Media

Ann Arbor’s Clarity Quest Marketing adds Connecticut office, to expand nationwide

Clarity Quest Marketing has always been known as a company that can get the word out about techie startups. Now the downtown Ann Arbor-based firm is adding all things healthcare to that description.The 9-year-old marketing agency has traditionally done work for tech and bio-tech firms, but is now growing its customer base to include medical practices and physicians groups. The move is a logical one considering Clarity Quest Marketing's president, Christine Slocumb, is married to a doctor."It's a way to diversify," Slocumb says. "The healthcare industry doesn't go through as many ups and downs in hard times."Clarity Quest Marketing is growing now that the hard times are subsiding. The company has hired three people over the last year, expanding its staff to 12 employees, 10 independent contractors, and an occasional intern. About five of those employees are in the Ann Arbor office, with the rest spread between its Seattle location and the new office in Connecticut. The company expects to add another 3-5 positions over the next year as it continues its U.S. expansion."We're growing here to cover the entire country," Slocumb says.Source: Christine Slocumb, president of Clarity Quest MarketingWriter: Jon Zemke

Issue Media Group named to Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the nation

Did you know that one of the nation's most thriving media companies, Issue Media Group, is based right here in Metro Detroit? The start-up (two of its three co-founders call Ann Arbor and Saline home) and parent of this publication is on the higher end (think 1,000s) of Inc. magazine's latest list of the 5000 fastest growing companies.Excerpt:Issue Media Group, number 1,672 on Inc.'s list, has developed many community websites, for places like Detroit and Cincinnati. The sites have original features and contributors' blogs, as well as the neighborhood profiles and event listings you would expect from a community website. The sites' strength is a strong emphasis on photography, as in this profile of Cincinnati musician Baoku Moses.Read the rest of the story here.

Ingenex Digital Marketing grows nationally, plans 50% staff increase

Ingenex Digital Marketing is keeping people busy these days, and it's harnessing Google to help make that happen.The downtown Ann Arbor-based firm had been more of an Internet advertising and web development pure play in its first few years. In the last year or so, the 5-year-old firm has been basing its growth on search engine optimization and Google Adwords."We have been working closely with Google Ann Arbor," says Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing. "We're looking to grow as a national digital marketing firm."Ingenex Digital Marketing employs six, plus three interns and three independent contractors. It has hired three people over the last year and expects to add another five more over the next 12 months. It is basing that growth on its increasingly national client roster.Source: Derek Mehraban, CEO of Ingenex Digital MarketingWriter: Jon Zemke

Chicago Tribune looks at AnnArbor.com: An uptick for print and online journalism?

Ann Arbor’s KnowledgeWatch locks down 1 of 3 microloans

KnowledgeWatch is one of three Michigan-based start-ups, and the only one from Washtenaw County, to secure funding from the latest round of the Michigan Microloan Fund Program .The Ann Arbor-based firm received an undisclosed portion of the total $104,000 loan pool. The other two recipients are AWGET in Okemos and Bloomfield Hills-based uwemp. KnowledgeWatch plans to use the microloan to support commercialization of its automated online knowledge product.KnowledgeWatch is developing software that aggregates, analyzes and sorts online content in a way that is similar to Google searches. Among its target market are assemblers of trade publications or hobby sites (which number in the tens of thousands).The firm has four employees and two interns. It hopes to add six more positions within the next year with the help of seed capital sources like the microloan. The microloans provide funding for start-ups for product commercialization and business growth. The $1.5 million program will make anywhere from 2-4 loans of a few thousand dollars each per month in 2010. This equates to another 24-48 fledgling local businesses receiving financing during a time when capital for small businesses is almost non-existent.Source: Ann Arbor SPARKWriter: Jon Zemke

