What does it look like to brighten up Brevard County by giving away toys to those who might not have had much under their Christmas Trees?
Toys for Kids Brevard completed their 2024 toy drive, culminating in their giveaway, held at Azan Shriners Center in Eau Gallie. This year we saw 2,500 registrations!
Community raises support for kids at Christmas
Timmy Vee, Space Coast radio personality and DJ, has worked for years to make sure kids have something under their tree for the Holidays. Timmy’s nonprofit, Toys For Kids, works to provide toys and gifts to the children of families in need, and every year, companies across Brevard County Florida support their efforts with fundraising.
“I started Toys for Kids in 1995 because I felt that there was a huge need in Brevard County,” Timmy Vee, founder of Toys for Kids shared with us. “I was doing a radio Morning show and we were getting tons of calls asking where they could get help for the holidays.”
Toys for Kids is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization in Brevard County dedicated to providing holiday gifts to underprivileged children in our community.
Their annual event, the Toy Pick Up, all happens online. Their website opens for registration just after Thanksgiving, and then a week or two later, families across Brevard all come to the toy pickup event.
This year, pick up is on December 13 at Azan Shriners Center, on Eau Gallie Blvd in Melbourne.
Since 1995, Toys for Kids has distributed toys to over 155,000 children. Donations stay in our area, and they work to make sure families in need aren’t turned away.
Sponsor their work. Reach more kids.
We count on support from Toys for Kidsfundraising events, sponsors and individuals so we can continue to put smiles on children’s faces come Christmas morning.
The biggest part, outside of helping families have Christmas, is the bond that has developed with my main team. Every single one of them loves doing this program. From raising money to spending it on helping families. It has become part of our lives. —Timmy Vee
For the past ten years, Longbow has been managing their website and how families register using the popular Event service, EventBrite.
“Eventbrite gives Toys for Kids the tools they need to better manage registration.” said Eric Needle, Longbow’s founder. “Day of their event, it helps their team check everyone in, right from their phone or tablets.”
We work all year raising money to do what we do in December. None of it would mean anything if we couldn’t get the Toys to the families. Lots of websites and sign-ups need to be working without any issue at all; one problem, and things get messy. Finding Longbow has been our greatest support team to date. They keep our site and sign-up programs up to date and working perfectly. Eric and his team are amazing and we are lucky to have them. —Timmy Vee
Customer Experience, (abbreviated CX), refers to the overall perception and interaction that customers have with a company or brand throughout their entire journey. It encompasses every touch-point and interaction a customer has with a business, from discovery, before they buy, selecting your product or service, and post-purchase experiences.
CX focuses on understanding and improving the customer’s satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy by providing a seamless and positive experience at every stage. It involves various elements such as the ease of navigation on a website or app, product or service quality, responsiveness to customer needs, and overall customer support.
Companies strive to deliver exceptional customer experiences because they understand the impact it has on customer loyalty, repeat business, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations. A positive experience can lead to increased retention, higher customer lifetime value, and improved brand reputation.
To enhance the experience, businesses often employ strategies that include personalization, anticipating needs, optimizing touch points, gathering and analyzing feedback, and continuously improving processes based on customer insights and interactions.
In today’s digital age, this experience has become increasingly important as customers have more choices and higher expectations. With the dominance that ratings and online reviews can have in the decision making process, a single negative experience can quickly spread and have a significant impact on a company’s reputation. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in—many place significant emphasis on providing excellent customer experiences to differentiate themselves from competitors and foster long-lasting relationships.
This excerpt from McKinsey & Company is a great summary of what CX is. McKinsey is a highly respected, global management consulting firm.
…CX refers to everything an organization does to deliver superior experiences, value, and growth for customers. And it’s crucial in an age when how a business delivers for its customers is just as important as—if not more important than—the products and services it provides. In a digital world, where customers review and share their experiences with a company in public forums, it has become vital for companies to connect with customers across their journeys at an emotional level.
Not only is customer experience the right thing to do for customers but it also results in 3x returns to shareholders.
Why CX matters for you, your company, and your clients
People do business with people. What you provide is very important. How you provide it is what retains clients.
Defining CX is the first step to understanding why it’s important to you and your clients, if, your intent is to put the customer first. Customer Experience is critical to both companies and their clients for several reasons:
Customer Loyalty and Retention
A positive customer experience fosters loyalty and encourages customers to stay with a company for the long term. Satisfied customers are more likely to continue doing business with a company, leading to higher customer retention rates. This reduces customer churn and increases the lifetime value of customers, contributing to sustainable business growth.
Competitive Advantage
In today’s competitive marketplace, where products and services can be easily replicated, CX has emerged as a key differentiator. Providing exceptional customer experiences helps companies stand out from competitors and creates a competitive advantage. Customers are more likely to choose a company that consistently delivers excellent experiences over its rivals, even if the products or services are similar.
Reputation, Referrals, and Positive Word-of-Mouth
Happy customers become brand advocates and spread positive word-of-mouth recommendations. They share their positive experiences with friends, family, and online communities, which can significantly impact a company’s reputation. Positive reviews and recommendations can attract new customers, expand the customer base, and enhance the brand’s credibility.
Customer Satisfaction
Satisfied customers are more likely to be happy with their purchases, leading to increased customer satisfaction. When customers have a positive experience, it strengthens their relationship with the company, builds trust, and instills confidence in future interactions.
Revenue Growth
Delivering exceptional CX can have a direct impact on a company’s financial performance. Satisfied customers are more inclined to make repeat purchases, spend more, and even be willing to pay premium prices for products or services. By focusing on CX, companies can drive revenue growth through increased customer acquisition, retention, and up-selling or cross-selling opportunities.
