October 15, 2012

Modus principals lead innovation workshop at iStrategy Chicago

On October 10 Modus principals Graham Ericksen, Kristen Kulenych and Scott McDonald traveled to the iStrategy conference in Chicago to lead a workshop on customer-centered business innovation for over 100 executives from leading brands including Verizon Wireless, Abbott Laboratories, Hilton Hotels, SC Johnson, Charles Schwab and Marriott.

The interactive session, entitled "Customer Experience Design: Developing a Digital Innovation Playbook Focused on People, Not Technology" showed participants how to consistently increase profits and outmaneuver competitors by keeping people at the center of their digital business initiatives.

iStrategy is an inspirational, two-day, digital marketing conference for senior executives who believe that the success of their business requires a sound digital strategy. The iStrategy experience combines keynote speakers, expert panel discussions, interactive workshops and networking opportunities. The conference is held bi-annually at regional event locations in North America, Europe and Australia.

August 1, 2012

Modus Labs offers stunning views into the future of home buying

Imagine a world where buying a new home is as straightforward as buying a flat-screen television, only much more exciting. According to a new report by Modus Labs, that world may finally be coming. The free publication – The Future of Home Buying – envisions a world of total visibility for consumers as they search for and purchase their new home – a situation unimaginable just a few years ago.

"A new generation of websites like Trulia and StreetEasy are providing consumers with new and interesting ways to find their dream homes, and ever-increasing access to historical sale prices, market trends, environmental data, taxes, school ratings and consumer opinion – all in your pocket and without hidden agendas," commented Labs director Graham Ericksen. "This report takes these trends even further. You can really start to see where things are headed for consumers."

The Future of Home-Buying is the latest publication from Modus Labs, the futurist division of award-winning digital agency Modus Associates.

February 10, 2012

Principal Graham Ericksen talks customer experience at Digital Cream New York

Graham Ericksen, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Modus Associates, will moderate the Customer Experience and Conversion roundtable at Econsultancy's Digital Cream event on February 23rd at New York City's Metropolitan Pavilion.

Now in its fourth year, Digital Cream is an invitation-only event for senior digital strategists and marketers. This year's event will include 185 participants from leading U.S. and global brands. The event features two keynotes and 12 independently-moderated roundtables covering a range of digital disciplines including customer experience, email, social media, e-commerce, mobile and web analytics.

Digital Cream roundtables provide a forum to learn and share best practices, discuss what's working and what's not. Digital Cream New York is part of a global series of roundtables (also taking place in Chicago, San Jose, London, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney), sponsored by Econsultancy, making it the premiere event for senior digital marketers to network and learn through discussion and debate in a 'hands-on' participatory format.

Attendees confirmed for Digital Cream 2012 include Internet leaders from American Express, Avis, Barnes&Noble.com, Conde Nast, Deutsche Bank, Dow Jones, FreshDirect, The New York Times and Starwood Hotels.

August 15, 2011

Modus Joins Customer Experience Professionals Association as Founding Corporate Member

Global Trade Group Formed by Industry Experts Bruce Temkin and Jeanne Bliss Provides Members with Extensive Research, Education and Networking Opportunities

Modus Associates announced today that it has joined the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), a global industry trade group whose members are responsible for creating and maintaining an overall positive customer experience – a vital objective for any organization that offers products or services for sale.

The CXPA supports the professional development of its members and advances the field by providing research and education, establishing standards, offering networking and career opportunities, promoting the industry, and creating a better understanding of the customer experience discipline.

As a reflection of its recognition of the importance of customer experience management, Modus Associates has joined the CXPA as a Founding Corporate Member of the growing association.

"As a member of the Customer Experience Professionals Association, we are now part of a unique community of like-minded professionals all focused on advancing the practice of customer experience management," said Scott McDonald, managing director at Modus Associates. "The CXPA will also provide us with invaluable professional development and networking opportunities available nowhere else, plus the opportunity to be part of a unified, informed, and collective voice to help guide the evolution of customer experience."

The CXPA is led by Bruce Temkin, co-founder and chair, and Jeanne Bliss, co-founder and vice chair – pioneers in the customer experience field who have a deep understanding of the roots of this burgeoning industry and a keen shared vision of its future.

