BlueModus 25+ Years In

In 2001, I founded BlueModus to bridge the gap between the experiences marketers need to meet their goals and the technology that enables them. What started as a focus on building better digital platforms has evolved alongside the web itself. Today, that mission increasingly centers on helping organizations prepare for an AI-driven future by ensuring their content, data, and digital ecosystems are structured, connected, and ready to power the next generation of intelligent experiences.

Through it all, though, we've stayed true to a few fundamental principles: 

• Be transparent with our clients and colleagues.

• Provide an environment that supports Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose for our colleagues.

• Find efficiencies wherever possible and deliver excellence.

• Build partnerships first.

The first years

Looking back at the last 25+ years, I’ll never forget the first time I walked into the office for an official day of work. It was exciting and a little intimidating to take that first step. That mix of emotions returned again when we closed our first major client, Bacardi. That account would eventually represent nearly 50% of our revenue until 2014. Despite the risks that came with that level of concentration, we proved ourselves through strong work and trusted partnerships, and their investment in us continued to grow.

Some of the highs (and lows) of the past two decades include:

• Bringing on our first hire, Nick Bushnell.

• Opening our first larger office during Christmas of 2004, which we occupied until designing and moving into our office in the Cable Building in 2012.

• Hosting a digital summit in London for Bacardi and their global agencies, with more than 100 attendees.

• Developing our first large-scale products, including an employee training platform for a major retailer and our first enterprise eCommerce platform.

In 2014, we faced one of the most challenging years in our company’s history. Our then COO and President, Dave Baumgarten, passed away unexpectedly. That same year, we also lost our largest account, Bacardi. Losing both our leader and roughly half of our revenue at the same time tested BlueModus in ways we had never experienced before.

But that moment also marked an important turning point for the company.

• Tom Whittaker joined as COO in 2016 and later became CEO & President.

• Becki Hoye joined as Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer in 2017.

In the years that followed, we experienced a period of significant growth, averaging more than 50% growth for four consecutive years while maintaining the culture that has always defined BlueModus.

It became clear that the environment we’ve built here – one grounded in transparency, respect, and support for our colleagues – is the reason we’ve been able to navigate challenges and continue to grow.

BlueModus is, and always has been, about our people. This is the best team I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot.

Where we're headed

While there are many more milestones and stories from the past two decades, what’s most exciting now is where BlueModus is heading.

Today, we continue to help organizations modernize their digital platforms across enterprise content, digital experience, eCommerce, and data strategy. But as the digital landscape evolves, so does our focus.

Increasingly, our work centers on helping organizations become AI-ready. For many companies, the next phase of digital transformation isn’t just about launching a new website or implementing a modern CMS. It’s about preparing their content, data, and digital infrastructure so it can fully participate in an AI-driven ecosystem.

This means helping organizations structure and govern their content in ways that make it usable across channels, intelligent systems, and emerging AI-powered experiences. It means ensuring their platforms can integrate with modern tools and that their digital strategies are built with adaptability in mind.

In many ways, this shift reflects the same core mission BlueModus started with in 2001: Helping bridge the gap between what marketers and organizations want to achieve and the technology required to make it possible.

Technology will continue to evolve, and the pace of change will only accelerate. What remains constant is our focus on building strong partnerships and helping our clients adapt, grow, and succeed in whatever comes next.

And that’s what continues to make the journey exciting.