INNOVA Multimedia By David Moores Small Business Week, Supplement To The Express, October 15, 1997
Joe Wiseman is suffering from jet lag. "It seems that lately I’m always away, raising capital and doing marketing in places like Toronto, New York, and St. John’s," he says. Then he laughs, "The big three." And then it’s back to the Stephenville office of INNOVA Multimedia, where he’s got correspondence to go through, proposals to consider, office furniture to replace and, oh yes, new products to create with his partner and producer, John Maddock. INNOVA Multimedia has been around just 2-1/2 years and in that short time they’ve not only learned the ropes of product development, they’ve created some pretty interesting knots. With one product already well established on the market, a second just out of the wraps, and no fewer than four more nearing completion, they have no concerns with establishing a track record. They’re carving out a niche in the education software field, and they’re learning fast how to do their marketing conventional, unconventional, and guerilla. And it all started in the most tame way you could imagine. "My partner wanted to write a book on teaching poetry," says Wiseman. John Maddock, like Wiseman, a long-time educator with a Masters Degree in Education, in fact, Maddock’s Master’s thesis was on teaching poetry at the junior high school level. "I convinced him to try to do it in CD-ROM format. And we quickly found that there’s a huge proliferation of stuff on education and entertainment, but there’s a real lack of curriculum-specific material." So they knew they had the chance to claim a market niche. They would create computer-based material that would simultaneously enlighten and entertain (or else what’s a poem for?) AND fit comfortably into a school curriculum. But why CD-ROM? "Three years ago the Newfoundland Science Council brought in Dr. Milton Petruk from the University of Alberta and I attended his talk," says Wiseman. "He said CD-ROM was going to become a multi-billion industry in the next decade. So between John’s knowledge of poetry, and my unswerving belief in the technology, all we had to do was do it." Well, not quite. Neither knew much about computers, let alone how to create an interactive program. They were, in Wiseman’s words, "completely computer illiterate." So they called in experts. They approached Newtel Information Solutions with the concept, forming a partnership that teamed Innova’s inspiration with Newtel’s technical now-how. Wiseman and Maddock also approached the National Research Council who provided money to pay salaries for student workers. The product of all this teamwork and a lot of late night labor was Innova’s first CD-ROM, "Poetry in a Nutshell." "Poetry in a Nutshell" could end forever the old complaint, "I don’t like that stuff because they forced me to study it in school." It gives students to explore poetry, to read it AND to hear it, to approach it from their own angle. That was the attraction for Irwin Books, who bought the distribution rights. By June of 1996, Innova had conceived, developed, and brought to market their first product. Meanwhile work was already proceeding on a slew of new products. "The Character of Poetry" mines much the same vein as "Poetry in a Nutshell," and actually forms part of the same series. But INNOVA was also looking at a whole new series, this time aimed at a younger user. "We’ve developed the "A Whale of a Tale" series for primary school children, grades one, two, and three," says Wiseman. "We have four of them now, "Surf into Science," "Leap into Language", "Swim into Social Studies", and "Dive into Math." The new series covers core curriculum topics briefly, with activities to help students deepen their understanding of the material. The program is attractive, fun to use and informational. It is also a solo venture. "For this one we didn’t have a partner," says Wiseman. "We used our own in-house experience." They had amassed a fair bit of know-how and a more solid base of operations. Having begun by working out of their basements, Wiseman and Maddock had moved first to a small premises on Main Street, and then to their larger office on Missouri. And, with help from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Human Resources Development Canada, they had gone from a two-guy, learn-as-you-go operation to a staff of seven, with programmers and a graphic artist. This growing self-confidence stems from experience working with, and a keen desire not to become too dependent on, some large partners. They’ve worked jointly with Newtel for some projects. Irwin has bought distribution rights for a second INNOVA product, the first of the "Whale" series, "Dive into Math". Expansion is taking place on all fronts. The National Research Council has helped them pilot a new project with NewTel, hooking the two companies up by video camera so they could work jointly. Innova is planning on hiring its own quality assurance/quality control staff member to increase their technical abilities. And Wiseman has enrolled in the NEXPRO program for new exporters. Probably the company’s greatest break-through has been in marketing. Irwin has been a good partner, but most of Innova’s products are selling through INNOVA’s own initiative and that seems to be a limitless commodity. Innova is in the process of setting up its own marketing company to take advantage of every opportunity that they can uncover. "We’re using our Web page to reach educators and parents. And we’re looking at different kinds of guerilla marketing. We’re using things like Internet links to reach a broader audience, instead of just waiting for them to come to us. The beauty of guerilla marketing is that it goes everywhere." "We’ve demonstrated the ability to create attractive products, to access capital and to work with some large partners," says Wiseman. "Now the job is to sell the products we’ve created. We’ve made the contacts and now we’re pursuing them." With the kind of chutpah they’ve shown so far, it looks like they’ll succeed. Joe Wiseman may be back on the road again soon.
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