CEO, Todd Brook  was invited to speak at Waukegan Savings Bank’s annual, Business After Hours conference, held at the Vista Hotel and Convention Center in Gurnee, IL.

“Driving Action in 2010” was the theme of this year’s town hall style event, and Todd’s presentation, which centered around establishing and maintaining a powerful online presence, was received with great appreciation by the 40+ attendees. Other presenters included Frank Bisbois, President of Lake County Partners and Matt Huels of Diamond and Huels accounting firm.

This past week, we cleared off a few desks, secured some stray computers, and welcomed two new team members. Let’s get to know them, shall we?

Account Supervisor Lisa Cardarelli—on the left—worked for the largest full service interactive agency in Tampa before leaving for the balmy shores of Lake Michigan. Now that she’s here, she’ll be helping envisionit media grow new and existing business while further amping up our SEO/SEM capabilities. When she’s not in the office, Lisa will be hard at work discovering all the best shopping that Chicago has to offer her and her little Yorkie, Coco.

Copywriter Holly Grigalunas—on the right—comes to us with years of experience in marketing writing for a number of industries, across a variety of channels. She’s excited about contributing her skills to both our clients and to our internal envisionit media team. When she’s not writing for work or pleasure, Holly’s either at yoga class or a gastropub.
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From all of us at envisionit, a big, fat congratulations to our friend and client The Fifty/50. They’ve been named “Best Sports Bar in America” by Yahoo! and Thrillist! But of course, we’re not surprised.

Swing by The Fifty/50 this weekend – they have all sorts of specials going on for March Madness. Get details about the restaurant at thefifty50.com.

Last night, a few members of the interactive marketing crew from envisionit media were invited to attend the filming of “Next Food Network Star” runner-up Chef Jeffrey Saad’s Incredible Egg Live Broadcast at the new Kenmore Live Studio on N. Wells.

Jeffrey Saad is the spokesperson for the Good Egg Project and America’s Egg Farmers. His charming personality and oh-so-delicious egg creations excited the crowd that came to watch the filming and sample some of his egg recipes. Last night’s creations included how to best make poached eggs, breakfast paninis, and classic egg salad sandwiches.

There was also fun for the kids with an egg dyeing station and a playful mime. As part of the Good Egg Project America’s egg farmers will donate one egg for each egg dyed at the Kenmore Live Studio this weekend (March 25th-28th) to Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief charity!
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Hey Hey, Cubs fans. Just in time for the 2010 baseball season, we’ve got a hot tip on discounted Cubs gear. We’ve just launched a $5 Off Facebook app for CubWorld.com (the online home of Sports World, located across from Wrigley Field at Addison and Clark). CubWorld.com has pages and pages of Chicago Cubs jerseys, shirts, hats, and accessories galore. Plenty of great threads to wear to the games…or to work, just to spite the Sox fans in the office (just an idea).

The app will only be available for a limited time, so check it out today and enjoy $5 off your next CubWorld.com purchase!

Mmmmm….. I’m hungry from just writing that title, let alone from the last few months of being involved with the Joes.net refresh. That’s right, the classic Lettuce Entertain You restaurant has been given a bit of a virtual facelift. Joe’s is known not only for bringing the legendary Miami Beach stone crab to Chicago and Vegas or for their incredible seafood, steaks, desserts, and sides, but also for impeccable and approachable service, a lively atmosphere, and creative drink mixology. A few months back, Joe’s came to us concerned that their black and white website didn’t reflect any of these qualities. So it was time to pump just the right amount of color, energy, and Miami tradition into their site, combined with a level of class worthy of the culinary icon. All that, while also giving them a clean, easy-to-use content management system so they can keep current with their ever-changing menus, specials, and news. So without further ado, we present the new Joe’s  Seafood, Prime Steak, & Stone Crab.
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For so long, online marketing success was measured by number of clicks.  That measurement of success, however, has shifted over the past 3 years from clicks to conversion rate optimization to increase conversions. A conversion occurs when a user visits your site and takes the desired action.  This action can include making a purchase, submitting a form, subscribing to a service, etc. The rate of these conversions is the percentage of your overall traffic that does what you want them to do, which can be significantly increased when optimized.

Conversion rate optimization is the key to achieving significant ROI in online marketing campaigns.  Who doesn’t like the sound of that?

Contact us to learn how to get more out of your online campaigns.

Often the topic of heated debate, the Olympic logo and identity system is an important component of the way we perceive The Games. This year the Vancouver 2010 arena & spatial design is all about vivid, saturated blues and greens, graphic textures, and wavy, tentacle-like forms that intertwine and surround a figure performing the sport at hand. On the other hand, the Vancouver 2010 logo is done in bright, primary hues and speaks to the Inuit culture of the Canadian Arctic.

Named Ilanaaq, the symbol is a graphic, modern representation of the inukshuk – stacked rock forms that native tribes built to provide landmarks and direction throughout the Canadian landscape. Ilanaaq means “friend,” so the logo is meant to be “a friend that warmly welcomes the people of the world with open arms every day,” according to the official website of the Vancouver Games.

Um, what? OK, so I can absolutely see the resemblance between this Ilanaaq character and the inukshuk sculptures, and the rationale for this logo is totally valid. The host city should absolutely celebrate the culture of its country – that’s what The Olympics are all about! – pride in your country and the fact that you are going to kick your competitor’s ass in the name of [insert country here].
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