The Digital Producer is responsible for managing and executing digital projects including design and software development for websites, mobile apps, widgets, and social media apps as well as email marketing, rich media, and banner campaigns. This position reports to the Director of Client Services and works under the supervision of the Sr. Digital Producer.

Our star-quality Digital Producer must magically pull virtual rabbits out of hats, ably juggle online fire sticks and energetically leap through digital hoops. The consummate ringmaster, the Digital Producer capably and confidently leads the team through complex, often seemingly impossible productions, while ensuring flawless execution on the part of each player. Things like risk, scope, budget and schedule for complex assignments are handled with laser-sharp focus and inimitable grace. In short, the thrill of delivering a perfect performance is what drives you.

Your great thinking, hard work and dedication to getting the job done with aplomb will be backed by a highly creative team and a refreshing workplace culture where humor, trust and transparency are foremost. As for dress code, top hat and tails are optional.

General Responsibilities

• Manage/coordinate internal design, development and production for an array of digital projects.
• Define and oversee deliverables – from inception through final delivery – for UX design documents, requirements documents, functional specs, prototypes, design templates, development and QA.
• Drive the scoping and estimating process for all new projects.
• Produce and implement work plans, project scope and timelines, project status reports and change management documents.
• Identify and, as needed, secure project resources.
• Facilitate, attend and document client and internal team project meetings. Own and follow up on resulting action items.
• Facilitate/communicate needed assets, reviews and approvals with multiple client stakeholders.
• Identify risks and manage resolution during the project life cycle.

Desired Experience and Skills

• This is a mid-level position requiring a minimum of five years digital agency project management experience.
• Strong digital literacy – UX design management and/or software development is a big plus.
• Ability to manage multiple, complex assignments working independently in a deadline, fast-paced environment.
• Extraordinary communicator – written and verbal.
• Value collaboration and team contributions.
• Obsessive about accuracy and quality of work.
• Highly flexible and resourceful.
• Proficient in MS Office Suite, MS Project and/or other digital project management tools.
• Bachelor’s degree in related field is preferred.

Who do we think we are?
tenfour is a creative agency with a rare mix of clever strategy, technical smarts and thoughtful design. We are a fully integrated, minority-owned marketing agency delivering services and solutions to clients across a broad range of industries. We are 30 design, technology and business professionals working in Portland, Oregon.

Send your resume to talent@tenfouragency.com

Inception
During the planning period, tenfour dug through the Facebook Insights as well as the web logs from previous recent programs (Flavors Take Flight + Aloha Passport) housed within microsites. Suspicions were confirmed; the mobile usage was significant and growing for users and, particularly, the brand ambassadors sharing links with their networks about Hawaiian Airlines.

• m.facebook.com – 2nd highest referring site (~12% of all traffic)
• 320×480 – 2nd most used screen size (14.75%)
• iPhone, Android, and iPad make up 96% of mobile device usage

This information helped to craft Hawaiian Airlines’ first mobile-optimized social campaign focused on catering to mobile Facebook users – 60% of all Facebook users do so on their mobile devices. Business pages – like Hawaiian Airlines – on Facebook are particularly challenging as they always show up as Barbie-sized versions of the desktop experience requiring a triple zoom in order to engage. We didn’t want this speed bump to limit participation, so we designed for mobile first.

Concept Strategy
The Send-a-Friend concept was straightforward, easy, and rewarding. Players picked one of their Facebook friends and chose one of Hawaiian’s global destinations – including the brand-spanking-new NYC route – and then entered to win a pair of tickets to that destination and their friend would get another two tickets in their name. tenfour built the custom Facebook app to make it simple to enter with no forms to fill out. Just one Facebook authorization scraped an email to alert winners and then posted a single message on both the player’s and the nominated friend’s walls to notify of them of the contest they had entered.

A sniffer on the entry page ensured that visitors using desktop browsers had an experience that was optimized for them, too. This version expanded upon the mobile layout with the addition of an optional field to add your HawaiianMiles account number or link to get one. This was intentionally left out of the mobile version to minimize any perceived barrier to entry.

Motivation
While the app confirmation messages alerted both people’s networks, we also baked in motivation to have players spread the word. Contestants could only enter once, but they could be nominated by their friends an infinite amount of times – adding an additional ‘name in the hat’ with each nomination.

