2014 Expo's Digital Excellence Awards
Best Digital Marketing Campaign
2013 SEMA Show
See: Introducing EXPO's Digital Stars
SONNY YONKMAN 
UX Architect. Creative Consultant. Self-Proclaimed Badass.
The Cliff-Notes Version of Me
UX Designer. Creative Consultant. Self-Proclaimed Badass.
Hi my name is Sonny Yonkman, and I'm a 28 year old nerd. I'm married to the love of my life, and father to a pair of babies that were born simultaneously. I've been in California for about two years, I used to live in Orlando, Florida -- and before that I grew up in the wonderful wasteland of Michigan.
I work primarily in everything. Which makes absolutely no sense right? I solve problems. Problems of every scale, of every platform, every medium. I'm the kind of person that HAS to know how something works at it's core, and when I'm confronted with a problem I go all OCD finding a viable solution. This has lead to a very diverse skillset, which has been instrumental in the success of my clients, and my own professional career. I need to be constantly challenged. The closer the problem teeters on the line of impossibility, the more fun I have. I'm always seeking the next challenge.
Like I was saying before, I have to know how things work at their core. I was the kid in the neighborhood who never had nice things because he was always taking them apart, learning how they work, and then modifying them for whatever reason--Just to see if it could be done.
I utilize the same mantra in adulthood; break it down to it's core, figure out how it works, put it back together in a way that best suits the given need. Simplification over Complication. Simplification through Knowledge, the more Knowledgable you are, the less complicated the situation is, the more Simplified the tasks will be. It's all about keeping it simple. If you'd like to hear more about my methodology and work-flow processes, drop me a line and say hello.
What I Do For Fun (Read: Money)
"Never Forget Where You Came From."
Heavy emphasis on conceptual branding and print design with an absolute hate for the web. This is hilarious because when I got into the print industry I realized I hate print, and fell in love with interface design for the web.
Graduated Feb 2010
Required ceritifcation course for the PMP credential, a week long all-day course focusing on every aspect of Project Management from conceptualization, viability, risk assessment, resource procurement and allocation, critical path methods, to Monitoring & Control.
Jan 2012
Conceive, design, build, and promote the adoption of innovative technology products, services, and solutions to maximize the user online experience with SEMA web properties and manage UX work-streams and programs to optimize internal and external work-flow processes.
June 2013 - Current
Manage all aspects of SEMA Show and Events online and offline marketing campaigns from start to finish including project requirements, work order assignment, trafficking, soliciting bids, overseeing production and fulfillment and monitoring process.
August 2012 - June 2013
The master of all things CMS between the 4 different software platforms offered by Avectra. Creating timelines, deadlines, deliverables, functionality solutions, work flows, risk assessment, quality control -- the whole shebang. I’ve also been known to design templates, buildout functionality and get my hands dirty, when the situation demanded it.
December 2011 - August 2012
Proactively manage customer-centric communications surrounding business requirements, service offering, project deliverables and service quality, to ensure that the customer’s expectations are met. Conduct project kickoffs, establish team communications, and facilitate meetings Clearly communicate project goals, roles, responsibilities both internally and externally. Communicate customer status and escalate concerns, and issues to management as needed. Manage customer issues for priorities, escalation, and resolution. Provide weekly updates, follow-through and exceptional customer service to clients. Provide training to internal operations and clients on delivered applications and services. Update and maintain product knowledge base for internal and customer/partner reference.
December 2010 - December 2011
Finally, a Yonkman that made something of himself... for almost a year (6 months of it I sustained myself 100% through YDG profits)! But, I couldn’t do everything all the time -- and we weren’t charging enough for me to hire sales people. Clients include: Evans Financial Planning, Global Marketing Network, Mist and More, and the City of Oviedo, Boulder Area Realtors Association, Miami Realtors Association, Porter Street Garage, BA Motorsports, The City of Hope, Project Hope (through the City of Hope), Ish Jiminez from West Coast Customs, Specialty Equipment Market Association (see how I ended up in California?)...
January 2009 - August 2012
Barely even scratching the surface...
