An idea that’s all in the cards
Jackson Bell
When it comes to running his business, Kevin Bartanian said his top
priority is to make the customer feel comfortable.
As the co-founder and director of operations of Intellix Media, a
digital marketing company that creates Media Cards, he said customer
satisfaction has been his most valuable asset as a businessman.
“Usually people don’t like dealing with design companies because
they’re afraid they won’t get what they want,” he said. “When clients
come here, we come up with concepts together and create something
along with what they want.”
Founded as a Web design company by Bartanian and a cousin, Chris
Garakossaian, in 1997, they noticed a growing trend in Europe where
companies used CD cards for high-tech marketing. In 1999, they found their niche by patenting a card design and merging it with their
Internet service.
Intellix Media Cards, shaped like a credit card although
compatible with standard CD-ROM drives, can be used as digital
brochures, catalogs and Web site supplements. The cards, which are
manufactured in Canada, also install a software program in computers
that connects them to the Internet and retrieves updated information
related to the card’s subject.
“Any industry can use a CD card to make a bigger impression
because it enlivens the senses of the viewer with visuals, audio and
interactivity,” Garakossaian said. “The uses are endless; it’s up to
the imagination as to what you can do with it.”
The company has created more than 2,000 different titles for
various businesses in such industries as entertainment, hotels,
professional sports and health and beauty. Prices range from $1,150
for 1,000 cards to $30,000 for 100,000 cards.
Stephanie Tam, the marketing and events manager at Little Buddha
Restaurant and Sushi Bar in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas,
hired Intellix Media to design her company’s Web site in February and
has ordered more than 2,000 CD cards to date.
Aside from the company’s sleek CD card design that encapsulates
the restaurant’s image and its prompt monthly updating of Little
Buddha’s Web site, she said that she was most pleased with its
exceptional customer service.
“They made sure everything that they did was to my satisfaction,”
Tam said by phone from Las Vegas. “It’s the greatest trait they
have.”