Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/479629
www.HartfordBusiness.com March 3, 2014 • Hartford Business Journal BP-13 HBJBUSINESSPROFILES ' A Passion for Solving Business Challenges Using Creativity and Technology F usion Cross-Media has raised expectations for typical business marketing firms, something they most assuredly are not, said CEO and founder Zach Schwartz. Utilizing cross media strategies with innovative self-designed technology solutions, the company is quickly becoming the go-to firm in the greater Hartford area for effective multi-channel marketing solutions. "We're kind of a hybrid," explained Schwartz, who found- ed the company after working 17 years with his father in increasingly responsible roles for PIP Printing and Market- ing Services, the family's longtime Manchester business. "Many marketing and creative firms do the essentials. They create a strategy, provide the creative, the branding, the advertising plan, then hand it off to the customer to execute. We do everything they do and more. We execute and manage the campaigns through a combination of multi- touch communication strategies using emerging media, high impact print, social media and email. We provide the tech- nology solutions that make it all happen. One example includes client Round Robin LLC dba: Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, the casual dining restaurant chain headquartered in Colorado. This is an industry where virtu- ally immediate web based customer experience is shared online — for better or for worse. Red Robin approached Schwartz with a unique challenge to create a strategy for restaurant managers to interact with customers faster than ever before, in real time, to improve diners' "guest" experience and to immediately address any issues they may be having during their meals. "First, we listened carefully to Red Robin management as they described the issues they needed to address and what their desired outcome was. Then we got busy." In the end, Schwartz and his team created 5Star GEM for Red Robin management (GEM stands for Guest Experience Management), a mobile phone application which has since been implemented in Red Robin's Connecticut and western Massachusetts locations. "It's an app that is used by restaurant guests during their meals to communicate to restaurant managers' information regarding their dining experience. In doing so, customers send actionable data to managers who are able to respond immediately. Cus- tomers may even receive special dining offers to their email and share offers with their friends on Facebook. "One of our goals for Red Robin was to get ahead of a customer's ability to negatively YELP their customer experience online. For developing 5Star GEM, Fusion Cross-Media was awarded the top prize at "Get Started Connect- icut," an entrepreneur product competition spon- sored by Cox Business at the 2013 Connecticut Business Expo in Hartford. In addition to the restaurant industry, Fusion Cross- Media's clients range from education and non-profit groups, to insurance, manufacturing, product distribution compa- nies and others. Schwartz currently serves on the boards for Printing Industries of New England (PINE) and Long- meadow Educational Excellence Foundation (LEEF). |He is a bit cagey about his next new client app, currently in development. He explained that while he couldn't yet reveal exactly what it will do, he promised it will have a great affect in addressing challenges associated with the Common Core curricula being implemented in school systems across the country. Stay tuned. Zachary Schwartz, CEo of Fusion Cross-Media. High-impact marketing communications and table view of 5Star GEM merchandise. Fusion Cross-Media Address: 520 Center Street, Manchester, CT 06040 Phone: 860-432-5223 Fax: 860-647-9318 Website: www.fusioncrossmedia.com Top Executives: Zach Schwartz, CEO Product or Service: Solving business chal- lenges by integrating print, web, mobile and social media together to create actionable, cross-media marketing strategies that drive measurable results. Year Founded: 2010 ' The company is quickly becoming the go-to firm in the greater Hartford area for effective multi-channel marketing solutions.