News
Archive for December, 2008
(TROY, Mich.)—Media Genesis, a Web development firm based out of Troy, Michigan, was recently awarded work on a project toward the goal of curbing the migration of college graduates from the state of Michigan.
The initiative, working from a WIRED Grant given by the US Department of Labor in conjunction with the Detroit Regional Chamber, is designed to retain some of the state’s brightest and best as they prepare for graduation and the next phase of their lives by providing internships to college juniors.
According to the Detroit News, Michigan had the highest rate of outbound moves among the 50 states with close to 68 percent of all moves. While many factors can be attributed to the population shift, the biggest cited among students asked was employment—the Metro Detroit area alone has lost more than 100,000 jobs in five years leading up to 2007, with economic prospects dimming in the near future as the Big Three face uncertain futures.
In order to more effectively maintain the state’s population of 20-30 year olds, critical to the state’s future population stability, the initiative, known as InternInMichigan, was ideated to place 25,000 college juniors with internships in Michigan companies over the next three years. The initiative involves the development and branding of a Web site for the project as well as the creation of promotional content and a matching system.
Media Genesis, working with committees from 35 academic institutions as well as a student committee, carefully developed the branding and name design for the project and will help design the information architecture of the Web site. The branding identity work will be incorporated with multimedia to support the internship initiative as the project moves forward.
Media Genesis is collaborating on the project with Digerati, a technology solutions and information management company that will be providing the matching services and backend programming for the project as well as Issue Media Group, a publishing consortium that will be handling lifestyle content.
“To be on the ground floor of a project like this is a very exciting opportunity,” said Antoine Dubeauclard, President of Media Genesis. “Creating vital Web content for an issue like bright flight in the state of Michigan is extremely important to Media Genesis, especially considering the number of recent graduates we employ. That’s why we’re thrilled to have the chance to create such a significant, positive impact on the state through this initiative.”
Media Genesis is one of the leading independent Web development companies in Michigan, specializing in a host of multimedia issues from Flash and Video pieces, to e-learning courses and information architecture. For more information, please visit www.mediaG.com.
(Troy, Mich.) – Crain’s Detroit Business has picked their “40 Under 40” best and brightest leaders in Southeastern Michigan and Media Genesis’ President Antoine Dubeauclard has been chosen as one those leaders making an impact in the business community.
Crain’s evaluated this year’s 400 nominees based on the candidate’s personal and professional achievements.
“I have never seen anyone with as much drive and dedication to our clients, staff, and partners,” said Media Genesis Founder and CEO, Brad Frederick. “Antoine has endless energy and has a well-balanced focus on all aspects of the business making Media Genesis a truly great company.”
Dubeauclard, 35, began as a salesman at Media Genesis, a Troy-based Web development company, in 1997 – a year after the company was founded.
Now, 11 years later, he owns half the company and is an expert on Internet and application development strategy. Under his leadership, the company has averaged 50 percent growth over the past few years.
“We have a wide-range of clients from automotive manufactures, retail, nonprofits and law firms, but most are Michigan-based,” Dubeauclard said. “My goal is to step-up the company’s growth nationally.”
His role includes oversight of Media Genesis’ sales and creative departments, and strategic partnerships. He often writes and speaks on Internet related subjects and sits on many boards including an advisory committee for the Residential College at the University of Michigan.
“Not only is Antoine instrumental in coming up with extremely unique business and marketing ideas, but he also realizes that having a solid and creative team of people is why clients choose to work with us,” Frederick said.
Dubeauclard first began programming at age 7 when Internet programming was at its infant stage. By the late 1980s, Mr. Dubeauclard developed some of the earliest Internet games after assembling and leading a group of international game developers. Before coming to Media Genesis he worked for Knight Ridder Information System and University Microfilm Inc.
Past winners have included Danialle Karmanos, chairman of the Board of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit; Marshall Mathers, also known as Eminem, an American rapper, record producer and actor; and Brad Frederick, founder and CEO of Media Genesis.
Media Genesis is one of the largest and oldest independent Web development companies in Michigan, specializing in services ranging from consulting, interactive multimedia and e-learning courses. For more information visit www.mediaG.com.
When it comes to making e-commerce updates easily and effectively, there’s a new tool being used by major websites to integrate the eye-catching motion of Adobe Flash, yet is can be as easy to update as HTML. The result is a series of database-ready web services that brings interactivity to an e-commerce site — just check out http://disney.go.com/index or http://www.millionclouds.com/ for examples of the flexibility and database readiness of Adobe Flex.
Flex isn’t just for e-commerce web sites. It is also a great solution for developing desktop software programs like widgets, or even mobile applications. If you want to make your brand to be more accessible to consumers by putting it right on their desktop or cell phone, Flex is the software that can make it possible.
