The Gainesville-based Web development and digital marketing firm that has built websites for companies all over the country can now boast another major client: the Tampa Bay Times.
The newspaper picked 352 Media Group about a year ago to revamp its website, beating out four companies from around the U.S.
The website will launch this summer, said John Schlander, senior editor/online operations at the Tampa Bay Times.
“This is a significant job for us,” said Geoff Wilson, president and CEO of 352 Media Group. “It’s definitely a high-profile job.”
The Web development company began in a Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity house at UF in 1997.
Wilson and a team of two built websites for small businesses around the state. Back then, Wilson charged his clients about $50.
Today, 352 Media Group has offices in four other cities around the U.S. and charges about $50,000 to build a website, Wilson said.
“We knew we wanted our new website to be an engaging site with personality,” Schlander said. “They are a serious business with technical chops, but there was a sense of fun and creativity that came along with it.”
The main purpose of the new website is to create a more personalized experience for readers, making articles that fit their interests easier to find, said Pete Bernardo, 352 Media Group digital strategist and project manager.
Executives from the Tampa Bay Times did a nationwide search for a Web development firm to redesign their website and improve the overall experience for visitors.
The company was the only finalist with Florida roots. Other companies competing for the job were from cities such as New York and Dallas, said Patty Cox, a Tampa Bay Times consultant on the project. Cox and Schlander oversee the website’s development.
Times staff found the company on Google when they decided to redevelop the newspaper’s website about a year and a half ago.
“We knew that our website was not up to the standard of our print newspaper,” Schlander said.
Cox visited the 352 Media Group website and loved the home page, which displays animated cartoon images alongside real people on a lime green and royal blue backdrop.
“It was a whimsical, energetic, fun approach to their website,” Schlander said. “We got in contact with them right away.”
Wilson, Bernardo and a team from 352 Media Group presented a proposal to about 10 executives from the Tampa Bay Times. Soon after, the job was theirs.
Their energetic presentation, ideas and in-depth knowledge on how to analyze what people want on a website landed them the contract, Cox said.
Over the past year, thousands of surveys were passed out to those who read articles on the site. The surveys asked questions that gave Bernardo and his team an idea of the types of people who visit the site and why they visit the site. That way, it’s easier to generate where certain content should go.
“It’s got to be more than a nice display of photography and nice fonts,” Schlander said. “There has to be a business sense. They know that.”
Contact Adrianna Paidas at apaidas@alligator.org.
