How we ended up at Adobe

So how does an web planner get invited to a dinner at Adobe? We'll I've had my eye on Scene 7 for over a year. They specialize in complex image delivery systems for the web and are the standard for room planners for companies like Behr Paint. Marilyn and I were pitching an italian tile company about a year ago, so I contacted them. They provided me with some information and a whitepaper they call Ecommerce 3.0. My head is still spinning about 2.0, but it's a good read. I can't figure out how to upload a PDF to this blog, if you want to read it, email me.

Anyway, like good salespeople they've been in my email box and voicemail for the last year, and when I got the news of them being aquired by Adobe, they also invited us to this dinner to meet their teams.

Scene 7 CEO on acquisition

We met founder and CEO of Scene 7 at the Adobe Dinner. I asked him how about the acquisition, particularly how it would change things for Scene 7.

His response:

"My shareholders are happy. My 100 employees are happy. (100% retained by Adobe) and most importantly, My wife is happy."

Clearly a good move for Doug and his team.

Dinner at Adobe Headquarters

Last night were invited to an "executive" dinner at Adobe headquarters in San Jose. Adobe recently acquired Scene 7 a company that has specializes in rich media content for the web, email & print. Specifically we were interested in the work they had done in the custom product configuration and ecatalog space.

As we pulled up to Adobe we noticed the building was really impressive, however we couldn’t both help feeling a little unnerved by being buzzed by a airplane landing at San Jose airport. It seems their headquarters are right in the flight path! After parking in the building we entered the lobby and passed a guy who looked like one of the Doobie brothers, I mentioned to Chris he was probably the lead Photoshop programmer, and then we made our way to their reception area. I was really impressed by their facility branding. They have strategically placed big plasma and LCD touch screen to let you experience their brand and showcase their work.

After getting our badges we went to the patio for drinks, and then entered the Adobe Café to use one of the 4 laptops they supplied to experience the Scene 7 product. The first site we looked allowed us to customize the theme of a room, including paint on the walls right down to the rug on the floor. Scene 7’s tool is built on Flash so one of the things you notice how quickly the interface updates itself with no reload of the interface, other than the element you select. We also checked out some of the sites they had done for Nike and Behr Paint which were really impressive.

At dinner we sat right across the table from the former CEO of Scene 7 now Vice President of Creative Solution Services Doug Mack. As well one of their customers National Pen, who were one of their top ten customers and a huge advocate for their product. It was amazing to hear about all the level of customization this product offers, including the costs it saved National Pen in their marketing and order customization and fulfillment process.

Unfortunately we only managed to see what they had done on the display side, so I handed my card to Doug Mack and he promised to have one of team members now all Adobe employees call me. We are excited to learn more about this product and see how it will fit our clients at Hanson Dodge Creative.

Internet Retailer 2007 - Day 1

Yesterday we landed in San Franciso on a direct flight from Milwaukee. Chris and I are excited about attending the Internet Retailer 2007 Conference & Exhibition that starts today. We decided to get here one day early to see a little bit of San Franciso.

We are staying in San Jose at a nice Holiday Inn. As we drive up highway 101 through Palo Alto you realize just how many cool businesses are based here in the Silicon Valley. Yahoo, Webex and Sun Microsystems are just a few of the names we noticed from the highway.

Today we are going to check out Alcatraz and see a little bit of San Franciso. Yesterday we went of the Golden Gate, and saw some of the city at night. Here are some of our pics:



Tonight we are attending an event at Adobe's headquarters, more to come!