Advantage Labs

The focus of Advantage Labs is to use web and internet technology as a tool to promote web success for organizations of all sizes. Most established organizations have a website and online strategies, but they often fail to use these tools efficiently or proactively track their successes. Success on the internet requires technical aptitude to understand and implement new technologies, but it also requires a firm grasp of needs vs. results to ensure that those technologies are being used wisely. Advantage Labs uses a rare combination of both talents and strong partnerships with industry experts to build web solutions that are both technically advanced and success-oriented.

Advantage Labs was founded in 2003 by Bobbi Anderson and Allie Micka. Before founding Advantage Labs, Bobbi worked for over 20 years to identify and implement IT requirements at organizations of all sizes. Working in both the United States and abroad, she represented large firms such as IBM and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and smaller companies in industries such as retail, consumer goods and real estate.

The best way to understand a company’s knowledge of Drupal is to research their Drupal contributions. Advantage Labs is the only Minnesota-based firm backed by core Drupal developers. Advantage Labs’ members Allie Micka and Mark Frederickson are active members of the Drupal community, and have contributed core patches and several modules. You can view their Drupal contributions on the Drupal website at Allie Micka's Drupal Involvement and Mark Frederickson's Drupal Involvement.

Allie's primary development focus with Drupal has been integrating web, CRM and mailing communications to provide two way dialogs, viral marketing, new name collection, and integration of CRM tracking to present a clear picture of how users interact with the site and what types of content or mailings yield donations and participation. Allie is also well-versed in the open source CiviCRM project, and is recognized as a contributor ot openngo.

We are now pleased to have Mark Fredrickson on board. Mark comes to us a history of proactively leveraging nonprofits’ and political campaigns’ web presence to increase donations and actions. He created dynamic websites with bulk email list campaigns, targeted communication, a portal community environment, and using inspiring, graphical tools to draw donations. Mark has gained strategic recognition for his expert qualifications in collaboration and information groups in Drupal. An example of the Drupal work he did while working in Planned Parenthood can be found at http://www.ppmnsaction.org, where the emphasis is on tightening the integration of Drupal and CRM through Drupal’s affiliate and collaborative workspace tools. On this website, visitors and members are inspired to communicate, learn and join in the online community.

The Advantage Labs’ team combination of business, nonprofit, technical and application expertise creates a rare combination of skills. Recognized for this valuable combination of art and science, Advantage Labs has been successful at serving organizations of all sizes through word-of-mouth referrals and alliances with other industry-leading solutions providers.