Kanban Brings Nikon to New Heights with Launch of Inspirational & Educational Digital Experience

New York, NY, Thursday, February 6, 2013 /PR Newswire/ -- Kanban, who engineers inspiring, content-centric interactions on web, mobile devices, and emerging technology platforms for real-time marketers, has successfully partnered with Nikon Inc. and Sposto Interactive on a revolutionary content-rich, immersive and inspiring experience for consumers. The resulting interface and supporting technology is a best-in-class example of a brand using content as a core marketing discipline to drive awareness and purchase intent.

The initiative required the multi-disciplinary team to reimagine the experience of interacting with immensely visual, rich, and inspiring images, videos and articles. “Nikon strongly believes that education and inspiration through content will grow both brand loyalty and sales of Nikon’s product portfolio,” said Cindy Jeffus, Nikon’s Manager of Internet Operations, “we heard from the consumer that findability, navigation and search were very important, so we focused on those elements as part of a large-scale redesign. I’m delighted with the results.”

The new experience, labeled Learn & Explore, provides existing and potential customers with a modern and engaging set of interactions surfacing branded editorial content written exclusively by Nikon and associated world-class photographers. Some highlights of the new experience are:

• Immersive and Intuitive Navigation and Filtering
• On-brand Experience
• Localization
• Flexible Content & Metadata Model
• Content and Media Syndication
• Editorial-inspired Content Authoring
• Best-of-Breed Open Source Technology (Apache Solr for faceted navigation)
• Coupled with Enterprise Content Management (HP/Autonomy TeamSite)

A large part of the effort included the re-architecture of the existing content management system to support more robust content, rich and flexible layouts, as well significant performance improvements. “Dealing with high resolution images and video, coupled with consumer expectations for speed and a rich interface added to the complexity. We implemented some advanced caching techniques, spent time optimizing data queries, and streamlined thousands of lines of javascript. The work resulted in a content rich educational tool that is also fun to use”, explained Kanban’s CEO Josh Manton.

About Kanban

Founded in 2006, Kanban Solutions LLC, provides software engineering, and application development services to global brands across a number of industries; including consumer electronics, retail, technology, manufacturing, and media/publishing. Based in New York City, Kanban has developed solutions for such notable brands as Nikon, TracFone, Allied Security Trust, NBC Universal, and New York University. Kanban specializes in complex web applications that leverage customer experience, content, and commerce technologies and systems, rely on rich interfaces, and deliver business results. Through a unique and highly effective delivery methodology, Kanban’s clients are more agile and responsive, enabling marketing innovation on a 24x7 real-time basis.

KANBAN WINS STEVIE^® AWARD IN 2012 AMERICAN BUSINESS AWARDS^SM

New York, NY, Monday, September 24, 2012 /PR Newswire/ -- Kanban, who engineers inspiring, content-centric interactions on web, mobile devices, and emerging technology platforms for real-time marketers, has been honored with a Stevie^® Award.

More than 3,000 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories. The Bronze Stevie^® Award was presented to Kanban and creative partner MWW Group for their work with Nikon Inc. in the category of Best Online Press Room.

"We are honored to have been selected amongst so many worthy submissions. This is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and passion exhibited by the large, multi-disciplined, and multi-vendor team. With this recognition, we are excited about the roadmap of projects ahead of us," said Josh Manton, Kanban’s CEO and Chief Software Architect.

Stevie Award winners were selected by more than 270 executives nationwide who participated in the judging process this year.

About Kanban

Founded in 2006, Kanban Solutions LLC, provides software engineering, and application development services to global brands across a number of industries; including consumer electronics, retail, technology, manufacturing, and media/publishing. Based in New York City, Kanban has developed solutions for such notable brands as Nikon, TracFone, Allied Security Trust, NBC Universal, and New York University. Kanban specializes in complex web applications that leverage customer experience, content, and commerce technologies and systems, rely on rich interfaces, and deliver business results. Through a unique and highly effective delivery methodology, Kanban’s clients are more agile and responsive, enabling marketing innovation on a 24x7 real-time basis.

