Last week’s New York Times article focusing on the independent music scene in Memphis held special significance for us since several Lokionites are intimately involved in that normally-overlooked part of the musical landscape.

Chloe O’Hearn, a Lokion project manager, and Shiloh Barnat, Director of User Experience, are both board members of Rock-n-Romp, a national group whose local chapters host live music shows for families.

“Everybody knows Memphis is the birthplace of rock and roll. And lots of people move or stay here because it’s a good place to raise kids,” Barnat said. “But you don’t stop rockin’ when you become a parent — it just gets harder to get out late. Rock-n-Romp is one of my favorite things about living in Memphis because it brings the city’s awesome music scene into the daylight hours. It’s like ParentPalooza.”

Lokion’s Director of Project Management, Patrick Miller, and his band The Stand Ins have a regular monthly gig at the Buccaneer Bar (mentioned in the Times piece). Like the juke joints spotlighted in the 2003 film “Last of the Mississippi Jukes,” if musicians want to play at the Bucc, all they have to do is ask – leading to a unique collaborative musical environment.

“Memphis musicians are all about each other. They share in recording, venues, even bands. We share our drummer with another band and our bass player is in two or three different outfits. We’ve played with several different Memphis groups at the Buccaneer, and they’re all incredibly diverse,” Miller said. “It’s a family. I haven’t met anyone yet on this scene I didn’t call a friend within weeks.”

That sense of community extends to the underground dance scene as well. Sean O’Daniels, a Lokion developer, is a popular underground dance DJ who regularly performs throughout the city.

“In the 20 years I have been a DJ in Memphis, I have been a part of a scene whose knowledge and passion rivals those of bigger cities,” he said. “In general, underground dance is not as highlighted in the US as much as it is overseas, yet it thrives here in Memphis. It’s amazing to me that the musical depth which makes this city famous can permeate and fuel the lesser-known genres.”

Miller agrees. He moved to Memphis from the San Francisco Bay Area and didn’t think his stay would be a long one – but his experiences within the local music community made him reconsider.

“I am proud and happy to be a part of this family, and it’s changed my whole perspective on Memphis. It’s one of the best things about living here, and I’m convinced it’s the thing we should talk about the loudest.”

On a recent business trip to Manhattan, we took in a half-day conference on Innovation sponsored by the Luxury Lab.

The concept was intriguing and The TimesCenter venue was quite nice (despite the lack of AT&T connectivity that precluded iPhone users from live-Twittering the event).  The finely dressed crowd quickly registered and settled in to listen to series of nine minute talks.  We enjoyed the forum and especially a few stand-out speakers:  Henry Blodget, CEO of The Business Insider; Scott Harrison, Founder, CharityWater.org; Cindy Gallop, CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld; and Chandler Burr, Perfume Critic for the New York Times.

Gallop was especially interesting — not only for her colorful language and snakeskin pants, but also for her observations that luxury brands have become diluted by democratization.  Her predictions?  Luxury brands of the future will be elitist and empathetic, and allow consumers to act immediately upon their desires. “That’s what e-commerce is about,” she commented. “Luxury brands are bad at that.”

Underscoring the importance of an ecommerce focus on customer interaction, keynote speaker and founder of Luxury Lab, Scott Galloway, noted in opening remarks, “Luxury brands who have an ecommerce presence scored 22 points higher on the Digital IQ Index.”  He also encouraged luxury brands to connect with consumers through social media, adding that it will be harder and more expensive in the future to attract fans and keep their attention.

Scott Harrison elicited audible sighs and probably even a tear or two during his talk about his work with CharityWater.org, a non-profit that helps provide clean water to the one in six people who need it — a billion worldwide.  It made for an arresting moment in the program when he deftly illustrated with heartrending video that something Americans take for granted is such a luxury in other countries.