Goals
The goal of the promotion was similar to previous efforts : create fun ways to share the brand (and re-share), learn about additional routes, boost HawaiianMiles memberships and – ultimately – sell tickets. For this campaign there was also a revived interest in gaining additional fans/likes. After some analysis, it turns out there is a direct correlation between revenue earned and the number of community members subscribing to Hawaiian Airlines’ key social networks. tenfour recommended a ‘Like Gate’ or ‘Fan Gate’ to require non-fans to ‘like’ their page prior to gaining access to the promotion. The strategy worked superbly and garnered over 20k new fans during the first two weeks of the promotion.

Rollout
Over the past year we had proactively collected the fifty most influential community members, the ones that generated the most click-backs to various promotions. For Send-a-Friend, we invited a hundred of them to help test the effort during the beta launch. The response was enthusiastic and the influencers appreciated being recognized and gaining early access to the promotion. We coupled this effort with a “Bucks for Bugs” QA with friends and family reach out to help bullet-proof the app prior to prime time. Both efforts proved to be super helpful in extending the initial quality assurance and helped to identify some key improvements.

Results
As we’ve seen with other programs, the mobile usage of this program exceeded expectations and hovered at ~40% for the duration of campaign. The Send-a-Friend campaign has directly added over 20% of Hawaiian Airlines total fan base on Facebook – 2x the client’s goal. Sharing has been strong and was supplemented by the 24,000+ entries that pushed wall updates to all contestants and their nominated friends. Final revenue numbers indicate an 11x ROI for the client.

We are seeking an engineer to work on the software infrastructure of our marketing applications. This strategic hire will work closely with front-end (HTML, CSS) developers to build usable, high-quality software and integrate web services from Google, Twitter, Facebook, WebEx and others.

Mad Skills:
You must have 2-4 years of experience in the following areas:

• Object-oriented design and development of software used by thousands of people or more
• Test-driven development and automated testing
• Rapid estimation, with good accuracy, of the time and effort required to deliver large and small software projects
• Agile development, including strict prioritization of user stories, rapid delivery of high-value or high-risk features with good quality, and ability to adapt to changing requirements
• Making daily progress on up to four software development projects

Tool Belt:

• Git or other source code management systems
• Ruby on Rails or other frameworks for building MVC applications
• You must have some experience in each tier of an n-tier web application

Brownie Points:

• Experience working full-time or freelance for a creative/design agency
• Experience with user interface design or design for usability
• Experience building casual gaming or other entertainment software
• Experience building mobile applications for iOS or Android platforms
• University degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Pecking Order:
The Software Engineer will report to the Technology Director and will work with Creative, User Experience, and Client Services teams to build the bedrock foundation of our marketing campaigns. The ideal candidate will leverage cutting-edge technologies to extend our portfolio of award-winning mobile apps, social media apps, gaming and web applications used by millions.

Hat In The Ring:
If this is your wheelhouse, please send your resume/portfolio, three references, salary expectations and a brief description of why we would be crazy not to hire you. Also, please include a short list of your favorite SaaS applications and why they are your favorites.

Who do we think we are?
We are tenfour. We’re a creative agency with a rare mix of clever strategy, technical smarts and thoughtful design. We design compelling experiences for bright brands and their agencies.

Send the goods to talent@tenfouragency.com

Portland, Oregon only—no relocation offered.

We are seeking to add the talents of an experienced digital creative leader who will bring cutting-edge thinking and superlative design chops to our innovative, highly entrepreneurial team. You must demonstrate a passion for strategic problem solving and a deep understanding of designing for a myriad of platforms and interactive experiences. You need to be eager to stay current with the quickly evolving digital universe and have enthusiasm for interacting with corporate clients, leading teams, and bringing fresh and viable creative concepts to the table.

Mad Skills:

• 7+ years in an agency building experiences and leading large-scale digital projects/campaigns for global brands
• Intuitive understanding of digital user experience and behavior
• Conceptualize exciting and effective online and mobile marketing campaigns
• Experience creating mobile websites and native apps is preferred, as is a background in content-rich design
• Well versed in standard Web product-development processes
• Interest in crafting multi-channel campaigns spanning across traditional and non-traditional outlets
• Deep understanding of display advertising and the passion to continuously explore new angles, offers, methods, technology and measurement strategies
• Ability to lead motion design, video, audio projects from pre-production through post
• History of working with sales, marketing, and business development teams is a plus
• Expected be a resourceful, collaborative team player with a proven ability to meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Sterling presentation skills are essential – both verbal and written
• Strong interpersonal and time-management skills are assumed
• Knack for for building creative teams and mentoring emerging talent
• Passionate curiosity to explore creative intersections between technology and design to build experiences that add value to peoples’ lives while infusing business goals

Tool Belt:
Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office

Brownie Points:
Flash, After Effects, Final Cut, 3D Modeling, HTML, XHTML, CSS, Sketching, Omnigraffle

Pecking Order:
The Creative Director will report to the Sr. VP of Creative and lead a talented team of designers, animators, writers (and extended family of freelancers) to conceive and design innovative content, applications, and campaigns for our clients. S/he will also work with new business development team to think up creative approaches for client pitches.

