About this blog:
Cramer is not a typical marketing agency. Our staff of 180 boasts some pretty strange bedfellows: Mechanical engineers sitting next to creatives; musical composers mixing with strategic planners; folks whose sole responsibility at Cramer is to seek out technologies that generate buzz, build brands and help companies communicate more effectively.
In 2003, Cramer held an internal event held for employees only. The goal: get a hands-on look at some of cool new technologies that were getting our attention. The technologies came from some pretty unlikely places: arena rock spectacles (think U2 and yes, even Britney Spears), Hollywood special effects, military simulation, Paris runways, geek chic passions (video games, mp3’s, and texting) and the like.
Three years later, this event has become an annual event not just for Cramer employees but also for our clients. It inspired this blog – a yearlong quest for and discussion about:
- technologies that are changing the way people communicate
- technologies that are creating buzz and building brands
- adapting technologies from entertainment/consumer markets to become powerful solutions for business.
We invite you into the conversation.
About our Authors:
Rob Everton, Creative Technology Director
To make one “Creative Technology Director” mix equal parts engineer, creative dreamer, and idealist. I’m constantly seeking new technology or services that fit one of two major criteria: 1. It’s really really cool -or- 2. I can creatively blend it with some existing services to create new solutions for marketing, communications, and entertainment. My background is pretty wacky and includes designing attractions for Disney, designing trade show experiences, writing plays, pushing really big buttons, designing laser systems and special effects for entertainment, engineering components for strategic defense and tactical weapons, kiosks, webcasting, strategic planning, and running a large videogame website as editor-in-chief.
Currently I’m losing brain cells at a rapid pace on behalf of my two kids, but I can still beat the pants off them in any videogame. I still can’t play the piano worth a damn. I can probably fill your head with more progressive rock trivia than should be allowed by the rules of interrogation under the Geneva Convention. I love new technology, but I don’t want to have to buy “The White Album” or “Star Wars” on any more plastic discs.
Greg Jones, Solutions Associate Apprentice
Solving problems is almost as fun as making them. I seek the best possible solution to every problem by combining creativity with common sense. I welcome a good challenge and believe that innovative thinking is what makes me who I am. I am tuned in to the social pulse of the internet, and actively seek the latest and greatest in design, apps, social media, technology, and marketing. My background is in new media and design, but curiosity constantly pushes those boundaries.
I take life as it comes and try my best to never plan ahead. I keep aquariums as a hobby and look forward to trying to turn a profit from it someday. I enjoy writing as much as I love reading, but I can’t recite the alphabet backwards to save my life. I love flip flops, but can’t stand the thing between my toes. I like to design do-it-yourself solutions to make my life easier, and I have an incessant urge to fix things that are broken. Oh hey, want to buy a fish?
Steve Gogolak, Director of Media and Webcasting
I’m a halfbreed. One part production groupie and one part digital media junkie. I’ve made a feature length film, more shorts than I can count (or remember) and I did all of that before the internet became a “thing” to participate in. Since then I’ve compressed video, authored DVDs, streamed live events, created wireframes, altered designs in Photoshop, written XML and, most of all, had a blast doing everything. I’m a halfbreed – and I’m okay with that.
Loriann Murray, Creative Director, Brand Development
As Creative Director within the Direct Marketing and Print Department at Cramer, Loriann brings over fifteen years experience delivering creative solutions through leading and managing art directors, designers, writers and photographers.
With her strong creative and technical abilities and experience, Loriann works with clients to exceed their expectations while meeting crucial deadlines. While at Cramer, Loriann has worked with Covidien, iDirect, Fast, Convera, Iron Mountain, Bayer, HP, and EMD Serono, Inc. on projects ranging from brand development to integrated lead generation campaigns.
Loriann studied Fine Art and Illustration at the Art Institute of Boston and received her B.S. from Northeastern University. Loriann was previously the V.P. of Web Products for a business-to-business e-commerce web site. Prior to that, she was instrumental in developing the creative department as the Creative Manager at Linsco/Private Ledger, Inc., an international financial services organization.
Tari Fanderclai, User Experience Designer
I love objects and technologies that surprise and delight their users, but most of all I love objects and technologies that fit seamlessly into users’ lives and help them to what they want to do the way they want to do it. As a user experience designer at Cramer, I spend my days figuring out how to make your web site or application satisfy your business needs and make your users say, “Awww, yeah.”
I’m a standup comic and a member of a sketch comedy troupe. I’m attracted to almost anything that’s purple or orange, and I’m frighteningly good at Nethack. In past lives, I’ve been a university writing teacher and a tech writer, and I’ve built collaborative virtual workplaces for educational, business, and even military uses.
Colin Henson, Art Director
I came to Cramer in 2000 with a background in graphic design and fine art—a BFA from RISD (Go Nads!). Since then I’ve seen Cramer grow from a production house with interactive offerings to a full blown digital marketing agency.
I am a designer with a focus on the intersection of graphic design and interaction. Design is all about communication and what interests me so much about interactive design is that its not only about one way communication—we also have to consider human to computer and human to human communication. Communication then becomes conversation. How do we best facilitate this conversation? That’s the question I try to answer with visual design.
I believe aesthetics are important and visually engaging people to participate in a conversation is as import as making it easy for them to do so. I am fascinated by the little touches that make a good design great – the quick transitions between screens on the iPhone, the simplicity of my Flip camcorder or the typography of some of my favorite blogs. I strive to equal these touches in my work here at Cramer.
Rob Larsen, Principal Presentation Engineer
I’ve been been blogging since 2001. Some days I’m better at it than others. In addition to my “curator” posts here, I write about technical aspects of the web at my new blog HTML + CSS + JavaScript, post art and write about various other topics at my personal blog. I’m also an active Twitter user.
By day, I’ve got more than 10 years of experience building and designing web sites and web applications. At Cramer, my team and I use Javascript, HTML and CSS to produce standards-compliant, accessible and SEO-friendly sites and rich internet applications.
Prior to joining Cramer, I worked for several years as a consultant for a bunch of great companies like Compete, Duracell, Gillette, the Boston Museum of Science, PC Connection, State Street Corporation and Webex Communications.
Barry Clegg, Senior Avid Editor
Some may say I push buttons, while others may say I am the guy who takes the green out of a chroma key video, while others may just call me the editor. I would say I am a story teller.
After graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2002, I started working here at Cramer in the duplications department. Odds are, if you got a VHS from us around that time, I put the label on it and checked to make sure it worked. After that, I began compressing and authoring DVDs and was lucky enough to author the DVDs for “Cowboy Up! The Wild Ride of the 2003 Boston Red Sox” and the Boston Globe’s “Boston’s Greatest Sports Stories: Beyond the Headlines.”
Soon after that I started editing, and have been lucky enough to work with the best editors, directors, producers, cinematographers and animators in the business. Some of the stories I have told include ones for the Massachusetts Film Office, Jordan’s Furniture, Casual Male and the Yawkey Foundation. I have come to terms with my obsession with movies, and have worked on numerous 48 Hour Film Projects with my team, Glasseye.
Like I said, I consider myself to be a story teller, so if you got a good one let me know.