Six years into his company's life, co-founder Chris Witham sees
Topic Design Group finding its footing in the digital space.
The Over-the-Rhine based creative design, technology and publicity services company has recently hired three new employees to help support its growing digital development work. There are plans to hire at least two more by year's end, Witham said.
"We've had some personnel changes in the last year, and we've brought on some new designers because we are extending more and more of our work into the digital space, particularly in mobile advertising and app development work," in addition to its signature web site development work, Witham said.
The company has forged some early stage partnerships with Cincinnati-area companies that are driving new work its way. Topic gets some client work in partnership with
Marketing Support Services, which offers a wide variety of business fulfillment services, but has recently delved into the digital realm of apps.
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"They've begun selling apps for their clients, and we work collaboratively to produce all the apps," Witham said. "We've done work for Iams and Ethicon-Endo Surgery. It's been a really nice piece of our business over the last year."
They are also working collaboratively with Cincinnati-based
Mike Zitt Inc. and Cambridge, Mass.-based
JumpTap, in the deployment of targeted mobile advertising campaigns.
"They are like Norton (billboard and outdoor advertising company) but sell digital advertising space," Witham said. Through Mike Zitt and JumpTap, Topic has done mobile ad work for well-known clients including Lexus, Ford, Honda, Bose, Dawn, Dunkin Donuts and more.
The company has cultivated its own mobile app development business on its own, as well, through local companies who've seen Topic's innovative work during events like the MidPoint Music Festival. One of Topic Design Group's more popular MPMF ideas involved social media. With the hashtag #MPMF on Twitter, a Cincinnati Bell text number or an online form, users could engage and interact across multiple music venues by reading and contributing to the live MPMF.com feed projected at many venues.
"We've matured into ourselves, and very focused on our core services, design, technology and experience," Witham said.
Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Chris Witham Topic Design Group
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