Using a customer-centric approach, Zentropy Partners helps clients find their direction online. The year was 1995. Two guys in California, fresh out of the entrepreneurial program at USC,
were doing graphic and Web design for MGM studios. Today, even though the original founders have moved on to other projects, their brainchild has become Zentropy Partners — the eleventh largest
interactive ad agency in MEDIA Magazine’s top 50.
Zentropy is a full-service interactive agency with 180 people on staff in the U.S., 103 of whom work in Los Angeles. Although the company provides
an array of services including digital strategy, creative, website design and development, online marketing, emerging technologies, and customer relationship management, it all boils down to this
motto: "We deliver online experiences that are relevant to the business need as well as the consumer need, and we show quantifiable results," says Steven Woolford, executive VP, Western Region USA.
"We find most businesses have no idea why they’re online. We figure out what their needs are and how to best use online marketing to solve these needs. This might be, for instance, better or
easier site design, increased completion rates, or improved ROI. We show how the solutions we deliver, on a dollar-by-dollar basis, more than justify the hiring of Zentropy."
Woolford, who joined
Zentropy Partners in April 2000, has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience on both the agency and client side of the business. Prior to his current position, he worked for Porsche AG as
the regional sales director/North America responsible for the launch of the Turbo S, Boxster, and the new 911. Other client-side experience includes Hunt-Wesson Foods, MCI Communications, and BMW cars
and motorcycles. His agency experience includes management positions with DDB, Ally & Gargano, Rubin Postaer & Associates, and Asher & Partners.
Zentropy believes that the customer-centric
approach — creating something of value in the user experience — is a model that it does deeper than most, and their depth differentiates it from other agencies. Others have taken notice too. Jared
Spool, founding principal of User Interface Engineering, had this to say about Zentropy and the customer-centric approach: "Organizations such as Palm, Intuit, and Zentropy Partners have already
married the use of account planning and usability in their design processes. Over the years, these organizations have consistently produced products and websites that meet the users’ needs."
This
customer-centric approach is a foundation of Zentropy’s online strategies. "We follow many of the disciplines offline planners use to study the consumer," says Stacey Flynn, VP of media for the
Western Region USA. "We have a customer insight department that gives us real- time consumer behavior results that we can apply to our media decisions, and an analytics group that evaluates online
user data." This group offers recommendations on how to improve customer performance, including customer acquisition, customer retention, and customer experience.
Also, Zentropy Partners is now
part of MRM Partners Worldwide, a unit of McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, which in turn is owned by The Interpublic Group of Companies, and having such a heavyweight in your corner can make a difference
from a media buying point of view.
"We certainly have leverage in the marketplace, particularly for our bigger clients, but really, buying clout means more in the traditional world than the
online world," stresses Flynn. "In online, knowing what works and what we can get for our clients is what makes us formidable buyers." Flynn has been in media for 18 years, both on the traditional
side (for 13 years) and on the online side, including starting the online media department at TBS Media Management.
Zentropy’s understanding of how consumers use the Web is illustrated in its
development of the rich-media website for Reebok. The agency created four short films using audio, video, Flash, and 3D photography to showcase Reebok products. "We wanted to capture the gestalt of
what the product is and deliver it to the Web in an entertaining form," says Woolford.
The four films in the "Say Hello to Style" panel on the Reebokwomen.com homepage are Medallion, featuring
the Medallion DMX running shoe in a setting reminiscent of couture lifestyle; U-Shuffle, where a cross-training shoe is put to the test in a comical challenge showcasing the product’s features;
Balance Collection, highlighting apparel pieces shown in 3D combining yoga poses, music, and inspirational imagery; and Workout Boot, an interactive narrative showing red boots on city streets and in
a studio class. The films are proving to be valuable marketing tools for Reebok; early tracking results have shown that users are going to the product area of the site to view the merchandise featured
in the short films. Although headquartered in New York, with offices in Troy, Mich., and Minneapolis, Zentropy’s major base of operation is in Los Angeles, where the agency began and whose roots are
still seen in Zentropy’s people-first approach and travel/leisure- and entertainment-laden client list.
"L.A. is a great location for an interactive agency," says Woolford. "There’s a huge talent
pool to draw from, even at our size, and we can have meetings outside almost all year round." Try that in Chicago.
Overall, Zentropy Partners was down in revenue in 2001 (reportedly $64 million),
although the L.A. office grew 25%, but it is seeing "an up-tick in 2002," says Woolford. New client pick-ups of Microsoft, Dell, and Park Place Entertainment (casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and
Louisiana), nicely complement its client roster, which includes Coca-Cola, General Motors, Marriott, MGM, Nautica, Ralston Purina, and Reebok International. Notably, only 40% of Zentropy’s clients are
also clients of McCann-Erickson.