While the Internet may be the world’s library, it still falls short of technological and usability expectations.

Fred Jorgensen is the director of multimedia strategy at Titan Digital in Baltimore. At Titan, he leads the interactive  strategy initiatives for all clients, including the Smithsonian, PDFA, DeWalt power tools, National Geographic and Marriott. Before Titan, Jorgensen was with TBC, Baltimore's largest traditional advertising agency, where he launched their online advertising group. His first experience in the interactive space came as an account executive with several San Francisco agencies, and as an online advertising manager with dotcom era juggernaut Webvan. 

iMediaConnection: What's your biggest frustration these days?

Jorgensen: Not being able to execute all of the ideas we have for clients. Our group consists solely of new-media enthusiasts, so we typically spend our free time unconsciously uncovering new ideas and opportunities for our clients.

iMediaConnection: What's easier this year than last?

Jorgensen: I’m in a different role this year, and tackling an entirely different set of initiatives. But I would maintain that it’s easier for persons working in the online space to be perceived as well-rounded marketing professionals. There was a span of time when the Web strategy and creative functions were considered a novel specialty and clients rarely considered interactive input on farther-reaching marketing issues.

iMediaConnection: What’s one of the most successful branding campaigns your company has executed recently, and what made it successful?

Jorgensen: Titan recently created an online basketball game for the Milk Processor Education Program. It was symbolic because it represented the imperative for advertisers to be a part of meaningful content, or in this case, actually produce it. The whole content experience we created made MilkPEP a more memorable advertiser, provided context for how they wanted the brand to be perceived, and offered a forum for kids to interact more extensively with the site.

iMediaConnection: Can your company point to evidence that suggests online advertising and marketing are contributing positively to branding metrics?

Jorgensen: I guess it all depends on your definition of branding. If having a positive online experience constitutes a key branding metric, than we have tons of evidence across all of our clients.

iMediaConnection: Have any of your clients successfully utilized any emerging technologies, such as IM, wireless, iTV, etc.?

Jorgensen: Invariably, we’ve proposed it all at one time or another (and continue to do so). However, clients are gravitating toward using our 3D design capabilities in games, on their sites, and in advertising. We’re chalking up 3D’s popularity to a few things: a savvier client with more daring sensibilities, a larger bandwidth gap to fill, and a trend towards offering more realistic product demonstrations online.

iMediaConnection: Are you working with search and local search for your clients? Why? And how's it going?

Jorgensen: Yes, search is typically a staple in our online outreach recommendations -- like everyone, we’re fascinated with the prequalification, relevance, and timing aspects of it. However, we’re focusing an equal amount of time towards creating post-click experiences that remain specific to the user’s original search query. Separately, while I think search is deserved of the popular press it’s currently receiving, few agency or client side marketers realize just how intense it can be when thoroughly executed.

iMediaConnection: What are you telling your clients about rich media?

Jorgensen: We don’t use the term ‘rich-media’ -- it no longer means anything. We’re fortunate, in that we have a roster of clients who expect work from Titan that leverages the latest design software, programming technologies and functional capabilities.

iMediaConnection: What can't the Internet do, as much as we wish it could?

Jorgensen: Nothing and everything, all at the same time. While the Web does serve effectively as the world’s library (or insert your own cliché here), it consistently falls short of technological and usability expectations. As a leader in the industry, we just have to continually to acknowledge the horizon and do what we can to affect the possibilities.

iMediaConnection: Are you working with your clients' non-interactive agencies? How are you perceived -- as a partner or still as an oddity?

Jorgensen: The ‘best of breed’ model works for us. We have so many great agency relationships, we love working with them and have really been able to finesse that dynamic. Conversely, agencies also really seem to appreciate our expertise and what we bring to the table with regard to both strategy and creative. So working with agencies has been validating for us and is something to which we always look forward.

iMediaConnection: What's the one thing you wish publishers would understand?

Jorgensen: That we’re not going to spend a client’s entire budget with your site alone. It sounds crazy, but I think some reps really expect that. Certainly it would make our planners and buyers jobs much easier, but would eliminate the need to even have the media role with an agency.

iMediaConnection: What remains the industry’s biggest stumbling block?

Jorgensen: Hanging our hats on the customer acquisition applications of email. Email is a medium that has been bruised and battered by disingenuous third-party lists and quick-fix marketers, without concern for brand reputation or customer respect. There’s obviously still great value in email for CRM and referral purposes, but using it for acquisition is a waste of time and resources.   

iMediaConnection: What are you reading these days?

Jorgensen: Whatever my son will sit still for. 'Hands, Hands, Fingers, Thumb' by Al Perkins seems to be a family favorite right now. As far as periodicals go, I glance through all of the standard issue trade/business pubs, but always make a special effort to get to the countercultural stuff, especially Utne Reader. I also just finished 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel, and am now starting 'The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power' by Travis Culley.

iMediaConnection: And finally, tell us something we don't know yet, but that we will this year.

Jorgensen: The San Francisco Bay Area is slowly regaining its interactive swagger back from New York, but I’m predicting it stops in Baltimore along the way.