A big company with big career challenges.

Fortune magazine ranks UnitedHealth Group as one of the most admired managed care companies in the United States. With revenues over $80 billion and serving more than 70 million people worldwide, they often hire up to 30,000 people a year. Their careers site was extremely popular, yet it did not represent the high-tech, high-touch organization that was UnitedHealth Group.

Reaching for the next level.

UnitedHealth Group asked us to redesign their recruitment portal so that is was information rich—candidates wanted to know all they could about the people and the culture before they committed to a job. They were also looking for new technology and functionality to better optimize the candidate experience. Just as importantly, they asked Horizontal Integration to bring a brand voice and brand design to their portal to more accurately portray the highly-talented and caring people who work there.

More responsive technology.

With an extremely tight timeline – Horizontal Integration led a CMS selection process and implemented a Sitecore CMS solution. This allowed for scalability, flexibility and allowed the marketing team to maintain website content—rather than depending on an IT team.

New architecture for a new experience.

Through conversations with UnitedHealth Group and competitive analysis of leading recruitment sites, we created Information Architecture based on user needs, business requirements and best practices that would influence the redesign. This detailed information architecture allowed candidates to find jobs by career areas, learn about the culture and the people who work there, review benefits information, learn about growth opportunities and finally upload their resume and apply online. We created paper prototype wireframes for every page of the site, and tested with actual jobseekers to validate our design.

A brand greater than ever.

In 2008, UnitedHealth Group had conducted extensive career brand research. From this came a new brand tagline “There's something greater at work here.” They asked Horizontal Integration to collaborate with their offline marketing partners to bring the new careers brand to life online. Our copywriters and designers got down to work and created a look and a feel that not only matched their offline efforts. Our online brand provided a deeper, richer experience for candidates as they discovered that UnitedHealth Group offered them something greater at work. From co-art direction on photoshoots, to model selection and feedback on copy direction we worked hand-in-hand to bring the brand experience to every point of contact with candidates.

Number one in the air.

Every year, charter travel generates more and more revenue for Sun Country. This includes sports teams, corporations, political campaigns and large groups who want the flexibility of a chartered flight. For three years running, Sun Country has repeatedly ranked the #1 airline for customer satisfaction. No small task in a highly competitive travel market.

On board with a known name.

Sun Country Airlines is well-known by business and vacation travelers. Perhaps too well known. Their charter business had become lost on the site, with just one page of information and little functionality. They asked Horizontal Integration for a micro site that would brand Sun Country Charters and give their customers more contact with their representatives.

Customer touchpoints.

Fingerhut has been a key player in the direct marketing business since 1968. What differentiates them from nearly every retailer are their customers. These people are of moderate income. Some have had credit trouble, but still want the products offered by brick and mortar stores. Fingerhut knows this and knows their audience. Inside and out. Trouble was, their value proposition had been lost in the transition from catalog to online. While they had tried to establish themselves online, it was not generating the hits nor the revenue they knew was out there waiting for them.

Talking the talk.

When Fingerhut realized their underutilized site could generate significantly more revenue, they called on Horizontal Integration to rethink and redesign the ecommerce experience. At the time, their ecommerce site looked similar to most other retailers--it highlighted thousands of name brand products, their credit programs, and overall it reflected best practices. But by looking closer, we realized their online presence could empower users by more accurately reflecting the core value proposition.

Show them what we're made of.

The Fingerhut redesign began with a revamped user experience—one that created an online merchandise mix tailored to moderate but active customers. We created a new branding initiative that represented the Fingerhut promotional offers and product value. We brought the online experience out to users through email campaigns and online banners that improved customer acquisition. Throughout, we heralded the ease and convenience of their branded credit card program. The redesign ensured the shopper's web experience was now representative of Fingerhut's unique business model.

New products. New moniker.

In 1620, the company known as Wirsbo forged steel and weaponry for the king of Sweden. Nearly four centuries later, they changed the product mix, and their name to Uponor. While no longer making swords, they now offer plumbing, heating and fire safety systems for residential and commercial applications. They're in fact leaders worldwide with their infamous PEX tubing — the most flexible and dependable tubing on the market. Today Uponor heats, plumbs and protects in more than 20 countries across the globe.