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

Kanban Invests in Content & Commerce Technologies to Further Support Market Demand

New York, NY, September 6, 2012 /PR Newswire/ -- Kanban, who engineers inspiring, content-centric interactions on web, mobile devices, and emerging technology platforms for real-time marketers, has completed a round of analysis and investment in the software platforms most coveted by today’s business and marketing leaders. After an evaluation of key software functions within Kanban’s existing client organizations, industry best practices, and recent project work, Kanban has identified a number of technologies supporting its content and commerce focus.

During the first half of 2012, Kanban has focused on the following vendor technologies and platforms, investing in strengthening partnerships, training staff, and implementing solutions:

• Adobe CQ5 Content Management
• Brightcove Online Video Platform
• ForgeRock OpenAM and OpenDJ (for federated systems and single sign-on solutions)
• IBM WebSphere Commerce & Web Content Management
• Jive Software (for community management, social listening, and content syndication)
• Oracle ATG Web Commerce

As marketers and business leaders turn to software for continued enhancement of both internal and external capabilities, functions, and processes, Kanban works to fill in knowledge gaps, drive integration, and provide strategic guidance on marketing technology architectures and implementations. “For our clients, the intersection of content and commerce was never as important as it is today. As part of Kanban’s continued growth, we have added to our skills and capabilities across a number of software platforms,” says Philip Wisniewski, Kanban’s Head of Client Development.

For many brands, the proliferation of marketing systems has widened the gap between those technologies and internal skills and resources. With a focus on engineering, Kanban’s business model enables our teams to maintain both depth and breadth across content and commerce technologies. To support this strategy, Kanban has expanded both the content and commerce practice groups with recent hires, new client wins, and technology acquisition. “We are well aligned with our clients and their technology needs as we look towards the second half of 2012 and through 2013. Our clients are already seeing the benefits of our investments and will undoubtedly do so moving forward,” adds Josh Manton, Kanban’s CEO and Chief Software Architect.

About Kanban

Founded in 2006, Kanban Solutions LLC, provides software engineering, and application development services to global brands across a number of industries; including consumer electronics, retail, technology, manufacturing, and media/publishing. Based in New York City, Kanban has developed solutions for such notable brands as Nikon, NBC Universal, and New York University. Kanban specializes in complex web applications that leverage customer experience, content, and commerce technologies and systems, rely on rich interfaces, and deliver business results. Through a unique and highly effective delivery methodology, Kanban’s clients are more agile and responsive, enabling marketing innovation on a 24x7 real-time basis.

Content Strategy or Bust

Minneapolis, on any given spring or summer day, seems to be a great place to do just about anything. Add about 500 content-centric professionals to the mix and you quickly have the perfect environment for the exchange of ideas, best practices, and almost everything else related to content strategy. The 2nd annual event, Confab 2012, was again a smashing success, thanks to the organizers, Brain Traffic, and a number of highly accomplished and passionate speakers (Dan Roam, Ann Rockley, Jared Spool, and Karen McGrane, just to name a few).

Confab 2012, The Content Strategy Conference, brought together a community of practitioners and evangelists with a passion for content strategy…which, if you have not been paying attention, is quickly becoming an over-arching discipline in marketing and communications departments to address the challenges of delivering content in a multi-modal, multi-device world. Part user experience, part editorial, and part content management, the practice of developing a content strategy is becoming a hot topic for brands and agencies alike.

Though more than half of the audience was just adorned with a content strategy title in the last 12 months, the elements of a content strategy have been around for many years: items like content audits/inventories, personas, style guides, taxonomies and content models, sitemaps and site architectures, content entry workflows, and editorial calendars. The discipline of content strategy attempts to transcend the typical myriad of individuals associated with these deliverables (information architects, copy writers, SEO experts, taxonomists, developers, researchers, etc.) to provide oversight, consistency across platform and channels, a unified vision, and a keen focus on the content and related tone, voice, structure, governance, processes, and technologies.