Adobe Flex is a suite of technologies released by Adobe as an animation alternative to Flash. Flex embeds Flash in HTML for use as a data-driven platform for websites. Flex files— displayed by the flash plug-in and compatible across all browser platforms—have the advantage of being database-ready. This enables Flex to function interactively for a web page feature such as a shopping cart or a series of streaming videos. Flex features include:
• Data grids
• Pull-down menus
• Charts
• Integration of Flex into Flash or vice-versa
• Customizable styles and skins
• Creation of desktop applications
For programmers, Adobe Flex Builder features a visual, object-oriented user interface for easy organization of visual components. This allows you to more quickly develop the Flex application for the website, since it requires less coding. This means programmers will spend less time building and maintaining your web site overall, which means a more efficient website for you.
For more information on how your business could benefit from the use of Adobe Flex, contact Media Genesis at inquiry@mediaG.com.
Media Genesis has had an ongoing partnership with The Salvation Army to help promote their Online Red Kettle Campaign. Media Genesis video taped more than 20 people from around metro Detroit to explain why family, friends and co-workers should help The Salvation Army and donate to their personal Online Red Kettles this holiday season. Media Genesis developed and edited the videos, and designed a website for The Salvation Army to promote the campaign.
The videos include direct appeals from Darren McCarty and Mike Babcock from the Detroit Red Wings, prominent Salvation Army officers, and local business leaders such as William Langford from the Pepsi Bottling Group, Robert Zocco from Logo Vision, and Maria Leonhauser from Franco Public Relations Group.
The kettles allow people to set donation goals and measure their donation progress online. This allows donors to view the progress their donation merits toward an individual donation goal. To donate to Media Genesis’ Online Red Kettle, please visit http://give.salvationarmyusa.org/goto/mediaG or start your own at www.onlineredkettle.org.
Below is a testimonial from a Salvation Army employee who has worked on the campaign.
“I’m very excited with how much support The Salvation Army’s Online Red Kettle Campaign is gaining this year. These Online Red Kettles help support thousands of people right in your area just like the red kettles you see outside of store fronts.
Working with Media Genesis has been a great experience! Media Genesis was also able to come to our office to do a live video shoot and welcomed participants to their office for shooting as well. The videos turned out great. They were able to accommodate last-minute changes and have been able to make edits with a fast turnaround.
I believe Online Red Kettles are a great way to help raise funds. Data shows that the average online donation is higher than the average donation made to a red kettle in real life. Each of the participants will be able to link their kettle video directly to their e-mail or post it online to YouTube or other social networking sites.
I’m definitely thrilled with the possibilities of using these videos to make donor appeals; I think the video project will really help support the Online Red Kettle campaign and I’m excited to see where we stand at the end of January.”
Health care – it was a major topic in this year’s presidential election and remains a concern for many businesses as health care spending continues to rise. According to the American Journal of Health Promotion, more than 95 percent of health care dollars are spent on treatment rather than prevention. As a result, Media Genesis decided to devote the month of November to wellness and teamed up with Wellco, a provider of corporate wellness systems for organizations who want to stop employee health risks before they become more dangerous and costly.
Scott Foster, Wellco’s corporate wellness expert, recently came to Media Genesis to give a seminar and admit HealthHammer testing. The HealthHammer testing was complimentary to all Media Genesis employees. HealthHammer can predict dangerous and costly health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression. It is the first system of its kind to integrate medical measurements, health risk appraisal, and avoidable costs in one powerful tool that offers instant, on-site results.
A common misconception is that people believe they are healthier than they really are, Foster said. Ninety percent of Michigan workers have at least one health risk.
“Not only does productivity rise and stress levels decrease when employees are healthy, but we feel we have a responsibility to our employees to make their health a priority and make resources more available to them,” said Brad Frederick, founder and CEO of Media Genesis.
Regular visits with your physician are critical to your overall health, Foster said. Yet, today’s culture and climate shows more employees avoiding the doctor.
“Companies are facing medical care costs that are consuming nearly half of corporate profits, he said. “The right corporate wellness program can dramatically lower costs for both employers and employees – there is currently no greater opportunity for the economy.”
The need and success of this program was demonstrated by the fact that almost 100 percent of Media Genesis employees participated in HealthHammer, Foster said.
Wellness month also included smaller efforts, such as health awareness signs, offering flu shots, promotion of healthy food through potlucks, and even a meditation session.
Wellco Corporation offers seminars, on-site testing, and health system assessments to corporations and organizations of all sizes. For more information, please visit www.wellcocorp.com.