KnowledgeWatch creates innovative news feed

The Internet has more content than its users can sort through, let alone use. That's where KnowledgeWatch comes in.The Ann Arbor-based start-up has developed software that aggregates, analyzes, and sorts content (think news stories like this one) in a way that is similar to how Google searches help you find just what you're looking for. KnowledgeWatch helps the people who put together trade publications or hobby sites find and sort through what they want to feature."All of these content managers have a serious content management issue," says Donald Hogan, CEO of KnowledgeWatch. "They all need to identify and format content that is fresh everyday."That can be incredibly time consuming for someone surfing the web and trying to put together an update about the latest field intel. And there are a lot of these people. Hogan says there are 17,000 trade publications and even more niche publications and pamphlets around the world.KnowledgeWatch expects to launch its new website later this month and begin a serious push at expansion. The firm now employs four staffers (including a former automotive engineer) and two interns. It hopes to add six more positions within the next year. The company is focusing on adding 10 new clients in 2010 and scaling its revenue to at least $250,000.Source: Donald Hogan, CEO of KnowledgeWatchWriter: Jon Zemke

Gerald White International moves HQ to Ann Arbor

A former University of Michigan Football player is returning to his alma mater and expects to begin creating jobs in Ann Arbor.Gerald White has relocated his media firm, Gerald White International, from Miami to downtown Ann Arbor. The move brings two employees right away and four internship openings that will be filled by this fall. The company hopes to expand its staff to eight people and a few interns within 18 months, growth that could include promoting some of those interns into full-time employees."That's one of the main reasons I wanted to get back to Ann Arbor is because of the talent," White says. "The more kids we keep in Michigan the better off we are."Gerald White International provides marketing, public relations, digital and social network marketing media services. It has strategic relationships with Sourcebits of Atlanta and Bangalore, India, a leader in mobile/social and gaming apps and digital solutions, and Eiler Communications of Ann Arbor, a public relations firm. Some of its clients include the National Athletic Association, The Ludacris Foundation, Melange Bistro and Don Modesto Tequila.White, who played fullback for U-M between 1983-7, plans to take advantage of the opportunities created in the current Michigan economy to grow his 8-year-old company.Source: Gerald White, CEO of Gerald White InternationalWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor, the land that newspapers forgot

A correspondent from the New York Times recently came to the Ann Arbor area and found it's number of newspapers somewhat lacking.Excerpt:This past week, I visited a place that newspapers forgot, or was it the other way around? While working on an article about Time Inc.’s decision to parachute into Detroit for a year, I tried to get used to the fact that the newspapers there get delivered only three days a week and the other days, it is tough to find them. Too bad, because between a city where stories seem to lie around every corner and with such a really talented bunch of journalists on hand, it would be nice to have a newspaper plop into the middle of things more often. But as Richard Pérez-Peña points out, newspapers are deathly ill, no more so than in a place like Michigan where the implosion of the auto industry has created collateral damage in all sectors of the economy.And then I went to Ann Arbor over the weekend to watch Michigan take on Eastern Michigan at the Big House. Ann Arbor seems like a perfect newspaper town: a highly educated populace, abundant retail and a major university that would seem to be the source of endless town/gown stories. But the Ann Arbor News, which has come out under various names since 1835, shut down as a newspaper in July and was replaced by AnnArbor.com, a Web site with a print version that comes out twice a week.Read the rest of the story here.

Community voices in Ann Arbor: a glimpse of local journalism’s future?

All eyes were on Ann Arbor when The Ann Arbor News closed, but they remained focused on Tree Town to see what happens to AnnArbor.com.Excerpt:To me, one of the most interesting aspects of AnnArbor.com is its reliance on community bloggers for a large portion of the site’s content. It's also the aspect most likely to give many journalists the heebie-jeebies.AnnArbor.com launched when The Ann Arbor News closed in late July, ending the newspaper’s 174-year history. It was a sad day for journalism when the News closed, leading to the loss of more than 200 jobs. But it was also the beginning of real-life experiment in this evolving enterprise we call journalism. To me, it's an experiment all in the world of journalism should be watching. Closely.Read the rest of the story here.