Anyone who stumbled across General Electric's site at www.ge.com over the past year probably didn't hang around for long. After reading highlights of various GE businesses that sell US$70 billion worth of lightbulbs, aircraft engines, and washing machines annually, visitors could download clips of the company's "We Bring Good Things to Life" TV commercial. Hardly the kind of stuff that attracts the overstimulated eyeballs of veteran Web surfers.
Now all that shovelware is ready to get the heave-ho, thanks to the webmeisters at Meta4 Digital Design Inc.
Last summer, GE invited 40 advertising and Web design firms to submit proposals for a complete redesign of the company's site. The awesome responsibility of creating a unified presence for GE's 70 disparate divisions prompted 20 of the firms including BBDO, GE's main ad agency to opt out of the competition entirely.
But it didn't deter tiny Meta4, a company that at the time consisted of founder Al Blanco and a handful of employees crammed into a decrepit loft in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Unlike many Web shops, Meta4 focused on basic marketing strategy by trying to determine who GE was aiming to reach and with what message. To research the GE account, Blanco called GE's Answer Center, the company's 24-hour toll-free service line. He found GE employees dispensing advice from a database at the other end of the phone. Blanco realized that GE could easily provide a similar service online. Surf up, type in your dishwasher model and complaint, then get advice, leave a message, or schedule a repair visit. Blanco also discovered that GE business units could save millions of dollars a year by publishing maintenance and technical manuals on the Net instead of reprinting them whenever a tiny change is made.
The pitch was a winner. In August, GE awarded the nearly $6 million contract to the upstart company. "We wanted something user-friendly and aimed at our customers," recalls Phyllis Piano, a member of GE's selection committee. "Meta4 really thought it through."
Blanco must now take Meta4 to the next level. To start, the company has added 30 employees and moved to fancier digs a shiny office on Jersey City's revitalized waterfront.
Blanco believes his company can apply its back-to-basics approach to other corporate clients. Competitors aren't so sure. The Web is "just another medium," says Marian Salzman, corporate director of the department of the future at TBWA Chiat/Day. "It's possible that a client's message will become diluted as the medium becomes a showcase for special effects rather than an information delivery system."
SCANS
The Medium Is the Meta4
