Sep
14

Twelve Horses Merges Into One to One Interactive
Combined Entity Strengthens Product Offerings, Bolsters Service Capabilities

Boston, Mass. and Reno, Nev. (Sept. 14, 2009) – One to One Interactive (OTO), a Boston-based digital marketing firm recently ranked by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in America, announced today a definitive agreement to merge Twelve Horses, with operations in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Reno-Tahoe, Nevada, into its OTOi and OTOlabs divisions.

The merger expands One to One Interactive’s comprehensive suite of digital marketing services, technology and media offerings by incorporating Twelve Horses’ agency practice and innovative marketing products.

The move represents the fourth time OTO has grown through a merger or acquisition, a strategy the company embarked on beginning in 2005. The addition of Twelve Horses gives OTO a significant presence in the West and Twelve Horses’ many East Coast based clients will welcome the OTO East Coast footprint. Both OTO and Twelve Horses service accounts in Europe and Asia. Twelve Horses, frequently recognized for its innovative work in the travel-tourism industry, also services such global clients as J.P. Morgan Chase, Deloitte and Bill Me Later, a PayPal company.

The western-based Twelve Horses will integrate its trademarked and patented technology platforms, including MessageMaker™, which delivers multi-channel direct digital communications to customers via email, web, mobile, voice and fax messaging, into current One to One Interactive offerings. As a result, OTO clients, which currently include Comcast, Rite-Aid, McGraw-Hill and Partners Healthcare, will be able to leverage the company’s expanded portfolio of services and tools in executing their one-to-one digital marketing strategies.

“Our merger with Twelve Horses enhances and extends OTO into the type of unique firm brands seek in today’s digital marketing landscape, one that can come to the table with leading marketing services strategy and execution capabilities as well as a full suite of proven technology products to integrate and deploy quickly and efficiently,” said Ian Karnell, chief executive officer of One to One Interactive. “By leveraging the platform capabilities and innovative intellectual property we’ve acquired through our expansion efforts, our clients can expect greater efficiency in strategy execution and in speed to market, which is essential for remaining at the forefront of the marketing evolution.”

With its newly expanded product and service lines, nearly 30 percent of revenues will be driven from the firm’s unique portfolio of permission based digital messaging  technologies, which include multi-channel messaging platforms for email and mobile marketing, content management systems, ticketing and event management, desktop widgets and plug-ins for improved workflow. A large portion of the remaining revenue stream will continue to be generated from services such as branding, web site development, customer relationship management, search engine marketing and social web strategies.

“At a time where every marketing services firm is being asked to bring more to the table, our clients benefit from this merger by having immediate access to a broader organization with incredible experience and depth in quality, customizable technology products and solutions,” explained Twelve Horses CEO David LaPlante, who will serve as OTO’s Senior Vice-President of Sales & Marketing. “Our newly combined company significantly enhances our ability to accommodate our client’s broad and often unique set of marketing services and technology dependent requests, as opposed to simply providing a one-size fits-all-solution.”

The merger is designed to accelerate growth and innovation, including a new management structure to help achieve that vision. One to One Interactive Chief Executive Officer Ian Karnell and President Jeremi Karnell will remain in their roles, while Twelve Horses executives Steve Spencer and Martin Gastanaga will serve as senior executives for its OTOlabs division. The company will remain headquartered in Charlestown, Mass., with additional offices in Baltimore, Reno-Tahoe, Salt Lake City and London.

About One to One Interactive
Complete One-To-One Solutions for Brands, Agencies, and Publishers

Established in 1997, One to One Interactive is the first enterprise to assemble a complete solution for brands, agencies, and publishers executing one-to-one marketing strategies. By bringing together one of the nation’s leading digital marketing agencies, the worlds most comprehensive portfolio of permission marketing platforms, performance marketing solutions, and cutting edge neuromarketing research techniques, the companies of One to One Interactive build informed and creative customer/constituent strategies on the belief that digital media’s ability to enable engaging one-to-one dialogues is the future of marketing.

One to One Interactive has recently been ranked by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in America, one of the Top Interactive firms in the United States according to B2B Magazine, and one of the world’s 20 hottest independent digital marketing firms by Ad Age.

