Razorfish (company)
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Avenue A | Razorfish Inc. (www.avenuea-razorfish.com) is the largest interactive marketing and technology services firm in the U.S., and an operating unit of Seattle-based aQuantive. Nasdaq: AQNT. Avenue A | Razorfish solutions are entrenched in deep technology, rigorous analytics and a rich understanding of customer needs, including award-winning web media & creative, search marketing services, email marketing/eCRM, and world-class creative, design and implementation of customer websites and intranets/extranets. Avenue A | Razorfish operates three regions in the U.S. – East, West and Central – with offices located in major markets. In addition, the firm’s first international presence was established through the acquisition of U.K.-based full-service interactive agency DNA. Their clients include AstraZeneca, Best Buy, Carnival Cruise Lines, CondéNet, Ford Motor Company, Kraft, Kodak, Microsoft, U.S. Navy, as well as many other well recognized names.
Rarely has a company aimed so high, burned so brightly or collapsed so completely as the once-legendary "strategic digital communications" firm Razorfish, founded in New York in 1995 by Craig Kanarick and Jeff Dachis. With the inspiring if somewhat hubristic motto "everything that can be digital will be," Razorfish set out to reinvent not only the way enterprise used the Internet, but the way media was produced and consumed. In doing so, they epitomized the high-flying, free-spending, excesses of the dotcom moment.
While at its peak, the company was legendary for its swagger (at one point renting an entire Las Vegas casino and flying in virtually the enitre staff to enjoy a weekend-long party), Razorfish also produced valuable enterprise-scale Web sites for clients including Ford Motor Company. In addition to its digital design capabilities, the company also had ambitions in the industrial design sector, eventually acquiring the well-known Tucker Viemeister in this capacity.
According to their website, this is what Avenue A | Razorfish Inc. does:
- "We create captivating interactive experiences that change the behavior of our clients’ target audience. Building profitable relationships with your target audience requires extensive online media experience and a proven understanding of customer behavior. As the largest digital marketing services and technology firm and the largest buyer of Web media and search, we apply unsurpassed knowledge of the online channel to help you get closer to your audience."
Among its former names are Razorfish, Inc. and upon being acquired by SBI and Company, SBI.Razorfish. SBI additionally purchased what was left of many of the .com consultancies including Scient/iXL, Lante, MarchFirst (formerly USWeb & CKS), Emerald Solutions, and Xcelerate; Many of these companies' employees still survive today as part of the new Avenue A | Razorfish team. The company was renamed Avenue A | Razorfish when the SBI.Razorfish division of SBI Group (formerly SBI and Company) was acquired by aQuantive, Inc in 2004.