Started from the bottom now we're here...
Specialty Equipment Market Association
December 2013 - July 2014
This is what I get for raising my hand. For a little insight, SEMA eNews is the weekly distributing news syndication of the Specialty Equipment Market Association. The current mailing list teeters just shy of 60,000. It was literally just a list of hyperlinks with no branding, no dynamic display ads, and no real "flow". It was losing subscribers at an alarming 30% annually, click-throughs were dropping -- it was time for the eNews template to get revamped. That's not it though, there had to be a way to dynamically generate the content for the eBlast, from the source website content on SEMA.org. This would cut down the production time, and allow the Publications staff to focus solely on the content on the website, and not have to dedicate any additional resource time to producing the eMail every week. We could literally schedule a set time every week that the email would be sent, and like MAGIC the email would pull the content from the website without any direct human interaction...
The original template lacked so many key features that are utilized (and expected by the end user) that simple aesthetic adjustments weren't going to cut it, which is why we developed the AMP script utilizing an RSS feed and a whole bunch of other technical voodoo to create a dynamic weekly newsletter. Countless hours were spent researching (and subscribing) to top tier news syndications to see what they were doing, and figuring out how best to incorporate key aspects into what we could possibly do. Here's the break down of template requirements:
The final product turned out exactly as planned, utilizing AMP scripts to dynamically generate the content within the email cuts down production time, Display Ads generate revenue (turning a cost-center into a revenue stream), and the upgraded aesthetics affirm that this is an association communique which increases the engagement, and lowers the opt-out rates.
There is a couple things that I'm going to adjust (like, the actual length of the entire email -- which is ridiculous), but this has established the core for enhancing the rest of the Publication's online presence... Anyone who has ever worked in an Association environment will tell you, that is no small feat.
I'm going to coin the term; "Hipster Gearheads."
Porter Street Garage
January 2014 - September 2014
So out of everyone I've ever worked for, my family is probably the ones who have benefitted the most from my vast technical/artistic skill-set, which you will see more and more as you progress through this very small portion of my portfolio. I've branded my Dad's "handy-man" business, done countless wedding invitations, and saved them butt-loads of money on printing costs -- So my brother-in-law once again got to capitalize on my skillset by having me brand his Automotive Garage. Which also helps when you work for the largest automotive trade show on the planet...
So, he text's me; "Hey I need a website for my Shop.." I reply with; "What's it called?" "Porter Street Garage"; he says. From your family, that's all the design direction you get. So I had to take into consideration that he's a "hipster". He also races motorcycles professionally, and ice-track races dirtbikes in the winter for fun. So I had to do a lot of the digital business side thinking for him; as with most of my other clients.
This is all crucial for local businesses, and how you'll show up in search results when someone searches for a repair shop within a specific geographical area. Google knows that a small, privately owned repair shop located in Michigan can't do anything for a guy in California. It will however, make sure that if a person searches from their mobile device (and/or computer) and they're within the same geographical location that the shop is, populates the search results with businesses also within that geographical area related to your search query. If you don't tell Google what your business is, and where it is, in the way that Google requires to you tell it's bots (See: Meta Tags [See Also: OpenGraph]), you will not show up in search results, missing out on easily attainable business.
He's not going to constantly update the site, or keep adding new content, so a Content Management System was a little over-kill. He just needs something that is up in the cloud, that explains what he does, gives a brief breakdown of his pricing, and allows them to contact him either by phone, or through a simple webform submission.
I'm going to finish implementing the website, and establishing his social presence before I blow his mind with retargeting ads and how effective they are for small business. I've also hinted at creating tutorials videos on YouTube that explain the mechanics behind proper vehicle maintenance, because the biggest hurdle you have to overcome with your prospective customer is trust. If you educate them on what you're doing, WHY you do it, and how they benefit from it they'll be much more apt to allow you to separate them from their money.
