Our History
1997
University of Florida students Geoff Wilson (current CEO) and Jesse Murse and Pine View High School student Brian Keller found SpyderWeb Page Creation in a fraternity house room on UF's campus. The trio works part-time around their class schedules designing simple Web pages for small businesses to help pay their way through school.
1998
Geoff, Jesse and Brian attend small business trade shows in Florida to sell their Web design services. They charge $79 to design a Web page.
1999
SpyderWeb Page Creation has about 30 active clients, and it becomes too demanding for Geoff, Jesse and Brian to service the clients while attending college full-time. Geoff decides to scale back his class schedule and concentrate on the business full-time while Jesse and Brian decide to concentrate on school.
Geoff hires Peter VanRysdam (current Chief Marketing Officer) as 352 Media Group's first sales person. Soon after, Peter acquires ownership interest in the company as Jesse and Brian exit.
With the ownership change, Geoff changes SpyderWeb’s name to Silverscape Technologies.
Jason Shindler joins and becomes the company’s first web programmer and later serves as CIO during his five years with 352 Media Group.
2000
Geoff and Peter put together several affordable Web design packages for small businesses, including the popular "Website Spruce Up" package, a graphical "face lift" of an existing website, for $299.
Lincoln Anderson and Peter Brownstein join the company as part-time employees. The duo becomes the cornerstones of the design and programming departments and continues to work on many of 352 Media Group's highest profile projects to this day.
The company incorporates as Silverscape Technologies, Inc.
2001
The company develops its first major e-commerce website: An online store for Millennium Batteries, a spin-off of Energizer. The sale, at just more than $10,000, is the company’s largest at that time.
The company develops Gatorfood.com, a very popular online food delivery website in Gainesville, Florida. The website features a complex custom developed back-end administration system.
Caroline Blake (current Chief Operating Officer) joins the company as a web designer.
Don Wedington (current VP of Sales) joins the company as the new business development director.
352 Media Group's total revenues for the year are $432,000, more than 300% growth from the year prior.
2002
The company changes its "doing business as" name to 352 Media Group. All employees are asked to brainstorm and vote on the new name and logo. The new name is a reflection of the location where 352 Media Group started (352 is the area code in Gainesville, Florida), and "Media Group" symbolizes 352 Media Group's commitment to offer a wide range of digital and traditional media services to its clients.
352 Media Group is hired as a subcontractor to develop its first website for a nationally known company: Pizza Hut. Specifically, 352 Media Group develops an extranet system for Pizza Hut's franchisees.
352 Media Group's total revenues for the year are $1.435 million, once again, more than 300% growth from the year prior.
2003
352 Media Group wins its first ADDY Awards, six in total, including two Best in Show finalists and a District Addy award.
Brian Schneider (current member of the Boards of Directors) joins 352 Media Group and leads its expansion into the Atlanta market.
2004
352 Media Group becomes an approved Microsoft vendor and is hired by Microsoft to develop the official conference DVD for Microsoft DevDays 2004. After the wide-scale success of the project, Microsoft hires 352 Media Group for several more projects and quickly becomes 352 Media Group's No. 1 client.
352 Media Group opens its first office in Atlanta by splitting 2,500 square feet of office space with a major client, Zenergy Interactive.
352 Media Group shuts down its 352 Express division, which was producing template-based websites for small businesses, in favor of concentrating all of its attention on developing award-winning custom Web solutions for clients of all sizes.
352 Media Group wins 8 ADDY Awards.
352 Media Group's total revenues for the year reach $2 million.
At the end of the year, 352 Media Group relocates its headquarters to its current 10,000-square-foot location in Newberry (Jonesville), Florida, which is about 10 miles outside of Gainesville.
2005
352 Media Group is selected as one of the Top 100 Interactive Agencies in the United States by AdAge Magazine. 352 Media Group is also named the 14th fastest-growing Interactive Agency in the United States on the AdAge magazine Top 100 list.
American Express hires 352 Media Group to develop a series of websites for its American Express Travel division, a relationship that continues to this day.
352 Media Group wins 11 ADDY Awards, including a Best in Show Award and 2 District Awards.
352 Media Group experiences its first growing pains, as its growth has outpaced its operational systems. 352 Media Group reorganizes some departments and upgrades its operational systems so it can be ready for more growth in 2006 and beyond.
2006
352 Media Group expands its operations in Atlanta by moving into a 3,000-square-foot office in Norcross, Georgia to serve as a regional hub for sales and project development. 352 Media Group also relocates staff from its Florida headquarters to its Atlanta office to help oversee growth in the market.
352 Media Group opens an office in Seattle to serve its No. 1 client, Microsoft, as well as other clients on the west coast.
