Interview with Matthew Hollingshead of Hifyre
Matthew Hollingshead has spent the last 16 years as a Creative Director in the Advertising and Video Game industries. Matthew has lead projects for clients such as Mattel, K-Swiss, Puma, Universal, Playboy, GSK, & Novo Nordisk. These projects have ranged from print packaging, television commercials to mobile games and applications that have reached over 10 million installs. As part of Groove Games, Matthew built the prototype and played a major role in raising $36m in funding to build the first video game based skill gaming site. According to his children, he is now to old to be any good at video games. They are correct.
What’s Hifyre about?
Hifyre (@Hifyre) is about innovating unique and effective ways for businesses to communicate with their customers. We strive for simplicity. Our products create quantifiable data that can be used to help refine marketing strategies.
Who are some of your clients?
- Mattel
- Ancestry.com
- Novo Nordisk
- Glaxo Smith Kline
- Baxter
- Astellas
- MTV
- Master Lock
- Student Price Card
- Andritz
- World Vision
- Playboy
- Canada Dry Mott’s
- Omnicare
- Universal Pictures
- Universal Music
- Last Gang Records
- Spin Master
- K-Swiss
- Puma
- Aliiance Atlantis
- Eli Lilly
Hamilton Based Companies
- Hidden Pony Records / Upper Management
- Clearcable
Handling a wide assortment of clients has got to be a whole lot of work. Are there any productivity tips and tricks you can share?
The key to handling the chaos of multiple projects for multiple clients is first having a fantastic project manager. The one person who stays on top of everything about every project. Second is using a great online management system such as Trello. It is also important at the very beginning of a project to make sure you have a clear list of task and milestones. That way everyone knows what needs to happen next and never have to ask, ‘What do I work on next?’.
What is your thought process when designing a mobile app solution for a customer?
Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity. We define what is the core goal of a project, and continue to refine our strategy until we reach the simplest and most effective way for an app to meet that core goal.
What do you think about the HTML5 vs native mobile app debate?
The majority of our applications are built using a Hybrid method. There are benefits to both methods. Native tends to be more robust, while HTML5 is quick and cost effective. I believe platforms such as Appcelerator are really setting the standard for future development.
In this YourHamiltonBiz article you mentioned that you left Hamilton for Toronto 10 years ago and that you’ve noticed a change upon returning. Can you elaboration that? What was Hamilton like 10 years ago, what’s changed, and what do you think we need to do to keep changing for the better?
It is a ‘community self worth’. Having grown up in Hamilton, I’ve always been a firm believer that Hamilton has some of the most creative people in Canada. The problem was that people outside and inside of Hamilton only ever saw the ‘Steel Factories’ and a blue collar workforce. It think that’s finally changed, there is a revived sense of pride in being a Hamiltonian. People can feel that. It’s nice to speak with people and clients from outside of Hamilton and have them ask questions about it, not just dismiss it as Steel town.
One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve moved back to Hamilton is that people are always asking ‘How do we get people outside of Hamilton to recognize what we have here?’. People and businesses are noticing what’s going on. Stop worrying about other people’s opinions, keep working hard and providing great services and products, and they won’t be able to ignore us. Attention and recognition are a byproduct of success.
Any advice for would be web / tech entrepreneurs?
Work hard, work smart. Find something you are passionate about. Find people who are equally passionate about the same thing and have complimentary skill sets. Then ‘Build small. Think big.’ and get that product out there. Your audience will be the ultimate judge.
What’s next for Hifyre?
We are continuing to grow our core service business and keep attracting top tier clients and brands. We are getting set to officially launch our new product ‘Hiwyre’ which is a cloud-based sales enablement & sales training tool for iPad. We are also building key partnerships with other service providers to help broaden our reach into new industries.
