Scene7 Forms Strategic Alliance With Consulting Firm Aaronson Group

2005-10-27: Rich media catalogue and configuration systems developer Scene7 has agreed a strategic partnership with The Aaronson Group, the consulting company run by Jack Aaronson, a respected analyst of issues relating to personalization and mass customization. The two companies will jointly market personalized consumer facing solutions to multi-channel direct marketers and online groups.

The Aaronson Group specialises in creating highly interactive user experiences that breed customer loyalty. Previous Aaronson Group projects include interactive configurators and personalization projects for Barnes&Noble.com and advanced attribute-based browsing interfaces for ShopNBC.com. CEO Jack Aaronson is known for stressing the importance of highly personalized interfaces for mass customized products. He has keynoted the "World Congress of Mass Customization and Personalization" in Germany, and has authored a chapter in the just-published book "Mass Customization: Concepts and Applications." Aaronson also writes the ROI Marketing column for ClickZ.com and is working on his own book about customer loyalty and the science behind loyalty programs. Clients of The Aaronson Group include Fingerhut, Lincoln Financial Group, ShopNBC.com, Barnes& Noble.com, WeightWatchers.com, Oakwood Worldwide, Bank of America, and Dell Computers.

The partnership with Scene7 will enable New York-based The Aaronson Group to leverage Scene7's rich media solutions - Dynamic Imaging, eCatalogs, Product Configurators, Targeted Email & Print, and Dynamic Asset Management - to create rich, visually personalized, interactive experiences that grow revenues and cut production costs.

Commenting on the deal, Jack Aaronson said: "The retail industry is changing, and many retailers now offer products that can be customized online by users. In the past, creating the underlying technology required for these configurators was cost-prohibitive and time-consuming. Scene7's technology allows us to delivery cost-effective consumer-facing personalization applications that can be delivered much more quickly than was ever possible. Scene7's platform allows users to dynamically create and visualize their personalized choices-encouraging purchases and customer satisfaction. With Scene7's automated rich media capabilities, we can build best-in-class interactive experiences for our joint customers delivering superior ROI, and increased customer loyalty." Scene7's automated rich media solutions are built upon a single technology platform. They claim that their technology has unrivaled breath, depth, scalability and ease of use. The company's technology is aimed at improving the entire selling and marketing cycle - from attracting customers, to guiding them to the right products and services, to successfully converting them into loyal buyers.

A number of major retail businesses have used Scene7's products, including Amazon, Macy's, Office Depot, Levi Strauss, La-Z-Boy and QVC.

One interesting aspect of the Scene7 offering is that they are the only vendor to offer complete deployment flexibility - in other words they are available both as licensed software and 'on-demand' (hosted), with a full set of supporting professional services. Scene7's say that their range of deployment options provides the lowest cost of ownership in the industry, depending on a company's business needs.

"Our alliance with The Aaronson Group is exciting," said Doug Mack, CEO of Scene7, who are based in Novato, California. "The Aaronson Group's multi-channel and direct marketing expertise combined with their full-service approach allows us to deliver a comprehensive offering to our joint customers. The Aaronson Group is known for being on the forefront of personalized user experiences. Coupling their capabilities with our advanced delivery platform provides the perfect marriage of design and technology."

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