Atlanta-based CNN hires 352 Media Group to develop an online sweepstakes system for handling promotions for CNN's advertisers.
Atlanta-based Earthlink hires 352 Media Group to develop a series of user interface designs for its new software product, Earthlink Total Communicator.
Tampa-based Outback Steakhouse International hires 352 Media Group to develop a robust e-commerce engine for its restaurant websites.
352 Media Group wins 14 ADDY Awards, including a Judges' Award.
2007
352 Media Group becomes an early adopter of Microsoft Silverlight technology. 352 Media Group is invited to participate in Microsoft's elite Artist In Residence program to learn the technology directly from the creators of Silverlight.
352 Media Group is ranked 3,384 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America.
352 Media Group is selected as one of the Top 5 Web Design Companies in the United States by TopSEOs.com.
352 Media Group further expands its operations in Atlanta by doubling its office space in Norcross, Georgia to 6,000 square feet.
BAE Systems, a Fortune 500 military and armor equipment manufacturer, hires 352 Media Group to develop the overarching Web strategy and all of the websites for its products group.
352 Media Group opens sales offices in Jacksonville, Florida and Ann Arbor, Michigan.
352 Media Group is recognized by Forrester Research to be among top service providers in two studies.
352 Media Group launches its company blog, Ranting & Raving: The Good, Bad and Ugly of Interactive Media.
352 Media Group launches its popular Web Video Host service and adds a video host to 352media.com and several client websites.
352 Media Group wins two Web Marketing Association Awards and 12 ADDY Awards, including a Best in Show Award.
352 Media Group's total revenues for the year approach $4 million.
2008
Microsoft selects 352 Media Group as one of only 16 Preferred Vendors in its Integrated Media vendor category. 352 Media Group outduels more than 600 other vendors who were competing for this status.
352 Media Group rolls out with its new "Success Starts with Strategy™" development process, adding strategic vision to every client project.
352 Media Group vastly expands its internship program to attract the best talent from the University of Florida and Santa Fe College. 352 Media Group takes 15–20 interns each semester and gives them in depth, hands-on interactive media training.
352 Media Group is ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America for the second year in a row.
352 Media Group is selected as one of the Top 100 fastest-growing Marketing Service Agencies in the United States by AdAge magazine.
352 Media Group is selected as one of the Top 3 Web Design Companies in the United States by TopSEOs.com.
352 Media Group opens a sales office in Tampa, Florida.
352 Media Group becomes a Microsoft Certified Partner.
352 Media Group wins 11 ADDY Awards, including a Best in Show Award.
2009
Despite the national recession, 352 Media Group continues its growth by adding several key new clients over the course of the year and increasing overall revenue.
352 Media Group launches its first project using Microsoft's Surface technology. The interactive kiosks are installed in several Blue Cross and Blue Shield stores across Florida.
352 Media Group spends much of the year upgrading the content management system (CMS) and administrative tools the company gives to its clients.
352 Media Group is ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America for the third year in a row.
352 Media Group is selected as one of the Top 100 fastest-growing Marketing Service Agencies in the United States by AdAge magazine.
352 Media Group is selected as one of the top interactive agencies in the United States by BtoB magazine.
352 Media Group is selected as one of the Top 3 Web Design Companies in the United States by TopSEOs.com.
352 Media Group wins 16 ADDY Awards, including Best In Show.
2010
Wells Fargo hires 352 Media Group to do a major design overhaul of some of their consumer websites.
Super Media, LLC hires 352 Media Group to redesign SuperPages.com, the popular online yellow pages.
352 Media Group's Co-Founder and CMO, Peter VanRysdam, publishes a book called
Marketing in a Web 2.0 World: Using Social Media, Webinars, Blogs, and More to Boost Your Small Business on a Budget.
352 Media Group builds a strong relationship with outside consultants, including
Greta Schulz and
Jaynie Smith, to help refine and expand its sales reach.
352 Media Group is ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America for the fourth year in a row.
352 Media Group wins 17
ADDY Awards, including four at the district competition and the company's first ever Gold award at that level.
2011
352 Media Group has one of its biggest growth years ever, hiring 25 new employees and growing revenues by about 50% in a single year.
352 Media Group launches Core Web Solutions, a division of the company specializing in small business website design and marketing.
352 Media Group officially opens its Tampa office (twice!). The company opens in Ybor City early in the year, then quickly outgrows the space and moves to the Westshore area. By year end, 352 Media Group has 8 Tampa-based employees.
The St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times) hires 352 Media Group to redesign TampaBay.com, the popular online version of their newspaper.
352 Media Group is ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in America for the fifth year in a row.
352 Media Group again does very well at the ADDY Awards, taking home 14 awards.