"We greatly appreciate the commitment that Modus Associates is making to the Customer Experience Professionals Association as demonstrated by being a Founding Corporate Member,"said Temkin. "We are pleased to welcome Modus Associates to the CXPA, and look forward to closely working together to help create a vibrant future for customer experience management."

June 30, 2011

Fast, fun and frugal: Modus Labs checks out the future of shopping

Modus Labs today released The Future of Shopping; a vision for transforming the everyday act of shopping into more social and exciting experiences that save consumers time and money. The new report is designed to help forward-thinking retailers understand and capitalize on emerging opportunities in mobile commerce, location-awareness and social networking by way of real-world examples and illustrations.

The Future of Shopping is the latest publication of Modus Labs, the experimental arm of award-winning digital agency Modus Associates. "This isn't about robot butlers and flying cars," commented Labs director Graham Ericksen. "Modus Labs takes on the essential, real-world concerns of consumers and businesses to conceive exciting visions of the future that appear ahead of their time, but in fact are achievable now. After reading this report, we hope our readers will never see shopping the same way again."

January 15, 2011

World's largest real estate firm engages Modus for major product renovation

Realogy Corporation, the world's largest franchisor of residential and commercial real estate brokerages, with 264,000 brokers and sales associates in 100 countries, has engaged Modus Associates to redesign its proprietary LeadRouter^SM lead management software.

Launched in 2004 as the first online product of its kind, LeadRouter has since distributed over 10 million sales leads to the company's brokers and agents from over 20,000 sources including Google, Yahoo, Zillow, Trulia, FrontDoor and Realtor.com. Using LeadRouter, brokers and agents can receive and respond to leads from potential clients within minutes, from any location, giving the firm a tremendous competitive advantage over its rivals.

Following an extensive user research program and competitive product review, the current redesign will seek to dramatically streamline functionality, improve speed, usability and reporting capabilities, and optimize for a full range of mobile devices.

October 30, 2010

New white paper helps businesses harness the exploding mobile web

Modus Associates today announced the release of its Mobile Strategy Guide white paper. The free 14-page resource was written to help businesses make sense of and capitalize on the exploding mobile web, a medium that is predicted to become twice the size of the desktop internet within five years.

The Mobile Strategy Guide cuts the mobile landscape down to size, separating fact from fiction, providing an accessible rundown of key devices and tactics and offering a simple four-step process to help executives quickly identify and prioritize their most promising opportunities.

"With almost 5 billion mobile handsets in use worldwide and capabilities improving weekly, mobile may well be the greatest business opportunity of all time," commented Graham Ericksen, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Modus Associates. "Given the growing range of opportunities to pursue, the hard part isn't deciding whether to go mobile, but what kind of mobile presence to invest in. This new resource will help."

July 1, 2010

U.S. General Services Administration awards GSA schedule contract to Modus Associates

Modus Associates has been awarded a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) schedule contract to supply its services to federal government purchasers. Under the contract, Modus Associates will be listed as a preferred government-approved vendor for the next five years.

The GSA Schedule is a government-wide procurement program that provides streamlined access to specialized industry partners, with established reputations, who have consistently demonstrated the ability to deliver world-class services. In awarding this contract, the General Services Administration evaluated a number of criteria including Modus' professional capabilities, corporate structure, performance history and customer satisfaction record.

April 30, 2010

Modus client Hoberman Associates profiled for innovation in Fast Company Magazine

Hoberman Associates, a world leader in transformable building design, was profiled in this month’s Fast Company Magazine for its forward-thinking approach to sustainable architecture and energy conservation.

Hoberman – which has created structures ranging from the massive stage set for U2’s recent 360° Tour to the landmark Palace of Justice in Madrid, Spain – recently launched its Adaptive Building Initiative (ABI), a network of leading architects, builders and thinkers dedicated to designing a new generation of buildings that change their size and shape in response to environmental conditions.

December 15, 2009

Modus principals featured in new American Express campaign

August 8, 2009

Leading Edge newsletter wins top honors in 2009 Interactive Media Awards

Modus Associates announced today that its quarterly Leading Edge client newsletter was honored for Outstanding Achievement in eNewsletter Design by the Interactive Media Awards.