So why all this attention on content strategy, now? Well, without one in place, brands and their internal process, tools, and technologies will not accommodate the shift from a single user experience platform to one of many. The desktop is no longer the main communication platform between the brand and the audience, and as a result, the content that is so coveted by audiences needs to live on any device and in many formats. Content must be structured enough to live freely and independently of form and presentation in order to leverage responsive design. It must be consistent across all devices, and, it must contain meta-data that allows programmatic delivery based on context. All that is pretty darn challenging for organizations large and small.

Why is this so important for us at Kanban? Simply put, if our clients don’t have a solid content strategy, then any process, content structure, or technology we implement will fail (or will fall short of our own and our client’s expectations). No matter how advanced the tools may be, how well the implementation is managed, how much budget you allocate, or how much time you dedicate, our shared goal of delivering the right content to the right audience at the right time will be nothing more than a pipe dream.

Kanban Launches Enhanced Experience Management Platform for Nikon’s Press Room

New York, NY, May 14, 2012 /PR Newswire/ -- Kanban, who engineers inspiring, content-centric interactions on web, mobile devices, and emerging technology platforms for real-time marketers, has successfully partnered with Nikon Inc. and their public relations and social media partner MWW, to launch a modernized, media-centric experience for the journalist and press community. The Nikon USA Press Room was redesigned by MWW Group and boasts:

• An innovative interface that lets you locate the press release you need without reloading the page.
• One-click access to multi-format media assets (press kit, podcasts, videos, images, marketing copy, etc.).
• Lightbox presentation of videos and podcasts.
• A centralized experience management system (Autonomy LiveSite and TeamSite) accessible by both Nikon and their partners.
• Secure publishing: press releases go live only when the new product does.
• Translation and localization capabilities across six sites.
• Tight integration with the digital asset repository (Virage MediaBin).

“We have always acknowledged the importance of the media community in our marketing efforts at Nikon. Our updated press room site will provide journalists with a simple, intuitive and centralized source for Nikon news and media assets,” said Cindy Jeffus, Manager Internet Operations for Nikon Inc.

With a focus on software engineering, Kanban routinely works with partners to deliver on a project vision. Whether it be a creative agency, SEO firm or a team of strategy consultants, Kanban acts as the glue across the partner ecosystem. “Being responsible for building and deploying immersive digital experiences for our clients, the buck stops with us. We centralize all of the relevant inputs from complex multi-partner project teams to ensure on-time and on-budget delivery. Think of us as the digital implementation agency – we ask the tough questions, align disparate teams and deliver as promised for our clients,” said Josh Manton, Kanban’s CEO.

About Kanban

Founded in 2006, Kanban Solutions LLC, provides software engineering, and application development services to global brands across a number of industries; including consumer electronics, higher education, publishing, manufacturing, and media. Based in New York City, Kanban has developed solutions for such notable brands as Nikon, NBC Universal and New York University. Kanban specializes in complex web applications that leverage content management systems, rely on rich interfaces, and deliver business results. Through a unique and highly effective delivery methodology, Kanban’s clients are more agile and responsive, enabling content marketing innovation on a 24x7 real-time basis.

Kanban Expands Project Management Team

In response to a growing portfolio of clients looking to manage complex, multi-vendor initiatives, Kanban is delighted to welcome Ira Rosen to the project management team.

Ira Rosen, a Sr. Project Manager, joins Kanban with over 15 years of extensive experience in technology, data, transmission media, software development, process, and personnel management, in the areas of education, publishing, and telecommunications. Ira is known to enjoy a fine beer or two, spending time with his five children, and doesn’t go far without his cowboy hat and boots.