Perfume critic Chandler Burr was a breezy and knowledgeable presenter who gave everyone in the audience an olfactory experience as he presented his talk about innovation in the perfume industry in three “acts” complete with scent strips to sniff.  His books on the perfume industry have already made it into our Amazon cart for holiday reading.

Finally, you’d have to be dead (or at least have non-functioning taste buds) not to have enjoyed the Vosges chocolate tasting table.  The organic peanut butter sea salt truffle — we could have used about 76,452 more of those. And really, who can resist the power of excellent chocolate in a beautiful box?

Our thanks to Scott Galloway and Luxury Lab for an enlightening (and delicious) seminar.

The combined efforts of Lokion and long-time client Viking Range were recognized by LuxuryLab in the recently-released 2009 Digital IQ Index.

Touted for its “unrivaled” interface and outstanding content, Viking’s industry-leading website was ranked at #1 in the Design & Home category. The report went on to call VikingRange.com a “triple threat” for its superb visuals, product search, and community features, and the site was assigned a Digital IQ ranking of 120 — “gifted” — on the LuxuryLab scale.

The Digital IQ Index is an annual digital brand audit as well as a qualitative and quantitative study that scored 109 luxury brands in 11 categories including fashion, beauty and skincare, watches, and automobiles. The study measured luxury brands on the effectiveness of their digital marketing and digital competence, taking into account such factors as search engine optimization, web design, and the strategic use of social media and eCommerce.

Lokion is currently in its 10th year as Viking’s digital agency, working with Viking’s internal teams and outside partners to design and produce high-end user experiences backed with solid technology. We are thrilled to have contributed to the well-regarded online presence and congratulate Viking on this recognition of its online efforts.

On May 29th, a highly select group of area developers and marketing/business professionals gathered for Startup Weekend Memphis. Hosted by LaunchMemphis (a local non-profit cultivating and promoting entrepreneurship), the goal of the annual event is to take business ideas from concept to launch – in just two days.

One of the four businesses developed that weekend, CheezyWeezy.com, is the brainchild of Lokion senior architect Meka Egwuekwe and was created with the help of Lokion developers Ashley Young and Ben Summers. And after months of fine-tuning and business development, the site makes its public beta debut today.

CheezyWeezy invites visitors to “take a smile break” by viewing pictures of cute babies and children and allows viewers to rate those photos using creative interactive web tools like the “Aww! Meter.”

Meka says the idea for the site came from a conversation he had with his wife Pamela a few years ago. “Whenever we took pictures of our two daughters, they would always say, with the biggest smiles, ‘Cheezy Weezy!’ We thought it would be cool to have a place where our family and friends could share that experience. And since Startup Weekend brings together a diverse group of intelligent people for the purpose of building projects like this, I thought it was an ideal place to develop the concept.”

Site registration on CheezyWeezy.com is free and users can create profiles allowing them to upload their own cute photos (internal safeguards are in place to prevent inappropriate content and site usage). Since the beta site launched in July, it’s been rapidly gaining momentum by building its user base and signing up advertisers. In addition, Meka and his team are actively utilizing social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, and more innovative site features (including an online store) are in the works.

The CheezyWeezy team will also be hitting the Memphis festival circuit to sign up users and even upload pictures (with parents’ permission, of course). Planned stops include the Germantown Festival (Sept. 12th), the Cooper-Young Festival (Sept. 19th), and the River Arts Festival (Oct. 24-25th).

“As today’s stresses ever increase, the need to relax and take a break from the regular work day to smile also increases,” Meka said. “We hope visitors get as much joy out of CheezyWeezy.com as we’ve had building it.”

Congrats to Meka and team for a job well done!

I recently had a new and different experience using Expedia.com – one that, despite my many years as a happy and loyal customer, caused reexamination of two things: how quickly a single online event can cause consumers to reconsider brand value, and the importance of timely error messages in the overall user experience.

After finding a Labor Day flight and saving the price details as an itinerary in my trusty Expedia account early in the day, I went to complete my purchase later that evening. I checked the pricing to ensure it hadn’t changed, entered payment info, and hit the “purchase” button.