"It's an honor to have our thought leadership recognized by the Interactive Media Awards," said Kristen Kulenych, Chief Experience Officer of Modus Associates. "This is further validation that e-newsletters focused squarely on customer interests, rather than agency marketing interests, are the most effective way to build relationships, brand and readership."

July 14, 2009

Modus and Dow Jones launch financial job site Fins.com

The Wall Street Journal and Modus Associates today launched Fins.com, a job search site targeted at financial professionals. The site blends a mix of job listings, recruitment ads and career-search related editorial -- all filtered through the lens of the Wall Street/financial world. FINS.com offers detailed research on over 1,500 companies, and numerous tools to help searchers narrow down information on specific sectors and corporations.

May 29, 2009

Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization Wins Communicator Award of Excellence (and four more)

The winners of The 2009 Communicator Awards were announced today by the International Academy of the Visual Arts. Our client The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization was honored with the competition's highest honor, as Award of Excellence, for R&H's new Modus-designed email marketing program.

The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals. This year's competition received over seven thousand entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards shows of its kind in the world.

The Communicator Award is the fifth major industry award for R&H this year. The others are two W3 Awards, a WebAward Standard of Excellence and an Internet Advertising Competition award.

May 1, 2009

Carmony.co.uk launches. The race is on.

Carmony.co.uk, a unique car shopping website designed by Modus Associates that matches people with approved vehicles based on their lifestyle, launched this week. Whether you're a young professional zipping around the city, a parent with a growing family or a driver concerned about the environment and your car's C0 emissions, Carmony can find the right car for you.

As well as catering for the experienced car buyer, Carmony.co.uk has a unique 'lifestyle search' feature walks you through the car buying process from start-to-finish, taking your personal needs and requirements into account before mapping them against thousands of approved vehicles.

• 100% approved vehicles from approved dealerships, giving buyers peace of mind.
• A green rating for each vehicle based on its carbon emissions.
• Official pricing information on yearly operating costs, allowing buyers to make a more informed choice about vehicle costs.
• Innovative new social features that let shoppers get friends and family involved in the buying process.
• A rich experience for everyone from the experienced car buyer to the novice.

July 21, 2008

Modus principals to speak at Intranet Week 2008

Modus Associates co-founders Scott McDonald and Kristen Kulenych have been invited to deliver a three-hour workshop on intranet design best practices at Intranet Week 2008 in Boston on July 31, 2008. The workshop, entitled Step-By-Step Tools to Upgrade and Redesign Your Intranet, will offer practical ways for intranet executives to transform their intranet into an engine of business growth.

Through checklists, case studies and interactive exercises, the workshop will give intranet leaders the tools and techniques they need to transform their intranet into one of their organization's most valuable business assets.

May 5, 2008

wis.dm named official Webby Award Nominee in social networking category

Modus client wis.dm nominated for best social networking site in the 12th Annual Webby Awards

Modus Associates announced today that Boston-based client wis.dm has been nominated for Best Social Networking site 12th Annual Webby Awards. Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet.

"Nominees like wis.dm are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. "It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 10,000 entries we received this year."

Fellow nominees this year in the social networking category included Bebo, Facebook and Ning.com.

January 12, 2008

Modus featured in Nielsen Norman Group's prestigious Intranet Design Annual for second year in a row

The corporate intranet designed by Modus Associates for Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation has been honored by the web usability experts at the Nielsen Norman Group in its Intranet Design Annual 2008: The Year's 10 Best Intranets. After reviewing over 500 intranets around the world in its annual design contest, the Nielsen Norman Group ranked the 10 best based on functionality, usability and world-class design. Other honorees this year included Bank of America, Barnes & Noble, Bankinter S.A. (Spain), British Airways, Campbell Soup Company, IKEA North America and SAP. Modus was also honored in last year's Intranet Design Annual for its work on Comcast Corporation's national marketing extranet.

September 12, 2007

Forrester Research cites Modus for persona expertise

Forrester Research announced a new report today entitled Small Firms That Can Help with Persona Projects. The report provides a survey of 33 user experience firms, including Modus Associates, with significant expertise creating personas to support everything from Web site and software design to business strategy, marketing, and sales.