Sperry Top-Siders, makers the original boat shoe, turned to Empathy Lab for a new ecommerce store that captures the brand's sporty take on the good life. Built on the multi-site ATG framework we first created for Payless ShoeSource, this site is a collaboration between Empathy Lab's ecommerce practice and our partners at Professional Access.
Jonathan Lupo, Empathy Lab's vice president of information architecture, shares his thoughts on improving product design through user research in an article recently published on iSixSigma.com. View the full text here.
Today, Empathy Lab client, Rogers Communications of Toronto, Ontario, announced the Beta launch of Rogers On Demand Online, Canada’s best online destination for prime time and specialty TV programming, movies, sports and web-only extras. Rogers customers throughout Canada are now able to access their favorite programming online, when and where they want to watch.
Rogers selected Empathy Lab to assist with architecture and design of the service from the user experience through to the development of the website and application.
Lexmark tapped Empathy Lab and Professional Access to create a completely new ecommerce destination on the ATG platform: Lexmark.com. The new site features Lexmark's printing and imaging equipment and supplies for home offices and small to medium businesses, in a clean and easy to shop design.
Runners need more than highly technical running shoes: the passion they feel for their sport needs to be reflected in style. So when Saucony was ready to launch their first-ever ecommerce site, they chose the ATG platform and asked Empathy Lab and PA to create the store. Building on our multi-site framework first developed for sister brand Payless ShoeSource, we helped Saucony define a new experience geared towards the urban market. Leveraging an understanding of Saucony’s audience and their passions, we delivered an outstanding site experience that allows the business to grow and thrive.
To celebrate its 4th birthday, PBS KIDS Sprout, the network that’s all preschool, all the time, has adopted an entirely new graphic look on air and at SproutOnline.com. Based on old-school multimedia (e.g. glitter, buttons, cardboard, pipecleaners, and fabric), the new style transforms a digital experience into something tactile (in some places even kind of fuzzy). Don’t miss the moment at 7:00 pm ET, when the site turns from day to night!
David’s Bridal, the nation’s leading bridal apparel retailer, has asked Empathy Lab to help move the needle on their website’s overall ROI. While DavidsBridal.com currently delivers tremendous value to both David’s Bridal’s consumers and the core business alike, the potential to do even more is almost staggering. Empathy Lab will begin by focusing our efforts on developing an intimate understanding of David’s Bridal’s online and offline customers as well as the company’s overall sales process. We just hope to be invited to the reception afterwards!
When GSK, a top 5 pharmaceutical company, decided to create stronger online relationships with physicians, they turned to Empathy Lab. We thought their idea of building an HCP portal was smart, but we told them to first check with the folks whose opinion on the subject really matters: the physicians themselves. And so we headed out into the field, conducting primary, contextual research with physicians to find out what they really want from a pharma portal. Armed with that insight, we helped GSK with the planning, design, content, and launch of their enterprise-wide physician portal: GSKSource.
Post-launch, Empathy Lab continues to assist GSK in the expansion of the portal’s structure and content offerings, and in ongoing primary research with physicians. So far, we find that their uptake and compliance are very good.
Empathy Lab celebrates four years of working with some of the best clients an interactive agency could ever hope for! Four years ago today we put up our shingle and began working with our first two clients: Keystone Property Group and CHUBB Insurance. We are thankful for their willingness to hire a start up digital consultancy and are thrilled to still be servicing them today. We also grateful to the rest of our clients who have welcomed us into their fold and continued to work with us over the years including Comcast, Sony, VF Corp, GSK, Cablevision, Viacom, Lexmark, TBC, Scholastic, Wyeth, TD Bank, Martha Stewart, and WWE. Thanks also to the wonderful team who has helped to build EL into the company it is today. We are lucky to have the countries absolute best minds in digital on our roster.
To commemorate this anniversary, we decided to relaunch our website. Sometimes, even the cobbler's children get new shoes.
4 year olds across the country woke up early to welcome the world’s biggest pre-school band to the PBS KIDS Sprout airwaves. Sprout’s Wiggly Waffle show is a daily dose of original Wiggles fun helps families kick start the day with a wiggle, a giggle and a song. Empathy Lab created the companion Wiggly Waffle experience on Sprout’s broadband channel, SproutOnline.com. The microsite is a creative play space where preschoolers can interact with Sam, Murray, Anthony, and Jeff in original games such as “Wake Up Jeff” and “The Waffle Topper”. In the true Sprout spirit, it also lets kids help shape the on air broadcast by submitting their “Juice Box Pick” each day, or live the dream by becoming “The 5th Wiggle.” So log onto Sprout with your favorite preschooler and let the fun begin. (Don’t have a preschooler? You’re welcome to join the fun, too – just say you’re “researching” your new interactive agency.)
