Great Moments in
Web Design

A brief history of 352 Media Group

1997

University of Florida students Geoff Wilson 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 VP of Marketing) 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 5 years with 352 Media Group.

2000

Geoff and Peter put together several affordable Web design packages for small businesses, including the popular "Web Site Spruce Up" package (a graphical "face lift" of an existing Web site) 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 continue 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 Web site: An online store for Millennium Batteries (a spin-off of Energizer). The sale, at just over $10,000, is the company’s largest at that time.

The company develops Gatorfood.com, a very popular online food delivery Web site in Gainesville, Florida. The Web site features a complex custom developed backend administration system.

Caroline Cooper (current VP of Finance) 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 Web site for a nationally known company: Pizza Hut. Specifically, 352 Media Group develops an extranet system for Pizza Hut's franchisees.

Kelli Kimpton (current Director of Development - Design) joins 352 Media Group as a Web Designer.

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 – 6 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 352 Media Group's expansion into the Atlanta market.

Dan Vogt (current Director of Development - Programming) joins 352 Media Group as a Web Programmer.

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 number one 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 Web sites 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 Web sites 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.

Jodi Higbee (current Director of Development - Project Management) joins 352 Media Group as a Project Manager.

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 number one client, Microsoft, as well as other clients on the West Coast.

Atlanta-based CNN hires 352 Media Group to develop a 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 their restaurant Web sites.

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 #3384 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 Web sites 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 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 ads a video host to 352media.com and several client Web sites.

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 Preferred Vendor 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 Sante 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.