ID Society Profile
by Joe Shepter

ID Society founders Jonathan Webb and Adam Berkowitz like to tell their story in numbers. There’s $5,000, the start-up cost of the company; 800 the square footage of Webb’s Manhattan loft, which served as the company’s first office; and 3, the number of employees they crammed into that office before moving out.

“I had people’s desks around my bed upstairs,” says Webb. “And we had a whole network in my apartment.”

Needless to say, Webb and Berkowitz come from the gritty, not glamorous, side of the New York design scene. They don’t wander into the office at 11 a.m. in their Prada bathrobes and they don’t conduct business on their cell phones from the Barneys on 5th Avenue. On the plus side, they’ve made money every year since 1998.

Their success stems largely from their focus on two of the more desirable markets on the Web: sports and spirits. Companies in those industries have solid budgets and frequently want their sites to be an expression of that. As a result, ID Society routinely produces some of the most ambitious, built-from-scratch projects you’re bound to see.

Summing up their success, they point to their relationship with their clients as much as their artistry. “Relationships aren’t rocket science,” says Webb. “One of our competitors once went in [on a bid for the New York Jets] with four guys with suits and a huge PowerPoint presentation; it probably wasn’t the best approach to take with a bunch of football fanatics.”

These days, ID Society has almost 20 employees and a client list that includes MTV, the Baltimore Ravens and Diageo.

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EntrepreneurMagazine
Jan. 15, 2001

ID Society.com and its founders, Jonathan Webb, 28, and Adam Berkowitz, 27. Far beyond your typical marketers, these guys do it all—Web design, Flash development, CD-ROM business cards, printing, marketing and anything else a client could need. Says Berkowitz, "We help [clients] create their identities."

Started in 1999 from Webb’s New York City apartment, the entrepreneurs tally their start-up costs at about $5,000 (for their two computers). The biggest initial hurdle was getting their name out to potential clients—and Berkowitz admits to one occupational hazard: In working so hard to market your clients, "sometimes you neglect yourself."

Thankfully, referrals and word-of-mouth have brought in so much business, ID Society has the luxury of turning away work that doesn’t interest the partners. It’s all part of the plan, according to Berkowitz. "We’re growing fast, but [we want to grow] comfortably," he says—which means hopefully exceeding 2000 sales goals and expecting a 600 percent increase for 2001.

To be successful with this business, get acquainted with your client’s target market so you can effectively market to it. For instance, urban marketing expert Ron Vos of Hi Frequency Marketing in Carrboro, North Carolina, has commissioned 200 college-age marketing reps to research his target market. Above all, running a marketing firm is "kind of like being in the restaurant business," concludes Vos. "You’re only as good as your last meal."

DM News
Jan. 25, 2006
By: Chantal Tode
Senior Editor

It turns out that wealthy U.S. consumers share at least one attribute with other shoppers: They like the convenience of e-commerce, a fact that hasn’t escaped Nordstrom and Giorgio Armani, which both have new e-commerce sites targeting this market.

In an online survey of wealthy consumers last month by the Luxury Institute, 63 percent of respondents ages 21-49 said they research products and services online, while 56 percent said they buy products and services via the Internet. The jewelry/luxury goods/accessories category was one of the top-gaining categories in terms of the number of unique visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix, showing a 22 percent increase in December 2005 versus November. Top-gaining luxury sites included RedEnvelope.com, Tiffany.com and BurberryUSAOnline.com.

However, because luxury consumers are famously exacting in their standards, marketers targeting them usually steer away from run-of-the-mill features. Instead, Nordstrom’s new Designer Collections Web site, which launches Feb. 6, will feature illustrations by world-renowned fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo and six dedicated customer specialists situated inside the chain’s downtown Seattle store.

The Giorgio Armani Beauty site (www.giorgioarmanibeauty.com), which debuted last month, is the only online outlet where the brand’s entire range of limited-distributed fragrances and cosmetics is available, and it offers Armani fans how-to advice from its fashion team. The site also features lots of the brand’s signature color black.

Luxury Web sites "have to show the product in its most elegant way without delaying the consumer," said Milton Pedraza, CEO of New York’s Luxury Institute, a research group that focuses on the top 10 percent of wealthy Americans.

These sites should be aesthetically pleasing, easy to navigate and offer the ability to sort by whatever criteria a consumer wants, be it type of merchandise, price or best sellers, he said.

In the past two years, more luxury brands have migrated to the Internet.

"As a concept, e-commerce is now readily accepted by even the most conservative luxury companies," Pedraza said. After all, the wealthy are among the most technologically savvy groups out there, he said.

To date, the leaders have been hospitality companies such as Ritz-Carlton and auto manufacturers. But retailers and designers increasingly are discovering the Web’s potential for keeping in touch with customers, Pedraza said. Luxury brands "are sending a lot of e-mails, but they’re not highly targeted and they tend to be about discounts, which can erode a brand."

Relationship building is one goal of the Giorgio Armani Beauty Web site.

"The Web gives us that conduit to develop an ongoing relationship with consumers," said Jon Winsell, director of strategy at ID Society, which created the site.

Not only does a good Web site enhance a store’s presence, it lets the customer feel closer to the brand, he said. The site has several unique features intended to extend "the luxurious feel of Armani to the Web," Winsell said. One is the Beauty Bar, which shows all the products scrolling across the screen as if they were on a beauty counter in a physical store. Clicking on a specific product takes the browser to the product group of her choice.

"This helps simulate the in-store experience and allows consumers to feel like they are standing at the counter and browsing at the products," Winsell said.

Customers also can view a selected shade of lipstick or eyeshadow on a model in order to make the process of finding the right shade easier. In addition, the site offers collection previews and product exclusives.

Nordstrom had in mind creating something similar to its in-store experience while developing the Designer Collections Web site, spokeswoman Pamela Perret said. As a result, the site is a more complete online version of what a Nordstrom store has to offer.

To help re-create the in-store experience, the site is designed to resemble an avenue with individual designer shops that consumers can enter, similar to the designer boutiques in Nordstrom stores.

Once a customer clicks on a ready-to-wear, shoe or accessory illustration, the site reverts to fashion photography and customers then can view photos of items from that designer’s spring collections. Featured designers are Giorgio Armani, Blumarine, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Missoni, Ralph Lauren and Roberto Cavalli, though others may be added later.

Initially, all orders will be handled over the telephone by one of the six Designer Collections specialists. This way, if a customer has a question about the merchandise, the specialist can go onto the store floor and get a direct answer from someone who works in the relevant designer’s boutique, Perret said. The team of designer specialists has an average of 15 years experience with Nordstrom and also will handle e-mail queries and live chats.