I took the initiative to lead the creation of a national digital Movie Release Calendar which turned an essential sales tool in the form of a static, un-filterable, often wastefully printed PDF (sorry Treebeard) into a device-agnostic web application generating instant filtered movie slate results that account director’s can easily share in seconds while still in the pitch meeting.
My Roles
- Innovator/Ideator
- Interaction Designer
- UX Designer
- UX Researcher
- Primary Stakeholder
Role Summary
Responsible for the entire lifecycle from ideation/innovation and initial sketches to low/high fidelity prototypes, to business case and executive pitch/buy-in, to research and synthesis, through to production-ready code and launch plan of this game and business-changing digital product.
Origin Story
I've never been a real fan of leadership training type programs at work. They just strike me as super-formulaic like somebody read too many Patrick Lencioni books and the group leader always tends to bear an uncanny resemblance to Patrick Swayze's Jim Cunningham character in Donnie Darko.
That being said, it was indeed an honor to be tapped by my then manager to participate and to be identified as an employee with high potential to grow into a leadership role.
The takeaway from leadership academy is that you MUST come up with and execute an idea within your area of influence and skillset that will improve the organization.
Not unlike in my poor teen years when I used to search for (and find) video game tokens the booger-eaters would drop at Bullwinkles, I searched for and found the perfect idea for my Leadership Adademy project...or was it?
I must admit, at first I wasn't excited about my idea at all and actually tried to get out of it. I'm still thankful my manager didn't let me off the hook. My idea would eventually (meaning several years later for valid reasons...stay tuned!) become a game-changing, first-of-its-kind, digital product.
Problem
The original Movie Release Calendar (MRC) was always a static, printable PDF document that needed to be manually updated and generated on a weekly basis as movie release dates change frequently. As a result, those critical movie release dates cannot be dynamically updated to reflect those changes which makes it nearly impossible to seal the deal on advertising around any future movie title. Also, as a result of its static nature, the data on the MRC cannot be intuitively searched nor sorted based on user-desired relevance (e.g. rating, genre, release date, studio, etc.), nor can any trailers be played to truly get a taste of what the movie is about in the sales pitch.
Prototype
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand meetings.
I started with sketching some rough ideas on paper, then onto low-fidelity wireframes. Since the intention from the beginning was to empower the Sales Force to access this product on whatever device they happened to be on, I made both desktop and mobile versions. From there, I went on to quickly put the initial draft of high-fidelity interactive prototypes together in order to show proof of concept, validate my idea as well as pitch to executives (including CEO) for buy-in. Since the M in MVP stands for Minimal (not Maximal) viable product, I kept it very simple and to the point.
Solution
Develop a device-agnostic, public-facing web-based application utilizing Noovie API's to source all the movie data needed by the application, providing a simple, searchable/filterable information resource that can be rendered on a mobile device. Development of this application will help provide current movie release data digitally that will be fully searchable, sortable and sharable, and even play compelling movie trailers on the fly!
Outcome
The mobile nature of this dynamic tool greatly improved the time and efficiency for sales people, particularly when they are remote and especially while in the field in an important client pitch meeting. It also served as a planning tool for the creative team working on creative campaigns.
Lift
- 90% reduction in process time per week for dozens of employees
- 20+ hrs per week saved on direct labor for several employees
- Reduced waste up to 96,000 printed sheets of paper per month
- Branded NCM as a forward-thinking data-expert media company
Testimonials
Jason was instrumental in the concept, design, dev and leadership of this very critical digital transformation product at NCM. This tool is a vital information and planning resource across our Marketing, Sales and Creative organizations. The Digital MRC project illustrated the broad skill set, collaborative approach and general mgmnt skills Jason brings to everything he does."Steve OchsSenior VP, Marketing & Creative @ NCM
Jason was a key stakeholder and designer for the Movie Release Calendar sales tool worked on by my development team. He was one of the most involved and engaged stakeholders which led to the successful delivery of the project. From ideation to execution, he collaborated with the team at every step of the project. He played a critical role in providing business requirements, creating a great user experience to user buy-in & adoption. He completely owned the success of the project!”Gauri KapurVP, Software Engineering/Business Intelligence @ NCM
Jason Ogle initiated the digital Movie Release Calendar, an important modernization of an antiquated system. Because of this new product, our sales team is equipped with a powerful new tool which delivers information in real-time in a format that reinforces our perception of a forward thinking company. From business case through design and development, Jason was the champion of the project and played an important role critical for holding the line of quality assurance.”Jeff GoekeCreative Director @ NCM
Jason was able to save the NCM employees and customers countless hours. The innovative tool he came up with allows an intuitive approach for prospects to quickly find the movies that fit their campaign goal. With persistence, Jason persuaded the senior leadership team, successfully executed the plan and delivered the tool."Vu TranUX Designer @ NCM
Jason is passionate about design, coming up with innovative ideas and seeing them through. I worked with him on a project that he first envisioned several years ago. He was an engaged business partner/product owner with the development team, collaborating to quickly answer questions, work on the design and prioritize work. As a result of Jason’s sponsorship, advocacy and hard work, NCM has an enhancement to the movie release calendar that our Account Directors can’t wait to use."Deb CunninghamSr. Project Manager, Enterprise Project Management Office @ NCM
I worked with Jason on the Movie Release Calendar product. As designer & stakeholder, Jason led the charge of usability testing and reviews of functionality and design. He was very particular in his tasks, approaching them from an end-user perspective–ensuring navigation is easy, design is professional, and functionality is useful. He discovered several bugs and imperfections which were hard to notice from dev point of view. His role helped the team view the product from a different perspective and improved the overall software quality.”Nadya MozgovayaSoftware Engineer III @ NCM