ICrossing began with a client selling aluminum Christmas trees

Tag : aluminum

In 1998, Jeff Herzog was a Wall Street refugee with a desire for anew career and a fascination with how the Internet connectsbusinesses with their customers.
Thinking Yahoo might be onto something, he opened a small Internetsearch shop in Scottsdale and signed on an aluminum Christmas treecompany as one of his first clients. The tree company owner paidHerzog $99 in exchange for helping ensure the company's Web siteappeared at the top of any Web searches.
"Consequently, the guy sold out of all his trees by Halloween,and Jeff figured he must be on to something, too," saidiCrossing CEO Don Scales. "This was two years before Googlebecame the gold standard."
15 offices throughout the U.S.
Since then, iCrossing Inc. has grown from a search optimizationfirm to a major independent digital marketing agency, with 15offices throughout the U.S. and Europe. Herzog stepped out of theCEO role earlier this year to fill the vice chairman seat oniCrossing's board of directors. Scales was promoted to CEO fromchief operating officer at the same time.
Scales, an interactive communications industry veteran, joinedHerzog in March 2006, charged with expanding the company.
An aggressive acquisition strategy followed, with iCrossingpurchasing five companies in two years and expanding itscapabilities to include search advertising, social media, Web sitedevelopment and marketing analysis.
Revenue has jumped to $140 million over the two years since Scalescame on board, up from $20 million at the onset of therelationship.
"In a broad sense, we wanted to build the next generation of adigital marketing company, with search at its core," saidScales. "Today, we're following that same vision."
Rod Lenninger, iCrossing's chief administrative officer, said thecompany's rapid expansion -- from 55 employees when he joined thecompany in 2004 to 600-plus workers across the globe today -- hascreated its share of highs and lows.
Overall, he said, the company's interesting mix ofbusiness-to-business and consumer-based clients, including Toyota,Travelocity, Coca-Cola and Office Depot, has expanded and evolvedto keep employees busy and engaged. Some barriers
On the other hand, Lenninger said, challenges do occasionallyarise, especially when it comes to the random language and culturalbarriers that sometimes crop up, and keeping everyone connectedacross the miles.
"In general, the employees love it," Lenninger said,adding how some U.S. employees have incorporated certain Britishslang words into their vocabularies, such as "brilliant."
"They're on conference calls with people in the U.K. andGermany, and are constantly finding new ways of doing things. We'vealso found, however, that because of the way the industry playsout, there are a lot of similarities, and we weren't doing businessthat much differently," he said.
Lenninger said iCrossing executives keep an eye out for serviceareas and geographic regions where expansion might be appropriate.Asia is one possibility.
"We're always looking for where we can add value to thebusiness, either by bringing in an extension to what we offer orfilling in a capability we'd like to have," he said. iCrossing
What: Global marketing company that blends digital marketingservices including paid and natural search marketing, Webdevelopment, social media, research and analysis
Ranked By Revenue: No. 24
Fastest- Growing Company Rank: No. 1
CEO: Don Scales