Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17

AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
A
www.area17.com
Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17
Hello. Bonjour.
ank you for contacting AREA 17. We are super pleased that
André Balazs Properties has shown interest in working with us.
is document presents an introduction to our company and our
thinking. Our hope is to tell you a little bit more about how we
understand the project, and how we can work together.
ank you for taking the time to consider our agency for this
project, we look forward to the strategic, creative and practical
conversations ahead.
Don’t forget to visit area17.com
www.area17.com
Table of contents
— The Standard
— Case studies
— Next steps
— About our agency
— What we do
www.area17.com
The Standard
www.area17.com
André Balazs Properties has contacted AREA 17 to submit a proposal
that reconsiders e Standard experience online through the introduction
of an online magazine.
AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
e Standard
Background
Through the curation of art and music events woven into the fabric of
impeccably designed hotel environments, The Standard has earned a
reputation as arbiter of taste and style.
For those staying at The Standard, the hotel plays an integral role in
their experience, while local residents are drawn to the restaurants,
bars and events that form its cultural playground.
Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
e Standard Magazine
A unique opportunity to extend the brand
This distinctive relationship forms the cornerstone of The Standard
experience and presents an opportunity for extending the brand
through expanded lifestyle content offerings.
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
Ambition
Create a leading lifestyle content destination that enriches The
Standard experience and reaches a new audience.
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
Business objectives
— Launch a compelling sub-brand that broadens the reach of The
Standard brand and drives new customers to the hotels.
— Create a deep user experience that fortifies The Standard’s
relationship to lifestyle and culture, forging new and lasting
connections with visitors.
— Generate revenue through hotel bookings, partnerships, creative
advertising and ecommerce.
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
10
Branding Strategy
To create a compelling sub-brand ...
The Standard magazine will provide a new platform for The Standard
brand
HELP!!
Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17
AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
Branding Strategy
— Establish a distinctive sub-brand that is a natural extension of The
Standard brand.
— House the experience in an exciting visual design that connects with
The Standard aesthetic.
— Actively showcase partnerships and product collaborations that bring
value and character to The Standard brand.
— Extend the role of tastemaker to original content and events beyond
the hotel.
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
User Experience Strategy
To create a rich user experience...
The Standard magazine will provide engaging interactions with original
content and relevant cultural events.
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
User Experience Strategy
— Make engaging original editorial features the campfire that draws
visitors to the site.
— Organize content intuitively using themes, cities, departments and
easy-to-use filtering and sorting methods.
— Allow for simple mechanisms such as commenting and user feedback
to surface The Standard community online.
— Provide timely event highlights and regular features that define The
Standard brand and drive repeat visits.
— Create opportunities for sharing content, extending the brand beyond
the magazine.
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
Monetization Strategy
To generate revenue...
The Standard magazine will integrate and enhance existing strategies
while creating new revenue opportunities.
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AREA 17 Presentation
The Standard
Revenue Strategy
— Embrace content as a trojan horse to sell The Standard hotel
experience, present but not in-your-face.
— Showcase products and product collaborations to drive ecommerce.
— Partner with like-minded brands to create original content and
sponsor website functionalities.
— Create opportunities for partners to participate in the branding of the
experience such as branded rooms (ala VBS).
— Eschew banner ads that degrade the brand and integrate advertising
into the content.
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Case studies
www.area17.com
AREA 17 Presentation
Case studies
17
AREA 17 has a history of success creating online content destinations
that blend mouth-watering design with engaging user experiences
around diverse revenue streams.
Understanding
of market positioning
and differentiation.
Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17
Experience
launching
brands
Creative thinking around
content monetization
and ecommerce
Quality design
crasmanship
Asylum was the first of many sub-branded blogs we created for Aol.
Regularly updated with low-brow articles in the tradition of mens’
magazines, the website was hugely successful immediately aer launch.
Promotional
area
Asylum
A branded promotional area at the top of the design allows editors to
highlight the latest and special features within the stream of articles.
Regular
feature
Regular
feature
Asylum
Regularly updated columns or features creates an expectation that helps to
further define the brand and drive repeat visits.
AREA 17 Presentation
TripVine
Asylum
— Focussed editorial content creates a destination that drives traffic
— Clustering similar content provides meaningful context
— Branding themes and categories for quick recognition helps draw
visitors’ attention to the content they most want to consume
— A constant stream of content keeps visitors coming back for more
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Vice hired us to relaunch VBS.tv from scratch with the aim of increasing
traffic, creating more revenue-generating opportunities and introducing a
better user experience. Lets just say ad sales is pleased as punch.