Please visit one of One to One Interactive’s web sites for more information:

    * One to One Interactive: www.onetooneinteractive.com

    * OTOi: www.otoi.com

    * OTOlabs: www.otolabs.com

    * OTOnetworks: www.otonetworks.com

    * OTOinsights: www.otoinsights.com

About Twelve Horses
Twelve Horses has historically been a global provider of Web site design and development, multi-channel marketing, business process automation, customer relationship management (CRM), search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Operating as an online brand marketing and messaging technology agency, Twelve Horses assisted businesses in translating and transforming their brands online.

Twelve Horses provides One to One Interactive with operations in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Reno-Tahoe, Nevada.

Twelve Horses has been recognized for being a “Top 30 Innovative Company” by Utah Business, and “Technology Company of the Year” by the Technology Business Alliance of Nevada.

Please visit Twelve Horses web site for more information: www.twelvehorses.com

For more information call 1-617-425-7369 or visit www.onetooneinteractive.com

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Posted in Company News

Jun
15

Local Newspaper Features Twelve Horses CEO, David LaPlante

How did David LaPlante, CEO of Twelve Horses go from being a ski racer to the head of a successful online marketing company? It was a little accidental.

But anyone that has worked closely with David knows that it has also taken a whole hell of a lot of work, creative thinking, determination, and very little sleep. David juggles a ridiculous amount of responsibilities. Along with leading this snarky band of brothers and sisters, he serves as chairman of the Nevada Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, and on the board of several organizations including, the local economic development authority (EDAWN), Entrepreneur’s Organization, Artown, The Holland Project, Reno Bike Project, and the local school district. On top of that he is a father of two boys, which he is begrudgingly pulled away from for numerous speaking engagements and client meetings.

Despite this herculean load of work, David also manages to project a relaxed and fun demeanor that echoes the unique culture of Twelve Horses that we all enjoy. Obviously, the Reno Gazette-Journal sees it in him as well.

Twelve Horses’ David LaPlante: Living a new, better dream

As iconic daredevil Evel Knievel learned in more ways than one, accidents happen.

It’s a lesson one Reno CEO also happened to learn more than two decades ago, courtesy of a snow-covered mountainside.

As a kid growing up in Crested Butte, Colo., going to college and forming his own company wasn’t exactly on David LaPlante’s radar.

“I wanted to be a ski bum,” LaPlante said. “I wanted to go to Europe and race.”

The first wrinkle in LaPlante’s dreams for a grand European tour surfaced on April 1988 during his final ski race in high school. LaPlante hooked a tip during his last slalom, disqualifying the aspiring skier. It was after the race, however, that LaPlante’s European dream would jump the shark. With his racing plans temporarily on ice due to the disqualification, LaPlante went skiing with friends at an out-of-bounds area. The accident that followed proved to be more serious than simply hooking a tip. LaPlante said he essentially “obliterated” his knee.

It was while LaPlante was recovering at home that his father would float the “C” word. Perhaps the young LaPlante should consider going to college, his father said.

Following the conversation, LaPlante and a friend soon found themselves touring the University of Nevada, Reno, as part of a recruiting visit for the ski team. Little did LaPlante know that his first step into the university would also be the first step in heading his future company, Twelve Horses.

“I just fell in love with the place,” LaPlante said. “Next thing I knew, I was going to Reno. So if I hadn’t hooked that tip in that slalom — if I didn’t have that 1-centimeter judgement error, who knows where I would be now.”

Taking the reins

Featuring a unique fusion between marketing and technology, quickly explaining what Twelve Horses does in layman’s terms can be tough even for its CEO.

In the simplest terms, Twelve Horses can be defined as an online brand marketing and messaging technology company, LaPlante said. But labeling his company as just a marketing firm would be oversimplifying at best. After all, not many marketing agencies have their own research and development departments, much less their own patents for messaging, ticketing and data replication technology.

Read the rest of the article here…

Posted in Atlanta, Company News, Las Vegas, Reno-Tahoe, Salt Lake City, Utah

Apr
28

Software Flavored Websites

The development of the Web today includes powerful applications that mimic desktop software. Google Docs has tried to provide the functionality of Microsoft Office. Picnik is attempting to target Photoshop users. And even our own Content Management System, WebGen, uses some of the basics that made Dreamweaver so popular a few years ago. Perhaps the majority of us may soon only need an Internet connection rather than a computer when Web sites mature into full online applications.

In the meantime, we will experience the migration of software evolving into websites, and Twelve Horses is expanding its boundaries with these new technologies. Recently, we created a new event planner that integrates the functionality of software but utilizes the power of the Web.

