuce.
Kerry St. Joseph
Where are you from?
Crystal Lake, Illinois.
What do you do at envisionit?
I’m a Senior Project Manager.
Tell us something you’ve enjoyed about working here so far.
All the smiling faces! And the abundance of candy.
Fill in the blank: I’m really good at…
Running.
Fill in the blank: Three things I can’t live without are…
My running shoes, my family, my chapstick.
Carnivale is an exciting, colorful, and unique Chicago restaurant and bar located in the city’s west loop neighborhood. With energetic colors, photography, and wild design, it’s a luxurious restaurant that engages all of the senses with global flavors, Latin music, and savory aromas—not to mention their award-winning Mojitos, fresh ceviche, and wood-grilled steaks.
Carnivale approached us with the task of bringing that exciting, colorful, and unique experience of the restaurant into the online space, along with improved usability, strong SEO benefits, and an emphasis on their private event booking opportunities. We were more than happy to accept the task!
When you first enter the site, you’re exposed to an array of dazzling colors and a vivid movie behind red curtains that showcases all that Carnivale has been known to host–from weddings and private events to cabaret shows and live music.
To go along with the elaborate design and taste appeal (we all found ourselves constantly salivating while we developed this site), you can easily make reservations and request a booking or more information for a private event, while easily viewing the layout of every room and what each one has to offer. Users can browse Carnivale’s extensive photo galleries, view the menus and daily specials, and watch Carnivale videos on the site. You can experience Carnivale while on the go via the new mobile site we developed for them!
So, make sure you go check out Carnivale Chicago for some fine Latin cuisine, your next private party booking, or if you are just looking to enjoy a great Mojito (or three!) in a stunning vibrant atmosphere.
We informed you last week that two of our very own, Ari and Tyler, are participating in the mustache-centric campaign, Movember, an international effort to raise funds and awareness for men’s health. These envisionit media men have completed 2 weeks of the facial hair growing fest, the results of which you can enjoy below. Check back again next Monday for more progress!
If you’d like to donate to either of their Movember teams, you can do so here for Ari and here for Tyler .
The mustachioed Ari and Tyler after 2 full weeks of Movember
We’re excited to announce a new collaboration between envisionit media and TOYOTA Motor Corporation. EIM recently hosted an event in conjunction with TOYOTA Motor Corporation’s Corporate Value Creation Dept. This evening was put together to allow a diverse group of creatives and business professionals a sneak-peek into the next evolution of the Global Creatives Network, inspired by TOYOTA.
The Global CreativesNetwork brings together engineers, designers, artists, and thought leaders from around the world to generate solutions for sustainable mobility that will shape our world for the better over the next 100 years—and beyond.
Guests were invited into our new collaborative innovation space that we are very excited to be sharing with the network’s local hub, Creative Lounge Chicago. This new extension of our space is currently in the process of being built out, which provided an engaging backdrop for us to share plans for the environment as well as some of the programs that will be run out of it.
Presentations on the history of the lounge and mission of the network by Robert Karr, Trevor Hall, George Sipos, Satoshi Ishii, and our own Jason Goldberg complemented an evening of hors d’oeuvres and drinks provided by Mid-America Club of Chicago executive chef Michael Pivoney and a featured performance by Tatsu Aoki’s Experimental Unit.
Everyone who attended was also invited to leave an inspirational message on the frame of what will become a 40’ x 18’ magnetic whiteboard, one of the space’s key features and canvas for what we’re sure will be endless creative ideas.
The space itself will provide a unique opportunity for select partners to work side-by-side with envisionit team members, developing strategies and solutions for pushing their initiatives forward. We want to thank everyone for making the event a huge hit, and couldn’t be more excited to have the Global Creatives Network, inspired by TOYOTA, as the first program to take up residence with us. read the full story...
envisionit media is once again happy to announce the launch of another website, www.AlvaAmco.com! In 2010, Alva came to us to not only update the last website we designed for them, but with a list of several other business objectives. As a leading over the counter (OTC) Pharmacal company located in Niles, IL, Alva Amco has a unique challenge of wanting to sell their OTC products online without upsetting their distribution channels of offline retailers. Launched last week was a robust ecommerce site, Alva-Direct.com that integrates into AlvaAmco.com without taking any attention from the retailers that sell their products.