Kanban Optimizes Content Management Systems for Global Consumer Electronics Product Launch

New York, NY, January 10, 2012 /PR Newswire/ -- Kanban, who engineers inspiring, content-centric interactions on web, mobile devices, and emerging technology platforms for real-time marketers, has successfully partnered with Nikon Inc. to support the global launch of their latest camera system, Nikon 1. The Nikon 1 system, and related accessories, launched simultaneously across all global markets in a highly coordinate effort relying on tightly-integrated yet distinct content management and asset management platforms.

“Kanban is an indispensable partner that enables our organization to meet and exceed our marketing and corporate communications objectives. They continually deliver exceptional value and have developed a technology platform that has improved Nikon’s agility and awareness when interacting with our customers through the NikonUSA website,” said Bo Kajiwara, Director of Marketing for Nikon Inc.

Kanban has been working with Nikon Inc. for a number of years, and supports a variety of sales and marketing efforts across the Americas and Europe. “Kanban’s relationship with Nikon is a great example of pushing the limits of technology, safely, and predictably. We are honored to have such an innovative brand as a client, and look forward to many more successes,” said Josh Manton, Kanban’s CEO.

About Kanban

Founded in 2006, Kanban Solutions LLC, provides software engineering, and application development services to global brands across a number of industries; including consumer electronics, higher education, publishing, manufacturing, and media. Based in New York City, Kanban has developed solutions for such notable brands as Nikon, NBC Universal and New York University. Kanban specializes in complex web applications that leverage content management systems, rely on rich interfaces, and deliver business results. Through a unique and highly effective delivery methodology, Kanban’s clients are more agile and responsive, enabling content marketing innovation on a 24x7 real-time basis.

Kanban welcomes Greg Leib

Kanban is excited to welcome Greg Leib to our team. As engineering team lead, Greg will play a central role in the architecture and implementation of innovative solutions for clients. Greg will also provide leadership in shaping Kanban’s software development processes and technical strategy.

Greg’s areas of expertise include Java server-side development, web service architecture, databases, search, and JavaScript/Ajax. He also brings extensive experience with software build processes, including the use of continuous integration and automated software deployment.

Prior to joining Kanban, Greg led software development teams at TheLadders, Selerity, and General Electric. Greg has a BA from Cornell University with a triple major in mathematics, computer science, and philosophy. Greg also now holds the coveted role of being the tallest in our office…go Greg!

Kanban helps launch Nikon 1, worldwide

Kanban developers, architects, and program managers teamed up with long-standing client Nikon Inc. to launch the revolutionary Nikon 1 camera system. The new product was brought to market in dozens of countries simultaneously via a secure global content management system that maintains in-depth product data and supporting marketing copy. The Nikon 1 system launched with a slew of new site features that brought the product to life. Congratulations to all of Nikon Inc. for a successful product launch.

Wisniewski joins Kanban leadership team

New York, December 20, 2011 /PR Newswire/ -- Kanban, who engineers inspiring, content-centric interactions on web, mobile, and emerging technology platforms for real-time marketers, announced today that it has hired Philip Wisniewski as EVP, Client Development. Applying a mix of digital strategy, business development, and client service, Philip is responsible for identifying and fostering value-based client relationships, developing and driving marketing effectiveness, supporting high-quality service delivery, and driving profitable growth. He also plays a key role in providing thought leadership in formulating business strategy and driving services innovation.

“Philip is a great addition to our team and comes with a wealth of experience to push ourselves and our clients forward. He brings a passion for relationship building, effective marketing, and thinking beyond traditional approaches,” said CEO Josh Manton.

Throughout his 15-year career, Philip has developed and managed strategic relationships with clients to deliver digital marketing and Internet development initiatives. Philip has established long-term relationships with brands across a number of industries, including MetLife, Aetna, Humana, Electrolux Home Appliances, Michelin, Nikon, T.Rowe Price, TD Bank, Ernst & Young, and many others.