But instead of the expected confirmation page, I got … well, nothing. A blank page with the Expedia header and nothing else. I waited about a minute for the customary confirmation email, but it didn’t arrive.

Puzzled, I immediately called Expedia’s customer service line. After explaining the situation to a rep, I was informed the fare pricing had apparently updated during my transaction (although I never saw any evidence of this) and that was why the purchase hadn’t been completed. The current fare was unfortunately now almost double what I’d selected during my transaction. The rep could not provide any other details, so I asked for a supervisor. Almost 10 minutes later, I got one on the line – but just a few moments into our conversation, he disconnected while I was in the middle of a sentence.  I called back. Again had to explain the situation to a new rep. Again waited for a new supervisor. And again, almost immediately after I began speaking, was disconnected.

At this point, I initiated a series of email exchanges with Expedia and eventually received a response that at least appeared to be from a human being – but still did not offer any explanation other than “fares sometimes change.”

So what do I know now that I didn’t know before?

This situation pushed me to re-evaluate the current value Expedia offered to my travel efforts.  Within a period of less than 24 hours, a brand and company I had happily used for years was weighed, measured, and found wanting.  The confluence of the two events:  lack of error messaging coupled with the customer service encounter resulted in an inordinate amount of frustration which allowed doubt to enter.  And thus, investigation into other online travel services.

Lokion has typically found that while companies are careful to map out the “best experience” scenarios for shopping carts, purchasing and personalization, those same companies often can overlook the importance of experience when things go wrong.  We are so focused on what happens online, we also overlook that the “brand experiences” overlap and must work together to accommodate a range of customer situations, feelings and needs.

The website user experience went awry in the absence of appropriate messaging when the transaction didn’t process completely. The blank page clearly indicated to me as the user that something was wrong, but I certainly didn’t understand that the blank page = no valid transaction.   From my previous successful experiences with Expedia, I assumed it was a display error, not a  “this just isn’t happening” message.

There could’ve been a page stating the fare had increased and couldn’t be processed at the rate I had selected. It might not have mitigated my disappointment at ruined travel plans, but at least it would have been understandable, and it might have altered my decision to call customer service – thus avoiding a non-productive telephone and email exchange.

In light of all the above, I regretfully must re-format my exclusive relationship with Expedia after a relationship of over a decade. Oh sure, it would be easier to stay. I’ve invested a lot of time, after all.

It seems I’m going to be seeing other travel service providers. Call if you’d like to get together over error messaging and customer service sometime. We can do coffee.

- MJ

MEDIA CONTACT: Megan Jones, CEO (phone 901.591.1600, email mjones@lokion.com)

America’s 5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies Revealed –
Inc. 5000 List Provides a Window to the American Economy

Lokion Makes Third Consecutive Appearance on the List –
Ranks No. 2412 in 2009 with
Three-Year Sales Growth of Over 125%

MEMPHIS, TN - August 12, 2009 – Inc. today ranked Lokion number 2412 (up more than 500 slots since last year) on its annual ranking of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the country. The list is the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy – America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Taken as a whole, these companies represent the backbone of the U.S. economy.

Ranked on Inc.’s list for three years in a row, Lokion is an interactive agency specializing in providing small, flexible teams of experts to produce swift and solid results. From creating online user experience strategies to producing design interfaces, to developing and customizing software, Lokion focuses on serving clients with a mix of creativity, strategy, and technology. Our deliverables result in persuasive, targeted ecommerce solutions. More than just design and deployment, Lokion works closely with clients to maintain and enhance their online efforts with content strategy and management, ongoing usability testing, software development and maintenance, and continuous business strategy support.

The companies that made the Inc. 5000 reported aggregate revenue of $214 billion and a median growth rate of 126%. Most importantly, the 2009 Inc. 5000 companies were engines of job growth, having created more than a million jobs since those companies were founded. Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and a list of the fastest-growing companies that can be sorted by industry and region may be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2009/index.html.

