Thinking: Our Blog
Latitude Insights might be located down under, but when it comes to consumer research they’re located at the top of their field. As an early embracer of technology, Latitude has been able to leverage new tools to collect richer consumer insights and engage their study participants in fresh ways. Oomph has been working with the Australian company for four years, supporting them in their ongoing mission to offer clients the latest in qualitative and quantitative research technology.
In 2009, the Latitude team asked Oomph to create a multi-site framework that would give them more than just the capacity to host a large number of unique micro-sites, but also the power to independently add customized community sites on a regular basis and in a timely manner.
“This was an exciting time for Latitude, as we were preparing to launch a large-scale technical project of huge importance to the business,” says Marcail Arbuthnot, Research Manager at Latitude. “We were seeking a trusted partner that would work closely with us on our immediate project needs, as well as into the future.”
She says Oomph was the right decision.
“The Drupal-based community platform has enjoyed widespread take-up throughout our business, has provided Latitude with a competitive edge within the Market Research Industry and is delivering a healthy return on investment,” says Arbuthnot.
Since then, Latitude has continued their relationship with Oomph, choosing us as their go-to agency when it comes to maintaining and improving their community of sites. Most recently, we added private sharing tools to the framework that are designed to act like familiar social media sharing tools, but that are housed completely within Latitude’s framework. Using these tools, research participants, who are the end users, can comment or upload images or video to a community site. These tools are also easily managed by a site moderator so that he or she can, for example, hide comments from a participant until the participant has commented on the topic. We also built a broadcast tool allowing a moderator to “publish” a specific thread or invite users to “subscribe” to a specific thread.
Features like these help Latitude stay ahead of a changing industry. We continue to feel honored to have been selected as a partner in their mission. For more details about the Latitude Insights project, visit our Portfolio.
Interactive One and Oomph teamed up on iOne’s enterprise migration to WordPress.com VIP, a decision that has already seen a great return for iOne and its audience. Today on VIP’s site, read about the story as told by our friend Grant Cerny, Senior Vice President Products, Operations and iOne Studios. Here, he talks about why he chose WordPress.com VIP and the impact of a responsive design, and about the positive changes these decisions have made for their 70+ network of sites, particularly in the area of mobile user engagement.
“We needed agility, we needed stability, and we needed security. We’ve got all three of those now with WordPress.com VIP, so now we can focus on the business part of our business instead of the infrastructure.”
– Grant Cerny, Senior Vice President Products, Operations and iOne Studios (Courtesy WordPress.com VIP)
Read more about Oomph’s involvement in our iOne Case Study.
We’re just two days away from the first Boston WordPress Hack Day, happening March 2, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bocoup Loft in Boston. This is an all-hands-on-deck, head-down day of hacking that gives developers the chance to contribute to WordPress core by tackling open tickets in Trac and helping to fine tune v 3.6. Our guys are devoting their Saturday to giving back to WordPress, and we think that speaks to the caliber of their passion for the platform.
If you are interested in Hack Day, you can still register. We hope to see you there.
You might have noticed we have a new marketing person on board.
Meet Alyson Aiello. She’s our new Marketing and Recruiting Coordinator and resident Lionel Richie fan. Alyson is such a big fan that when asked to describe her approach to social marketing writing, she answers in lyrics: “Say you. Say me. Say it together.” Pretty accurate, actually.
“A lot can be explained in Lionel Richie lyrics,” she says, jokingly. “He just knows how to tell a good story.”
As a professional writer with a background in marketing, public relations, journalism and creative fiction, Alyson knows how to tell a good story, too. We’ve brought her on to tell ours.
Since joining the team, she’s been busy getting the word out about Oomph on our blog and social media networks, and expanding our efforts to grow our team with the best and brightest. Alyson also manages our site content, including our client portfolio.
Immediately prior to joining Oomph, Alyson worked as a freelance writer, editor and media consultant from her home in Newburyport, Mass. She’s been assisting us with case studies, blogs and internal communication for some time now as a freelancer, and says she is glad to have the opportunity to fully immerse herself in the work and culture at Oomph, and “bring to light all the details that make the company so special.”
Alyson is a graduate of the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and holds a master’s degree in English from Arcadia University. When she’s not immersed in the world of Oomph, she can typically be found in the kitchen listening to Lionel Richie and baking with her two children. We hope to sample the extras, but in the meantime please join us in welcoming Alyson to the Boston team. We’re stuck on her, and we think you will be, too.
Coffee, camaraderie and WordPress core? This smacks of a Hack Day, Boston. Oomph is proud to be a sponsor of the first Boston WordPress Hack Day happening March 2 at the Bocoup Loft from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Five of Oomph’s own developers will take part in this “badge of honor” event that gives WordPress-fluent fanatics the opportunity to work on tickets for WordPress core and contribute in a meaningful way to everybody’s favorite Open Source code. Throughout the day, our guys will be hacking alongside fellow Boston area coders as they work on patches and submit changes to Trac. Hack Day is an event that unites developers in a common goal based on a common passion—a passion we have a responsibility to feed. Yes, that means we’re providing the food.
For more information visit Boston WordPress online, or sign up here. Check in with Oomph for live updates from the event on Facebook and Twitter @oomphinc.
Radar Online, a 24/7 entertainment website, is the most recent online publication to get a facelift from American Media, Inc.—and AMI chose Oomph as the digital surgeons for the procedure.
AMI asked Oomph to implement a new site design they’d drafted in-house, but they needed more than just a front-end polish. Essentially, they wanted us to rebuild the site and give it a new, stronger infrastructure capable of handling high traffic while maintaining reliable, efficient performance. Our discovery team recommended WordPress.com VIP as the choice content management platform for the new Radar Online. As part of the move, we migrated nearly half a million records, including 50,000 image galleries, from their old system to WordPress. We also improved the user experience with the implementation of a cleaner, more attractive front-end appearance.
Oomph’s team of developers did something else unique for Radar: By maintaining the very same URL structure, wherever possible, we helped them avoid the blips in SEO retention that tend to happen when a site moves to a new CMS. Finally, we staffed the Radar Online launch—something we consider to be one of the most important parts of any project. Oomph team members were on-site alongside Radar staff to provide quality assurance and real time problem solving, which not only helped their team feel more secure on such an important day, but also provided a level of crisis management training that they could draw from in the future.
Our collaboration with AMI and Radar is just the beginning of this relationship. The Oomph team is already at work on another major AMI site.
Cupid is going to be wicked busy today. But, he’s not the only one. Today, Oomph is at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for their Summer Internship and Career Fair, where we hope to do some matchmaking of our own—of the job variety.
We’ve got the red Oomph table set up complete with red hot candy and even hotter developer jobs and internship opportunities. We’re told nearly 2,000 students will come through the Sports and Recreation Building this afternoon, all on the lookout for their soulmate company.
I will be tweeting live from the fair throughout the day via @oomphinc and sharing some photos on Facebook. For those of you following along at home, remember you, too, can apply to join the Oomph team.
Happy Valentine’s Day from Oomph!