Customer Insights and Continuous Improvement
CX initiatives provide valuable insights into customer preferences, pain points, and expectations. By actively listening to customers and gathering feedback, companies can gain a deeper understanding of their target audience and make data-driven decisions to improve products, services, and processes. Continuous improvement based on customer insights helps companies stay aligned with customer needs and preferences.
Case in Point:
Have you ever stayed at the Ritz Carlton?
We got to attend a brilliant workshop, led by a mentor from another life, Aaron Kwittken, who happens to run and have built several amazing PR agencies. Founder and CEO of PRophet, Aaron, hosted our partner firms, teaching our tech startups how to communicate with writers to get our stories published.
While our sessions were brilliant, and included a reporter from Fast Company, I bring up this story because of the amazing experience we had, staying at this hotel in Sarasota.
It’s not the gorgeous beaches, immaculate venue, or even the career-making content that I speak of. The people at the Ritz made everyone feel like we were royalty. Our takeaway was that the staff were so nice—they made our stay special. I’d never experienced anything like it and in college I worked in the hospitality industry.
It had never dawned on me, the importance, and the impact that stellar service can have on another human being. Since then, I strive to be that good, not only in the quality of our work, or the effectiveness of what we do, but in how I treat clients.
In today’s world, where people skills seem to be the last thing on our minds, I know, that if I give a memorable experience in our service, good things will come of it.
To bring it home, prioritizing CX, benefits both companies and their clients by fostering customer loyalty, differentiating from competitors, generating positive word-of-mouth, increasing customer satisfaction, driving revenue growth, and enabling continuous improvement.
To grow your business, you have to retain clients, while adding more. By focusing on delivering exceptional experiences, companies can build strong, long-lasting relationships with their customers and create a sustainable foundation for success.
If you build a website and no one sees it—what’s the point?
Orlando, FL | November 19, 2018 – UCF Alums Eric Needle (Class of ’89), and son Ryan Needle (’18), recognizing the growing need for fast, efficient, modern websites—have launched GreenDev, a studio dedicated to designing, building, and promoting websites that work.
The world of web design and development is always changing. We find that sites built even a few years ago are no longer effective. They require time and energy to maintain, they’re not secure, and most importantly, they don’t reach your audience as they used to.
Eric and Ryan face this challenge head-on with a different approach; Design needs to drive attention, content needs to be concise and it all needs to come together so that the user does something when they visit your page. A site needs to convert casual visitors into active participants, to be effective.
Being found in search, optimizing your site for paid advertising and engaging users when they visit can never be an afterthought—it’s why you hired us.
If you build a site and no one sees it, then what’s the point?
Their mantra of Design, Build, and Promote is what makes GreenDev different. Most developers leave off the third step. Promotion is what’s missing from your digital marketing.
Just building a pretty site is no longer acceptable. Sites that perform—that get your audience motivated—is the goal, and anything less is a waste of effort.
Mentoring and Networking
Eric earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio arts. He’s a mentor in the College of Art and Humanities’ Alumni Mentorship Program, UCF’s newest initiative to expand their network, and strengthen the professional experience of CAH students.
Ryan just graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. He works at GreenDev and Longbow, managing content creation and copywriting.
Based in Melbourne, FL, their company has hosted five interns from FIT, Melbourne’s private technical university, in their marketing department’s Practicum program that awards three credit hours.
“We’re excited to work with our alma mater in any way we can, ” Eric relates. “We believe in helping each generation get real world experience. The advertising world is about relationships. People choose us to work with us because we prove ourselves, one project at a time. Teaching this is critical for grads, if they want to build a career as creatives.”
Nitro, David Warner, Ryan Needle and Madeline Colwell at the UCF Mentorship Gala at Orlando Museum of Art
By connecting alumni with the next generation of Knights, UCF adds tremendous value to creative degrees. Working with GreenDev helps students build portfolio, using diverse skill sets that include design, development, creative writing and copywriting.
GreenDev’s connection to UCF gives us a unique opportunity to work directly with one of the largest networks in the nation. And with affinity for fellow Knights, we know that helping students and grads now—translates into future networking. It allows us to build up, partner with, and teach knights about the ever-changing online professional world.
Why do we do this? It’s fitting that we release this news on Thanksgiving. We’re thankful for all the people who have helped, mentored and partnered with us over the years—and try and return that energy by mentoring and hosting interns.
Design, Build, Promote.
GreenDev excels at branding and design, giving your site a focused message and clean corporate image. We design to be clear and concise, while guiding viewers to your products and services.
With the vast array of tools and programs available, anyone can build a website, but a website will accomplish little, if no one can find you online.
To be effective, your sites needs to perform in Search, be optimized for Paid Advertising, be full of rich, relevant Content, and create a two-way communication via Social Media. In the background, Analytics must be in place to measure and show progress.
These components are often overlooked as extras, but we know they are mission critical.
GreenDev understands why we build sites. The age of pretty brochures is long gone and sites that don’t reach the right people limit your growth. With so much competition, it’s too easy to get lost in the noise. When you don’t plan for conversion, you impair effectiveness and visibility.
Hit the Ground Running
GreenDev is collaborative, always looking for people who want to work together and build something special. Students and Alum who partner with GreenDev, can boost resumes with real, timely experience.
Connecting with other Knights is a perfect way to build your career and aim for the stars. Both Ryan and Eric are proud of their school and eager to be life-long partners in its future. #GoKnights!
To learn how you can contribute, or to see how GreenDev can power your business, fill out our contact form at GreenDev.com
For more information about the CAH’s Alumni Mentorship Program, visit, cah.ucf.edu/mentoring/
Longbow, our parent company provides all the services of an advertising and public relations agency, focused on brand, content and digital marketing. GreenDev is a new brand we created to focus on web.
