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Codename: Voltron

Posted by Mathew Patterson on January 8, 2009 1:34 PM

Here at team Freshview, there are a lot of 80s children, people who grew up with Thundercats, G-Force, G.I. Joe... all the classics. Ranking high among them was Voltron.

Voltron, for those who are not aware, is a mighty robot and self proclaimed 'Defender of the Universe'. The robot was formed from 5 separate vehicles, and later, robot lions (clearly the best Voltron). So when we decided that our two products, Campaign Monitor and MailBuild would be merged into a single powerful product, the codename was obvious.

So began Project Voltron. At first, it was just a more convenient way to refer to the project than 'the merged Campaign Monitor and MailBuild', but it soon became clear that the team was quite attached to the idea.

Support guru Travis used his Ebay skills(z) on the sly, and one magical day there was a new member of staff, a genuine 80s Lion Voltron toy, complete with pilots. He took up pride of place protecting our lunch tables in the office.

Weeks later, a box of Voltron t-shirts arrived in a range of 2 fashionable colours, and over the next couple of months as the team worked hard to finish the project, those shirts got plenty of wear.

As it turns out, a Voltron t-shirt is an excellent way to attract attention for a certain type of person on the street, while waiting for elevators and shopping in stores. If you're a geek looking for an easy conversation starter - get yourself into some Voltron merch.

So that's the story of how an enormous, detachable robot became the mascot of an email marketing web application. Who knows which cartoon could inspire a future Freshview product!

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Freshview's new application

Posted by Mathew Patterson on May 2, 2008 10:39 AM

With Campaign Monitor and MailBuild growing well, the Freshview team has been expanded recently. It now includes our new developer, Phil, our fully imported from Canada support and community guy, Travis, and our sole representative to the entire Northern Hemisphere, Diana.

With extra development resources available, we've been able to spend some time on a brand new product, which we are all pretty excited about. This product, although still a web application, is a bit of change of direction for Freshview and today we're giving you a sneak peek.

Introducing.....Lunch 1.0

Sick of having to walk all the way downstairs and across the road to the sandwich place? Embarrased by the thought of speaking to somebody in person? Irritated by the people in line who don't have their order ready when they get to the front? Lunch 1.0 is for you!

End your lunch ordering troubles forever!

OK, maybe I'm overselling it a little. This is actually a little internal application that sits on the Freshview intranet. Now that we have free lunches for all staff, we found that a lot of time was being wasted running about trying to make sure each person's order had been taken.

So this little one page application just lets everyone order their lunch (up to 11am) and then faxes off the order to our local sandwich place. They deliver around 12:30 and we can all eat together, with only 60 seconds of effort involved per person.

As well as adding your order, you can see what you have already eaten recently, and also copy and modify other team members creations for yourself. It's a good way to get out of the 'ham, cheese and tomato' rut!

Thanks go to new developer Phil who put it all together! Feature requests are already arriving for version 2, including a reminder about 'junk food Fridays' and some smarts for public holidays.

Popular sandwiches from Freshview staff

"The Peterson"
Multigrain sandwich with roast beef, tomato, cheese, cucumber, and mayo

"Sandwich mountain"
Multigrain sandwich, butter, ham, all salads except spinach instead of lettuce, swiss cheese, salt + pepper

"Gluteus Minimus"
Turkey sandwich on Gluten-free bread, all salads except tomato and onion, hot mustard, pepper and tasty cheese

Suggestions for great sandwiches are welcome!

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