Integrating the brand.

Many people have experienced Uponor products but it's unlikely most have ever seen the products--they work their magic beneath drywall or concrete.

So when the company changed from Wirsbo to Uponor, they recognized it required more than ads and new brochures. They needed to integrate a new brand name and message across every platform to educate architects, builders and consumers. They turned to Horizontal Integration for a flexible and scalable web destination that would grow demand from homeowners and commercial users alike.

Flexing a new platform.

We worked closely with the Uponor marketing and IT teams to plan and launch this flexible vision. Working on an extremely tight timeline, Horizontal Integration led a CMS selection. With 2,300 development hours and the implementation of a cutting edge CMS solution, Sitecore™, the vision became a reality in a few short months.

Building brands and experiences.

This new interactive web platform not only supports the company's strategic vision. It works in lock step with the new Uponor brand campaign. The site focuses on gearing content into support centers for both homeowners and trade professionals. This online destination enhances the user experience and has clearly reaffirmed Uponor's leadership position in the marketplace.

A category of change.

Chamilia was founded in 2002 as a jewelry brand that could be personalized and customized to fit the occasion--like a chameleon that changes in its environment. Sold through independent jewelry retailers and boutiques throughout the US, Europe, Canada, the Caribbean and Australia, Chamilia is fast becoming the “it” brand in the rapidly growing customized jewelry category.

Create a better retail experience.

The original Chamilia retailer site was awkward, difficult to navigate and required a developer on-site to change or upload new content. What's more, there were two disparate sites that required separate log-ins—one for product ordering and another for marketing information. Chamilia came to Horizontal Integration to make certain the online experience worked to better support their retailers at every point of contact.

A golden opportunity.

Horizontal Integration approached the project by stepping back and discovering the overriding project objective. The redesign must differentiate Chamilia from thousands of other jewelry manufacturers. Our task was to create a retailer relationship online. Let retailers learn about the company. Tell them about new products and new marketing efforts. Offer sales tools to grow their businesses. Most importantly, create a single, simple experience that would help retailers find what they needed and get back to the selling floor.

Content needs a new home.

Service Brands International is a privately held, multi-concept franchise system with worldwide headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Their portfolio of home-services brands includes category leaders Mr. Handyman, Molly Maids, 1-800-DryClean and ProTect Painters. With more than 800 content contributors to their portfolio of sites, Service Brands International had outgrown their current web platform. They were looking for a renovation.

New thinking across the board.

Horizontal Integration was tasked with leveraging a new platform that could be rolled out for all web properties. It needed to handle massive content management needs from many points of entry. Along with a content platform, we also created a strategy for an updated site design, improved site usability, as well as better search engine optimization.

A platform that could handle the workload.

Through the implementation of a CMS solution, we created an entirely new experience for Service Brands International. It empowers more than 800 franchisees to manage their own unique online presence as part of the master brand. Each can now use the new CMS to keep content current on their individual franchisee website. Our platform solution and updated design also creates a better user experience with strong branding and smart content flows.

Page, after page, after page.

R.H. Donnelley is one of the nation's leading Yellow Pages and online local commercial search companies. Every day, consumers rely on more than 600 directories, online city guides, and search websites. With a circulation of nearly 80 million books, R.H. Donnelly directories are found on nearly every shelf in nearly every house and office in the country.

Countless ways to improve.

If you've ever picked up a torn and tattered yellow pages. If you've ever wondered how you can do the right thing and recycle one of these behemoth books. If you question how often you even use your printed directory anymore. Then you know what R.H Donnelly DEX was up against. They came to us asking how we could help reduce their paper footprint by directing consumers to nearby recycling centers. They also wanted to cut the number of books printed in the future by asking consumers to narrow their directories to those they needed most.

An eco-friendly initiative.

Horizontal Integration began the initiative by working closely with R.H. Donnelly and their offline ad agency. We developed information architecture, the look, feel and the overall site functionality to promote DEX directory recycling. We also took charge of integrating with existing client systems as well as hosting, support and eventual migration of the sites into the R.H. Donnelley environments.