Hottest Regions for Fastest-Growing Companies
The top five regions remain unchanged from 2008. The New York metro area tops the list, followed by Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago.

Hottest Industries for Fastest-Growing Businesses
The largest business category is again IT Services, with 658 companies making the Inc. 5000 list. The construction and manufacturing industries, each with less than 400 firms, slipped from third and fourth last year to fourth and fifth this year.

But perhaps most striking is the number of government services firms on the list, which at 252 comprises more than 5% of the list overall and is an 87% increase over the past year. (It’s worth keeping in mind that all the growth in this sector came during the Bush administration — the effects of President Barack Obama’s policies won’t be seen until next year’s list.)

The health industry also saw a marked increase of 58% since last year. Many of these firms have been moving doctor and hospital data to a digital environment, thus improving the efficiency and costs of health care. Energy and government services retain the number one and two spots in revenue growth from last year.

Methodology
The 2009 Inc. 5000 list measures revenue growth from 2005 through 2008. To qualify, companies must be U.S.-based and privately held, for profit, independent – not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies – as of December 31, 2008, and have had at least $200,000 in revenue in 2005,and $2 million in 2008.

About Lokion
Lokion creates digital and brand experiences that help clients generate awareness, loyalty, and growth. From crafting comprehensive interactive marketing campaigns to building custom software, Lokion specializes in serving clients with results-oriented design, strategy, and technology. Clients include Viking Range, FedEx, Smith & Nephew, First Tennessee and more. Lokion has been included in Inc. Magazine’s Top 5000 Fastest Growing Companies three years in a row. For more information, please see www.lokion.com.

About Inc.com
Inc.com, the daily resource for entrepreneurs, delivers how-to guides, advice, tools, breaking news, and rich multi-media to help business owners and CEOs start, run, and grow their businesses. Inc.com offers dynamic marketing solutions to help advertisers effectively reach Inc.com’s audience of business leaders. Visit http://www.inc.com.

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While Lokion is proud of the work we do for clients, we also feel it’s important to be a good corporate citizen of Memphis. That’s why we donate some of our time and expertise every year to organizations like The Memphis Symphony Orchestra, The National Ornamental Metal Museum, and The National Civil Rights Museum – and during the holidays, we make a cash donation on behalf of our clients and partners to a worthwhile charity.

We never expect fanfare for our philanthropic work – the personal satisfaction is reward enough – so being recognized for it by The Commercial Appeal today was extra-special to us. If nothing else, we hope it will encourage more companies both big and small to follow this path despite the difficult economic times.  During downturns, overall giving levels tend to decline so charities and non-profits need attention and support more than ever.

As our CEO Megan Jones said in the article, “To be in this community, you need to be a part of the community.”

Aren’t things supposed to be better already? Seriously, we’re halfway into 2009. The economy has been stimulated, supposedly saved, but still seems stunned. Or, at the very least, stagnated.

From our perspective, the present state of the general economy (including retail and ecommerce) is best summed up in one word: tentative.

Budgets have been cut once, twice, three times, which means re-prioritization — most likely in the face of uncertain projections and goals. Small, skunkworks side projects are on the rise as marketing professionals with no money on hand search for ways to make meaningful contributions to top or bottom lines. Overloaded internal IT teams struggle to keep up with maintenance and any new endeavors, probably with a smaller staff and less outside help. And everything seems overshadowed by an intense focus on social media – how to use it, how to leverage it, how to take a bite of the apple without it biting you back.

In school, we learned a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay that way too. In real-world terms, this means we get attached to less-bold endeavors when everyone around us is in deep conservation mode. Thus far in 2009, the general ennui seems related at least in part to trepidation – the reluctance to try something new, lest it result in failure. In return, pretty much nothing at all has happened for any of us.

