Smithsonian Institution and Leading Nonprofits Turn to Northridge Interactive for E-Communications

Atlanta-based Northridge Interactive (www.northridgeinteractive.com), the creative services division of Northridge Systems, recently deployed several e-communications campaigns on behalf of its nonprofit clients, including the Smithsonian Institution, American Arts Alliance, and the Title IX campaign.

Smithsonian Institution (www.si.edu), one of the nation’s oldest and most revered nonprofit organizations, contracted with Northridge to develop the creative design for the Smithsonian Focus, a new newsletter geared to educate readers and drive them to visit both the Smithsonian website as well as the museums themselves. Northridge developed an innovative layout and streamlined design closely tied to the Smithsonian’s primary site brand, effectively and efficiently leveraging the organization’s signature imagery. To drive subscriptions, Northridge also developed a set of ad banners branded to the e-newsletter product.

Vanessa Harbin, of Smithsonian’s office of development, observed, “In working with the team at Northridge, it’s apparent they know effective design. They were able to work with our demanding requirements for image use and functionality and turn out a compelling design for both the newsletter and banner products.”

The American Arts Alliance (www.americanartsalliance.org) is a coalition of national nonprofit performing arts service organizations including the American Symphony Orchestra League, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Dance/ USA, OPERA America, and the Theatre Communications Group. The American Arts Alliance advocates for national policies that recognize, enhance, and foster the contributions that the performing arts make to America. Northridge helped maximize the Alliance’s constituent relationship management toolset by optimizing the monthly Advocacy Report layout and design. The new design focused on user needs and took the newsletter to a new level of organization and simplicity.

“We are thrilled with the new layout” said Rachel Lyons, manager of the American Arts Alliance. “Design is very important to our field and the new newsletter not only looks great, it is simply and efficiently laid out thus making it easier for our members to get the information they need and take action.”

Northridge recently worked with the Title IX campaign (www.titleix.info) and the National Women’s Law Center to develop an advocacy petition campaign. The solution used co-branded Flash pages versioned for partners including Women’s Health, Save Title IX, and TitleIX.info. Based on the user’s point of origin, the campaign tracked responses through each step of engagement and generated more new subscribers than all previous actions combined.

Deborah Slaner Larkin, manager of the initiative, reported that Northridge, “was truly an integral part – if not driver – of our campaign team and strategy. They helped us think strategically about each element, and moved us efficiently into development of a winning campaign.”

Regardless of a client’s mission or specific goals, Northridge works closely with its clients through their tried-and-true campaign development process. Through strategic planning, effective user interface structuring, smart design, and efficient execution, Northridge creates campaigns that work for their clients. <

About Northridge Interactive
Northridge Interactive (www.northridgeinteractive.com) is the interactive marketing and design division of Northridge Systems. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Northridge Interactive provides an array of services including interactive strategy consulting, branding, web design, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) user interface design, e-newsletter design, Flash and Silverlight interactive applications, and search engine marketing (organic optimization and pay-per-click).

About Northridge Systems
Northridge Systems, Inc. (www.northridge.com) is a privately held professional services firm focused on delivering high-caliber technology consulting and managed services on the Microsoft platform. Founded in 1999, Northridge Systems is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and one of the leading Microsoft partners in the Southeast. The company delivers value-added services in the areas of Business Intelligence (BI), Corporate Portals, Custom Development, and IT Infrastructure. Northridge Systems is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and provides services to clients throughout the United States.

Northridge Systems’ clients range from well-established firms to Global 2000 companies and include industry-leaders such as Acuity Brands, Atlanta Gas Light, CARE, Carter Real Estate, Cousins Properties, FootSmart, Georgia Pacific, Gold Kist, Harry Norman Realtors, Johnson Industries, Naturally Fresh, Newell Rubbermaid, ReMax, The Athlete's Foot, Time Warner Cable, TitleMax, Trout Unlimited, SCANA Energy, Smithsonian Institution, and W.C. Bradley.

In assisting clients to reach their business goals, Northridge Systems leverages leading-edge Microsoft technologies including Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), SQL Server, Microsoft .NET Framework, Windows Server, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF), and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

For more information regarding this press release, you may contact Monica Thomas via email at mthomas@northridge.com.