Show created with
Burton Snowboards
Pre-roll and
post-roll ads
Branded room: opportunity for
partner to live within the brand
VBS
e content-driven site provides creative partnership, sponsorship and
advertising opportunities for like-minded brands.
AREA 17 Presentation
TripVine
VBS
— Vice’s unique take on the world creates for engaging programming
— An embed-able player make it easy to share content
— Ajax powered interface allows visitors to navigate the website without
interrupting video playback
— Scheduled releases means visitors know when to come back for the
content they love
— Newsletter keeps visitors up-to-date with new releases and
programming
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MTV and NBC/Universal had just bought the largest action sports tour
in the world. We were hired to develop the ALLI brand and create a
website to monetize their growing photo, video, and editorial library.
ALLI
Branded categories and sections provide context and fidelity.
Main
Feature
Featured
profiles
Featured
story
Featured by
content type
ALLI
Various methods for organizing featured content means visitors can find
what they want without digging or scrolling.
Vice brought us in to design an experience for Dell that facilitates a
dynamic conversation about how technology enables humanity. We created
the brand and the UGC website for Motherboard.
AREA 17 Presentation
TripVine
Motherboard
— isolated a vertical then delivered a brand and UX based on
demographic
— contests to urge UGC creation
— Dell positioned as facilitator
— blend of video, editorial and photographic content
— • community must feel a part of what you're doing to be urged to
participate
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About our agency
www.area17.com
AREA 17 is an interactive agency
founded on March 2, 2003.
AREA 17 Presentation
About our agency
e name ‘AREA 17’ refers to the optical cortex of the brain
where visual data is received, patterns are recognized and
images are formulated. is is not a coincidence.
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AREA 17 Presentation
About our agency
We have offices in New York City and Paris, France.
is allows us to work with clients in more time zones.
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Across both offices, we are a team of 18. We operate as a single unit
with many moving parts. An octopus so to speak, but with 36 arms.
In our 5 years of operation, we have launched over 100 websites and
brands for 52 clients with budgets ranging from 25,000 – 600,000 USD.
On average, 23 clients are actively working with us per year and
our longest standing client has been around for all of our 6 years.
And no, it is not one of our mothers.
What we do
www.area17.com
We take an interdisciplinary approach — blending the
practices of design, technology and branding — to create
modern interactive systems.
AREA 17 Presentation
What we do
39
A modern interactive system is defined
by four simple attributes.
Sustainable —
the system scales and
adapts well to growth and
change.
Valuable —
the user and business
clearly achieve their
respective goals.
Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17
Organic —
the brand and website live
naturally in an interactive
environment.
Je ne sais quoi —
...er, well, this one we just
can’t explain.
We do Strategic Consulting and believe that good brands,
just like good websites, are about function, community and content.
We do Visual Identity and believe that cra cannot be forgotten
on screen. 72 DPI can only be your friend, if you allow it to.
We do User Experience and believe that seeing people eye-to-eye
is the key to good user experience.
We do Web Technology and believe that we can’t separate the
design of a website from the technology that makes it go vroom.
AREA 17 Presentation
What we do
44
We work with a diverse clientele
across many industries.
Non-profit
Design
Apparel
Technology
& Internet
Hospitality
Fashion &
Beauty
Media &
Publishing
Finance &
Banking
Social
Networking
Film &
Television
Arts &
Culture
Music
Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17
AREA 17 Presentation
What we do
45
Here’s a full client list...
Adidas
Canal+
Independent Film Channel
Optimum Online
ALLI
Cartel Collections
Lifeskool/Sportskool
Portus Group
American Diamond
Coca-Cola
Madame Figaro
Rainbow Media
American Express
Condé Nast
Maggie Norris Couture
Salomon Sports
American Movie Channel
Creative Capital
Marathon
Sidetrack Films
AOL
Dupain
Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation
Sport Science
AREA 17
Duran Duran
Minwax
The History Channel
Arts & Entertainment
Elan
Monabanq
Tommyboy Records
Asma Society
eMusic
MTV
Ulla-Maija Couture
Benetton Sport Systems
Felissimo
MySpace
VMIX
Bourjois Paris
Giant Step
Nike
Women's Entertainment
BUP
GOOD
Nove
Yagg
Burda
Heineken Music
NTT Data
Yahoo!
Cablevision
Humanity United
OCB
Proprietary and Confidential — AREA 17
Thank you.
We looking forward to hearing from you!
Andrew Ackermann
New York +1 646-277-7115
Paris +33 1 42 03 10 39
[email protected]
Kemp Attwood
New York +1 646-277-7112
Paris +33 1 42 03 10 39
[email protected]
www.area17.com