All of the work I did for MetLife was done while I was Foote Cone, aka Foote Cone & Belding, aka FCB within their new digital/direct foray called FCBi. It was a big account for us, and although we did a lot of hard work, it was worth it because the things we were building were cool, the tools we were building them with were cool, and most importantly, the clients didn't get in our way, and liked what we gave them. And what we gave them, in addition to lots of flash banners and other marketing bits, were their first transactional portals.

These portals were conceived, designed and developed by me and my team at FCBi. Collectively, we defined, designed, and developed front end code. As head imagineer (I was the creative director on the project), I was responsible for the conceptual direction we took, and led a team of designers through the initial prototyping which enabled us to win the pitch. We then continued to evolve the visual direction and functional capabilities while our IAs wire-framed every page and interaction. Finally, our front end team built out the display layer. Through all of this, we conducted regular and rigorous research & testing with audiences in New York, Chicago , and Atlanta, in collaboration with clients, designers, and marketers, to ensure we stayed on point and were addressing customer’s real world needs.

The Results Were Good!

MetLife’s “MetLink” Employee Portal Wins Standard of Excellence Award from Web Marketing Association

"Available to more than 8,000 of MetLife’s Institutional Business customers, MetLink has been adopted by 11,000 benefits managers nationwide who conducted more than 3 million transactions in 2003. Employers’ reaction to MetLink is clear: more than 90% of employers from small to large groups report that they are satisfied or very satisfied according to MetLife’s ongoing Customer Satisfaction Surveys.”

Business Wire, Oct 6, 2004

MetLife’s Customers Benefit From Portal’s Upgrade

“MetLink’s success has not gone unnoticed. The portal received the Web Marketing Association’s 2004 Standard of Excellence Web Award. The award compares corporate Web sites against an overall standard of excellence related to design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, navigation and ease of use. MetLink also received the 2004 E-Fusion award for Customer Service and Benefits Management from AM Best.”

Insurance Networking News, Jan 3 2005

My Benefits home-screen. Plan participant view.