Sounds a bit grim, right? However, as the retail industry gears up for back-to-school and the upcoming holiday season, we do see reason for optimism. Consumer outlook seems to be brightening: In May, a Pew Research survey found that 53% of us feel the government is on the right track in handling the nation’s economic problems – a significant jump from mid-January when only 31% held that view. And in a survey about Father’s Day spending (conducted by BIGresearch for NRF’s Shop.org), respondents overall planned to spend an average of $90.89 — a bit less than last year – but online shoppers said they’d shell out $136.31. That’s a whopping 50% more than brick-and-mortar customers, and certainly cause for optimism in the ecommerce world.

So our advice? Get moving and take sensible, immediate action with shelved or stalled projects, promotions and feature sets, despite fears about the outcome. Fortune cookies may not be the best sources of business acumen, but Confucius was right … a journey of a thousand miles truly does begin with a single step.

Some recommendations follow, along with our first and foremost objective: Get rid of the weary and throw your weight behind what works. (Of course, we’re hoping you read Lokion’s 9 for 09 as well.)

1. Partner up for the big picture.
We all know about “management by objective.” Performance reviews loom in a lackluster year.  But really, get up from your desk and renew your relationships with cross-functional teams, your direct reports, peers, vendors and higher-ups.  Get clear on the overall company goals, and then align yourself with them. More than ever, making a difference in the big picture matters in this economy.

2. You’ve gotta read the reports.
Take Q1 and whatever draft you have on hand for Q2. Look carefully for trends in all sectors and segments. Make actionable recommendations to cut off the dead and dying. Kill the weakest content. Review your search engine marketing tactics. There is no sense in maintaining effort where there is little or no return.

3. Make your mark.
Do something already!  If you have a budget — any budget at all, or even extra energy to give — go ahead and get those projects in the works. Take time to ensure your mix of tactics includes the tried-and-true, the must-haves, and one trial balloon that all align with the big-picture goals. If something flops, cut your losses and move on to the next idea on the list before the end of September. This way, you can take advantage of any uptick that may come your way before the holiday season.

4. Refuse to be dragged into maintenance mode.
Find the right mix of budget, people, and vendors to launch those new features/promotions that support your business goals. Keep things sensible and trackable, of course, but resist the urge to play it safe in maintenance mode. If you stay right where you are, you’d better get used to the scenery — it’s unlikely to change.

5. Resist the pressure to focus solely on social media.
By the same token, don’t put all your eggs in the social media basket. We know it’s the latest trend but despite what you may have heard, Twitter and Facebook are part of an overall comprehensive strategy – not a strategy unto themselves.

Meka Egwuekwe, one of Lokion’s Senior Software Architects, was featured in the local news this weekend.  A big thanks to Meka and The Commercial Appeal - they arranged for the photo shoot to take place in the Lokion offices (that’s the 10th floor conference room window Meka is looking through).

Our favorite quote from the article?

“I love the history of the city, I love the culture, the music of the city, I love the authenticity of Memphis. That’s not something you see everywhere. I’ve lived in seven different cities, and this is hands-down the most authentic place I’ve ever lived. I love the entrepreneurial spirit here.”

For this recent undertaking, Lokion provided Viking with a wide range of services including strategy, requirements gathering/documentation, sitemaps, wireframes, design, graphic production, multi-media production, content strategy, development, quality assurance, and deployment.

The result is a compelling new site design that’s not only beautiful but functional. A “faceted search” tool allows customers to browse products by parameters such as fuel type, cooking method, and appliance size.

Content is now better consolidated using a tabbed interface to break product information into easily-read sections.

What’s more, by integrating Adobe’s Scene7 with the ATG platform, customers are provided with complete and customizable product images including colors, trim accents, door and burner configurations, and much more - all in a user-friendly environment with intuitive navigation.

Overall, the site is designed to improve the entire selling/marketing/support cycle in that visitors learn about products, receive assistance in product selection, and are referred to local Viking dealers for purchase of their customized appliance.

Take a look and let us know what you think: http://www.VikingRange.com.