Tony Zito's Resume

TONY ZITO 2510 NE 11th Avenue, Portland, OR 97212 // 503.200.4004 // [email protected]

Emmy-winning, hands-on digital media executive and creative visionary with a fifteen-year track record of product innovation and successful execution in the social media, digital video, online community, and casual gaming arenas, particularly where they intersect with traditional (e.g. broadcast, print) media. AREAS OF PROFICIENCY Product Management • Digital Video • Product Development • Television Industry Expertise • Online Community • Strategic Analysis • Team Leadership • Game Design • Project Management • User Experience Design • Information Architecture • Budget Management • Strategic Partnership Negotiation • Educational Products • Vendor Management and Relations PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Independent Consultant Digital Strategy Consultant

August 2008 to present

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Defined a strategic gaming plan for Newsweek.com to improve key audience engagement metrics, and developed an ground-breaking market-based news aggregation service concept.

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Partnered with KMCo. to help Madison Square Garden develop a next-generation digital marketing slate and consumer engagement platform for the New York Knicks and Rangers.

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Developed product definition and digital strategy for 360° lifestyle/cooking brand

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Co-founded Zito Berkley, LLC, an entrepreneurial venture dedicated to bringing new types of social experiences to consumers, with one product in production, and two in concept development.

Nickelodeon, MTV Networks, New York, NY Vice President, Digital, The N Network

May 2001 to August 2008 August 2006 to August 2008

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Responsible for P&L and all operations of two websites, the-n.com and quizilla.com, which together had an audience of nearly 7 million monthly uniques, and annual revenues of $6mm+.

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Defined product strategy for the teen segment within the Kids & Family group, leading all product development throughout the lifecycle: conception, launch, and subsequent iterations based on qualitative and quantitative usage data.

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Presented with the challenge to significantly increase video pre-roll inventory, conceived and launched Screening Parties, a ground-breaking multi-user social video environment, which resulted in a 43% bump in the needed impressions and in users connecting around our content in heretofore unimagined ways.

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Due to ad market pressure to “clean up” the site, and the difficulty in radically changing the site’s legacy code, oversaw a relaunch of Quizilla with an all-new codebase, a highly ambitious engineering project.

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Worked with TV programming and the Network Operations Center to create a dynamic on-air rendering system, and bring highly successful “Vommenting” franchise (see below) to television with a series of well-received specials.

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Director of Online Production & Product Development, the-n.com

October 2005 to July 2006

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In 2006, launched full suite of social networking features on the-n.com -- the first TV companion site to do so -- and saw an immediate 115% increase in time spent/user and 250% increase in user registrations.

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Conceived and launched Emmy-winning Video Mixer application, the first online video mashup tool, as part of an integrated promotion for Masterfoods’ Skittles brand. Huge win in terms of both advertiser and audience satisfaction.

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As a way to squeeze the most value out of a limited video library, conceived and created “Vommenting” (short for Video Commenting) feature in The Click, the-n.com’s broadband video player. The first ever “social TV” application, Vommenting allowed users to add their reactions synchronously over the video, so subsequent viewers could enjoy them, thus increasing replayability significantly. Video streams rose by nearly 30%.

Freelance Producer to Supervising Prod., the-n.com & noggin.com

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May 2001 to Oct 2005

Reconceived and relaunched Noggin.com with an innovative narrative-based UI, and immediately grew time spent by 243% (from ~12 minutes to nearly 30 minutes per

session.) 

Honored with a Webby award for Noggin.com in 2004.

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Conceived and launched the-n.com, companion site for newly launched TV channel for teens, The N. With a prescient focus on community, and one of the first customizable avatar systems on the web, it represented an ambitious re-imagination of what a TV site could be.

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Launched virtual economy on the-n.com, bringing addictive meta-game elements to the site, and significantly raising pages per visitor and time spent.

PeopleNews, London, UK May 2000 to September 2000 PeopleNews was an online society/gossip magazine helmed by former Tatler EIC Jane Proctor. Head of Production  Course-corrected a floudering development effort, hired & managed art and production staff, and successfully lead the site from spec to launch within a four month window. 

Worked hand-in-hand with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) as they completed their responsibilities, and facilitated hand-off from AC to in-house technical staff.

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Successfully (and tactfully) pushed editorial staff to question their print-industry preconceptions about design and publishing and embrace the differences and opportunities of the new medium.

Bottle Rocket, New York, NY July 1998 to May 2000 Bottle Rocket was an online games developer focused on the sports industry. Director of Production 

Promoted within six weeks from Technical Producer to Director of Production, leading a 16person production and development team.

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Launched ambitious multi-game arcades for Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, and games for the NFL, NBA, MLS, and many teams in the English Premier League.

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Spearheaded “FanSlam!” project, a $1.2mm massively multiplayer trivia game system for EA. Wrote 40-page functional specification, led production, and was granted patent for key component of gameplay.

Chupacabra Systems, Inc., Portland, OR March 1997 to March 1998 Co-founder  Founded a small company which specialized in developing complex, object-oriented Intranet systems. 

Developed and launched an ambitious Skills Assessment/Human Resources system for Hewlett-Packard.

Creative Multimedia, Portland, OR October 1995 to March 1997 Webmaster/CGI Programmer  Webmaster for MusicMatch, an online music magazine and CD retail channel, featuring searchable database of artist information and RealAudio clips, as well as online transactions. Avalanche Systems, Inc., New York, NY December 1994 to August 1995 Head of Web Development  Developed award-winning web sites for such high-profile clients as NBC, Elektra Records, and Hearst New Media, helping transform Avalanche from fledgling start-up into the highly regarded studio it became. Avalanche was acquired by Razorfish in 1998.

AWARDS 2008

Global Media Awards, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and Consumer Electronics Association Three Nominations:  The-N.com’s Screening Parties – Outstanding Platform, Interactive  Degrassi “What If…” – Outstanding Advertising  The-N.com – Outstanding Website/Internet Entertainment

2006

Emmy Award, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Winner of Technology and Engineering Emmy Award for Excellence in the Field of Non-Synchronous Enhancement of Original Television Content for The-N.com’s Video Mixer application, sponsored by Skittles (Masterfoods).

2005

Promax Gold, Best Consumer Website – Broadcast, the-n.com Promax Silver, Best Interactive Game, Avatar Prom, the-n.com Webby Nomination, Best Youth Website, Noggin.com

2004

Webby Award, Noggin.com, Best Broadband Website (People’s Voice)

EDUCATION Brown University, Dec 1994 B.A., Art/Semiotics