Hat in the Ring:
If this is your wheelhouse, please send your resume/portfolio, three references, salary expectations and a brief description of why we would be crazy not to hire you. Also, please include a short list of your favorite digital marketing campaigns from the past year and why.

Who do we think we are?
We are tenfour. We’re a creative agency with a rare mix of clever strategy, technical smarts and thoughtful design. We design compelling experiences for bright brands and their agencies.

Send the goods to talent@tenfouragency.com

Portland, Oregon only – no relocation offered.

I started my career as most designers my age did, in print. In fact, it was only a few years after I graduated design school that this new-fangled “fad” called the Internet started making its way into people’s homes. I didn’t give a second thought to how this new media made it onto my computer screen, nor did I care. I just thought it was cool.

As a print designer I used to mock the web. Most of the websites I saw were really ugly, and you hardly had any control over what appeared. There were a few limited fonts, badly kerned, mostly drop-shadowed (because you could) and some really low-resolution imagery.

For me, websites were a second thought, usually coming up at the end of an intense print project, with someone saying, “Hey, how can we get our idea into the mainstream media?” We would send our assets out and a web developer would make it happen. Now, through some magical shift in the universe, and the introduction of mobile devices to society, websites and mobile sites are the first thing anybody thinks of when trying to market their product or service.

I wasn’t sure how to handle this transition. In fact I sort of started to panic. I wasn’t trained for this! I didn’t have the first clue how I was going to catch up, or re-train myself and get on this bandwagon. I considered going back to school, but as a full-time working mother of two, it really wasn’t an option at the time.

I tried to rebel. I said to myself “Okay, I’ll tweet and blog, but I’ll only tweet and blog about the latest in printing techniques, or cool letterpress ideas…I’ll show them.” (Who they were I wasn’t sure.) But, to my chagrin, no amount of rebelling was going to stop this train.

So instead I decided to swallow my pride and get on board, and in that small release of control I was so tightly holding on to, I realized that there was a really big, really exciting design opportunity waiting for me. I’m really fortunate to work here at tenfour. Not only am I surrounded by super-smart, super-talented people, but through osmosis and a basic sink-or-swim work ethic, I’m quickly absorbing the skills that will move me to the next phase of my career. They’ve afforded me immeasurable training, and I’ve truly begun to understand and unravel that interactive world that once seemed so mysterious to me.

Just last week I attended the first HOW Interactive Design Conference with my fellow senior designer Jennifer Rouse. When I first signed up I thought I might be in a little over my head—it was that word “interactive” that had me doubting myself. I imagined being in the middle of hundreds of programmers, developers and interactive designers completely geeking out on the latest coding tips and tricks. Yes, there was a little of that, but instead I found myself surrounded by hundreds of designers just like myself, who were now grabbing hold of the zip line that was taking them to the next step in their careers.

It made me realize that interactive design was no longer this daunting mountain that I couldn’t climb. I realized that it moves so fast, and that technology changes so quickly and so often that there are very few “experts” (although we have several here at tenfour!). We’re all just trying to keep up. And the one constant is that I’m still a good designer. It’s just learning new methods and new ways to apply my designs to the technology that’s out there.

I still love print. I love the feel of really good paper under my fingers, the smell of ink and varnish, and the tactile rush I get from unfolding a fabulously designed piece. But I’ve learned that no matter what the media, good design and marketing needs to answer the same questions. Who is your client, what do you want to say about them, what goals are you trying to achieve (Increase sales? Improve customer service? Increase enrollment?). Most importantly, have you met your client’s needs? If I’ve answered those questions successfully, while putting forth a kick-ass design, then my job description really hasn’t changed at all.

I’ll never be a hardcore web coder. But what I can do is understand the technology to the best of my ability, not only so I can make things a little easier on those hardcore coders, but so I can still showcase my design and my vision in the best light, while making a user-friendly and seamless experience for the end user.