#HopeIsDope
Project [hope] - The City of Hope
August 2013 - Present
Do you know that the American Red Cross actually sells your donated blood to hospitals? That your blood actually has a market value that goes anywhere from $240 to $550 based on demand? Neither did I. As a large corporate entity, The City of Hope has strict guidelines in regards to it's reputation, and it's image. It's really restrictive when it comes to finding new and creative ways to find new donors. When the guidelines become your shackles, your options get extremely limited and your blood aquisition rates drop significantly. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Project Hope. Three people and a mission; get more blood. We're in a literal blood drought (most blood donated from any one event only last three days at the hospital, that kind of demand), and if more people don't start donating blood - People could die.
You know why more people don't donate? Like the rest of my generation, we're down-playing the real issue under the assumption that we don't need to participate, or help out because there's someone else already doing it. Sounds pretty stupid right? Think about it, how many times have you ever stopped and helped someone that was stranded on the side of the road, or called the police when you witnessed an accident? Now think about how many times you didn't react to similar situations, under the assumption that someone else probably already was. I'm even guilty of that myself, and this is my answer for all those times I could have made a difference, but I didn't. As a completely seperate entity we're labeled as "Highly Motivated Blood Donor Enthusiasts" and are not directly affilliated with The City of Hope, in any fashion - Just a couple of concerned citizens who want to help out.
Project[hope] was founded with a simple purpose; to create a desirable brand that inspires individuals to actively participate in our cause, spreading awareness utilizing pop-culture, viral video, and guerilla social media campaigns to promote education and facilitate engagement and active participation.
Stay tuned, there is a few awesome things in the works.
Create a million-dollar brand, with a fifty-dollar budget...
Specialty Equipment Market Association
August 2012 - September 2013
We need something to engage the consumers, they say. Something that also showcases our member's products. Oh, and it needs to have a blog component, with heavy social integration. Wait a second, we should make it post the New Products data from the show... DURING SHOW WEEK! And this is how I didn't sleep for about 3 months. The first iteration of the site imported the vehicle and product data through a .net application developed by a third-party company. Needless to say, they didn't finish the import app until about 1 week prior to the SEMA Show. We should have just pulled the plug for that year, sat back and assessed where we went wrong, what needed to be finished and came up with a strong plan of action for next year. Well, I guess promises had been made and this had to launch during the show no matter what. So, 8 people trapped in this very small temporary office had to manually go through and match vehicle photos to exhibitor data from two different systems, while the entire IT department focused on capturing the New Products Showcase data so we could publish that to the site also. All in all, it was about 16 people dedicating 8-12 hours a day for a whole week to get the data published... Yes, it did fail horribly.
There was so many human errors in the vehicle and product data. There had to be an easier more effective way to capture vehicle photography, and tie that to a vehicle identification database, and then tie that both of those pieces of information to the exhibitor information within our AMS... So I had this epiphany. You've been to Disney Land I presume? You know how the Photographers walk around and snap your pictures scan some little card, at which you can go to some website and view and buy those ridiculously expensive photos. How do THEY do it?
So after quite a bit of research, I found a camera setup that utilized Wifi, BlueTooth, and Barcode scanners. We created stickers with a pre-determined numerical string and a barcode on it. That code was applied to the Exhibitor record inside the AMS when the vehicle came through check-in, so when you scan the barcode with the camera, it applies that code to the images metadata - Bam, error free Company Data. Now, take it a step further. Scan the VIN, also apply that to the vehicle photo meta-data, WHAT?? Error free vehicle data. We bought two of these Camera setups for the 2013 show, and that year we published the vehicle photography data to enjoythedrive.com in less than a day, and it only took one person to do it. Oh, and I also designed the site, the styleguide, established all the social profiles, created the micro site for streaming and optimized it for social dispersion.
How Did Nobody Catch This?
Specialty Equipment Market Association
March 2011 - Present
There's just too many different things to add into this one listing, so allow me to walk you through this madness.
Why Windows Is The Worst Platform Ever Created
Specialty Equipment Market Association
May 2014 - July 2014
Let's just go take a look at the website, shall we?
What people actually think about me
Woohoo Trophies!
Best Digital Marketing Campaign
2013 SEMA Show
See: Introducing EXPO's Digital Stars
Don't think about it. Just do it.