Empathy Lab and Scholastic team up with Super Bowl MVPs Eli and Peyton Manning to help donate one million books to children in need through Scholastic Book Clubs “ClassroomsCare” website. On the site, teachers can create a homepage for their class, deciding whether they want to read for “Team Eli” or “Team Peyton”. The site enables each class to keep track of how many books they read during the year, compare their progress with other classrooms around the country, and learn more about the charity partners through videos, e-cards, and other online activities. And when a classroom reaches the goal of reading 100 books, it’s the kids who win, as Scholastic donates a million books through this wonderful program.
Talecris Biotherapeutics selects Empathy Lab to redesign Prolastin.com for the patient, caregiver and HCP audiences. The project has already kicked off with a heavy focus field research with the three primary segments. Launch of the new site is planned for early Q1 2010.
Empathy Lab launches Payless.com as part of a new multi-site framework strategy for CBi. The new site is run on ATG's eCommerce platform and features advanced segmentation funtionality. Empathy Lab will work with additional shoe brands within the CBi portfolio to leverage the strategic and technical assets of the Payless initiative to fast-track a relaunch of their online stores.
Empathy Lab is proud to announce client Nautica.com has doubled its online sales goals for Q1 of 2009. Empathy Lab originally launched the site for VF in January of 2008 and has been working with the retail giant ever since. EL and Nautica now are setting sights on making Q2 an even bigger success.
What do you get when you mash up family photos, cute border designs, and your favorite PBS characters? A work of art that’s all your own. Punch in at the Photo Factory at PBSParents.org to get creative with this fun and easy to use tool.
Empathy Lab and Scholastic give kids even more reasons to love reading with "The Stacks" online tween community. For over 87 years, Scholastic has created quality products and services that educate, entertain and motivate children and help enlarge their understanding of the world around them. Through this engaging social network, centered around the books and characters that make Scholastic a global leader in publishing, education and media, kids can sign up, create a personalized profile with their own avatar (created on the site through some pretty cool and creative interactivity), add "widgets" (cool games, quizzes, and other activities from around the scholastic online properties) to their profiles, update their mood, friend other users and send "shout-outs" to their friends, and generally be a part of the fun, all in a safe age appropriate environment.
After conducting research with die-hard WWE fans, Empathy Lab created a new video experience for WWE.com. In addition to a bigger video screen and more advanced functionality, our page gives the fans easy access to more of the hard-hitting videos they crave through multiple playlists attached to every video. Post-launch, video views immediately increased by 77% and ad impressions rose by 95%.
Empathy Lab just launched the latest in a series of sites for Quigley Corp., best known as the company behind Cold-EEZE zinc lozenges. We helped spearhead their “Cold Fight 360” strategy that showcases their full product line – Cold-EEZE to reduce the duration of colds, Immune Support Complex 10 to increase the body’s ability to fight colds, Organix cough drops for symptom relief, and Kids-EEZE for congestion relief for young folks. At press time, reports were still unconfirmed that this relationship is the reason why Empathy Lab employees have not taken any sick days this year.
Fuji Bicycles, one of the world’s oldest bicycle manufacturers, has teamed with Empathy Lab to redefine their online brand experience. The site, which offers customers a complete product catalog, has enabled the company to engage its customer’s with expanded content, parts and accessories offerings and international localization support. The site was also developed to leverage an identical architecture for the company's other brands, Kestrel Bicycles and SE Bikes, while providing unique experiences for the different audiences.
Hewlett-Packard taps Empathy Lab to develop an innovative IA and design prototype and presentation featuring their new TouchSmart product.
Cablevision, one of the nations leading telecommunications, entertainment and media companies, hired Empathy Lab to redesign their Optimum Store website. The site, which offers Cablevision customers exclusive discounts on computers, telephony equipment and consumer electronics, will be re-platformed onto ATG as well as completely rethought from a merchandizing and user experience perspective.
The start of the 2008 PGA tour saw the groundbreaking relaunch of thegolfchannel.com, revealing a true online community for golfers featuring thousands of videos, robust social networking and personalization tools, the most advanced Tour scoreboard on the web, specs and reviews of over 80,000 golf products, and premium-access content and features for paid subscribers.