ERI’s 2022 Year In Review: Top 7 Moments

Is it just me, or did 2022 fly by at an unprecedented velocity? For all of us here at ERI, it was a year of union, triumph, and most importantly, growth.

Here are a few key moments that stand out as truly exceptional:

1. After more than a decade of collaborative partnership, DerSimonian and Eri Design officially merged into ERI.

In April of ‘22, we announced the official merger between Eri Design, Inc. of Worcester, Massachusetts, and DerSimonian LLC of Portland, Maine.

Eri Design, with 17 years of expertise in website and application development, formalized, through this merger, our longstanding partnership with DerSimonian, a sought-after brand strategy and marketing communications agency serving higher education and nonprofit organizations. Building on the reputation of both firms, the new agency was named ERI in recognition of the firm’s strategic guideposts—Engagement. Response. Impact.

“We understand the significant role that a website plays in helping organizations and institutions grow measurable engagement. The formal merger of our companies positions us to become a leader at the intersection of delivering effective digital strategy, design, and development.”

– Erjon Metohu, President & Creative Director (ERI)

2. We launched the new Worcester.edu, and it earned a Silver Medal at ‘2022 Davey Awards’

After a 16 + month collaboration with Worcester State University, one of the highlights of our year was launching the new and improved Worcester.edu. The 360- degree engagement resulted in a re-platforming (from a proprietary CMS to WordPress), new content strategy, video series, and web governance strategy.

“We knew it was important to invest in a thorough, inclusive, and comprehensive strategic discovery process as the foundation for creating a shared vision of what the website needed to accomplish, and how it could most authentically reflect the Worcester State University experience. The culmination of our collaboration with ERI was a revitalized, mobile-first design system grounded on user-friendly interactive features, inspiring videos featuring our diverse student body, and a personalized system of navigation for all audience members.”

– Kelly Lin, Director of Communications & Marketing (Worcester State University)

3. One month later, we won a Platinum Viddy Award for our ‘WOOlife’ video for “Best Short Video” in the Education category.

A short video we produced for Worcester State University in collaboration with p3 Maine was awarded top honors in the 2022 VIDDY Awards. The prestigious international competition, administered by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), recognized “WOOLife” with a Viddy Platinum for “Best Short Videos” in the Education category.

“We’re so proud to have our outstanding students personally share their love of Worcester State with others who want to learn more about our university. Working with the ERI team to tell our story and bring it all together in what is now a highly engaging, video-rich website, is really rewarding for us.”

– Maureen Stokes, Assistant Vice President of Communications & Marketing (Worcester State University)

4. We implemented an AI-powered, personalized website search, reaching a new level of product discovery experience and customer satisfaction.

Implementing Algolia AI search on WisdomExperience.org was a successful decision that significantly improved the content discovery experience for users and increased conversions. The AI algorithm’s ability to understand the context and intent of search queries resulted in more relevant and accurate search results, leading to a higher conversion rate and overall increase in revenue for the website.

5. We launched the ‘All In’ Capital Campaign Website in collaboration with Trinity College and Mackey Strategies.

Trinity College needed a website that could inspire a wide range of audiences to raise $500 million to fuel the success of ‘All In’ – a capital campaign to ignite future generations of innovation. In partnership with Mackey Strategies and Trinity’s Advancement, Marketing, Communications, and IT teams, we delivered a virtual capital campaign hub designed to rally support, inform, and engage the entire Trinity community.

6. We attended our first American Marketing Association Higher Education Symposium

Hosted in National Harbor, MD, this past November, we participated in our inaugural annual Higher Education Symposium organized by the American Marketing Association. Joined by higher education marketing professionals from around the country, we enjoyed a few days of conversation, networking, and learning about unique challenges, innovative solutions, and best practices that are propelling the higher education industry forward.

7. We hosted a Holiday Soireé at our Portland, ME, office that helped to raise over $17,000 for the Yellow Tulip Project, a youth-led non-profit organization dedicated to smashing the stigma around mental health.

On Saturday, December 17, DerSimonian, ERI, and Brady Intel co-presented ‘Hope Fore the Holidays: A Holiday Bash to Smash the Stigma’ to benefit youth-led the Yellow Tulip Project at our historic US Custom House offices in the heart of downtown Portland, Maine’s Old Port district.

The event exceeded all of our expectations. Over 200 guests, 20+ volunteers and 10 businesses came together to raise $17,000 to help fuel YTP’s mission of spreading hope and smashing the stigma around mental health. As a partner to higher ed institutions, taking a stand on the growing mental health concern facing college students reminded us that our work is grounded in the effort of connecting prospective students to environments where they will flourish and be nurtured by their school community

While not everyone on our team was able to make it to Portland, Maine, on December 17th, we were thrilled to have such a great representation from folks who traveled as far away as Providence, Rhode Island.

With 2022 in the rearview, our team looks forward to sharing more moments like these with you. Keep connected with us or get in touch through our newsletter and social channels so we can continue to deliver industry insights, news, tips, and more! We look forward to a new year anchored in gratitude and hope.