I built my first website in 1997, using “Beyond Press” extensions for Quark Express, which basically exported enormous images of the designs, and enough HTML code to render pixelated versions for the internet. I uploaded the site using the paper-thin connection of a 14.4 kbps modem, and then fired up AOL and emailed the four other people I knew who had email addresses.
Two years later, as the world was trying to catch up with the bustle of overwhelming technical advances, we opened our shop, keen on using our design and marketing skills to capitalize on the “dot com” boom. We were hand-coding websites on our shiny new Power Macs, previewing in early versions of Netscape, and hand-submitting URLs to Yahoo for review by actual human beings, before being cataloged in their remarkable search engine.
Our business, and the world, have both changed so drastically over the course of the past 12 years. We saw that first dot com baby boom end rather abruptly, and then marveled at how the internet matured, like a kid putting muscle milk on his Wheaties every morning. There was soon internet and even cameras, on our phones. Then newspapers and magazines started disappearing, one after the other. Then out of nowhere, Google kicked the snot out of Yahoo, in the virtual parking lot, after school, and things settled down for a bit. Dial-up connections gave way to high-speed DSL and cable modems, which allowed multimedia, and sites like YouTube, to thrive. We rejoiced in the streets, when Macromedia Flash gave us the opportunity to develop totally dynamic browser and platform agnostic websites, with full animation. Then we cried, and consoled each other, years later, amidst a mob of puzzled clients, when Steve Jobs and his iPhone and iPad killed Flash, dead. Right around the same time, a socially-focused collegiate website opened its doors to the public, creating what is clearly the largest shift in marketing, media, internet usage and human behavior, since the invention of the internet itself. Surely you’re one of the 800 million people on Facebook?
Through it all, we’ve endured, and evolved. We even changed our name, to better represent the way in which our firm, and distinctly different partner personalities, provide clients with a better balance of all this new technology, coupled with the classic advertising techniques required to build and sustain a successful brand.
Enough reminiscing for now. I’d like to thank the many clients who’ve made our tenure so enjoyable: Gene, Dan, Bill, Bob, Sam, Megan, Amy, Alice, Duane, Carla, Suzanne, Sasha and so many others.
Thanks to my incredible partner, who is a rock the likes of which the pilgrims would have been lucky to discover in Plymouth. If you don’t know or have not had the pleasure of meeting Kristen Briner, you should.
Thanks to our amazing staff. We would not be here without your late nights, and heroic efforts.
Thanks to my father, John T. Scott III, who gave us just enough money and wisdom to get started, before leaving the planet prematurely.
Thanks to my family, my friends, my kids, and my girl, all of whom have sacrificed in one way or another over the past decade plus, to support me.
Thanks to you, for reading. I really appreciate it.
Best, Luke