And that is all a designer can ask for.

@pontomama

I need a new mobile phone.

Now, those of you who know me know that I love a well-crafted product and I hate the painful process of getting used to a new ecosystem, so it would seem that I’d be all about the iPhone 4S. But a few wrinkles have worked their way into my otherwise seamless upgrade plan.

First, there are my Android-lovin’ co-workers who’ve been taunting me with their slick cameras, 4G and integrated Google services. I have to admit to a little gadget jealousy, that is, until I watch them try to find something, anything, on their phone and I see how long it takes. Second, was a last-minute invite to a Windows Phone launch party in New York City. That OS is smokin’. It’s beautiful. And who doesn’t want their Xbox avatar on their phone?

While I was in New York I attended the AdTech NY Conference and sat in on the Walter Isaacson talk. Toward the end he discussed the relationship between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and how one of them (Jobs) was obsessed with producing integrated experiences that were beautiful inside and out, but essentially closed in order to preserve the integrity of that beauty. While the other (Gates) believed in malleable systems whose experience could be altered to suit the needs of a multitude of third-party manufacturers.

These two men shaped the universe of OS interaction as we know it today.

It’s an interesting juxtaposition if you think about it. The iPhone is like a pristine, planned community with credit and background checks just to get a visitor’s pass. Android is like, well, it’s like New York City: everything all the time, just the way you want it, but also dirty, confusing and sometimes it just doesn’t work as expected. As for Windows Phone OS, I’m not even sure yet. It’s feeling like something in the middle—maybe downtown Chicago.

For the first time in a long time, it really is an open field. Two years ago I bought my first iPhone and as my contract marched toward expiration, I never thought I’d consider another device. Now, Android has matured to a competitive place functionally and Windows Phone has made a strong showing out the gate.

On December 1st, I’m either getting the iPhone 4S, the Windows Phone sporting HTC Titan, or the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S II. And, you, America, are going to decide for me.

Why these three? Well, first off, I’m not switching carriers and on AT&T these are my best options. I also don’t really care about 4G. It can be impressive, but even on Verizon the network is just not mature enough. Let’s not even get into battery life. Also, I liked the idea of selecting phones from three different manufacturers.

To those of you who might say, “But what about all those dropped calls?” I would probably reply, “You use your mobile phone to make calls? Weird.”

Below you’ll find a poll. Vote for the phone you think I should get, we’ll tally results, and on December 1st, I’ll get that phone and spend the next 30 days blogging about it. I’d also like to hear your thoughts in the comments section (as well as on Twitter: #reggiesphone) about these phones and your experiences with the OSs.

Thanks to everyone that made it out to the Wing It paper plane derby. We had a blast and raised our glasses and some donations for a good cause. Every event is an opportunity for us to operate on ourselves, pilot some new efforts, and an excuse to play with gadgets. This event was no exception:

• On entry, we devised a branded QR code that–when snapped–pre-populated an SMS text donation straight to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
• We debuted our animated identity, created some cartoon sequences, and had fun with real-time video feeds and live VJ mixing thanks to our neighbors, Spitball Media
• Square credit card systems were collecting donations on iPads and mobile phones and emailing receipts
• No party is complete without photographic evidence so we hacked together a nice photobooth set-up and invested in a ring light trigger for self-portraits. Photos were posted throughout the evening and tagged in real time on Facebook
• Visitors who checked in were greeted with a custom message and left with Wing It swag.
• Finally, we built an app leaderboard for tabulating the top flying airplanes and auto tweeted each new high score

Competition grew fierce through the night. There were as many planes flying as there were theories on how to make the best one, all for a shot at the coveted trophy. Big thanks to Leo Matthews and our very own Mimi Danh for their time and effort in crafting the mammoth award. Congrats goes out to Nathan Perly who is rumored to have constructed his flying machine using the Pythagorean Theorem, whatever that means.

We all had a great time and want to thank Sokol Blosser and Bridgeport Brewery for keeping everyone hydrated, Kris Utz with the Renaissance Catering mobile pizza oven for fueling our pilots, and DJ SKNNY MRCLS for spinning wax on his sound system. Looking forward to next September!

- tenfour flight crew

A Simple Strategy
We decided to focus on the key benefit of this software — you can run Windows on your Mac — and express it straight out so consumers would know exactly what this product does without lifting a finger.

We stayed within the Parallels brand style, but put it together in a new, fresh way that would stand out on store shelves, and wrote copy that would engage customers, bringing the story alive once they picked it up.

