We work with a diverse group of clients. Many of them have exciting businesses, some of them are governments, and others are non-profits with amazing missions. Often we get called in to add fuel to the fire of a really cool brand – this time around Washington Life Magazine chose to work with us out of a field of 4 other very talented digital agencies to take their media company into a 2.0 world – something their audience demands and something the magazine is passionately pursuing.
WASHINGTON LIFE is the premier lifestyle magazine in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, published by well connected life-long Washingtonians who have exceptional insight into the community. Through our established social networks, loyal readership base and long standing relationships, WASHINGTON LIFE offers its advertisers a unique way to target discerning consumers.
Our strategy for their initiative will roll out in multiple phases and Phase I launched this past Saturday in the midst of ObamaFest 09 here in DC after a furiously placed 11 day design/build cycle. Here’s the breakdown:
1) Before: 1.0, manual html editing, no cms, no social features, no video or RSS etc.
2) After: Custom WordPress CMS, full user roles system for Editors, Authors, Contributors etc., all the social features you could want (and more coming in later phases), HD video channel, Facebook Page:
Huge props are due to Zvi Band and Alex Hsiao, two very talented iStrategists who led development and design respectively. My favorite section of the site is the video section, where we integrated Vimeo High Definition embeds. That section of the site will be juiced up even more later.
If you’re a Facebook addict like me, make sure to become their Fan here: 
For various reasons, Facebook makes it really hard to embed flash video into their pages – especially if it’s Vimeo so we did some custom FBML hackery to get a good Vimeo Player embedded in the page. There are 7 really interesting videos from inauguration that you might want to checkout. My favorite is included below where Sting says the “DC is the new place to be”:
WLTV Episode 7 from Washington Life Magazine on Vimeo.
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