Along with this challenge, below is a list of Alva Amco’s business objectives that EIM accomplished:
Improved website optimization, allowing for Alva to be found online for non-branded keyword searches, and increasing online market share
Custom reporting that allows for Alva to make better marketing and product decisions
Improved site speed using the latest technology and resources like Google Webmaster Tools, which allows for a better visitor experience as well as improved search rankings
Implemented online customer surveys tool that allows site visitors to provide feedback on their favorite products to obtain a coupon; also allows Alva to organically grow their database
Improved CMS capabilities, allowing Alva to make changes to their site on the fly, even to add a complete new product line. This means they won’t have to engage their agency for moderate web edits… but that’s okay, we still have lots to do
Last but not least, we provided them a much-needed updated look and feel, with unique brand pages that reflect the target audience of each product.
Congrats to the wonderful Alva team, who we’ve known and worked with for years. We’re poppin’ a champagne bottle to many more!
Thanks to the vision of the people at Movember and their goal of “changing the face of men’s health,” mustache season is upon us. The creative campaign is an international effort to raise funds and awareness for men’s health, particularly prostate cancer. Participants–or “Mo Bros”–are asked to grow a mustache throughout November, thereby sparking intrigue and conversation about this important issue.
Two of envisionit media’s own, Tyler and Ari, are proudly (albeit a bit timidly during this first week) participating in the facial hair fest, and we in turn are proud to promote their efforts.
This is the first of a weekly update on Tyler and Ari, so be sure to keep an eye out each Monday for the latest in their lip hair growth. (And please forgive Ari his goatee. He wasn’t quite ready to rock the ‘stache, and we say all’s fair in the name of a good cause.)
If you’d like to contribute to either of their fundraising efforts, please feel free to do so below!
Erin and Kara came here to be part of the account team and chew bubble gum, and they’re all out of bubble gum. (So they’re still part of the account team, which is good). Their humor, hard work, and mad potluck skills have made them very welcome additions.
Erin Miller
Where are you from?
Planet Earth.
What do you do at envisionit?
I’m a Project Manager. I make sure projects stay on track by keeping everything organized and bothering the development team.
Tell us something you’ve enjoyed about working here so far.
I am learning so much, and everyone is really helpful. The beer on Fridays isn’t bad either.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Rich.
Fill in the blank: I’m really good at…
Staring contests.
Kara DeWalt
Where are you from?
Oak Park, IL.
What do you do at envisionit?
I am an Account Coordinator focused on Magic Number.
Tell us something you’ve enjoyed about working here so far.
I love that everyone at EIM is very creative and there is a positive, dynamic atmosphere in the office. Having come from the financial software sales world, it is very refreshing to see people constantly brainstorming and thinking outside of the box.
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
My mother’s roast chicken with stuffing and cranberry sauce.
Name three of your favorite movies.
Sideways, Goodfellas, American Beauty.
Stefan Wissenbach has a mission: to help others take control of their lives, achieve more in life than ever thought possible, and have a lot of fun along the way. To do that, he and his UK team created Magic Number — and sought an agency to help make this dream a reality. After months of hard work and collaboration between EIM and the Magic Number team, we are excited to announce the beta launch of Magic Number.
Watch the video!
In just a few easy steps, anyone can get their Magic Number — the amount of money they will need to make work optional when, and how they want. A fully interactive experience guides each user through their own vision of how they want to live: what kind of house they want to live in, how they want to spend their time, what they want for their family, and much more.
After receiving your Magic Number, the website provides insights and guidance to help make your dream a reality. Future releases of the website will provide enhanced tools for keeping track of your vision and goals.
In late 2012, a Goal Manager will be released, to help “break down your big endeavors into manageable tasks.” Upcoming releases will also include a Habit Tracker to help stay on task toward your Magic Number; and a Vision Board to help you visualize what’s really important to you, and to keep you motivated.
To celebrate the beta launch, Magic Number is giving the first 2,500 subscribers a free lifetime membership. That means you get your Magic Number, and get to experience all the great upcoming tools and features, free and forever. We’ve all signed up, and shared with our family and friends, and we encourage you to as well! read the full story...