“Kanban is a group of very talented individuals focused on helping marketers leverage content and rich interfaces to deliver business impact and innovation,” Philip said. “Given consumers’ thirst for engaging content, Kanban’s services and capabilities are of high value to many of today’s leading brands.”

Before joining Kanban, Philip was VP of Business Development at iCrossing, a global full-service interactive agency specializing in SEO/SEM, social & display media, web development, and analytics. Prior to iCrossing, Philip was VP, Managing Director of Molecular’s NY office, a web design and development digital consultancy acquired by Isobar..

About Kanban

Founded in 2006, Kanban Solutions LLC, provides software engineering and application development services to global brands across a number of industries; including consumer electronics, retail, higher education, publishing, manufacturing, and media. Based in New York City, Kanban has developed solutions for such notable brands as Nikon Inc. www.nikonusa.com), NBC Universal, and New York University. Kanban specializes in complex web applications that leverage content management systems, rely on rich interfaces, and deliver business results. Through Kanban’s unique and highly effective delivery methodology, our clients are more agile and responsive, enabling marketing innovation on a 24x7 real-time basis.

Content (Marketing) is finally getting some street cred….again.

Many of us can recall the time we first came across the term “Content is King.” For me, it was probably around 1996 or 1997 (thank you, Bill Gates) and at the time, just about every brand was racing to have a presence on the internet. Back then, it was mostly static brochure-ware, lending itself to the growth of content’s reign over the digital marketing.

Somewhere between the late 90s and today, we saw a shift in focus, or perhaps more than one shift. From eyeballs in 1999 to user-centered design in 2002 to Web 2.0 rich interfaces shortly thereafter. And now, after keeping the user front and center, deploying rich apps to any user anywhere, we are back to a focus on the ultimate marketing currency…content.

In a not-so-surprising research piece released recently, the Custom Content Council with Roper Affairs shared the results of a CMO and Consumer Attitude study on custom content marketing.

And guess what…..Content is King again! Here are a few highlights from the study:

You Are Not Alone

• 35% of CMOs surveyed believe that custom content marketing is the future of marketing, versus 19% in 2006 when the study was last run.
• CMOs see an increased value to custom content – 87% feel it’s valuable in 2011 versus 72% in 2006.

Consumers Get It and Want More of It

• 73% of consumers prefer to get information from a company in the form of a collection of articles over an advertisement.
• 69% of consumers like that custom content marketing targets their interests.
• 67% feel that custom content from a company is valuable.
• 61% feel better about a company that delivers custom content AND are in turn more likely to buy from that company.

Key Takeaways

• As consumers become more and more savvy in blocking interrupt-driven advertising, they will recognize and reward brands that provide added value via informative and inspirational content.
• Marketers and technologists have a plethora of tools at their disposal to simplify content creation and delivery; however, with all of the choices in the marketplace, making the right technology decision is harder than ever.
• As solution providers like Kanban prove the content marketing model effective, marketers and technologists will further realize the power of content and do so with agility and a high degree of sensitivity to customer needs.

Kanban launches application for Teach for America

Teach For America– the movement of leaders who work to ensure that kids growing up in poverty get an excellent education– engaged Kanban to design and develop an applicant tracking & workflow system. The application was designed to streamline the process associated with identifying, recruiting, and on-boarding new staff, greatly contributing towards Teach For America’s mission and ability to support their growth.

Kanban congratulates NBC Universal on successful campaign

Kanban and NBC teamed up to design and develop an interactive “Spot the Difference” game featuring a number of NBC’s programming talent, including Padma Lakshmi, Jillian Michaels, & Jim Cramer. The game was the centerpiece of a marketing campaign in early 2011 to promote health and wellness among NBC’s viewers. The project was a much appreciated opportunity for Kanban’s staff to build a light-hearted and entertaining experience, a slight departure from our typical mission-critical complex application and website development efforts.