Project Description

THINK is a new model for engaging select high value business and organization leaders : a multi-touch program of IBM/client activities anchored in a digital community.

THINK marketing and subsequently THINK Finance are gated communities first established as web iPad apps to support a Marketing Leadership Exchange event in June of 2012, followed by the THINK Finance event in April 2013 and developed into a larger community through which CX0s connect and share marketing and financial knowledge. These 2 online properties share a common foundation and content structure and have become a component of a 360 degree program that helps CXOs transform themselves and their organizations to address the demands of the new imperatives they face.

The THINK program with its online component helps CXOs learn about  transformation from leading experts from outside and within IBM with content generated uniquely for the audience, and other forms of interactions like peer and expert-led roundtables, workshops and webcasts.

And at any point through the experience CXOs are encouraged to share their concerns and questions directly with their peers and the THINK concierge service.

The experience was designed with the busy CMO in mind, it focuses on quick and easily digestable bits of information accompanied by interactive tools and how toe in order to begin the process of Marketing transformation.

The program counts 800 users with an average of 15% monthly return visits to the site. The site does not sell a product but a way of doing business, therefore the IBM brand appears only in the footer and is not linked to the IBM website.

All parts of the projects rely on SCRUM methodology to quickly deploy new ideas and retire unsuccessful ones. As part of a highly collaborative 8 person team we planned each new direction relying on usage data, customer feedback and our individual expertise. The project started by developing user personas and scenarios, identifying features and tools and then eliminating the majority of them to build the core of the online presence.

Wires were executed in Google docs, directly on the whiteboard and then photographed, and later in the project as a prototype using Axure. While I initially  organized the user experience, it was a team effort to define which areas were important and we should launch with. The team was comprised of 2-3 developers, a SCRUM master, a product owner (this person had the final say in any matter that cannot be resolved by the team), a UX lead, a design lead, a content strategist and a business liaison.