We rolled this “keep it simple” strategy into guidelines and templates that Parallels could use in-house to develop a series of collateral materials and foreign language versions of the packaging.

Design Process
Previous Desktop 6 Packaging (we did NOT design these)

Dull/gloss, color-on-color – we thought this would stand out and intrigue shoppers, but the clients thought it would be too subtle.

Bold and simple – this version ended as a close runner-up in the final rounds.

Product brand as hero – less successful for users who weren’t already familiar with the product.

This idea took the smallest steps away from the previous Desktop 6 packaging. Parallels was willing to go farther.

Ad Campaign
To get the word out to people who might be new to the idea of desktop virtualization, we developed this banner campaign that stretched into print media as well. The Mac-Windows family was a quirky-looking bunch that showed how Windows can get along with your Mac, dealing with a wide array of interests and needs.

The campaign has been localized for European and Asian markets.

The Mac-Windows Family

Airport Digital Ad

Flash Banner

The Mac-Windows Family Campaign Guidelines
We developed a style guide so that Parallels’ in-house marketing and design department could implement the campaign in more markets.

Product-focused Marketing
For advertising and marketing that may outlast the Mac-Windows campaign, we developed tactics that use the brand look and messaging established with the packaging design.

Print Ad

Parallels Desktop 7 Guidelines

Apple pioneered a focus on computer-human interaction and user interface. Xerox may have conceived and invented interface technologies. But it was Jobs, the consummate innovator, who recognized their value and succeeded in commercializing them, thereby bringing that value out of the ivory tower to the world. Other companies were making products that were useful but sterile, cold, calculating and demanding of technical expertise. Apple produced packages of hardware, software, and internet services that were beautiful, colorful, playful, warm, welcoming, friendly and approachable. Their products appealed, in the beginning, to writers, visual artists, and musicians, and later to consumers.

Who else has built a diverse suite of products around which consumers are willing to build a lifestyle? Who else has produced a steady stream of products that people truly love—quirks and all? And what better evidence of their connection to our humanity than that they inspire love?

Similarly, it was under Jobs’s leadership of Pixar that a computer graphics pioneer partnered with Disney to revolutionize animated motion pictures. The result was a stream of stories and characters that engaged children and touched the hearts of adults. Pixar productions were commercially-successful blockbusters, showing us stunning images that would have been near impossible and prohibitively expensive without modern technology.

Today, corporate America is under severe criticism that it has lost touch with the mass of humanity. Corporate leaders would do well to emulate Jobs, who led Apple to the highest capitalist heights on the strength of the connection between his work and our humanity.

It is easy and tempting for clients as well as agencies to fall into the trap of treating such projects as variations of traditional print or motion picture advertising work. These arts have a long history and numerous institutions—educational, commercial, and professional—dedicated to their promotion and advancement. Large industries are dedicated just to the tools of these trades. And the fact is, web sites and mobile applications have a fundamental need for them.

However, agencies that treat digital marketing projects as variations of print or motion picture work are doing a disservice to themselves and their clients.

At tenfour, we have a deep understanding that digital marketing goes beyond what is first visible on a two-dimensional screen. There is a spatial aspect to the digital brand experience (which is why we talk about information “architecture”). The possibility of interaction with the site or application demands skills traditionally cultivated by industrial designers. The time aspects of a digital project go well beyond mainstream motion picture considerations, when we consider repeat visitors being welcomed over weeks or months. Technology considerations are numerous—permutations of operating systems, browsers, hardware, and form factor (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone) all combine to mediate the digital experience.

Yet, every one of the demands a digital marketing project makes, either on the agency or the client, is accompanied by opportunities to reach customers and prospects, communicate to them in unique and compelling ways, engage them in positive interactions, and better understand their pains and needs. Social media provide innovative routes for capturing, reporting, and sharing experiences. Electronic commerce has enabled a smooth and enjoyable transition for consumers from an initial impression to one or more purchases. Many digital marketing opportunities are invisible to the consumer, like analytics that clarify which messages attract and retain attention.

We take this very seriously. It’s not just about being modern or using the latest widget. It’s about creating an outstanding first 2D impression, as well as investing in the dimensions beyond, for the benefit of clients and consumers. Even when faced with a request for a “quick paint job,” we feel it’s our job to lead clients to the hidden treasures available in digital marketing.

photo via pulpolux

– Milind S. Pandit