Dynamic Meeting Planner
Our client, Dynamic Competence, needed a way to transform a paper-based meeting system into a dynamic communication tool that facilitates conversations for meeting topics. To be successful, the client needed to manage and monitor meeting plan revisions, improve group communication, and use a medium that would help save time and effort for meeting planners.

In this project we developed features that we have not yet seen: the website works more like a software application than a traditional HTML site. Below I’ve highlighted some of the functionality we developed.

Features for Success

1. Drag-And-Drop Interface A planner has the ability to categorize their contacts into different groups before sending out the meeting invite. To help increase speed and usability, the interface allows the planner to drag-and-drop their contacts into the available groups before sending.  This saves the planner time and effort when creating the invitee list to be a part of the meeting process.

2. Double-Click Editing Instead of making edits via a regular textbox and hitting save, a meeting planner simply goes to the topic they need to edit, double-clicks on it, and this opens up the section to be edited. This dynamic interface also allows editors to add and disable topics with one-click, saving time and effort.

3. User Feedback System The success of the system relies on the interaction of the client’s users. If, for any reason, a user has an issue with a website or wants to comment, a Feedback button is provided on every page. To provide more insight into the feedback, the user’s comments, current page, and date submitted are all tracked by the System Admin Inbox (see below). This valuable feedback data also provides insight on how to improve the application for future use.

4. System Admin Inbox The system administrators wanted to be sure all the feedback was being read and responded to appropriately. With multiple feedback messages, this could be a daunting task to make sure everyone is receiving a response. To complicate matters, there could be multiple System Admins in the system. To resolve this, the feedback items are displayed in an email inbox format (read or unread), and the message tracks which System Admin first read the response.

5. Versioning Each iteration of the meeting process is saved as a separate webpage to the website. With this, a meeting planner can see how the meeting agenda transformed from the first draft to the final version of the agenda. This tracks all comments and changes, keeping the meeting processes organized and easily retrieved for historical purposes.

Using web-based applications provides many advantages: updates and new features are rolled out across to users in real time; data is stored on the server and is accessible from anywhere that has Internet access; and custom solutions are tailored to a client’s needs, which isn’t as easily done with software.

Soon we may solely rely on the Web for our daily workflow. Until that happens, we will continue to push the boundaries of Web technology to help meet clients’ needs and increase the usability of applications.

Posted in Atlanta, Blog, Company News, Current Affairs, Finance & Banking, Las Vegas, Marketing, Marketing Tools, Member Orgs, SEO, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Social, Travel & Tourism, Utah, Video, Web & SEO, Web Design

Oct
10

Twelve Horses Employee Recognized for Community Work

We are extremely pleased and stoked for our very own, Leilani Schweitzer to be the proud recipient of this year’s “Twenty Under 40 Award.” She is highly deserving for her work with Gabriel’s Life and the Hydrocephalus Association, the AIGA, and numerous awards for her design work.

Leilani Schweitzer’s story is one of aesthetic. Not only does she bring beauty to the greater community through her work as a designer, but also through her time, charitable contributions, infectious personality, and tireless pursuit to shift the paradigm.

Just this year alone, Leilani launched two very successful initiatives: One involving a life-threatening disease called, hydrocephalus, and then on the other side of the spectrum, the first ever AIGA Chapter in Reno-Tahoe.

Recognizing that the web is a powerful means of reaching large populations of people irrespective of time or place, Leilani decided not only to fund the creation of a better, more efficient and informative website for the Hydrocephalus Association, but also create a community-based website where people impacted by hydrocephalus could share information, tell their stories, and connect with like-minded individuals. This community website came to be known as GabrielsLife.org.

Only a year old, GabrielsLife.org serves as a resource for people all over the world. Individuals come there to share their stories, participate in the forum, create their own blogs, and learn from other people’s experiences so they are better prepared to handle their own.

Leilani is also responsible for helping to successfully launch the first ever Reno-Tahoe chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the place design professionals turn to first to exchange ideas and information, participate in critical analysis and research and advance education and ethical practice. Today, Leilani serves on the Board of Directors and works to bring some of the world’s most accomplished branding experts to educate the design workforce of Reno and Tahoe. This year she will also bring the Elevate Conference to the region, which constitutes more than 150 leading designers from around the country.

And I’m just getting warmed up! The point is, Leilani isn’t afraid to stand up and make a difference.

This picture of her taken at a protest by the RGJ says it all.

To Leilani: Congratulations from all of us at Twelve Horses!

Posted in Company News, Nevada, Reno-Tahoe, Social, Web & SEO