Steven Harmer is Executive Vice President & General Manager for Blast Radius‘ eastern and central North American client portfolio, and also heads up the Toronto office. His superior communication skills are matched by his commitment to delivering innovative customer experiences. With a thorough understanding of Internet technologies and best practices, Steve previously led the company’s global production and delivery teams. He holds a BIS from the University of Waterloo and a degree in New Media from the Vancouver Film School.
One Degree: The last time we checked in with Blast Radius was when we did a Five Questions with Gurval Caer back in June of 2005. What’s been happening at Blast Radius in the last year?
Things have been very exciting and busy for Blast Radius in the part year, especially for our Toronto team. Recently we have enjoyed some great client wins with high-profile US-based companies such as Time Inc., Newell Rubbermaid, Meredith Publishing and OfficeMax. We also continue to work with great long term clients like EA, Nike, Air Jordan and BMW.
Our industry is in a very interesting state right now, as more and more companies are realizing the power of the Internet and are seeking new and innovative ways to connect with their customers online. We are enjoying the challenge of working with them to create meaningful experiences.
*One Degree: I hear you’ve signed several large deals with multi-billion dollar US-based companies including OfficeMax (the #6 North American on-line retailer), CarMax (a $6 billion US/year online car retailer), and Meredith a multi-billion dollar publisher). Can you tell us a bit about how a Canadian company approaches such large US businesses?*
Blast Radius has a long history as an innovator within our space which has led to our strong leadership in the marketplace. It is this leadership position which creates opportunities for us. We have a pretty constant flow of clients referring us to their network.
So it’s nothing new for us to compete with top tier companies south of the border. However, it does mean we compete with the best of the best which means we need the best talent; especially in Toronto. All our recent new client wins, you mentioned as well as Time Inc. and Newell Rubbermaid in the past couple of months, have been a result of very competitive pitches